{"href":"https://api.simplecast.com/oembed?url=https%3A%2F%2Fhumane-rights-w-dr-akilah-cadet.simplecast.com%2Fepisodes%2Fepisode-13-makeitbay-ExznKaeG","width":444,"version":"1.0","type":"rich","title":"Episode 13: Make It Bay","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_url":"https://image.simplecastcdn.com/images/0391bc8c-4f95-4f74-8d1c-ef586db0dda9/ff44b951-77aa-4db4-846c-8fa8a7bf97d7/sam_squar.jpg","thumbnail_height":300,"provider_url":"https://simplecast.com","provider_name":"Simplecast","html":"","height":200,"description":"Humane Rights with Dr. Akilah Cadet | Episode 13: #MakeItBay — Building a Thriving Film & TV Ecosystem in the Bay Area\nDr. Akilah Cadet sits down with Sam Bempong and Grace Porras, co-directors of #MakeItBay, to explore what it takes to build a sustainable, inclusive screen industry right here in the Bay Area. Together they dig into why Bay Area creatives keep leaving for LA, New York, and Atlanta —and what #MakeItBay is doing to reverse that creative brain drain. From the groundbreaking inaugural Bay List (a regional take on the legendary Black List, with over 1,000 script submissions and partners including Ryan Coogler's Proximity Media, Stephen Curry's Unanimous Media, Tom Hanks' Playtone, and Hasan Minhaj's 186K Media) to reimagining what an equitable, accessible, family-friendly production industry could look like, this conversation is a love letter to Bay Area storytelling and the people fighting to keep it home.\nSam and Grace open up about the intersectionality they bring to this work as women, as producers, as people who have navigated disability and chronic illness in an industry not built for them—and why that lived experience makes the infrastructure they're building more thoughtful and more human. Akilah connects the dots between Humane Rights, storytelling, and the very real political threats to the systems people depend on, from SNAP benefits to healthcare, making the case that creative equity and civic equity are inseparable.\nPlus: Isaac Newton, the Port of Oakland's secret Star Wars connection, grandma's couch pants, and why every film truly is a miracle.\n"}