Every year, New Zealand becomes a magnet for major film productions, offering an exciting platform to highlight the incredible, diverse talent that thrives here in Aotearoa. With a legacy of award-winning work—such as the Academy Award-winning The Power of the Dog—our country continues to attract global attention. Last year, Taika Waititi was spotted filming Klara and the Sun in Auckland’s CBD, while Netflix has recently arrived in the South Island with Florence Pugh for East of Eden. Beyond feature films, our homegrown TV shows, like Madam (a remarkable, accessible production with disabled talent) and the iconic Shortland Street, have captured hearts both locally and internationally.
As New Zealand cements itself as a powerhouse in film production, we could also lead the way in accessible productions. Accessibility can be part of fostering even more creativity and opportunity for Aotearoa.
For years, the conversation around representation in film, TV, and media has been gaining momentum, even more now with the launch of Beings, but there's one crucial aspect that needs more spotlighting: disability representation.
While ground is being made by shows like Sex Education, with over a billion people worldwide identifying as disabled, the continued lack of disabled characters in mainstream media is an opportunity to act.
Not only is this an untapped market, but time and again, research has shown that embracing accessibility and inclusion doesn’t just bring social value; it also drives financial success. It’s a win-win, yet more needs to be done to take up this opportunity.
Over the years, we’ve had the privilege of collaborating with some incredible productions and we love seeing commitments to inclusive sets become more common. These productions aren’t just ticking boxes—they recognise that integrating diverse experiences enriches the storytelling process and broadens the impact of their work, by connecting with more audiences and experiences.
We see that productions need help to understand how to make accessibility happen on set. Including how to make it achievable, and also talent needs support to ask for accommodations (changes to support accessibility) below is a starter for 10 on both.
Tips for Talent / How to Ask for Accommodations
- Be Prepared: Arrive on set with everything you might need—pack necessary equipment, plan your travel, and bring a spare change of clothes in case the weather changes. It's important to remember you're part of a busy, moving set with lots of priorities, so do what you can to set yourself up for success.
- Understand Your Value: Remember, you're part of a larger team, all working toward a common goal. Asking for accommodations is not a weakness—it’s a way to ensure you're able to contribute to the production just like any other cast or crew member.
- Don't Be Afraid to Ask: Think of asking for accommodations like submitting a dietary preference for a crew meal, it's just asking for what you need. Instead of asking for ‘no mushrooms’ for example, you might say, "Are there any quiet spaces where I could recharge?" or "Is there somewhere I can lie down during crew breaks?" Sometimes accomodations might not be possible, due to budget constraints, time constraints or for other reasons, when its not possible you can use this as an opportunity to decide on your own terms if you'd like to still take part, its better to know in advance how things are going to be than be surprised on the day. In our experience, productions will do as much as they can!
- Don’t Hide Your Needs: Hiding your needs can lead to burnout or accidents. If you need a break or a space to lie down for 15 minutes, ask for it - and go from there. Everyone on set wants you to be at your best, not pushing yourself too far.
- Be Solution-Focused: When requesting accommodations, approach the conversation with a solution-oriented mindset, working together with the team to find ways to make it happen. Give details on what you need and how it is best achieved. Don't just say what you need and leave it to the production to make it happen; we have to acknowledge that everyone has a lot on their plates during productions, which are often fast-paced. Accessibility requires the disabled person, and the production to both do their part.
- Advise in Advance: Advise of accommodations you need before productions begin, or as soon as you're able to factor these into planning. If you feel anxious to do this, you can look into Access Coordinators who may provide some guidance as well as the NZFC's online resources.
Photo by: Becki Moss
Tips for Productions
- Consider Accessibility Proactively: When considering sets, scenes, or work on productions you can do small proactive things that help make a set accessible. These things should be done proactively to support inclusion, for example, ensure there is an elevator if the shoot is on a level above ground, ensure accessible toilets have been considered, and that you've thought about "quiet spaces" on the set. You will find these likely support everyone on set.
- Be Honest: If you're ability to meet someones needs is limited, be honest. For example, we once had a production with an outdoor scene that would have been very difficult for the disabled people cast, so we worked around it with the production and made sure the talent were in other scenes. If you're upfront, the talent can let you know what they can do, and understand your perspective, it's better to be honest and make things work within what's possible, than set high hopes that can't be delivered.
- Ask Questions: Don’t be afraid to ask questions! It promotes connection, understanding, and inclusivity, ensuring disabled people can participate in the production. If you have questions you can reach out to All is for All at any time, NZFC also has some amazing resources about their Access Coordinators, and BBC has some fantastic resources.
Our team is privileged to support disabled talent in Aotearoa. When we have the opportunity, we support shoots and sets to be accessible.
“Every set that I have been on has been a safe, comfortable environment with positive energy all around and people being absolutely professional around me and everyone having a good time and making the job enjoyable and people being respectful and kind towards me and also attending to my every need on the set and making it quite memorable for me . I have loved working with different people on the different sets and have learned a lot off camera and on camera in terms of the way that they use different equipment and also the different techniques that they have taught me. ”
Mamie Rose Macdonald
Model, Advocate, Disabled Talent
By welcoming accessibility and inclusion, we can improve the creative process, and bring more benefits to the sector, and audiences. Moving forward, we in Aotearoa have the chance to help shape a more diverse and inclusive media landscape, where every story is valued and shared. This requires disabled people, and industry, to both do their part.
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