A leading role in fighting for accessible movie sets

'Wicked's' Marissa Bode and Inevitable Foundation work behind the scenes for more inclusive film shoots

- Story by Manuel Betancourt

AN ACCESSIBLE SET FOR all requires intention.

There are practical needs, of course — ramps for restrooms and extra bright neon tape on the ground to better light up and mark cues and equipment for low vision performers and crew members. But there's also a need to weave accessibility into the production so seamlessly that it doesn't feel tacked on or burdensome.

On a sweltering day in June at the Van Nuys Elks Lodge, the cast and crew of "The Hog Queen," a short film starring "Wicked: For Good's" Marissa Bode, were doing just that: recreating a drag show at a small-town Texas gay bar, yes, but also modeling what a set that puts accessibility and inclusion at its center can look like.

"I have been lucky in the way that 'Wicked' was an incredibly accessible set," Bode tells me later over Zoom, looking back on her experience making writer-director Katherine Craft's short horror film. "I didn't really have to think at all about my own accessibility. However, I know that's not the same for all my disabled peers."

Nor is it common practice on any given set. "Honestly, even prior to 'Wicked,' the No. 1 question I'm always asking when I'm collaborating with somebody is, 'Have you worked with disabled people before? If not, how are you accommodating for that?'" Bode says. "Even when I signed on to my agency — or even my PR team, or even my manager — that was one of the first questions I asked. That's always at the top of my mind."