July 2023 Newsletter: Are You Interested In How Entertainment Works With Lived Experience?

How to effectively and authentically portray other people’s stories and cultures is fast becoming an integral part of any storytelling, regardless of the medium. This year, OKRE have begun a stream of activites exploring how lived experience can be incorporated fairly, safely and equitably into the film, TV and games of the future.

“‘Where’s our Lived Experience consultant?’ should be a question that is normal on set and in writers’ rooms in the near future,” says Jenna, “and that shift would only be a good thing for entertainment industries.”

✨In our latest headline article, OKRE’s Lived Experience Lead Jenna Al-Ansari, shares her insights on how to create authentic narratives, incorporate lived experience and more…✨

OKRE Funds: Astronaut, a film that centres around the lived experience of Robyn, a queer woman with Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA).  It was developed as part of a collaboration between writer Katie Boyles, Producer Chi Thai and Toby Mildon and Cathy McNicol, executive producers whose own lived experience with SMA informs much of the characters’ stories.

“We simply don’t see disabled people in mainstream culture – we need deeper representation. Astronaut does this and then some. The writing doesn’t shy away from topics that people might feel awkward about, like sexuality, relationships, like growing up and finding your way in the world. Which everyone has to do whether you’re disabled or not.” (Toby Mildon)

This OKRE Funded project is currently in development. Find out more about Astronaut and why it caught our attention…