It’s Personal
Kyla requires 24 hour care with everything from making artwork to having a wee; struggling with a care shortage during the pandemic, she asks filmmaker friend Lou to swap cameras for catheters and learn how to assist her in a reality TV challenge. The pair give a refreshingly personal perspective of the global care crisis, the necessity of friendship and what it means to truly care for each other.
What’s Next
Our pilot episode has left people wanting more, and asking for the rest of the series. The incredible response from both within the international disability community and beyond, confirmed what we already knew, that there are so many more authentic, nuanced stories to unfold and explore that can open up conversations around interdependence.
The history of TV has not encountered a more necessary and impactful call to arms to include disabled people within the industry [1], than the stirring McTaggart lecture Jack Thorne gave in July at the Edinburgh TV Festival. Jack Thorne argued that TV allows us to empathise with others, and this is why we need more disabled stories, disabled talent and disabled creators in TV at a time when the terrifying ableism and eugenics of our society have been made clear by society’s response to COVID. [2]
We want to be part of this change, making reality TV to engage and entertain. Expanding It’s Personal to continue our journey and weave in more stories beyond our own. We’re looking for a production company to support making these next steps possible.
Kyla Harris is a filmmaker, writer and activist. Kyla is the creator of The Other Screen, film events dedicated to the perception of disabled people and the d/Deaf community. She is currently co-writing a television series in development with Roughcut TV for Channel 4.
info@kylaharris.net / IG: @bedroom_activist
Lou Macnamara works as a camera assistant and documentary cinematographer. They co-directed Keenie Meenie (2020), a documentary that has contributed to the recent termination of the Police Scotland training programme of Sri Lanka’s Special Task Force – known for its brutality and involvement in war crimes. The film was described by Ken Loach as: ‘Important, dangerous and must be screened.’
loumacnamara@gmail.com / IG: @lou_macnamara
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‘60% of participants reported experience of some form of ableism or discrimination while working or seeking work in the TV industry.’
Disability by Design Report DDPTV -
‘Nearly six out of every ten people who died with coronavirus in England last year were disabled. Some 30,296 of the 50,888 deaths between January and November were people with a disability, Office for National Statistics (ONS) data shows.’
BBC NEWS
BUSTING THE BIAS
Press Reset on Ableism and pre-recorded keynote by Andrew Miller MBE + Disability On Screen: Past, Present and Future
Fri 3 Dec 12:45
TAPE Community Music and Film panel discussion + UK Premiere: Approaching Shadows
Fri 3 Dec 15:00
Love + Q&A
Sat 4 Dec 13:30
It’s Personal + Q&A
Sat 4 Dec 15:15
Talking Bodies: A Rehearsed Reading & Q&A
Sun 5 Dec 14:00
Aimee Victoria + Q&A + The Multi
Sun 5 Dec 16:00
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Programme notes and credits compiled by the BFI Documentation Unit
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