Episode 237: Abbie Hills – Actor and talent agent with cerebral palsy

The episode transcript is below.

Carolyn Kiel: Welcome to Beyond 6 Seconds, the podcast that goes beyond the six second first impression to share the extraordinary stories of neurodivergent people. I’m your host, Carolyn Kiel.

Carolyn Kiel: On today’s episode, I’m speaking with Abbie Hills, a UK based talent agent, producer, writer, and passionate disability advocate. Living with cerebral palsy, she founded the Dazey Hills Company in 2019 to promote diversity and inclusion in the entertainment industry, representing talent across the UK and Europe.

Abbie’s writing has gained recognition with recent placements in film festivals, including the British Independent Film Festival, Lit Laughs, and the Palm Springs Diversity Screenplay Contest. In 2024, Abbie was honored as one of the Involve Role Models Global Top 50, celebrating leaders who are driving diversity and inclusion globally.

In addition to her writing, Abbie works as an access coordinator supporting deaf, disabled, and neurodivergent talent in film and television productions. She also mentors aspiring talent, advocating for greater accessibility and representation in the entertainment industry. Abbie, welcome to the podcast.

Abbie Hills: Hello. Hi. Thank you. What a lovely introduction.

Carolyn Kiel: I’m really excited to talk with you ’cause you’ve done just such amazing work in media promoting and ensuring accessibility and diversity and inclusion of talent on both sides of the camera. So I’m really excited to learn about your career and your own story.

I’d love to learn more about what it was like for you growing up with cerebral palsy, that in itself for you presents as sort of non-visible or non apparent to other people who might be looking at you.

Abbie Hills: Oh, it was a bit of a journey. Because, you know, it presents as non-visible mostly. I mean, I think, I think I see it a lot more than other people do. But growing up, and particularly in my early teens, not that I was in denial, but I think I had a lot of internalized ableism about myself. So I didn’t particularly identify as somebody with a disability. I tried to kind of keep up with my friends and, you know, being in school and being high energy and saying that you can do everything that everybody else can do because you don’t wanna feel different. And then kind of struggling with that when you get home when you’re totally knackered. Yeah, it was definitely hard.

And there are a couple of occasions, again, probably early teens where I faced ableism from teachers and things like that. Like I was chatting with my mum the other day, and I was encouraged not to go on school trips because of my condition and all this other stuff. But yeah, I’m definitely a lot more accepting now. I think that kind of changed me when I hit 17 and I had my brain scanned for the first time.

Carolyn Kiel: Oh wow. How did that change your feelings or impressions of yourself and your disability?

Abbie Hills: At the time, it was like my world was upside down. Which is wild, now I think about it because cerebral palsy is non-progressive, and so my brain, the damage has always been there, but I think it was the first time that I’d seen it.

So I was diagnosed with cerebral palsy when I was like two or three. But I didn’t have a brain scan until I was 17. And I think at the time it was quite scary. Like, you know, if you haven’t been in an MRI machine before, or actually if you have, you know that they’re, you know, not particularly pleasant. It’s a bit of an ordeal. But at the time I was like, “oh, I’ve gotta take my belly piercing out and my nose ring out. I’m like, what is this? I just wanna go home!” You know, I had that. And then you know, they kind of talk through your results and I went in the room and the guy was like, oh, you know, sit down. And then he kind of said to me and my mom that the, the young woman sat in front of him and the brain scan, they just don’t correlate. Like, it doesn’t make sense. Because I then saw that my whole right cerebellum, which in a picture looks like about a quarter of your brain, mine’s totally black. It’s like totally dead.

Carolyn Kiel: Wow.

Abbie Hills: And that was, that was really, really intense. And I think the brain’s an amazing thing, right? Because cerebral palsy is kind of, you know, there’s different types that are as a result of different parts of damage in the brain. And so I saw my damage and it was huge. But actually the area of the brain, like it’s important, but it’s not as important as other areas. I mean, it affects my motor skills, it affects my dexterity, you know, balance. I get a lot of chronic pain, but, you know, it’s, it’s relatively mild compared to the scale of what the damage looks like. But even so, I think when I saw it, I was like, “oh my God, a quarter of my brain is dead! I can’t do anything in life. What am I gonna do?” And I just like really, really sunk into like a depression for probably nearly a year, I think. And then it was like a penny drop one day. I was like, “hang on, this has always been this way. Why am I now getting upset about this? Why am I now letting this like dictate the course of my life? It doesn’t make any sense.”

Carolyn Kiel: Wow. And so you said that you got your brain scan when you were 17. Is that correct?

Abbie Hills: Yeah. Oh, so like 12 years ago now.

Carolyn Kiel: Because you started your career in acting and media I think before that. So, you know, before that time you were actually well on your way with developing your career. So it’s, it’s so interesting to get this result in, in the middle of your career and it kind of shakes your impressions of, of who you are, at least for a little while.

Abbie Hills: Yeah, I mean, I’d, I’d already been, I think I did my first TV job when I was like 15 and I was very, very selective at that time on like, who I would tell. It would be like inner circle only knows that I have cerebral palsy. If I could blag it and not tell anyone, then I would absolutely keep it secret.

So yeah, I think, I think that probably knocked me even more than having, you know, a couple of years later and then being like, oh wait, you know, now it’s a really big thing and I have to tell everyone and like it’s way more serious than I thought. And like, am I gonna deteriorate? And all this stuff because as well, there’s very little education and support out there for anyone. Like young, kind of young adults, I would say upwards from the ages of about 17, 18 upwards to, to adults. And then later in life it’s very little support for people with cerebral palsy, at least here in the UK. So that was, that was quite scary.

Carolyn Kiel: Oh wow. Since your cerebral palsy isn’t necessarily apparent to others at first glance, did that impact people’s expectations or assumptions about you growing up or even as an adult now?

Abbie Hills: Yeah, it’s always been that, that line I guess, of like, am I disabled enough? Which is, I, I hate it so much, but it’s so true, and I talk to a lot of people about it. You know, people used to think I was lying as well. That happened a lot. And then there’s obviously the, the comparisons that people make as well, “oh, so and so’s got cerebral palsy,” or “I know somebody with it and they’re like this, and you’re not like that.” And you know, it kind of goes on. Or people go the other way and they try and compliment you on it. Like, ” oh, you are doing so well! Oh, you’d never know! Oh, you hide it very well!” And like, I find those conversations really, really awkward because now I’m in a place where I, I don’t wanna hide that part of myself, you know? I don’t wanna be anxious about it. And so when people say that, it’s almost like they’re trying to compliment you by disregarding part of you. I think that’s really strange.

Carolyn Kiel: Yeah. It is kind of a strange conversation where you have people making comparisons with other people they’ve heard of who have cerebral palsy, and then at the same time, as you said, people complimenting you on basically hiding your pain. And you know, because, just because cerebral palsy isn’t immediately apparent or it doesn’t match whatever expectation other people might have of what it looks like, doesn’t mean that it doesn’t impact you.

And I know you said before, it sounded like growing up, it would make you sort of feel more tired at the end of the day. So I guess, how else does your cerebral palsy impact you day to day?

Abbie Hills: I definitely notice it when I’m just trying to do like, basic stuff. So I guess like being in the kitchen is something for me. I’m like, “oh, there’s my cerebral palsy today!” Like, lifting a kettle is really difficult. Like cutting things is really difficult. Carrying things is really difficult. Just day-to-day stuff, I think I get super, super worn out easily. My balance isn’t great. Fatigue is a thing. Muscle pain and muscle cramps are a thing. I’m really trying to get into my exercise and fitness lately, but I’m finding it really hard, the balance. And I suppose my kind of tipping point in the exercise, it’s good for me in small doses, but I haven’t figured out the best time of day for me to do it, so that I don’t feel totally knackered and you know, then, then overwork myself to the point where I’m exhausted the next day. So it’s all these little kind of challenges where you’re trying to have your independence and then you’re like, “oh, there it is! Need to think about this a little bit differently.”

Carolyn Kiel: Yeah. And probably a lot of things, you know, like exercise, which is often toted as something that’s universally helpful for everyone. It’s not necessarily when you have a disability. And there are a whole wide range of disabilities that, you know, some where exercises harmful and others where certain times of the day or certain types of exercises. So just kind of taking the time to have to figure all that out, yeah, definitely it takes a lot of time, sounds like.

Abbie Hills: Exactly. Nobody tells you like, you know, nobody can figure it out for you. So I’m grateful that I can where I can, but it’s, yeah, it’s hard. I feel like when you live with a disability or if you’re neurodivergent, you have to plan your day so differently. And that’s even worse if you hate planning and you really struggle with planning. But I think there is an element of that that you have to be aware of. Because you can’t just like wing it like everybody else can, whether it’s around, I don’t know, medication or fatigue levels or like needing sensory breaks and stuff, like you just have to go about planning your day so, so differently.

Carolyn Kiel: Absolutely. And I think that’s something that, yeah, people don’t realize unless they’re in that situation themselves.

You’ve been working many years in entertainment and I know you started out with acting. Like how did you first get started or what inspired you to become an actress?

Abbie Hills: Oh I always think back on this and I never really know. I guess like, you know, like so many other people in this industry, like they grew up wanting to act as a kid. That’s probably where it started, right? And then I went to evening classes and TV acting when I was at school, which I absolutely loved. But I noticed ironically made me not very good at drama classes at school. ’cause our drama classes were very like theater focused. And I was then training in screen.

I got an agent when I was pretty young. I think I was like 11 or 12, maybe 12. And so I had a couple of auditions along the way. And then when I hit like 15, 16, I started to look for my own work, which actually looking back now is, is a really young age to be doing that. But I would be using platforms like StarNow. It’s quite big in the UK and Australia. And just looking online for, for work, like, you know, with the support of my parents and stuff. But I was just hustling, like I feel like I’m one of those people that once I get an idea in my head of what I wanna do, like nothing’s gonna stop me. Which is good. It makes me ambitious, but it, you know, it’s been challenging.

And then I went to college and then after that I went to uni and like all the time I’m studying and I’m just having a parallel of just trying to get as many opportunities as I can. Yeah, it just, it just kind of kept going. I’ve just always been really passionate and I think for me, there was no other way. Like even, even now, if somebody asked me, what would you be doing if you weren’t doing this, you weren’t working in entertainment? I would absolutely no idea. Don’t have a clue.

Carolyn Kiel: Yeah. And that’s amazing because as you said, you really have to have that hustle and you know, you were still a young person at the time when you started, and so yeah, that’s amazing that you really were able to keep at it for so many years and that it really sounds like that’s your passion. Wow.

When you were auditioning for acting roles, did you ever talk about or mention your disability? Like did it ever come up or was it something that you really didn’t necessarily wanna mention during auditions and things like that?

Abbie Hills: No, I didn’t tell anyone. I don’t even think my, I think my acting tutors would’ve known, but we never spoke about it. I really, really kept it kind of locked down. I guess ’cause I, I didn’t really feel that I, I could say anything.

I, I think as well, because when I was at school, there was a, a boy in my class who also had cerebral palsy. But we were so, so different. I feel like I, I couldn’t identify in that space because I wasn’t like him. And you know, he, I think he suffered in, in kind of different ways and found a lot of things more challenging. And so I was like, “oh, well that’s, that’s not me. So I don’t have that.”

So it took a long time. Definitely took a long time for me to be open. And now, now I’m totally the other way. I’m with another agent now who exclusively represents deaf, disabled, neurodivergent talent. And I I try and be a real advocate for cerebral palsy awareness and also disability awareness in general, ’cause I think it’s so important. We’re in such a backwards industry, entertainment, and I think you need more people using their platforms to, to kind of talk about it, ’cause otherwise you know, there’ll be kids growing up who want to act and they wanna get into film and they also feel the need to like hide parts of them. And I don’t think that’s right.

Carolyn Kiel: Yeah. It’s so important to have more inclusion of people with disabilities in all parts of film. So, you know, acting and writing and producing and just to, you know, one, to genuinely share stories that resonate with the community in an authentic way. But two, just to include, you know, there, there’s just so much talent out there and making things more accessible and, and just giving people opportunities to really shine is really important in media.

Abbie Hills: But also also teaching people about it as well. Because I you know, like I said, I didn’t really identify with my disability when I was young. I didn’t really know what jobs were, it sounds silly now knowing the jobs that I’ve had and the job that I have, but I didn’t even know like what job roles you could do in film. I knew there was a director, I knew there were actors, and I knew there was a writer and a producer, but there are so many other departments, you just have no idea. So, you know, in kind of mainstream education it’s lacking, but especially with people coming from diverse backgrounds and people with disabilities, that there’s no sort of extra support and no education around what’s possible, I think.

Carolyn Kiel: Mm-hmm. Yeah, and I’m thinking back to when you were saying that people think about cerebral palsy as something that impacts children and there’s not a lot of resources or even awareness or education, it sounds like, about adults who have cerebral palsy and what happens, you know, through the, the natural aging process. Like how do needs change? Where do the community come from? Like, is that something that you look for as well? I don’t know, that might be separate from your work, but just sort of trying to find that community of other adults with cerebral palsy?

Abbie Hills: Oh, all the time. And actually not long after my brain scan, it was when I, I just started uni. I actually started an online group for kind of people my age and upwards, so yeah, like 18 upwards called Palsy Vibes. And I was connecting with people with cerebral palsy, a couple of people in the States as well actually, but mostly from the UK. And amazingly, pretty much everybody also worked in the creative, were in something creative and we were just like, I don’t know, chat on Facebook messenger, like, where are you getting your shoes from? I can’t find shoes that are supportive. Or like, what do you do for pain management? Or have you tried this weird stretch? Or like, where’d you book your concert tickets? Like all of this stuff. And I absolutely loved it. And I still very much try and keep parts of that alive. I don’t really run the platform anymore, but you know, I consider these people my friends, and we, we always reach out to each other when we’ve got something on our mind. And I really love that, and you know, I, I’ve made some great friends from it, but the friends that I’ve made have also now met each other. And I hope it just kind of ripples out from there because it’s really important to have that peer space, I think, when you are going through something. I mean, we’re all doing life for the first time, of course, as is everybody. But when you can bounce these ideas and questions and not feel like you are totally alone. I think that’s really important.

Carolyn Kiel: Yeah, absolutely. And it’s something that we definitely need more in society. I, think the United States is the same way as well, and I think lately we’ve been getting more sort of community support as the internet evolves, people kind of finding their communities of other adults with various disabilities, including cerebral palsy. It’s a good thing that really wasn’t as possible pre-internet. So yeah, it’s, I think something that we need more of, because I don’t know if it’s something that just doesn’t get as much funding as things focused on children, which of course is very important, critically important as well. But it’s it’s something that’s also important as we all become adults. Yeah.

Abbie Hills: Absolutely. Absolutely. And it’s you know, with Cerebral Palsy being a non-progressive disability, it doesn’t necessarily have an implication on life expectancy and that’s medically known. And so if that’s medically known, then where do they think all these adults are going? You know, like it really, really baffles me.

Carolyn Kiel: Yeah, absolutely.

I’d love to learn more about the progression of your career because you started out young as an actress who didn’t really talk about disability that much. And when you got your brain scan, you had sort of a, a reckoning where you had to really face and come to terms with, oh my gosh, I’ve now seen this physical evidence. How do I feel about myself? And then you now are working, while continuing to act, you’re also helping to manage other talent of disabled and neurodivergent actors and also working as an access coordinator.

What was that turning point after the test that said, you know, I’m gonna go all in. I’m going to myself help support other talented people who have disabilities?

Abbie Hills: I think after I got out of the kind of depression and slump, I was, “hang on a minute, A quarter of my brain, like visually is dead. So I’m just gonna go all in. Because if this is what my brain looks like, then what about everybody else’s cerebral palsy? What does their brain look like? How does their brain work? What are these people thinking and feeling?” And I just, I, I mean, I was really determined and passionate anyways, I said before about my career, but I was like, “no, that’s it now. Like there’s no more hiding. Because if I keep hiding this part of me, ultimately it’s gonna block me.” Yeah. I think that was the main thing that I thought. You can’t show up and be your most authentic self if there’s part of yourself that you’re trying to hide. And then if you can’t be your most authentic self, you can’t be your best self, then you can’t be your most successful self, was kind of where I was going with that.

So studied film at uni. Had a little teetering moment when I was there, like, oh, when I graduate, what am I gonna do? Because am I gonna be able to sustain a career, like as a runner or production assistant, you know, working like 14 hour days, running around carrying coffees when I can’t even carry my own coffee. Which is ironic because then like two years later I did nine months full-time as a costume assistant. That was really hard. But I did it. Like I’m really stubborn. I made it happen. And that was a really cool film to be on, that was like a big Hollywood feature, and I’m really grateful that I got to do that.

But just before that, when I finished my film degree, I went into the masters in arts management, which was a lot of fun. And I think that’s when the penny kind of dropped that I really wanted to get into artist management and talent management in general. Because when I’d been making films and when I’d been acting and when I’d been doing all this stuff leading up to that time, I’ve made a really good, good set of contacts and a lot of people who kind of knew what they wanted to do and they knew that they wanted to be actors but didn’t really know the next step to take. Or they didn’t have a, a, an agent in London, or they found like the big city a barrier in itself to go and like find management there and stuff and do auditions there. And I thought, ah, this seems like a really good idea for me to start an agency.

And then I, I dunno, I just kind of did it. Like I just, I looked into what I needed to do and I, I just, I just set it up and I just ran with it. I was working part-time in a furniture shop at the time, and so I quit, and then I just started it. I had like five clients, you know, we are peddling for like a hundred pounds a day, music videos and short films, like really, really tiny jobs. And then I just scaled it up. And I always wanted to run something that was disability led by me, but diversity focused overall, you know, so I’ve got a really, really wonderful roster of clients that, you know, some of them with me kind of since day one. A couple of others have come a bit later, and, you know, it’s, it’s wonderful. I love it. And now we’ve got clients working, you know, they’re, they’re flying to Morocco in a shooting or

Carolyn Kiel: wow.

Abbie Hills: somebody’s in rehearsals for a stage show right now, and somebody else has gone back for a season two of his TV series. Like it’s wild and I’m so proud of it and I’m so proud of all of my clients as well.

Carolyn Kiel: That’s really cool. Like how do you find your clients and what kind of things do you do as their talent agent?

Abbie Hills: I used to, well, I still do actually open call outs when I wanna bring on some new clients. I mean, it’s just me running it. And I like to have a, a really personal relationship with everybody. So I don’t have loads and loads of clients, but at the time when I did big call outs, I, I put a casting event on in person. I would advertise online. Nowadays I’ll just kind of put a shout out on socials that I’m looking for like two or three more clients. And then, yeah, we just, we just kind of work together and see where they’re at. I mean, here we use a platform called Spotlight. I think in the States you use Actors Access, or Breakdown Express it’s called on the agent side, but the actors side, Actors Access, right? And so that’s kind of the, the front facing part for agents and casting directors to work together to place actors on jobs. But beyond that like, I’ll sign somebody and we’ll kind of look at their profiling and what they’ve done and what they, what they want to do, and then we’ll just work at it together.

And I do monthly meetings with my clients, which I absolutely love doing. So you know, I’ll do individual ones as well. But we do like a monthly coffee club where we all jump on Zoom or Teams and we talk about like IMDB, internet presence or jobs that they’ve done or questions that they have. And I talk a lot on there about mindset and positioning yourself kind of mentally, like where you want to go next and the power that that can have.

And it really does work. Like after that conversation, I was speaking with one of my clients and she was really excited by that idea of, of kind of positioning herself where you want to be and all this other stuff. And then the next day she booked a feature film, her first feature film. So yeah, that was, that was super exciting.

So I really, really try and have a personal relationship with, with all of my clients.

Carolyn Kiel: That’s really cool. Helping people get into the right mindset that, that’s really important. Especially with something like acting where I’d imagine, you know, any actor faces probably a lot of rejections and disappointment. So just trying to keep that mindset of abundance and positivity and focusing on and remembering what’s important to you seems like it’s really important.

Abbie Hills: Yeah, it’s really hard. Like I faced a lot of rejection at a very young age. Well, you know, I, I guess like 14, 15 is, is really young to, to kind of be doing this stuff. But I think now, like, what, 14 years later, it’s really made me resilient and, you know, see things in a different light. And then I think the mindset thing comes from my experience when I did have that kind of depressive episode where I was leaving the house maybe like once a week after I saw my brain scan. And then, and then I flipped the switch. And now I’ve kind of just really, really changed all round, I think with how I, how I see things and how I see this industry now. And I just really wanna support other people with that because otherwise it can get lonely. It can get intimidating and it can like, beat you with a big stick and like chew you up. So I really try and support people through that.

Carolyn Kiel: Yeah. And as a talent agent, do you also help people get auditions or talk to casting agents on behalf of your clients? Is that part of the role?

Abbie Hills: Oh Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. That, that’s what I’d spend most of my my day doing, to be honest, is submitting people for roles, like networking with people, introducing my clients to people, booking them on jobs. That’s the main sort of part of it, really. Everything else is just the stuff that I find important to kind of go along with it.

Carolyn Kiel: Mm-hmm. Yeah, it sounds like that’s a really needed type of service for people. Absolutely.

And in addition to that, you’re also an access coordinator in film and TV with a focus on deaf, disabled, and neurodivergent talent. So tell me more about that and what you do as an access coordinator.

Abbie Hills: I love talking about this so much because it’s, it’s quite a new thing. And I think there’s a few access coordinators in the States now from what I’ve heard, but it’s still very new here in, in the UK. I did my training in 2022. I was very lucky. I was one of the first 12 in the country to do it on a sort of pilot training scheme, with my now agent actually was leading at the time. And essentially the role is in place to support anybody who identifies as DDN (deaf disabled or neurodivergent) w working in film, TV, and entertainment. Because so often accessibility is such an afterthought. And the idea is that by having a person to do that, you haven’t got people last minute going, oh, we didn’t think about this location whether it was wheelchair accessible, or, oh, we didn’t think about a quiet room, or oh, we didn’t think about fatigue and energy levels for an actor, and all of this stuff. And so you have this dedicated person now to support a production, be having those conversations. And it’s very important that the access coordinator has an element of lived experience too. So all of the access coordinators in the UK identify as DDN. And you know, we are that person that production calls upon saying, Hey, we’re looking at this venue for a wrap party. Like, do you think it’d be suitable for this actor? Can you chat with them? Sometimes I’ll go on recces and be on FaceTime to somebody who’s on the crew who might be a wheelchair user. Like all of this stuff, it, it’s so varied. I’m very lucky that I’ve worked across quite a few different formats. Like I’ve done a lot of reality tv, but I’ve also done feature films and I’ve done TV and I’ve done shorts as well. And they’re all very, very different, you know, in how they get made and, and what they have available. So I find it really exciting to be able to go and be part of that.

Carolyn Kiel: That’s really cool and it sounds like there’s really a, a lot of different things to potentially keep in mind with people’s needs around ensuring access. Because you’ve got people with varying physical disabilities and, you know, developmental disabilities and just so many different potential needs. So it sounds like you, as the access coordinator, have to kind of be mindful of all of those and make those connections with the cast and crew and just making sure that everyone’s included in the filming part of everything.

Abbie Hills: Absolutely. And you know, sometimes you’ll be brought onto a, a show for a particular person, but other times you’ll be brought on just because the production wants to be more inclusive, which is what, what I love. And then along the way, you’ll be put in contact with people or people will come forward and they’ll say, actually, I’d really love some support, or I’d love to just like bounce some ideas around with you. Because we know that access requirements aren’t one size fits all, right? And, you know, people don’t even know sometimes what they need, but by having the conversation or by, you know, just thinking together about what somebody’s day to day might look like, you could come up with something that might seem silly, but to them it’s really helpful. Like, I dunno, somebody with ADHD who gets pulled here, there and everywhere when they’re shooting, like they’re worried about coming back to a task and not knowing what the task was. And it’s like, oh, okay, well let’s just like stick post-it notes on what you were doing. And then when leave the room, you’ll come back and you’ll see a post-it note and you’ll go, oh yeah, I remember. Like, and this sounds so silly, but by having those conversations with people who are living it and you know, when you, you’ve lived it as well, you can kind of come up with these things and just make the day-to-day adjustments, day to day work life easier for somebody.

Carolyn Kiel: Yeah, that’s really important. And it’s also important to say that a lot, probably most of the time, ensuring an accessible environment really doesn’t cost a whole lot more money or sometimes it doesn’t cost anything. Like it’s literally post-it notes or a quiet space or you know, other things like that. So yeah, I, I think that’s really great.

And, I’m sure there are also other people on set who maybe are disabled or neurodivergent themselves who either aren’t public about it, or as you said, don’t really know what support they need, or maybe grew up thinking that they shouldn’t be asking for support. Like there’s just so much of a mindset around disability in, in, you know, the ways that we grow up. So it’s great to have someone like you as the access coordinator there that people can see like, oh, this production cares about being accessible for everyone. And again, it benefits everybody overall in the end of the day.

Abbie Hills: I totally agree. Like it doesn’t have to be expensive and it, it does benefit everybody. Like I can’t think of a situation where providing access support for somebody has had a negative experience on somebody else.

I think things only become expensive when they’re last minute or they’re afterthoughts. And that’s because you’ve run out of options. Like, at least in the UK we’ve still got a very limited amount of accessible honey wagons and accessible trailers, and that resource becomes even smaller if you have to book it three days before you need it because of availability and things.

So, you know, generally if things are, are planned. and you know things are thought about in a smart way and you know, most solutions, like we’ve spoken about, don’t even cost money. But for the ones that do, when you are more planned and you’ve just got a more kind of inclusive approach in your production, it’s not gonna cost you what you think it’s gonna cost you. It’s probably gonna be less. In fact, I pretty much guarantee gonna be less.

Carolyn Kiel: Production by production, it helps kind of create more accessible and in the end, more, more equitable opportunities for a whole diverse array of talent in the country, in the film industry. Yeah, I think that’s really powerful.

Abbie Hills: Absolutely. And I think the reason I’m so passionate about it as well is because I would never have asked for anything. I think the, the times that I, you know, was on set, I think, I think once I asked for a chair because I felt like I needed to sit down. But like nowadays I find that, I find that wild. Like to me that’s bare minimum.

So it is really special that I get to do this job now and I get to be that person, because I think it’s something that I and a lot of my generation in terms of when we started working, you know, and people way before that, we haven’t experienced an access coordinator yet. So yeah, it’s a lot of fun. I really love it.

Carolyn Kiel: Yeah. Well, that’s really great.

Abbie, thank you so much for all of the amazing work that you’re doing to make film and TV more inclusive and accessible and equitable over in the UK. How can people get in touch with you if they wanna learn more about the type of work that you do or potentially even work with you as a talent agent?

Abbie Hills: Thank you so much, Carolyn. Oh I could talk about this stuff for hours. I just, I love it so much. And I’m you know, I’m really grateful for where I’ve got to and what I can do with that platform now.

So how to get in touch with me: my website, AbbieHills.Uk. And my Instagram is itsabbiehills, and then my talent agency is called the Dazey Hills Company, but Dazey is spelled D-A-Z-E-Y, like the Dazed and Confused film, which I absolutely love.

Carolyn Kiel: Okay, perfect. I’ll put links to those in the show notes of this podcast so people can just click on it from there.

Abbie, it’s been great talking with you. As we close out, is there anything else that you’d like our listeners to know or anything that they can help or support you with?

Abbie Hills: I think one thing that I’d like to share and kind of offer at the end, which I, I like to say whenever I do these things is don’t be afraid to learn about disability and don’t be afraid to ask questions. I think curiosity is a beautiful and a wonderful thing, and the more people can be open to supporting people from DDN backgrounds, I think, you know, the world can be a much better place. So yeah, just do your research. There’s some amazing resources on Instagram. There’s some amazing content creators living with disability. I know in the States there’s some great charities and things such as The Inevitable Foundation, which I love. If you’re working in, in film or tv, there’s some amazing film festivals. I know at the time of recording this, ReelAbilities is on at the moment in New York. Amazing film festival focusing on DDN filmmakers. So just be open to learning, ask questions and yeah, I think that’s, that’s the best I can offer.

Carolyn Kiel: Awesome. Yeah. Well, thank you so much Abbie. It was great talking with you and thanks for being a guest on my show.

Abbie Hills: Thank you so much. I had a wonderful time.

Carolyn Kiel: Thanks for listening to Beyond 6 Seconds. Please help me spread the word about this podcast. Share it with a friend, give it a shout out on your social media, or write a review on Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcast player. You can find all of my episodes and sign up for my free newsletter at Beyond6seconds.net. Until next time.