Actor and writer Chris Bunton, who has Down Syndrome, said he didn’t have any role models on screen when he was a child.
But that changed.
“When I was a teenager, I saw ‘Glee’ and I thought to myself ‘I could be an actor’”, he said.
Bus Stop students Ashley Kuhle and Chris Bunton at the red carpet premiere of their films.
One company helping to promote that representation is Bus Stop films.
Since 2009, Bus Stop has been making films with, for and about people who have mild to moderate intellectual disabilities.
“About one in 20 people in Australia have a disability. But we're not seeing that representation on screen,” says Julian Neuhaus, an emerging filmmaker and tutor at Bus Stop Films.
“And we're definitely not seeing that representation behind the camera in production environments.”
Once a week over 40 weeks, Bus Stop holds its in some of Australia’s leading educational facilities. The program is taught by emerging filmmakers and industry professionals with the assistance of disability support workers.
Students learn film history, how to plan a shoot, on-set roles like sound recording and lighting, and they also star in each other’s short films that premiere at a red carpet graduation event. But it’s about so much more than that, says CEO Tracey Corbin-Matchett.
“There are so many other transformational outcomes: social skills, confidence, work-ready skills, taking direction, working in a team, and that sense of security that you get when you find your tribe.”
Mr Bunton, who has been in a number of films and appeared on television, has broadened his knowledge of the film industry through Bus Stop.
“Bus stop films allows us to learn about the craft of filmmaking from the script to the screen with industry professionals,” he said.
When I was a teenager, I saw ‘Glee’ and I thought to myself, I could be an actor.Chris Bunton, student
Bus Stop is not just about the students. Through representation on screen and on set, the aim is to change public perceptions around the contribution to society that people with disability can make.
“The perceptions that we need to change are: how we are judged and how society assumes we are not capable,” Mr Bunton said.
Tutor Julian Neuhaus (left) teaching Seamus Trompetter how to frame a shot
From 2024, films in contention for a Best Picture Oscar will be a range of on- and- off-screen diversity and inclusion thresholds.
Bus Stop graduates have scored production roles on commercials, reality TV and Marvel’s Thor.
The films they’ve worked on have won almost 90 awards, including Best Live Action Short at Chicago International Children’s Film Festival for Stairs and at The Extraordinary Film Festival in Belgium.
“The top end of town is coming to us to connect with our students. They recognise the amazing wealth of talent. They also recognise the importance and impact of diversity,” said Ms Corbin-Matchett.
We can't wait to win an Oscar one day.Dianna La Grassa, COO
While a new wave of diversity quotas washing over the industry might seem like a much-needed course correction, some see them as a blunt instrument; given that people with physical or cognitive disabilities, LGBTIQ+ people, and ethnically diverse people are all bundled into one diversity category.
When it comes to acquiring support for films from state and national funding bodies, Bus Stop COO Dianna La Grassa says that although well-intentioned, “quotas can sometimes pit minority groups against each other.”
The reality of major filmmaking today is that women are still so rare in some production roles that they are considered a ‘diversity category’.
“In all my years producing films, I’ve met one female gaffer (the chief lighting technician on set),” said Ms La Grassa.
As the saying goes, you have to ‘see it to be it’, and Ms Corbin-Matchett thinks anyone should have the right to aim for any job they want.
“Traditionally, people with a disability have just been placed into any job. Tick a box. That’s it. But everyone has the right to work in a job that they love.”
Ms La Grassa said the company has big dreams.
"We can't wait to win an Oscar one day."
