Chase Chambers and Brandon Simmoneau at 2023 Easterseals Disability Film Challenge's Awards Event
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Chase and Brandon filming a show outside.
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Chase and Brandon filming an episode of Bellyful at Mama Shelter in Hollywood.
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Chase and Brandon working on sound design Bellyful.
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Warehouse TV's founder, Chase Chambers, created a show called Deaf Code as a senior project and it won the prestigious Television Academy College Emmy Award! Certainly Chase would be able to find a job with that on his resume, right? After a year of interviews and introductory meetings with various productions, there were zero job offers. He was presented with several reasons why his being hired was not likely- being deaf was a liability, being unsure if communicating would affect production time, being unable to use a walkie talkie on set was a detriment, the fact that interpreters cost more than the job paid itself, and many other reasons. Despite offering several communication options, no one was willing to hire him.
Even though our society has made strides with the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act), Chase intensively researched the Act and came to the conclusion that films and productions in general were privately funded art projects, therefore they're within their rights to hire and reject whoever they want. |
An edit of Bellyful's Little Tokyo episode.
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The Television Academy finally provided a connection for Chase, helping him get a job as Office Production Assistant on a show called This Close. He then was hired as a Chief Editor for DPAN's LA branch. Both of these jobs were working solely with Deaf people. While he is very appreciative of these two major jobs, doors had hardly been opened. The experience he gained STILL didn't give him any more opportunities in the industry. Being deaf was still a "liability." Chase felt the need to fight this stigma around disabled people working in the film industry. There are many people competing for these jobs, but it's even more difficult when people won't look past a disability and see your skills. With this kind of gatekeeping rampant in the film industry, how can disabled people get experience and grow into professionals and find out what works and what doesn't?
Thus Chase saw the need for Warehouse TV. Here we aim to be the epicenter of change in the film industry! We want to be the place to go to to build your resumes with real experience and create powerful connections. Productions need to work in absolute guarantees and we are the sandbox for disabled people to find out what works and what doesn't so they can provide guarantees to future productions in their career.
We're working for the inclusion of a diverse population, emphasizing that people with disabilities are often excluded in the job market, and should be a part of the diversity mission along with everything under that umbrella already. We want people to realize that disability IS diversity.
Thus Chase saw the need for Warehouse TV. Here we aim to be the epicenter of change in the film industry! We want to be the place to go to to build your resumes with real experience and create powerful connections. Productions need to work in absolute guarantees and we are the sandbox for disabled people to find out what works and what doesn't so they can provide guarantees to future productions in their career.
We're working for the inclusion of a diverse population, emphasizing that people with disabilities are often excluded in the job market, and should be a part of the diversity mission along with everything under that umbrella already. We want people to realize that disability IS diversity.
