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For Ian Gregory Hill '14, the project — an official selection in the international Easterseals Disability Film Challenge — is personal.
As an undergraduate music theatre major at Baldwin Wallace University, Ian Gregory Hill '14 says he had "an inkling" that he might be on the autism spectrum.
At the time, though, the child and adolescent neurologists and psychiatrists trained to provide a diagnosis wouldn't see him because he was an adult.
"I accepted it at the time and just kept trudging along," Hill remembers. "It wasn't until the pandemic that I tried again. Luckily, some doctors' views on autism have changed, and I was able to get confirmation with a diagnosis."
Before that breakthrough at age 29, Hill says it was hard to grasp where he fit in.
"I felt very alone and isolated until that point [my diagnosis]," Hill remembers. "A significant part of that feeling stemmed from not seeing accurate portrayals of autism on the screen."
According to the CDC, 25% of U.S. residents — more than 70 million people — have a disability, comprising the largest minority population. Yet, according to a study released last summer by USC's Annenberg Inclusion Initiative, only 1.9% of speaking characters with disabilities appeared in major films in 2022.
Floored by that lack of representation, Hill decided to use his own artistic talents to "educate neurotypicals about disabilities through humor and universal feelings."
The result is "Defectment," a thought-provoking, Black Mirror-style film written and produced by Hill and directed by Bryce Crumlish.
The film features Hill, Sam Turlington and Lu Zielinski-Hill and is an official selection of the Easterseals Disability Film Challenge, which features thriller and suspense films this year.
Since the Easterseals Disability Film Challenge was launched by actor, comedian, producer and disability advocate Nic Novicki in 2013, aspiring filmmakers have created and submitted more than 750 short films (a record 135 last year) from nearly every state and around the world.
Thinking back to his BW education, Hills says he learned many lessons that he has applied in each facet of his career.
"My main takeaway that I still use today is the importance of telling grounded stories with real characters that we all can connect with," Hill says. "That ultimately had me pursue comedy through Amy Poehler's Upright Citizens Brigade and allowed me to create my own stories. This was key for my 10 years of working as a professional stage actor in New York and transfers over to me having full rein of my stories in TV & film."
Hill is focused on a future in screenwriting that grounds disabled characters as human beings, whether the genre is "slapstick comedy to crazy horror." "I want to continue creating authentically disabled characters, so others experiencing similar challenges know they are not alone."
"Working in TV & film, I can see the industry's growth in terms of disability, but the number of disabled Writer's Guild of America members as of 2022 is 1.7%; the U.S. disabled population is 26%," Hill notes. "My story is being told by people who don't have the slightest idea of what it's like to be disabled. We, as writers, have a responsibility to tell the truth no matter the story."
As he continues to develop and pitch screenplays, pilots and short films, Hill works as a location assistant on shows like "Severance" directed by Ben Stiller, Tina Fey's "Girls5Eva," the upcoming "The Beast In Me" starring Claire Danes and more. Most summers, he also teaches 9- to 14-year-olds how to make short films at the Bethel Woods Center for the Arts in Bethel, New York.
Awards for the Easterseals Film Challenge will be announced on May 8 during the Award Ceremony at Sony Pictures in Los Angeles. Winners can receive cash prizes, seed funding for their films, mentorships from top Hollywood professionals and screenings at Academy Award-qualifying festivals.
As he waits for the Challenge results, Hill is eager for all of the entries to resonate with audiences and Hollywood professionals.
"I hope that films like these can show the industry that people with disabilities not only are capable of telling our own stories but can thrive in doing so," Hill reflects. "I also want to show people that, yes, I am disabled, but my core feelings as a human being are the same as any citizen of the globe, and we are not so different than some people make us to be.
