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Annenberg Inclusion Initiative

@inclusionists

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Led by @drstacylsmith
Passionate about eradicating inequality & ending invisibility in entertainment.
📍@uscannenberg | 📧 [email protected]

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Are you a touring professional, artist, crew member, or someone working in the live music industry in the past 5 years? The USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative is conducting a new research study that aims to better understand the realities of balancing parenthood, caregiving, and touring.

Whether you’re a parent, caregiver, considering parenthood, or simply have a perspective to share, every story matters. Your insights will help shape solutions to better support life on the road.

The survey is voluntary, anonymous, and takes approximately 20 minutes to complete – you can pause and return to it any time using the same browser.

Add your voice and share with others to help shape the future of the industry! Link to the survey is in our bio.

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Interdependence is committed to creating an inclusive and accessible film set, with a dedicated Accessibility Coordinator helping ensure everyone feels supported, valued, and empowered. 🤗

But what does accessibility on a film set actually look like?

Hear from @kivvlesandbits , our Accessibility Coordinator, as she shares how we’re putting inclusion into action behind the scenes!

#accessibilitymatters #inclusion #disabilityawarness #mentalheathawareness #accessibility

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On this World Mental Health Day, we want to share just how grateful we are to @inclusionists —not only for selecting Interdependence as one of two scripts to receive a grant to bring our film to life, but for creating a grant specifically dedicated to stories centered on mental health and disability.

Mental health and disability are still too often stigmatized, misunderstood, or left out of the stories we see on screen. Creating space—and resources—for filmmakers to tell these stories matters.

A huge thank you to Dr. Stacy Smith, Katherine Pieper, and Kristen Bell for your leadership and for helping create a world where conversations around mental health and disability aren’t taboo.

We also want to celebrate @chloeantofficial and her film @inkwormfilm our fellow grant recipient! We’re so honored to be on this journey alongside you.

Here’s to more stories that reflect the full spectrum of our experiences—and to more authentic representations of mental health and disability on screen. ❤️

And… introducing our new drawing of Zoe and Leo, courtesy of Allison’s mom 🤗❤️

#WorldMentalHealthDay #Interdependence #MentalHealth #DisabilityRepresentation #MentalHealthAwareness

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And now for our final cast announcement…

Who will be playing Daniel, Leo’s art teacher—and the man Zoe finds herself drawn to, even as her responsibilities as Leo’s caregiver make her question whether there’s room in her life for a relationship of her own?

We are so excited to announce that @albertofrezza will be taking on the role of Daniel!

Alberto is an Italian-American actor known for his role on ABC’s Station 19 and for Freeform’s Dead of Summer. He has also appeared in The Flight Attendant and Law & Order: Organized Crime. Most recently, he stepped into the video game world of Mafia: The Old Country as Luca Trapani, underboss and right-hand man to Don Bernardo Torrisi.

Here’s what Alberto shared about joining the cast of Interdependence:

“I was drawn to Interdependence because it tells a story about something I think we can all relate to. The instinct to take care of the people we love, sometimes at the expense of ourselves. I loved that the film challenges the idea that being strong means doing everything on your own. There’s something really beautiful about realizing that love is also about allowing other people to show up for you. That message really stayed with me, and it made this a story I wanted to be a part of.”
— Alberto Frezza

We couldn’t be more excited to have Alberto round out our cast and bring Daniel and this part of Zoe’s story to life. ❤️

And with that… our Interdependence cast is complete. We can’t wait to share more with you as we get closer to production!

#shortfilm #mentalhealthawareness #disabilityawareness #mentalhealth #filmmaking

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So, who will be playing Zoe, Leo’s older sister, in Interdependence?

We are so excited to announce that @mollyjmccook will be taking on the role of Zoe!

Molly is an incredible actress known for her work on Fox’s Last Man Standing, Freeform’s Good Trouble, and the TV movie Candy Coated Christmas.

But Molly’s connection to Interdependence goes beyond the role. The themes at the heart of the film—mental health, disability, family, and the complexities of caring for someone you love—are deeply personal to her. We will share more of her connection in a future post.

Here’s what Molly shared about why she wanted to play Zoe:

“A huge goal in my life is to help further the conversation and understanding of mental health, mental illness, and disability. To do whatever I can to destigmatize the topic and help educate through art. I love this story and empathize and relate to Zoe in so many ways. I can’t wait to bring this relationship to life.”

— Molly McCook

We can’t wait to see Molly and Cole bring Zoe and Leo—and their beautiful, complicated sibling relationship—to life. ❤️

#interdependence #mentalhealthawareness #disabiltyawareness #shortfilm inclusi

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We’re a little over a month away from production on Interdependence, and we are SO EXCITED to finally start introducing our cast!

First up: Who will be playing Leo, the younger brother in Interdependence, and the heart of the film?

We’re thrilled to announce that @colesibus will be taking on the lead role of Leo!

Cole is an actor known for his work on ABC’s Stumptown, the miniseries A Thousand Tomorrows, and the film Spare Room.

Cole also has Down syndrome, and in honor of Down Syndrome Awareness Month, it felt especially meaningful to begin our cast announcements with him.

When we asked Cole what excited him about playing Leo, here’s what he had to say:

“I love acting and I wanted to play Leo because I know what it’s like to have a sister you’re really close to. I love that Leo gets to be the little brother, but he also gets to take care of his sister.”

— Cole Sibus

We can’t wait for you to meet Leo. ❤️

More cast announcements coming soon!

#interdependence #downsyndrome #downsyndromeawarenessmonth #shortfilm #filmmaking

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Are you a touring professional, artist, crew member, or someone working in the live music industry in the past 5 years? Dr. Stacy L. Smith and the USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative are conducting a research study that aims to better understand the realities of balancing parenthood, caregiving, and touring.

Your insights will help shape solutions to better support life on the road. The survey is voluntary, takes approximately 20 minutes to complete and is anonymous. Add your voice and share with others to help shape the future of the industry!

👉 Access the survey at the link in bio or bit.ly/parenthoodsurvey

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A few months ago, Interdependence was just words on a page. Now, we’re making a movie!!

I’m incredibly grateful that the script was selected as a winner of the USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative’s Mental Health Accelerator, which gave us funding to bring this story to life.

And now I’m getting to experience one of my favorite parts of filmmaking: watching the little details I imagined while writing become real.

Over the next few months, I’m bringing you behind the scenes as we turn Interdependence from a script into a short film—and sharing what it takes to make a story about mental health, disability, connection, and how much we need one another.

Here we go 🤗👏🎬💙

#Interdependence #ShortFilm #Filmmaking #MentalHealth #DisabilityRepresentation

@inclusionists @kristenanniebell

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Since thru hiking the Appalachian Trail, I have fallen in love with hiking, backpacking, camping, and solo adventures. The trail still feels like home to me.

After tubing down the river, I decided to change my water shoes for my hiking shoes.I was hiking in the mountains when I realized I was not far from the Appalachian Trail. So, of course, I decided to hike on it.

I parked my car and began hiking up a gravel road toward Beauty Spot in Tennessee, where I could connect with the AT. Cars passed me on the road, but I did not think much about it at first.

Then, once I was on the Appalachian trail alone, I noticed several large flatbed trucks heading up the mountain. There was even an ATV. My mind immediately began doing what it has learned to do: assess safety before comfort.

I thought, Somebody told somebody there is a Black woman up here hiking alone. Are they coming to hang me from a tree and call it suicide?

I hid briefly behind a large tree, then decided it was time to get off that mountain. I did not casually hike back down. I pretty much ran down the mountain. trying to get back to my car before anyone could find me.

When I got there, I paused. The fearless Dragonfly spoke to me. My place was standing on beauty spot and nothing is going to stop me. I was determined to see Beauty Spot and I wasn’t going to let anyone stop me. So I got in my Jeep, faced my fear, and drove up that isolated gravel road.

And do you know what I found?

The crowd of people were celebrating and engagements. In fact, there were two engagements on Beauty Spot.

I was wrong about what was happening, and I am grateful I was wrong. But, I wish I did not have to carry those thoughts in the first place.

Fear is not always irrational when you are a Black woman traveling and hiking alone. Sometimes it is simply the quiet calculation you make to stay alive in a world that has taught you to be aware of your environment.

While I was happy that I was wrong. I still have to operate with way more precaution as a Black woman hiker.

Welcome to the new America where hanging Black people from trees is not so uncommon these days.

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Break-taker and the Guard. 💗

Zoe, a night-shift nurse, and Leo, her younger brother with Down syndrome, have recently lost their mother. In the aftermath, Zoe struggles to navigate her role as a caregiver, while Leo wrestles with his desire for greater independence.

Throughout the story, they both begin to discover what “interdependence” really means. This drawing by Leo becomes a symbol of his wishes—and of what they’re learning to give one another.

Interdependence is a short film written by @allison2names and selected for the inaugural Mental Health Accelerator program from the USC Annenberg @inclusionists initiative, under the leadership of Stacy L. Smith, and @kristenanniebell 💙

Through the program, Allison was awarded to bring the film to life.

Follow us for updates as we move through casting, pre-production, production, and post-production. <3

Directors: @allison2names & @seantwonames  Producers: @rockiducharme, @kodyleibowitz, Allison, & Sean @birdminestories
DP: @dp_yellen

Picture credit: Allison’s mom, Mindy ❤️✨

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🖋️🕸️✍🏽 INKWORM Director’s Statement! Follow to stay up-to-date on casting, BTS, and all the incredible places this vivid story about an artist’s OCD spiral goes! #inkworm #kristenbell #uscannenberg #usc #filmmaking

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What a difference a decade can make 🎬⁠
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The Annenberg Inclusion Initiative’s 2016 and 2026 data captures a decade of relative growth of women's representation across directing, writing, producing, and composing for film!⁠
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Gatherer Enterprises began investing heavily in the female audience experience grounded in a belief we still hold today: women are consumers, not a cause 👏⁠
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Over a decade later, we’re celebrating an industry with more women shaping the stories audiences see—and we’re excited to see where the next 10 years take us!⁠
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Sources: Annenberg Inclusion Initiative Inequality Reports (2016 & 2026)

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