Supercrip Character Capt. America Tire from the forthcoming parody digital collectible series which aims to skewer the lack of opportunity for performers with disabilities in Film and Television.New film Supercrip hopes to right bias against performers with disabilities in entertainment industry with new parody digital collection.
Hollywood - February 7th, 2023 - A ground-breaking line of digital collectible NFT’s was launched today to help fund the feature film Supecrip and raise awareness about the lack of roles and opportunities for performers with disabilities (PWD’s). After experiencing a C5 spinal cord injury over 20 years ago in the Grand Canyon which resulted in drowning and almost dying, Tobias Forrest bounced back with a passion to create. Although he requires an attendant and may take up to four hours just to prepare for the day, it has not stopped his goal to become an actor… one who just happens to use a wheelchair.
"A chance encounter led Toby writing a monologue and then performing it for Christopher Reeve. In fact, it was Reeve who presented Toby with a scholarship to study acting,” says Randall Miller (writer/producer of Supercrip). “He caught the acting bug, but the jobs are tough to get for performers with disabilities.”
Five years after his injury, Tobias was introduced to the Media Access Awards and a life changing opportunity. With no previous acting experience, he auditioned with a self-written monologue for a Christopher Reeve acting scholarship which he won and was awarded by Christopher. Since then, he has been forging a career as a performer in Hollywood, having landed guest starring roles on “How To Get Away With Murder” to singing on the “Academy Awards”. Although he has had some amazing opportunities, Tobias also knows that parts for PWD's are few and far between. Although Supercrip would provide him a leading role in the film, the goal is to create additional roles for other PWD's to play characters with and without disabilities in the film.
The issue confronted in the Supercrip film is the lack of representation in major films and television productions from people who are disabled. Even worse is the case of where certain characters have been portrayed on screen, too often they are played by actors who are not disabled. Take The Theory of Everything or The Upside (the remake of The Intouchables) or My Left Foot, all award-winning roles played by able-bodied actors. Working with Randall Miller and Jody Savin (writer/director/producers of the Sundance hits Bottle Shock, Marilyn Hotchkiss and CBGB) together they have created a tonic for Hollywood, a feature film about a disabled actor (to be played by Toby) competing for the disabled role of his life against an abled-bodied movie star.
"It's a comedy, but it's full of truth. It highlights the obstacle that actors with disabilities face every day— not being considered able enough to even play disabled. Imagine going up against Daniel Day Lewis or Eddie Redmayne or Bryan Cranston. They are all phenomenal actors, award-winning actors but how is someone like myself even going to be cast? By creating a project that proves performers with disabilities are capable of playing any variety of characters, including the lead role,” says Toby.
Approximately 26% of the population has some form of disability estimates SuperCrip producer Randall Miller, while fewer than 1% of movie and TV roles are given to disabled persons. Randall feels nobody is more qualified to portray the disabled than someone living with a disability like Toby. With SuperCrip they are attempting to disrupt this pattern by creating a parody line of NFTs as outlandish as the current situation in Hollywood to help raise awareness.
“The challenge is to make a multi-million-dollar Hollywood film like Theory of Everything or The Upside, films that feature a disabled character, and to yet have them played by a disabled actor,” says Jody Savin, one of the film’s producers. "It’s tough to find the financing for a film that doesn't star a name actor in the lead."
So, they have partnered with illustrator Michael Davis (writer/director of Shoot Em Up and 8 Days A Week) and Steve McKeon the CEO of MacNerd and MacGuyver Tech to change the way films are financed.
"What if some of the famous characters from Hollywood lore had been cast with disabled actors long ago, would things be different today?" ponders Randall.
They admit, these Supercrip NFTs present an outlandish and satirical point-of-view, but they are designed to do just that—to spark conversation. The technique and funding channel used to raise the finance for this film uses the latest of the new Blockchain technologies to emerge, the NFT or Non-Fungible Token. In layman’s terms, a digital collectible that allows the owner certain ownership rights to an image or product. These digital collectibles depict parody versions of famous movie characters. Instead of Indiana Jones, there's Geriatric Indy. Instead of Iron Man, there's Iron Lung Man. Instead of Ant Man there’s Scant Man. Each character in the collection bases its likeness on SuperCrip's Tobias Forrest.
The collection has three tiers: Super-Powered, Stand Alone, and Franchise. Additionally, there are plans for two additional seasons of Supercrip characters, a racing game, and a Supercrip Coin. In addition to fundraising for the film, NFT sales will support donations to organizations and non-profits within the disability space. These companies and foundations include ABILITYMagazine, Fodac, Ralph's Riders, Triumph Foundation, CinemAbility Foundation, abilityEntertainment, RespectAbility, Artists For Trauma, and Permobil.
Technology Consultancy MacNerd is minting and facilitating the NFT sale. The NFTs have varying levels of rarity and special details; the first run will be 5501 individually handcrafted GIFs digitally rendered by the Consultancy.
"I’m super excited to be a part of this project," says MacNerd CEO Steve McKeon. "Not only are these intricate pieces of art, but they're also funding the film and raising awareness for thousands of artists underrepresented in TV and film."
More information on Supercrip Productions can be found here: https://supercrip.io
More information on MacNerd can be found here: https://macnerd.io
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