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Meet The Biz
Meet The Biz is dedicated to developing educational opportunities and accessible resources for actors – with and without disabilities – through workshops that connect them with entertainment industry professionals willing to share their knowledge and advice. The program fosters learning, engagement and networking, and provides the tools for developing skills needed to work in the entertainment industry as actors and other related professions.
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Media Access Awards
The Media Access Awards (MAA) celebrate this fact by honoring, highlighting, and promoting disability and its representation in film, television, and new media. The goal is to recognize depictions of disability that are accurate, inclusive, and multi-faceted. "I want to thank the SAG AFTRA National PWD Committee, Easterseals, and the Media Access Awards for this beautiful and magificent honor. It is one of the best awards in the world to receive." David Zimmerman
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Hunny Bunny: The Film
Hunny-Bunny is a film about a couple with Down syndrome, Blair and Susie, entering their 16th year of true love. Through the good and the bad, ups and downs this relationship thrives. Their love is something that we all wish we had. Created as part of the Disability Film Challenge.
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KRYPTONITE
Old flames Imani (Shanice) and Alex (Ryan Lane) reconnect after being estranged for over 2 years. Imani has news that will change Alex's life forever and together they must come to an acceptance of their new reality. Shanice (the Grammy nominated Singer, Songwriter - "I Love Your Smile" & Actress "Les Miserables” on Broadway) and Ryan Lane (Switched at Birth, Veronica Mars, iZombie) star in “Kryptonite” made for the Easterseals Disability Film Challenge and now in the festival circuit. Directed by Cameron S. Mitchell, Edited by Kevin Kegham, and Produced/Executive Produced by Penni Wilson and David S. Zimmerman
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Performing Arts Studio West
Founded in 1998, Performing Arts Studio West (PASW) provides hands-on individualized training, career management, and on-location support for performers with intellectual disabilities working in film, television and commercials. Our year round training program gives each performer the chance to explore their creativity, test their courage, show their determination and build their self-esteem. PASW is a non-profit affiliated arts program funded by the State of California Department of Developmental Services through the Regional Centers of the Greater Los Angeles Area.
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My Next Breath
My Next Breath focuses on a unique acting class in Hollywood. An extraordinary group of performers embark on an emotional adventure to create a film based on their lives. They bare their souls and act out their most personal stories. A collection of beautifully performed and filmed stories bound together in a celebration of life, love, laughter and tears, but most of all, ability.
David S. Zimmerman
Producer, Casting Director, Teacher, Coach, Writer, Actor, Director
David has been coaching actors and putting together workshops for over two decades. He is the Creator and Producer of the "MEET THE BIZ" workshops, which looks to make diversity a common place and bridges the gap between ability and disability. As a personal coach, he has been hired by production companies such as Ryan Murphy's ground breaking series NIP/TUCK and worked on Michael Patrick King's, LOVE YOU MORE.
As a Casting Director his credits include the Showtime pilots and Star Price Productions "PROJECT X" and "SHADOW POINT", as well as the popular series "PENN & TELLER'S BULLSHIT." He has also cast feature films including "FIGHTING WORDS" and "CAROL OF THE BELLS", produced by Joey Travolta and Inclusion Films and starring RJ Mitte, Lee Purcell, Donna Mills, Andrea Friedman Donna Pescow and Geri Jewell. Zimmerman has also enjoyed working with Lifetime TV, Mark Wolper Productions, and Time Life Productions.
You can also see him on the screen as an actor in such films as "HIDE", "MEET THE FOCKERS", the webseries, "CHILD OF THE '70s", and as the Voice of Jason, in the award winning animated short, HEAVENLY PEACE, directed and produced by Andreas Wessel-Therhorn.
In 2007, David was honored at the 25th Annual Media Access Awards at Universal Studios Globe Theatre with the MEDIA ACCESS AWARD OF MERIT along with Norman Lear, Stevie Wonder, and others. In 2013, the "MEET THE BIZ" program was incredibly honored to receive a grant from the CHRISTOPHER & DANA REEVE FOUNDATION through the ACTORS FOR AUTISM and a grant from the FRIENDS OF CALIFORNIANS WITH DISABILITIES, INC for the "40 Series". For his consistent work in bringing people together, David was honored with the prestigious 2022 SAG AFTRA DISABILITY AWARENESS AWARD by the SAG AFTRA National People with Disabilities (PWD) Committee at the 2022 MEDIA ACCESS AWARDS.
He has worked in connection with Mary Rings BORN TO ACT PLAYERS, ACTORS FOR AUTISM, THE SCREEN ACTORS GUILD, THE WRITERS GUILD, INCLUSION FILMS and is now, proudly, one of the faculty of John Paizis’s PERFORMING ARTS STUDIO WEST family.
He has been a contributing writer for ABILITY Magazine, which is ranked one of the top 50 magazines in the world. Some of his articles include interviews with Jamie Brewer (AMERICAN HORROR STORY) and Norman Lear (ALL IN THE FAMILY). David has also contributed to the new sizzling publication, ZENSATIONS Magazine.
HUNNY-BUNNY, the Documentary film that he produced for the Easterseals Disability Film Challenge starring Susie Q. Schallert and Blair Williamson is now traveling the festival circuit. At the beginning of 2023, David, along with Penni Wilson, Executive Produced, Produced, Cast and was a Co-Writer on the film KRYPTONITE, starring GRAMMY Nominated Singer Shanice and SWITCHED AT BIRTH's, Ryan Lane. The film was nominated for Best Actor, Best Script, and Best Film at the 2023 Easterseals Disability Film Challenge and is now starting its festival run.
David is currently producing the “MEET THE BIZ” Interview series along with PERFORMING ARTS STUDIO WEST. And is also working on the film/television project, that he calls his baby, "MY NEXT BREATH", which he created and is producing, starring Geri Jewell, Mark Povinelli, Angela Rockwood, Tobias Forrest, Lexi Marman, Kathy Buckley, Andy Arias, Eduardo Bar, and the late Auti Angel, David Connell, and Danny Murphy.
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