The Chances has just debuted at Sundance, giving a welcoming audience the first chance to see Josh Feldman and his writing partner and co-star Shoshannah Stern’s five-part series. It’s a show that’s interested in intersectionality, exploring deafness and sexuality, which is currently being developed as a TV series.
In the series, ‘Best friends Kate and Michael, who are deaf, try their best to see their friendship through new changes in their lives as Kate adjusts to being newly married, and Michael attempts to get over his ex-boyfriend.’
Feldman comments to NewNowNext, “Usually, deaf characters in film and television have been written by hearing people. So they often are written into episodes of shows strictly for that purpose: ‘Let’s make this patient of the week deaf’ or ‘Let’s have our lead fall in love with a deaf man [this week].’ These characters often have their deafness as their defining trait.”
However, he was keen to get past that, saying, “I want deaf characters to be portrayed like anybody else on television, as long as it’s authentic. With an entire backstory and a life to lead outside of the trait of not being able to hear. I’d love to see deaf roles of all kinds—good guys, villains, boring people, messy people. The more deaf people we see on television or in movies, the more familiar we will become to hearing people, which will make inclusivity that much easier.”
Take a look at the trailer below. [Read more…]