The 2013 Media Access Awards To Honor And Celebrate Disability Awareness And Inclusion In The Media And Entertainment Takes Place October 17

Emmy-Nominated Fred Willard Will Act as Host with Honorees and Presenters Including Lifetime Achievement Honoree Norman Lear, Oscar-Winners Marlee Matlin and Bruce Cohen, Emmy-Winner David Shore, Game of Thrones creator George R.R. Martin, RJ Mitte of Breaking Bad, and Many More. End Quote

(1888PressRelease) October 04, 2013 - The 2013 Media Access Awards will be held at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, California on Thursday, October 17, from 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. with its annual breakfast and an awards ceremony.The event, now in its fourth year, honors members of the entertainment and broadcast industries for their efforts in promoting awareness of the disability experience, accessibility for people with disabilities, and the accurate depiction of characters with disabilities.

Emceed by Emmy-nominated comedic icon Fred Willard (Modern Family, This Is Spinal Tap), honorees of the 2013 Media Access Awards will include RJ Mitte, star of the Emmy-winning series Breaking Bad, Academy Award-winning producer Bruce Cohen for American Beauty, House creator and Emmy-winner David Shore, casting director Deedee Bradley of the hit ABC Family series Switched at Birth, up-and-coming actress and writer Santina Muha, and documentary producer Jenni Gold of the upcoming film Cinemability.

The Lifetime Achievement Award will be presented to legendary producer Norman Lear, known for changing the way viewers watched television through diverse characters and storytelling on such classic series as All in the Family, The Facts of Life, Maude, The Jeffersons, Good Times, and the Oscar-nominated feature film Divorce American Style. The Visionary Award will be given to George R.R. Martin, the Hugo Award-winning author of A Song of Ice and Fire, adapted for HBO as the Emmy-winning Game of Thrones television series. Among the presenters will be Oscar-winner Marlee Matlin (Children of a Lesser God), screenwriter and film producer Ben Lewin (The Sessions), Oscar-nominated producer and director Frank Marshall (Raiders of the Lost Ark, The Color Purple, The Bourne Identity), and many more.

The goal of representing and shedding light on various disabilities while raising public perception through the media takes center stage for this celebration. A vibrant and positive reception, the Media Access Awards continues to bring out some of television and film's brightest and most supportive stars as recipients and presenters year after year, and 2013 is set to be the biggest yet. The ceremony is presented by the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation and Starz Entertainment.

"The Media Access Awards' goal is to widen the range of inclusion for the disabled community in media and to enhance the public's awareness, acceptance, and understanding" said Media Access Awards Chair and Chair of the Producers Guild of America Diversity Committee Deborah Calla. Media Access Awards Co-Chair and WGAW Writers with Disabilities Committee Chair Allen Rucker added, "Year after year, we are honored and thankful to the dedicated and inspirational Hollywood leaders that continue to come together for the MAA's to celebrate working toward a raising public perception through media."

The 2013 Media Access Awards are co-sponsored by The Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation, Starz, Friends of Californians with Disabilities, The Casting Society of America, The Producers Guild of America, SAG-AFTRA, The Writers Guild of America West, Kevin Bright, The Keck Medical Center of USC, NBCUniversal, and CBS.

The following awards will be presented at the reception:

*Media Access Awards' LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD (Norman Lear, All in the Family, The Jeffersons, Maude, The Facts of Life)
*Media Access Awards' VISIONARY AWARD (George R.R. Martin, author of A Song of Ice & Fire, the basis for Game of Thrones)
*SAG-AFTRA Disability Awareness Award (Jenni Gold, Producer of the Documentary Cinemability)
*SAG-AFTRA Harold Russell Award (RJ Mitte, Breaking Bad)
*Casting Society of America Award (Deedee Bradley, Switched at Birth, Veronica Mars)
*Writers Guild of America, West Evan Somers Memorial Award (David Shore, House)
*Producers Guild of America George Sunga Award (Bruce Cohen, Milk, Silver Linings Playbook, Academy Award-winner for American Beauty)
*Christopher Reeve Acting Scholarship (Santina Muha)

Past Media Access Awards recipients include: Michael J. Fox, José Feliciano, Robert David Hall, Marlee Matlin, Anthony Edwards, Nancy Davis, Norman Lear, Peter and Bobby Farrelly, Ray Charles, Michael Landon, Diane Schuur, the Blind Boys of Alabama, Leeza Gibbons, Verne Troyer, Patty Duke, Carrie Fisher, Robert Guillaume, Montel Williams, Aaron Spelling, Geri Jewell, Vince Gilligan, Jason Katims, Paul Stupin, Teal Sherer, Abbey Umali, Jane Pauley, Lauren Potter, Ben Lewin, Shonda Rhimes, the Alliance for Inclusion in the Arts, and many more.

The Media Access Awards were created in 1979 by the California Governor's Committee on Employment of People with Disabilities along with producer Fern Field and her late husband, Norman Brooks, to recognize and encourage the accurate portrayal of people with disabilities.

An estimated 56 million Americans live with disabilities. In recognition of this reality, the entertainment unions and guilds recognize the social impact of films, television and broadcasting, and strive for an open dialogue regarding portrayals of disability and increased employment opportunities in front of and behind the scenes. To that end, the Media Access Awards celebrates producers, actors, writers, broadcasters, and casting directors who have made positive contributions to the more accurate and inclusive portrayals of persons with disabilities in film, television, and all other media. They are truly pioneers in affecting change.

About the Partners:
SAG-AFTRA
SAG-AFTRA represents more than 165,000 actors, announcers, broadcast journalists, dancers, DJs, news writers, news editors, program hosts, puppeteers, recording artists, singers, stunt performers, voiceover artists and other media professionals. SAG-AFTRA members are the faces and voices that entertain and inform America and the world. With national offices in Los Angeles and New York and local offices nationwide, SAG-AFTRA members work together to secure the strongest protections for media artists into the 21st century and beyond. Visit SAG-AFTRA online at SAGAFTRA.org.

Producers Guild of America
The Producers Guild of America is the non-profit trade group that represents, protects and promotes the interests of all members of the producing team in film, television and new media. The Producers Guild has more than 5,000 members who work together to protect and improve their careers, the industry and community by providing members with employment opportunities, seeking to expand health benefits, promoting fair and impartial standards for the awarding of producing credits, as well as other education and advocacy efforts such as encouraging sustainable production practices. Visit www.producersguild.org, www.pgagreen.org, www.pgadiversity.org for more information.

Writers Guild of America, West
The Writers Guild of America, West (WGAW) is a labor union representing writers of motion pictures, television, radio, and Internet programming, including news and documentaries. Founded in 1933, the Guild negotiates and administers contracts that protect the creative and economic rights of its members. It is involved in a wide range of programs that advance the interests of writers, and is active in public policy and legislative matters on the local, national, and international levels. For more information on the WGAW, please visit: www.wga.org.

Casting Society of America
The Casting Society of America is the premier organization of theatrical Casting Directors in film, television, and theatre. Although it is not a union, its members are a united professional society that consistently set the level of professionalism in casting on which the entertainment industry has come to rely. It's more than 600 members are represented not only in the United States, but also in Canada, England, Australia and Italy.

Friends of Californians with Disabilities
Friends of Californians with Disabilities, Inc. a 501(c)(3), is a leader in developing statewide and national partnerships to increase employment and independent living opportunities for people with disabilities. They played a major leadership role in the partnership that created such innovative nationally acclaimed projects as the California Youth Leadership Forum for Students with Disabilities (YLF), the Media Access Office and Awards and the "Windmills" Disability Awareness Diversity Training Program.

Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation
The Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation is dedicated to curing spinal cord injury by funding innovative research, and improving the quality of life for people living with paralysis through grants, information and advocacy. For more information please visit our website at ChristopherReeve.org or call 800-225-0292.

Starz Entertainment
Starz Entertainment, LLC, is a premium movie and original programming entertainment service provider operating in the United States. The company offers 17 premium channels including the flagship STARZ® and ENCORE® brands with approximately 19 million and 32.9 million subscribers respectively. Starz Entertainment airs in total more than 1,000 movies and original series every month across its pay TV channels. Starz Entertainment is recognized as a pay TV leader in providing HD, On Demand, HD On Demand and online advanced services for its STARZ, ENCORE and MOVIEPLEX brands. Starz Entertainment (www.starz.com) is an operating unit of Starz, LLC, which is a controlled subsidiary of Liberty Media Corporation and is attributed to the Liberty Starz tracking stock group.

Keck Medical Center of USC
The Keck Medical Center of USC is one of only two university-owned academic medical centers in the Los Angeles area. Keck Medical Center of USC was launched in 2011 after a transformative $150 million gift from the W. M. Keck Foundation. It is comprised of Keck Hospital of USC (formerly USC University Hospital) and USC Norris Cancer Hospital, the private hospitals of the University of Southern California. The two world-class, USC-owned hospitals are staffed by more than 500 physicians who are faculty at the renowned Keck School of Medicine of USC. Keck Medical Center of USC is a center for multi-faceted care, with a concentration of specialists across multiple areas of expertise.

Comcast
Comcast Corporation is a global media and technology company with two primary businesses, Comcast Cable and NBCUniversal. Comcast Cable is the nation's largest video, high-speed Internet and phone provider to residential customers under the XFINITY brand and also provides these services to businesses. NBCUniversal operates 30 news, entertainment and sports cable networks, the NBC and Telemundo broadcast networks, television production operations, television station groups, Universal Pictures and Universal Parks and Resorts.

###

space

Other Related Press Releases