Deborah Calla, Media Access Awards, Celebrating the Contributions of People With Disabilities

In this episode of OWC RADiO, host Cirina Catania, talks with Writer/Producer and activist, Deborah Calla. Deborah is CEO and Chair of the Media Access Awards (MAA), which she producers with Allan Rucker. The MAA is one of Hollywood's major awards events originally created by Norman Lear and Fern Field, honoring people in the entertainment industry who advance the portrayal and employment of people with disabilities.  In 2018, the MAA entered into a partnership with Easterseals of Southern California, the oldest US organization fighting for the rights and education of people with disabilities. Deborah is the founder of Calla Productions, an international company working in the US and abroad to produce and develop feature films, television programming, commercial campaigns, web content and social activism. Deborah and Cirina met years ago when Deborah served as the chair of the Producers Guild of America Diversity Committee (from 2004 to 2018). It was the Producer's Guild mandate to create programs that would educate, promote and provide opportunities for diverse talent including the very successful Producers Guild of America Diversity Masters Workshop. She is also the Brazil Chair of the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media.  In that capacity, Deborah lectures, creates workshops and presentations on gender equality, and the foundation's work. Deborah is the producer/writer of "Chicano Artists" (HBO Latino), "2019 Media Access Awards" (KNEKT TV), "2018 Media Access Awards" (KNEKT TV),  "A Beautiful Life" (Showtime), "You Got Served: Beat the World" (Sony), "Romeo & Juliet Redux" (Freeform),  "Stolen Loves" (Globo series adaptation for the US market),  "Carnival in Rio" (Travel Channel),  "Lost Zweig" (TV Cultura), "Dream House" (Paramount) among others. She is also a published author. For more information about our amazing sponsor, Other World Computing, go to MacSales.com or OWCDigital.com, where you’ll find hardware and software solutions and tutorial videos that will get you up and running in no time. For more about our host, filmmaker, tech maven and co-founder of the Sundance Film Festival, Cirina Catania, visit cirinacatania.com. If you enjoy our podcast, please subscribe and tell all your friends about us! We love our listeners. And, if you have ideas for segments, write to [email protected]. Cirina is always up for new ideas! In This Episode * 00:13 - Cirina introduces Deborah Calla, CEO and Chair of the Media Access Awards (MAA), and the founder of Calla Productions, an international company working to produce and develop feature films, television programming, commercial campaigns,