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Writer Kelli McNeil says she was already “deeply insecure about [her] work” when she handed over an early draft of Daruma — a drama about Patrick (Tobias Forrest), a veteran and quadriplegic who discovers he’s the father of a young girl born from a one-night stand years earlier — to her fiancé, director-cinematographer Alexander Yellen.

“She goes off to the other room, and I start reading the script, and by page two, I’m laughing,” says Yellen, who’s worked in various capacities on shows like Z Nation and Euphoria. “She goes, ‘This is a drama.’ I said, ‘No, it’s not. It’s a dark comedy and it’s great.’”

McNeil began writing the script back in 2017, long before it would premiere at 2023’s Dances With Films Fest in L.A. and screen last month as part of Slamdance’s Unstoppable program, where Peter Farrelly signed on as executive producer to help bolster its profile.

Exclusive: Midori Francis (Dash & Lily), Gavin Leatherwood (The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina), Christopher Meyer (Tell Me A Story), Ilia Isorelýs Paulino (Queenpins), Lauren “Lolo” Spencer (Give Me Liberty) and Renika Williams (Modern Love) are set as series regulars in The Sex Lives of College Girls, Mindy Kaling’s upcoming comedy series at HBO Max. They join previously announced Pauline Chalamet, Amrit Kaur, Reneé Rapp, and Alyah Chanelle Scott who star as four roommates and students at the prestigious New England Essex College.

Francis plays “Alicia,” Leatherwood portrays “Nico,” Meyer is “Canaan,” Paulino plays “Lila,” Spencer portrays “Jocelyn,” and Willams plays “Willow,” all students at Essex College.

Kaling and showrunner Justin Noble co-wrote the first episode and executive produce with Howard Klein. The series is produced by Kaling International in association with Warner Bros. Television.

Midori will next be seen starring in the Netflix feature Afterlife of the Party opposite...

Exclusive: The Greatest Showman actor Sam Humphrey has signed with Kazarian/Measures/Ruskin & Associates for representation. Humphrey will be represented by Gail Williamson, the Head of Kmr’s Diversity Department alongside the Diversity Department’s Lyndsey Staib and Kmr’s Literary Head Amy Lanier. Kmr’s Diversity Department specifically represents talent with disabilities with the mission of creating more inclusive representation in the media.

In Michael Gracey’s 2017 film, Humphrey appeared alongside Hugh Jackman, Zendaya, Zac Efron and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II as Tom Thumb/The General. The film received a Best Picture Comedy/Musical nom and won Best Song (for “This Is Me”) at the Golden Globes and also earned an Oscar nom for Best Song.

Humphrey was most recently cast in the titular role of Roger Rabbit creator Gary K. Wolf’s new project Ranger Raccoon. The New Zealand-born actor’s credits also include Australian soap Neighbours and TV movie Jeremy the Dud.

As the Covid-19 pandemic continues to alter people’s holiday celebrations, many people are finding that watching holiday films is one tradition that can continue. While there has been no meaningful change in the percentage of speaking characters with disabilities in these top-grossing films in the past five years with just 2.3 percent of the 4,451 characters analyzed in the 100 top-grossing films of 2019 by the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism having a disability, several holiday films are bucking this trend. And for the one-in-four people in the U.S. who have a disability, that means there are more opportunities to see ourselves reflected on screen.

“Christmas Ever After”

A recent premiere on Lifetime, it stars Tony award winner Ali Stroker in the lead role of Izzi Simmons – becoming the network’s first lead actor with a disability. A writer, Simmons is having a severe case of writer’s block when...

Exclusive: Felicity Huffman is returning to acting — and to ABC — with a single-camera comedy that has landed a big pilot production commitment at the network. The Peanut Butter Falcon‘s Zack Gottsagen co-stars in the project from Aaron Kaplan’s Kapital Entertainment.

Written by Becky Hartman Edwards, the untitled comedy is inspired by Susan Savage, the real-life owner of the Triple-a baseball team the Sacramento River Cats. It marks the first project Huffman has taken on since the 2019 college admission scandal.

The Emmy-winning actress has been heavily courted for TV series and pilots since she completed her short prison sentence after pleading guilty to fraud more than a year ago. Kaplan approached Huffman with the idea about a series inspired by Savage, which she responded to. He brought on Hartman Edwards as a writer, and Gottsagen, who has a talent deal with Kapital, came on board to co-star opposite Huffman.

Exclusive: Aaron Kaplan’s Kapital Entertainment has signed a talent deal with Zack Gottsagen, the breakout star of The Peanut Butter Falcon. Under the pact, Kapital intends to develop a series-starring vehicle for Gottsagen, who made Oscar history this year as the first person with Down syndrome to present at the marquee awards show.

The Peanut Butter Falcon marked the feature acting debut for Gottsagen, who had studied acting since he was a kid and worked as an usher at his local movie theater while pursuing his dream of becoming a movie star.

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Kaplan watched the movie, in which Gottsagen stars opposite Shia Labeof and Dakota Johnson,...

Activist Jay Ruderman on March 3 presented an award to brothers Peter and Bobby Farrelly for their decades of championing people with disabilities, saying show business “has the power to change public perception like no other industry.”

The occasion was the sixth annual Morton E. Ruderman Award for Inclusion, presented by the Ruderman Family Foundation and held at the Waldorf Astoria in Beverly Hills.

Onstage, Jay Ruderman pointed out that U.S. unemployment is now 4%, but people with disabilities have 70% unemployment, despite being an estimated 20% of the population. The Farrelly brothers have cast people both in front of and behind the camera since their second film, the 1996 “Kingpin.”

Bobby Farrelly said, “Whatever we’ve given to the disability community, they’ve given us a lot more back.” Peter Farrelly exploded two prevalent myths: “That they will slow you down and cost you money. It’s just the opposite,” saying people with...

Event occupies new awards season slot of September 20-28.

Former AFI Fest director Jacqueline Lyanga has been named La Film Festival guest director of Vr and immersive storytelling as festival brass unveiled elements of the roster as the event moves into its new September slot.

The 24th edition comprises a strong inclusion component, with plans for We The People, an inclusion-focused summit, a partnership with the International Documentary Association’s Getting Real ’18 conference, and a benefit dinner celebrating 25 years of Project Involve.

The La Film Festival runs this year in the awards season corridor of September 20-28. In previous years it occupied June slot,...

Preparing for the newly configured Los Angeles Film Festival September 20-28, the Laff scooped up recently departed AFI Fest director Jacqueline Lyanga as guest director for Vr and Immersive Storytelling. This is the festival’s first foray into that emerging arena, which is part of a new partnership with Loyola Marymount University’s School of Film and Television.

This will be the 24th installment of the Laff. This fall, its second under the leadership of Festival Director Jennifer Cochis and the first in its new time slot. The date moves Laff into direct competition with AFI Fest (November 8-15), the last of the fall festivals.

Other Laff projects include partnering with the International Documentary Association’s biannual conference, Getting Real ’18; expanding its inclusion summit We the People at the Writers Guild this September, and is mounting a benefit dinner celebrating 25 years of Project Involve, honoring alumni Effie T. Brown, Jon M. Chu,...

Preparing for the newly configured Los Angeles Film Festival September 20-28, the Laff scooped up recently departed AFI Fest director Jacqueline Lyanga as guest director for Vr and Immersive Storytelling. This is the festival’s first foray into that emerging arena, which is part of a new partnership with Loyola Marymount University’s School of Film and Television.

This will be the 24th installment of the Laff. This fall, its second under the leadership of Festival Director Jennifer Cochis and the first in its new time slot. The date moves Laff into direct competition with AFI Fest (November 8-15), the last of the fall festivals.

Other Laff projects include partnering with the International Documentary Association’s biannual conference, Getting Real ’18; expanding its inclusion summit We the People at the Writers Guild this September, and is mounting a benefit dinner celebrating 25 years of Project Involve, honoring alumni Effie T. Brown, Jon M. Chu,...

The La Film Festival, under the leadership of festival director Jennifer Cochis, is adding new diversity initiatives to its programming slate in its new fall slot from September 20-28.

The festival will launch an immersive storytelling program curated by Jacqueline Lyanga, guest director, Vr and immersive storytelling, in partnership with Loyola Marymount University’s School of Film and Television. The section is set to showcase daring new work in a variety of new media platforms including Vr, AI, and Ar. The two-day experience will be free to the public and take place September 22-23 at the new Lmu Playa Vista Campus.

Of Jacqueline Lyanga, Cochis said: “She is a talented and distinguished tastemaker in our global festival community. The pieces and experiences she will curate are not just of the moment; these are the storytellers of the future.”

The fest is also debuting “We the People,” a two-day summit committed...