More than one in four adults in the United States has some kind of disability. When it comes to seeing that on screen in film and television, “Hollywood and the studios don’t know what to do with us right now,” says Danny Kurtzman, the star of the indie drama Good and bad thingssaid Yahoo Entertainment.
Kurtzman has suffered from muscular dystrophy his entire life. His new film is the culmination of a years-long, haunting journey as a disabled person and tells a story inspired by his own experiences.
“A lot needs to change in Hollywood to be more welcoming to our community,” Kurtzman said. “Hollywood is opening its eyes, ears and arms to become a more inclusive industry. But especially with regards to the disability community, they still have a long way to go.”
Good and bad things follows Danny, an entrepreneur who reluctantly tries his luck on an online dating app and meets Madi (Jessica Parker Kennedy), a mysterious photographer who challenges him to push self-imposed boundaries and ultimately sets him on a journey of self-acceptance.
The film is directed by Kurtzman’s best friend Shane D. Stanger, and the two co-wrote the screenplay. The film won the Audience Award and the Grand Jury Prize in January at the Slamdance Film Festival, which showcases the unfiltered voice of independent artists.
Stanger knew years ago that he wanted to make a feature film with Kurtzman. After he had prepared a first draft of the script, the filmmaker sat down with his friend.
“(Stanger) said something like, ‘Hey, good news: the script is finished. Bad news: I hate it,'” Kurtzman recalls, explaining that Stanger found the first version of the script “very anti-disability and offensive.”
“That’s how you make a truly authentic disability film – you really have to include disabled people,” Kurtzman said. Stanger asked Kurtzman if he would help write the script and be involved not only in front of the camera but also in post-production. During filming, they had a completely accessible set. “As a disabled person, I’ve never experienced that in real life,” Kurtzman said.
A 2023 UCLA report found that people with disabilities were severely underrepresented on television during the 2021-22 season. It doesn’t appear that the industry has made much progress since then.
“This is a huge failure in Hollywood,” Kurtzman said of the community’s exclusion, but he wants people in the entertainment industry to know that it’s “OK to not know” where to start – but it’s time to start somewhere.
“It’s OK to ask questions,” he explained. “There’s no shortage of us out there.”
“We’re going to learn this whole thing together, but just be open and willing to give us a big part of what you’re trying to accomplish,” he continued, saying that hiring people with disabilities should be a priority at all levels of television and film production. “And when they do, they’ll see – especially with this film – how powerful our community really is when you speak to us properly. Give us something that we recognize ourselves in and that speaks to us and that we’ve been looking for for so many years.”
Good and bad things is the first film to receive the GAMUT seal of approval, which guarantees consumers that the production meets a set of strict requirements developed by experts in the field of disabilities.
Kurtzman said he has spent the last 15 years as an entrepreneur and has been through “the craziest masterclass learning curve” since entering the entertainment industry. Although the film was a hit on the independent festival circuit, he has found that people “don’t really know how to approach, how to talk, how to market” this film, which is so “thoroughly authentic, accessible and inclusive.”
“It’s just about asking the right questions and being open to a film like Good bad things,” says Kurtzman. “My biggest takeaway is that there is so much talent in the disability community when it matters.”
As Kurtzman prepares for the film’s theatrical release, he hopes it will also make a splash.
“My biggest takeaway is that there are so many talented disabled people who want to be part of Hollywood – in film, on television, in front of the camera, behind the camera, in the editing room, in the writing. And I think now is the time,” he said.
Good and bad things will be released in select AMC theaters in the US on August 15th.
