Work Better: Coworking Space Member Brings Autistic Filmmaking Talents Into Focus

Published on December 15, 2017 - By Jo Meunier (née Disney)

• All Good Work matches social impact and nonprofit organizations with workspaces with room to spare; All Good Work currently has over 20 participating workspace hosts.
• All Good Work recently placed AdaptLab Filmmakers in Work Better in NYC.
• AdaptLab helps filmmakers with learning differences to work on productions.

This article was written in collaboration with Nate Heasley.

The All Good Work Foundation was launched last year to match social impact and nonprofit organizations with workspaces who have a little room to spare. To date (December 2017), All Good Work has over 20 participating workspace Hosts who have donated dozens of coworking seats at locations around North America, predominantly in New York.

More workspace Hosts are coming onboard every month and All Good Work’s co-founder, Nate Heasley, is tasked with matching every available seat with qualifying social impact organizations.

One of the newest Residents that All Good Work has successfully placed is AdaptLab Filmmakers, based at Work Better in New York City. AdaptLab helps filmmakers with learning differences to work on productions and gain valuable skills for sustainable employment.

“We’re a social enterprise helping filmmakers with learning differences to collaborate effectively on productions and to lead meaningful careers,” explained Margarita Korol, Director of Operations and Distribution at AdaptLab Filmmakers.

Filmmakers Leigh (Writer and Creative Director), Oren (Cinematographer and Studio Manager), Andrew (Editor and Production Manager) and Oren (Assistant Camera and Assistant Director) are producing several original series for which the team hopes to win distribution early in 2018.

According to Margarita, 80% of adults with autism are unemployed and she believes that “99% are underemployed in careers that fall short of being fulfilling and matching their educational training.”

Prior to launching the AdaptLabs studio, Margarita was an employment coach at JCC Manhattan’s Center for Special Needs. There she realised that Leigh and Andrew, among many others, were not accomplishing fulfilling employment due to limitations around their learning differences, as well as the creative restraint of being confined to administrative roles.

“I was happy to use my training in design for social innovation to collaborate with Leigh, Andrew, and then Oren in our entrepreneurial experiment,” said Margarita.

“[AdaptLabs] is disrupting the special needs employment and film industries to make room for the important contributions these talented individuals have to offer audiences.”

Margarita discovered All Good Work through her partnership with the JCC Manhattan Center for Special Needs, and AdaptLabs’ office at Work Better has made a considerable impact on their day-to-day progress.

“We approached Nate about the residency because we felt our missions and visions of a better world aligned,” Margarita explained.

“It’s been so motivating to our team to be situated at the heart of New York’s financial district on Wall Street. The hustle is contagious. What better place to chase our ambitious goals for profitable distribution of our original projects than here?”

“We are all about collaborating to produce beautiful things that are greater than the sum of their parts, and each day we look forward to making more connections with other members of the All Good Work family.”

Looking ahead, Margarita explained that AdaptLabs currently has a number of original shows in production. Among them, Broadway Duels is a series geared towards school-age children and their teachers, and the team also has a short documentary premiering at the 10th ReelAbilities Film Festival in March 2018.

“We’re looking forward to finding the right distribution partnerships to propel the team into stardom!”

Meet the team behind-the-scenes and gain a glimpse into AdaptLabs’ day-to-day life with this short reality show, AdaptLab Filmmakers @Work.

Interested in supporting growing social impact organizations like AdaptLabs by donating workspace? Head to allgoodwork.org to learn more and get in touch.