Link to the event here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFj3OmrQmfw
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You can access Wil’s recommended reading and sources document here: bit.ly/35t44Sl
The biggest, necessary demand across all media is the one for more, better, and sometimes ANY representation of marginalized and vulnerable people. What often gets lost in the fervor is nuance and depth in favor of avoiding the messiness, the hard truths, and the complex, traumatic lives and viewpoints people hold as a result of living in the world. This panell will talk about the importance of portraying situations like abusive queer relationships or mentally ill people of color going to therapy, and how to approach them both as a creator and as an audience.
This panel will be live-streamed on YouTube with live closed captioning and an ASL interpreter.
Ivuoma Okoro
Vega
Ivuoma Okoro is the writer, producer, and performer of the narrative fiction podcast Vega: A Sci-Fi Adventure!. After launching the show in late 2018, Vega won “Best Writing of a New Spoken Word Production” and “Best Performance of a New Spoken Word” in the 2019 Audioverse Awards. In addition to that, Ivuoma was invited to speak on Film Independent’s 2019 panel for narrative podcasts “Narrative Podcasts: Stories & Sound” in the spring of that year. The first season is now available in its entirety wherever podcasts are streamed!
Drew Denny
Asking For It (Mermaid Palace)
Drew Denny is passionate about telling groundbreaking stories with a focus on womxn and LGBTQ characters. Drew’s first podcast, Asking For It, combines her documentary ethos and her desire to authentically represent LGBTQ+ characters with her love of music. The team hope that this podcast will touch listeners who experience domestic abuse- to start a dialogue around queer domestic violence, to let survivors know they are not alone, to inspire folks in abusive relationships to seek help and to awaken perpetrators to the dangers of their behaviors. Drew is also the creative director of the 501c3 organization Allies in Arts, which provides support for artists in all mediums who identify as womxn, LGBTQQIA2S, and BIPOC.
Faith McQuinn
Boom, Margaritas and Donuts (Observer Pictures)
Faith has been a professional video editor and writer for nearly 15 years and taught film students for nine. After spending so many years helping other people realize their projects, she knew it was time to get back to making her own work. In 2015, she founded Observer Pictures in Nashville, Tenn. with the intent to make a new project every year. To date, she’s written and directed four short films and two audio dramas. She’s a huge space nerd and loves spending time with her family watching movies and playing games.
Wil Williams
Radio Drama Revival; VALENCE, Scoring Magic (Hug House Productions)
Wil Williams is a professional podcaster and podcast critic based in Phoenix, AZ. They are the co-founder of the podcast production house Hug House and co-creator of VALENCE, an urban fantasy fiction podcast, and Scoring Magic, the documentary that follows the creation of VALENCE. You can find them on Twitter at @wilw_writes, on sites like Polygon and Discover Pods, or yelling at strangers about how cool snails are.
Elena Fernández Collins
Radio Drama Revival, VALENCE
Elena Fernández Collins is a podcast critic and forensic sociolinguist living in Portland, OR. They host the podcast Radio Drama Revival, write about podcasts for their own website, The Bello Collective, The AV Club, Discover Pods, and curate their own newsletter, Audio Dramatic. You can find them spending too much time on Twitter @ShoMarq, where they would probably like to to talk to you about marketing, equity and justice, and reading way too many sci-fi and fantasy books.