Inevitable Foundation Announces 2024 Accelerate Fellows
Headshots of 2024 Accelerate Fellows Simone Hawthorne, Ashley Eakin, and Jamey Perry. Shawn Lovering/Bettina Niedermann/Courtesy.
Inevitable Foundation, a leading non-profit that invests in disabled creatives so they can achieve artistic and financial freedom, has announced its 2024 Accelerate Fellows: Ashley Eakin, Jamey Perry, and Simone Hawthorne.
Supported by an exclusive, multi-year commitment from Netflix's Fund for Creative Equity, the Accelerate Fellowship provides professional disabled writers with $40,000 grants, as well as mentorship with industry networks, networking opportunities, and community to help them become industry-leading creators. The expanded program also includes access to health insurance and expanded educational and community programming, including guidance on IP acquisition.
The new cohort joins the previously awarded Accelerate Fellows, Jenn Lloyd (‘23), Sheridan O’Donnell (‘23), Marc Muszynski (‘23), Monica Lucas (‘22), David Dineen-Porter (‘22), Sam Dunnewold (‘22), Anton Ray (‘22), Shaina Ghuraya (‘21), Greg Machlin and Aoife Baker (‘21), Kalen Feeney (‘21), and Shani Am. Moore (‘21).
“We are thrilled to welcome Ashley, Jamey, and Simone as our 2024 Accelerate Fellows. This cohort of accomplished writers demonstrates the growing talent of disabled creatives who will have a lasting impact on the industry,” said Richie Siegel and Marisa Torelli-Pedevska, Co-Founders of Inevitable Foundation.
Since launching in 2021, Inevitable Foundation has supported over 100 disabled writers, filmmakers and podcasters via its Accelerate Fellowship, Elevate Collective, Elevate for Podcasters, and Emergency Relief Fund, and facilitated hundreds of general meetings for disabled screenwriters through its Concierge.
2024 Accelerate Fellows Simone Hawthorne, Ashley Eakin, and Jamey Perry all bring unique experiences to the program.
Simone Hawthorne (she/her) is a Bronx-born writer and proud mom whose writing credits include Ambitions, Untold Stories of Black Wall Street, and The Young and the Restless. She is a 2020 Sundance Knight Fellow and 2022 Daytime Emmy Award winner for her work on The Young and the Restless. Her writing reflects a drive to examine humanity, analyzing the idiosyncrasies of characters and their circumstances. She believes that seeing universal humanity on screen leads audiences to recognize the humanity in those around them. She is represented by the Sarnoff Company.
Ashley Eakin (she/her) is a writer and director born with a physical disability, who's passionate about disrupting the narrative of how disabled people are portrayed in media. She has directed projects for Disney+, Apple TV+, and Netflix. Her AFI DWW film Single won the 2020 SXSW Special Jury Recognition Award and is currently being developed into a TV show for FX. In 2023 Eakin was selected for the Netflix Created By Initiative and is currently writing a feature for the platform. She is a founding member of the DGA’s newly established and historic Disability Committee. Eakin is represented by UTA and Artists First.
Jamey Perry (she/her) is a paraplegic TV writer, actor, and adaptive athlete, who writes grounded sci-fi, drama, and anything with a juicy disability storyline. She gained her first TV writing credit in 2019 when, as the writer’s assistant, Jamey co-wrote episode 109 of NBC’s Lincoln Rhyme: Hunt for the Bone Collector. Jamey has also sold two disability-led shows to Peacock and NBC, respectively. Currently, Jamey is coming off staffing on Season 3 of Amazon’s Leverage: Redemption, where she wrote Episode 305. As vice chair of the WGA's Disabled Writers Committee, Jamey is passionate about using disability as a way to offer new perspectives. She is represented by Buchwald.
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About Inevitable Foundation Inevitable Foundation is a non-profit that invests in disabled writers and filmmakers so they can achieve artistic and financial freedom and use film and television to destigmatize disability and mental health globally.
Disabled people make up 20%+ of the population but represent less than 1% of writers behind the screen. The access, relationship and opportunity barriers holding the community back—for example, it’s 2x more likely for a disabled person to be unemployed and live in poverty—need to be broken down.
Our signature programs support disabled creatives with the job placement, professional development, funding, networking, and mentorship they need to build thriving careers in the entertainment industry. Learn more about our work at https://inevitable.foundation.
