Joey Travolta has done some remarkable work with his company, Inclusion Films — and he’ll visit Rosanna Scotto and Dave Price tomorrow on “Good Day New York” (9 a.m./Ch. 5) to discuss the company, which trains kids and young adults with developmental disabilities (including autism) for jobs in the movie and TV business.
Travolta, a New Jersey native (he grew up in Englewood — and, yes, he’s John Travolta’s brother) is back in Bergen County for the next two weeks, at the St. Peter’s College campus in Englewood Cliffs, overseeing his annual camp. And, this time around, his campers will actually produce an “Inclusion News” segment for “GDNY,” which will screen the effort next week (Travolta will return to “GDNY” to premiere the news story).
The Inclusion Films students have produced similar “Inclusion News” segments for the CBS and NBC affiliates in LA and Bakersfield, Calif., respectively, and for the local station in Pittsburgh. Next week, they’ll do the same for the local Fox affiliate in Detroit.
The “Inclusion News” report done in cooperation with Bakersfield’s KGET was hosted by young woman named Jasmin Flores, who suffers from a psychiatric disorder called “select mutism,” which renders her mute in certain situations. But not so in this instance — in which she introduced the piece in fine voice.
“The first time her family saw her they thought we’d dubbed her voice in,” Travolta told me.
“Where going to do a piece for ‘Good Day New York’ where the kids are going to be the anchors,” he said. “It’s really a process that teaches the kids and is a great way to learn life skills — not only about filmmaking, but about collaboration, about learning about people and knowing how to work in the field and how to conduct yourself.
“It surprises me that more people aren’t doing this,” he said. “It’s such a great tool to teach kids. There’s an artistry that comes out of these kids that is cool — it gives them a voice . . . these are tools that they’re going to need to go out in the workplace. They’ve got to learn how to think on their feet and work with other people.”
Travolta, who started as a special education teacher before launching his acting and singing career, began Inclusion Films around seven years ago after producing a documentary called “Normal People Scare Me” while mentoring a 15-year-old boy with autism (who was directing the film).
“When we did that film I opened up a workshop to train young people who may not go to college and know they want to be in the film business,” he said. “I thought, how cool if we could do a workshop where film becomes a lesson plan, and they would get to work in a different department each day and go through the process of film.”
Travolta said one of his former students is currently working on a TV series and he has several full-time employees who’ve gone through the program.
“These people are quite capable,” he said. “It’s a matter of people opening doors — and, if they do, they’re going to be quite surprised at what they find.”
During the Inclusion Films workshop being held over the next two weeks in Englewood Cliffs, hosted by Marblejam Kids, campers will break off into groups and produce a three-to-five-minute film (this year’s theme is a show called “30 Minutes Tonight,” a hybrid of “60 Minutes” and “Entertainment Tonight”).
“We’re doing this in less than 50 hours,” Travolta said. “It’s pretty intense — but the kids just jump aboard.”