Lights, camera, access: What it's like being an access coordinator

Felicity Hamill is bringing an access-first approach to the screen industry as one of the first access coordinators in Aotearoa.

Access coordinators support screen productions to reduce and remove barriers for Deaf, disabled and neurodivergent cast and crew. Hamill, based in Pōneke, is the access coordinator for Sight Unseen, a web series launching this week that platforms conversations between people who are blind or have low vision.

“Anyone with lived experience of being Deaf, disabled or neurodivergent can understand. Often, you’re problem solving from the minute you wake up to the moment you go to bed… and sometimes even when you’re in bed,” she says. “I think we’re master problem solvers, and that lends itself really nicely to the screen industry.”

Hamill’s career in production started in dance and choreography on stage. She later discovered her love for film as an extra on the Lord of the Rings film series. “I ran around for a good three years on and off as various terrifying orcs and goblins. It was an amazing time.” From there, Hamill found herself in various roles that appear on a film set, both on and off screen: production assistant, child stunt double, motion capture artist, cast driver and locations assistant to name a few.

“And then along came the training opportunity for the access coordinator role,” she says. “After 20 years in the industry, it was really exciting to see that happening.” She became one of three successful applicants selected from Aotearoa to train with Bridge06 to become an access coordinator.

As an access coordinator, Hamill acts as the first port of call for all cast and crew who have accessibility requirements they’d like to disclose. Early on in production she works with producers to make first contact with everyone. Together, they put out an open call to all cast and crew, offering one-on-one sessions with Hamill. She then collates the necessary information from her one-on-ones and passes them on to a producer, who works with the relevant departments to make changes. As an example, some cast and crew might prefer documents in Word format rather than PDF. “It can often be quite a simple requirement,” Hamill says. “If it can be done, then let’s make it happen.”

“I think what’s cool about this whole process is it’s based on the individual while also looking at the bigger picture of a production overall,” Hamill emphasises. “The one-on-one ensures no assumptions are made… for example assuming that because someone lives with blindness that they have no vision at all. We’re all different.”

The offer for access support remains there for the entire duration of production, from initial development through to marketing and promotion. “It’s important that the cast and crew know they’ve got that safeguard there throughout the entire production,” she says. For many disabled people, needs can shift and change over time, so having ongoing support on set is additionally helpful. “They can come and talk with the access coordinator, knowing it’s a safe space.”

Many disabled cast and crew can be anxious to raise their needs to productions, she says, out of fear of being seen as a ‘problem’ or being replaced. It’s that personal lived experience that Hamill understands well, and says is a requirement for being an access coordinator. “For now being part of the [Deaf, disabled and neurodivergent] community is a requirement of being accepted into access coordination training. It makes sense as that lived experience offers an immediate understanding in a way that other people don’t necessarily have.”

While the access coordinator role is quite new to Aotearoa New Zealand, it’s already quite established in the UK. Hamill’s training was conducted in Sydney, alongside a group of screen industry workers from both Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand. This initial group forms part of a growing network of access coordinators across the screen industry both in Aotearoa and over-the-ditch.

“We’re all learning and I think the general shift is towards better access and inclusion. Having that support there can only be a good thing."

Episodes will go live daily on TikTok and Instagram from Wednesday 26 February, with all episodes available to view at able.co.nz and YouTube from Monday 3 March.

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