A new study from Inevitable Foundation (IF) points to disabled people as a key demographic that could provide revenue the entertainment industry needs— if only movie theaters were more accessible.
According to the report, titled The Adaptive Cinema Opportunity, 82% of people surveyed would go to the movies more often if theaters were more accessible, and 65% of those surveyed would rather go out to a theater than stream a movie at home. However, only 4% of respondents said they’ve had their ideal accessibility needs met when they went to movie theaters in the last two years.
Saga Darnell, IF’s Head of Research and Public Affairs, told Able News that previous studies conducted by the organization have proved that disabled and nondisabled people alike prefer authentic representation in entertainment. But, Darnell pointed out, even if a movie has positive disability representation, it can’t be a box office hit if movie theaters aren’t accessible.
Given that over 28% of the U.S. population is disabled, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), this means that movie theater executives are largely ignoring a population that has about $21 billion in discretionary income that they could spend at the movies if not for accessibility issues.
“We can see really clearly how movie ticket sales would increase if the investment money that is going into developing movie theaters right now was spent on reclining chairs, [which] disabled audiences often need to sit in one place for two and a half hours,” said Darnell.
Reclining chairs are just one example they gave of an accommodation that would improve the disabled movie-going experience and benefit non-disabled people in the process. Other suggested accommodations included simplifying the digital ticket-buying experience and making theater accessibility information easier to find on websites.
The goal of much of IF’s research is to prove that entertainment executives are missing out on financial opportunities by not considering accessibility and authentic representation in all of its projects. Although inclusivity is inherently valuable, decision-makers in Hollywood are primarily concerned with the financial bottom line.
IF also provides grants directly to disabled writers and other creatives to help them address specific accessibility needs, whether their screenwriting software needs upgrading or they need a mini-fridge to store medication.
“Change starts in art, and then it makes its way through all the channels of society,” Ewan Hill, the Head of Operations at IF said.
People need to see disabled stories that they relate to on screen before they can go to local officials and organizations to make necessary changes. That’s also why IF recently launched the Visionary Fellowship to help fund five short films by disabled filmmakers and assist the teams in creating fully accessible sets.
“Hollywood is the place that starts the discussion,” said Cheryl Meyer, a TV and film writer who used funds from IF’s Elevate Collective grant for heated clothing to wear on a cold set, as well as guidance on writing a pilot featuring a character with her disability, about why it’s important to start the accessibility conversation in the entertainment industry.
“If Hollywood is the place that is showcasing different lived experiences of people with disabilities and spearheading accessibility and making it very clear that this is a need, then that will go into the office buildings of people watching the series, and then they’ll be able to talk about it,” she added.
TV and films are potentially powerful catalysts for societal change, which is why IF is focused on transforming seasoned writers into decision-makers on set, and ultimately bringing them into the zeitgeist of creative executives like Shonda Rhimes and Ryan Murphy.
“My wish is to kind of blow up the authentic representation conversation to that level, because my belief is the way that the cultural mindset shifts to seeing access as something that everyone needs is by disabled leaders and creative leaders being able to really make high-level narrative decisions about the kind of stories we’re consuming as a society,” Darnell said.