 Welcome everybody. My name is Dan I am the director of development and program for the bed for playoffs. We hope you enjoyed the screening of best summer ever. I'm not here to listen to me talk so I'm going to turn it over to our moderator. Kerry Nakamura. And also with us tonight are will hobby. And you guys may recognize Jake Walton. I hope so. So I will now carry it's your show I'm going to disappear into the background and let you guys. Well I guess we can we can start with you know whatever. You know questions I guess maybe the audience might have. Are they able to ask questions. They are actually I'm going to go over to the other side and field questions for them. Okay, I will pass them along to you so want to use if you have a question why don't you start and I'll collect some questions. Okay. So I guess will one question that I had was what what who came who came up with this idea for this for this movie and the story. Oh, it that that is a point of great contention. A lot of people will take credit for that. You know, we're such a we're such a crew at Zeno like everybody's kind of such good friends and we've all been doing film and theater together for so long. But ideas just kind of bubble up organically in the group and and the idea of doing a musical film and kind of going bigger than any movie we've ever done before. It's very just kind of like everybody was excited about it and and in our community grease and footloose and high school musical and all these all these sort of classic to high school musical are so popular and and we just were like we really need to we need to make our own and put a spin on it. It was it was really amazing. How, how was the process of, you know, once you had the story, then you had an idea of, you know, in terms of, you know, who or possibly who you were looking for in casting all of those roles what was that process like. Well, it was a little bit of, you know, we have these characters that we want in the movie and we and we wrote them sort of very specifically for, you know, people that we knew so Jake I think is a really good example. Jake's always interested in playing an antagonistic character and he loves sort of like lurky people like that and so it was just like really obvious that Jake would play Cody and and then and then what's cool is that you know we kind of talk about story with Jake and workshop and and Jake really developed that character. You know, through his own through his own jakeness and and and that's true with a lot of a lot like I'd say most of the characters in the movie, there were some so Shannon. And we, we casted Shannon through a pretty traditional casting process, because that was a specific character that needed to do very specific things to move the story along so we were so lucky to find Shannon I mean she's just she's the star as far as I'm concerned and she really is the breakout and Jake of course, she was amazing and Jake I think you're you're genuine interest in that kind of role really really came out and and it was it was just so it was so wonderful to watch your character in this movie. There is a question. The question is what is your experience with quote unquote traditional film production and what adjustments did you have to make to achieve the results. Oh, it's funny because my wife because we've been making these movies for about 1213 years now and every year will make, you know, sort of as you know movie and they're all in this same sort of idea of just very integrated whimsical and fun movies and and and my wife would say to me once she said, when are you going to make a real movie. I'm like, these are real movies these are very real. I think like my experience is this is all I know, as far as filmmaking goes, making movies in this genre with this community and I wouldn't have any other way it's it's it's the most fun I can imagine having on a movie set and and I think people who who make regular movies and joined our crew would agree to that. There's a documentary that we shot of all behind the scenes and the process of making the movie, which I'd be happy to share with with the audience, when, if I can get a list or something. Awesome. Yeah, there is another question but just to, I guess piggyback on that other question that that first question is, you know, for me as an occupational therapist, you know the one thing that I noticed was, you know, the different types of adaptive equipment and, you know, assistive technology that was that was used. And so, on the set, did you find that there were certain adjustments environmentally that needed to be to be made or were certain scenes modified to accommodate certain certain needs or equipment. Yeah, but I mean for us that's just our world like like, you know, there's no there's no sort of like adjustments from any, you know, normal like like everything we do is adapted so that everybody can be included. That's just that's just your standard. That's just our world and Jake I think can speak to that because he's very involved with with with with with sort of film and things like that that are tailored specifically to people with sensory issues so Jake do you want to talk about that at all. Okay. Well, once upon a time people with disabilities were hardly noticed but nowadays, we're bringing more and more awareness to these people. Xeno creates an inclusive environment for both people with and without disabilities. But making a film like best summer ever is the is a very, very big step. Yeah, absolutely. There is a question. There are a few questions. Well, the net there's another how long does it take to write the scripts and the answer Jake had provided was probably a year or months. Yeah, I mean, we would we sort of batted the idea around for a year so we actually did a play. You remember the play best summer ever Jake, who did you play in the in the in the in the stage version of best summer ever. Unlike the film. I was in a minor role as one of the football jocks. Right, right. That's right. Yeah, so we did a play version and kind of played with all the ideas and batted around and like I mentioned like it evolves, you know, so so in the middle of shooting, you know, Jake will will will add lib something or or he's like, I think Cody would do this something that's completely different than than what we had intended and it's and it's usually better. Awesome. Yeah. So Jake how long have you been acting because it seems like will like you have known Jake for for some time you had you had a vision for the character for him so I guess my question to Jake and also about the other characters you know how long have how long have you been acting. Well, I've been acting since I was at summit camp, which is up in Pennsylvania. I played many roles, beginning with a British soldier in Pirates of the Caribbean the curse of the black pearl and summit camp I was Peter in the lion the witch in the wardrobe. And I played. I also played the man behind the curtain in the Wizard of Oz, but one of my big steps into acting was as the scarecrow in the Wizard of Oz in my senior year of high school. It made my heart glow. Wow, then at Zeno Mountain Farm, I was jack the hippie and hit the road jack. I played a surly father in high school reunion the musical. I played a Coughlin brother in bullet through the musical. Zeno was also where I got my first big film roles in finding Zach Efron I played the good guy, which was amazing as a catapulted me into the world of film. And it really made my heart and soul soar in bulletproof which was a stepping stone to bringing America's attention to Zeno. I played ever at this conniving lawyer. Back to stage in Greece I was Danny Zuko in summer nights the story of Danny and Sandy which was a prequel to Greece I played Danny Zuko. In 2015, I think I love you, which was about a West Side Story Romeo and Juliet as conflicts between the Brady bunch and the Partridge family I played hero Keith Partridge. In 2016's best summer ever as you said I played a jock. In 2017's Jeff, in 2017's television or something I played a papa. Of course in best summer ever the film that was first made in 2017 I played Cody, who I described as the school meathead. In 2018's Justin time play time travel film I played a time travel show I played a pessimistic brother who goes back in time. And then there was Jaws the musical. This is the third time I played a truly wicked character in this case a greedy landlord and to ace up my acting chops I used Mark Hamill as the inspiration for the developers sinister voice. Wow. And then in 2020 I was in the cyber play. I was in the cyber play. Star Trek into the zoom a verse. Very interesting. Oh, I almost forgot in Peter and the star catcher. This NYU production of this Peter Pan prequel I played. I play Mac a sailor. I played general Kelly, who was a, who is this pirate. I wanted to, since my character was more of was a bit of a thug. I used the troll from Harry Potter. I used the, the monsters from quest for Camelot and I also used. I used the guard from the line of which in the wardrobe is inspirations for bringing this guy to life. And in the Cape, which was a cautionary environmental tale, I played Professor Wallace this eccentric scientist who tends to a sick mermaid. But Cody is my huge breakthrough. So it sounds like you've played so many different roles which you know I'm looking and I see now there are two questions so the question starts it says is Jake interested in pursuing acting as a career and what was the biggest challenge during production. I'm, I'm really interested in taking acting as a job. Although I also enjoy screenwriting. So part of playing Cody was figuring out how to get into this character, because as an actor you've got to come out of your comfort zone. As well as adding your own touch to the character to play Cody, I had to step into the shoes of this character. And I had to give this character some motive, some purpose. He's someone. I wanted to portray this character someone who's nursed a grudge against Tony for taking a spot is stark water back. I wanted his motives to be very understandable. Jake would Jake will on set he'll, he'll between shoots he'll, he'll, he'll come up with scenarios that aren't even in the script and sort of like how would Cody react if, if, if, you know, if, if, if Beth tried to kiss him like like he would, and he's constantly developing a character between shoots and always sort of like, like going way deeper than, than, than, I think it's like being on set with Daniel Day Lewis I think like seriously like he really becomes Cody. He'll, you'll eat dinner with him and he'll, he'll speak as Cody, you know, just constantly, you know, smoothing the edges of the characters. What was so interesting about this too is that when there is like a, you know, like a big football, you know, part of the story, and you're thinking about the star, you know, it was interesting how the kicker was the star and it wasn't highlighted in the quarterback where typically in movies, you know, it's it's usually the QB. And when Jake first comes out in that scene, it was very clear, like in his facial expression his like body acting that, you know, that that drudge like showed through like toward towards, you know, towards the kicker. Hold on, there's a question that just came through. Oh, where, where can the doc, where can the documentary, the one that you mentioned will, when will it be viewed. We're just putting captions on it right now and color correction and that stuff. But I think in another week or so it'll be ready and I'm happy to share a link with everybody. Yes, and to your point about the kicker like we thought it would be really fun to have the kicker be the star, you know, and and and it just it just was like it was just sort of like a fun way to twist it up. Plus, if if if he was the quarterback he would have to it you can't you have to really work hard to be the quarterback and because his commitment wasn't so much with football. It made sense. He's had this gift that he was so almost like, you know, he fell into being a star rather than something that he really pursued. Yeah, no and his and his the that little sites, the side story about him was, you know, was great that kind of made it all flow. There's another question. Oh, Jake, what is your favorite movie. Oh boy. Oh boy. Is that one favorite. How much time do you have plenty of one of my favorites is the Wizard of Oz because this role in my senior year of high school was a stepping stone to propelling me into the world of acting. Oh, and I forgot to mention another stage performance I was in a camper in Welcome to Camp and I played the king of the Martians and Martian mayhem the musical. I'm a huge fan of Disney films. I'm also a huge fan of Pixar and I love comedies fantasy Western and sci-fi. Wow so it's like a whole range. So if you had to pick one what would it be favorite live action film Wizard of Oz. Favorite animated film. It's really hard to pick, but probably. There are so many. Well, a tie between Beauty and the Beast and the Lion King, their film would have to be. Every Pixar film would have to be toy story three. These are those are deep stories with a lot of emotion. Oh, there's another. Get to that. Oh, so there's a common flash question. This was such a great film what do you hope audiences will take away from it. Like will and for Jake. I'll take a stab at that. It's it's it's sort of like we were talking about before offline. The whole idea of it of making a team musical that really leaned into the tropes and the and the and the storylines of other team musicals was to was to have the audience see something that they were familiar with but have it look completely different and have it look like something they've never seen before. So we've really wanted to sort of just just just play with that idea of something familiar yet totally alien. And I think like we we sort of a running tagline of our project has been we want to, we want to change the world while singing and dancing. And the idea of we wanted people to really think about what the world could look like, if we were more inclusive. And, but not to not to, you know, to hit anyone over the head with it just just sort of like let, let that idea simmer by by showing people what what a world could look like rather than, you know, saying this is what you should do or this is how you should to really that and that's that's what's great about the musical, you know, genre in general is it's it's so playful and, and there's this suspension of disbelief with the music I mean in the middle of the of a scene like people start seeing and dancing and everyone knows the words and and you just accept that. So we wanted that same sort of spirit to be like yes we're just going to accept this world as as a functioning normal amazing world, even though it looks like a different world the world that we've never seen before. Well, let's just say that best summer ever I hope people can take away from it is that we not only can raise the bar for inclusivity and disability awareness. So cinema and art can push the boundaries of our capabilities. Just as bulletproof is a love letter to classic Western films best summer ever is, of course, a love letter to classic high school movies. And it proves that even classic genres can be inclusive when it comes to people with and without disabilities. Yep. Oh, there's an okay there's another question these are good questions. What is your feeling about how people with differences have been portrayed in mainstream movies and television shows that's a great question. It is, you know, and it's typically, you know, the typical movie storyline that involves disability is a movie that's usually really sappy and inspirational. And all too often star someone without a disability portraying someone with a disability, and it's all about the disability. You know, it's like this is their, their challenge and their arc is overcoming it or even worse. It's, it's the impact that being around them has on a non disabled person and it's, it's, it's, you see these things over and over and over again and we have to flip that completely by making a fun movie that isn't about disability that that is entirely inclusive and stars people with disabilities. So yes, the Hollywood has failed, you know, 20% of the world, or in the United States of people identifies having a disability. It's, it's less than 2%, maybe even 1% of roles are people with disabilities, and, and of those, most of those are, you know, portrayed by people without disabilities pretending to have a disability. Yeah, yeah, Hollywood has, has, has, has failed. It's, it's, it's, you know, for all the, all the back slapping Hollywood's giving themselves about being more diverse and, and they, they have a long way to go when it comes to disability. Yeah, I just one thing, you know, that I will say, I started to talk about it offline, but, you know, one thing that's notable, and that was also, you know, while watching it was just, you know, very, very, it was like reality to me was that it's not only diverse with, you know, the, with those with disabilities and those without not, you know, neurotypical and, and, and, and not, but also just, you know, just racial diversity as well it was, it was, it was almost like you just you saw, you saw everyone and, and like you said it just had that, that fun element to it and it was on the story and people's feelings and not on. Yeah. Yeah, I think like if you look at like the arc of gay characters over the last, you know, 20 years or so. You know, you know, in the 80s and 90s it was like if there was a gay character was all about them being gay. And today, gay characters who just happen to be gay and it's not part of the challenge or the story it's just that's who they are. It's the real world. And we would like to see a world where where, you know, people just happen just like people happen to have disabilities in the real world like there should that should be demonstrated on film. Yes, amazing. There's another question here it says, does ZMF ever see themselves doing some sort of episodic series. Not right now, you were pretty burnt out from, from filmmaking because this was such a beast of a project. And then we got hit with the pandemic. Because it actually we finished it a little over a year ago and we were going to go to South by Southwest 2019 or 2020 and and then the pandemic hit so it's it's been a rough year for filmmaking in general but but definitely a sort of a whiplash for us. But we've talked about it I think the way it would look would be making a movie and then an episodic series about the making of the movie, like like sort of like what it takes like an episode about the script writing and episode about casting and then the development of the project throughout. Well, you mentioned, you know, that the making of this film wrapped up before the pandemic how soon before the pandemic did it wrap up, because I can only imagine, you know, the bonds that you've all. I mean you may have had bonds already like some of you prior to you know making this movie but I just think, you know, as a group, and just spending all that time together and then to have to, you know, and then also have those, you know, those limitations to not be together and see each other. You know what was that experience like for both of you. Jake. Any questions. No, do you want to talk, do you want to talk about what. Well, well, when we were doing best summer ever. It was like entering another magical realm. And usually they put up a, they put up a fake set when they film something, but when we were filming in an actual high school. It was like entering a real high school. It was like I was entering the film itself. When I played Cody I was able to come out of my comfort zone to play the character I wouldn't usually play. So my character is a bit of a stooge and a bully. But to reiterate I had to get into this character's corner shooting the film being in the film was at some times challenging shooting in the rain. I was able to get into the scene with the quarrel between Tony and the jocks and staying up late past midnight to do the nighttime scenes, especially the finale. Right. The dance and also the very end you're referring to. Yeah, well, it was it was four in the morning when we wrap the finale scene. Wow. Yeah, and we stayed up all night long for the for the scene at the dance scene in the street. Yeah, I'll just about the about the about COVID and our community it's been it's been tough I think I think sadly disability can be isolating. In general, but in a pandemic. It's been worse and and and we've been we've been doing cyber zoom camps throughout this entire. In fact, Jake's wearing one of our cyber camp t shirts, just to stay connected because because our we are we are a tight crew at Zeno Mountain Farm, like family so so it's it's it's been really hard. I think it's been really hard and and rolling out the movies particularly this one that really needs to be seen with an audience in a theater, you know, sharing energy and and experiencing that has been has been really sad to not be able to do that so I'm really looking forward to, to showing it to people live. Yeah, I think it will be amazing, you know, I, I think in these times, even though there's been, you know, a lot of progress made over the last year, little over a year it's been, you know, it's it's been very challenging and, you know, and traumatic at times. And, you know, at this time right now I wasn't sure, you know, we were all going to be live, you know, together to see this or if it was if it was going to be zoom also so I think we're on our way and I think, you know, I just I just look forward to, you know, more people to see this movie in the way that you don't want it to happen. Yeah, we'll come to the Bedford Playhouse. As soon as we can and do a big blowout screening there for everyone. Oh, that would be awesome. Yeah, that'll be super fun. You can't wait. We're going to hold you to that well. Good. No, I mean, I've already talked to you're on record can't wait. Yeah, well I want to I wanted to say thank you to all you guys for taking your time this evening. Great. Jake you've got me thinking about Keith Partridge now which I haven't done in quite a long time. And we have recorded tonight so we will be sharing the recording. If there's any part of it that anybody wants to revisit. It'll be up on our YouTube channel in the next couple of days. And certainly, I should mention also will if there's any links you want to share to direct people to other content. Please feel free to forward it and we'll share that as well. Thank you so much. Thank you. And this is really great. And I just want to mention we have we have one more program left in our autism awareness week tomorrow afternoon at three o'clock we're doing a series about autism and adulthood. It's been a really great week so far this is just another great event that we've had in the whole string of them so I'm sure it will go out with with a bang. So we really appreciate everybody's time for this and we look forward to the next project. This was amazing. I loved I loved meeting you and the movie is amazing. Thank you. It's great to meet you too. Good to see you Jake. Thank you. In a minute. Yeah. Have a great night everybody. Yes. Thank you.