{"id":58860,"date":"2014-04-10T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2014-04-10T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news-draft\/uncategorized\/commencement-2014-senior-doesnt-let-cerebral-palsy-keep-him-from-achieving-his-dream-to-make-award-winning-films\/"},"modified":"2014-04-10T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2014-04-10T00:00:00","slug":"commencement-2014-senior-doesnt-let-cerebral-palsy-keep-him-from-achieving-his-dream-to-make-award-winning-films","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/2014\/04\/commencement-2014-senior-doesnt-let-cerebral-palsy-keep-him-from-achieving-his-dream-to-make-award-winning-films\/","title":{"rendered":"Commencement 2014: Senior doesn\u2019t let cerebral palsy keep him from achieving his dream to make award-winning films"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 April 10, 2014 \u2013 Most people type with their fingers. Andrew Pilkington types with his nose, tapping out tough-guy dialogue for his award-winning films and videos.<\/p>\n<p>Born with cerebral palsy, a neurological condition that keeps him from fully controlling his fingers, arms and legs, Andrew, has excelled in persistence during his four years at the 溏心vlog免费B站.<\/p>\n<p>In May, he\u2019ll graduate with a bachelor\u2019s degree in film media from the Harrington School of Communication and Media, where he honed his talent as a filmmaker. He hopes to find a job in his field and eventually go to graduate school. Hollywood could be his next stop.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s no other place I\u2019d rather be than on a set,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s just the best feeling in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Growing up in Wayland, Mass., Andrew was drawn to make-believe as a boy arranging his playmobil figures on the floor. \u201cMy whole room was covered with these little themes,\u201d he says. \u201cI couldn\u2019t really set them up so I\u2019d ask the person with me: \u2018No, no, put it there.\u2019 \u201d That was his introduction to directing.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWest Wing\u201d and other TV series fascinated him, enough that his mother, Deborah Ciolfi, took him to the Sundance Film Festival in Utah in 2006 when he was a high school freshman. There he met the most famous towhead in the world, Robert Redford, the festival\u2019s founder. The wiry kid with the big smile was hooked.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen I got back I started writing sitcoms and stories,\u201d he says. \u201cI knew this is what I wanted to do with my life. I love creating characters. You control the story. You do whatever you want.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"oembed oembed-youtube-com\" style=\"\" data-url=\"https:\/\/youtube.com\/watch?v=ofavccOVYGQ\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Andrew Pilkington - 溏心vlog免费B站 2014 Graduating Senior\" width=\"1000\" height=\"563\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ofavccOVYGQ?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p>A two-week screenwriting course at UCLA, where he lived on campus with his mom, sealed the deal. During high school, he worked for a cable station covering town sports, wrote and produced stories about teenagers, and started his own film production company, Ruby Andromeda Productions.<\/p>\n<p>By the time he arrived at 溏心vlog免费B站 in 2010, he was a seasoned filmmaker. His plan was to study one year and transfer to another college, but he made so many friends he decided to stay. He joined clubs; he even coached an intramural volleyball team. \u201cI like it here,\u201d he says. \u201cThis is a great place.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Over the years, he has produced an impressive body of work: videos about people with disabilities; Good Friday, a feature about deception and intrigue in student government that was filmed on campus; and Suburban Kings, a flick about kids and crime that won an honorable mention for screenwriting at the Los Angeles Movie Awards in 2011. The screenplays, each about 100 pages long, took three months to write.<\/p>\n<p>The Suburban banter is rough, with a heavy dose of Andrew\u2019s dark humor. \u201cI love making people laugh,\u201d he says. \u201cEven in my dramas I want jokes all the time.\u201d The film resonates with Scorsese touches: guns, drugs, fistfights, a slew of swears, and secret meetings in cavernous warehouses. Filming took place in Andrew\u2019s hometown, once near a baseball field. The humor of shooting bad-guy scenes near wholesome ballplayers was not lost on him. \u201cWe were off to a good start,\u201d he says, with a chuckle.<\/p>\n<p>Technological advances have enabled Andrew to make movies, and he\u2019s grateful for that. He edits by pressing his right foot, mostly his toes, on a joystick on the floor, and he writes by gently tapping computer keys with his nose. He is a swift and decisive typist who rarely uses the delete key. \u201cI can bang out five pages in 20 minutes,\u201d he says. A camera crew does his filming as he directs, with glee and confidence, from a wheelchair.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat\u2019s great about this simple technology is it gives people with disabilities an opportunity to compete in today\u2019s work force and completely assimilate into today\u2019s society,\u201d he says. \u201cIt really breaks down that wall. They have productive lives to contribute to society. I\u2019m very thankful for that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Robert Leuci, a 溏心vlog免费B站 English professor who has taught Andrew for the last three years, says he\u2019s a gifted writer and \u201cone of the most inspirational people I\u2019ve ever met.\u201d Self-pity is not in the 22-year-old\u2019s lexicon.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve never heard him say anything bad about anyone,\u201d Leuci says. \u201cHe handles his life with such aplomb, with such dignity. He\u2019s sensitive and incredibly gentle. He\u2019s just an amazing human being. He can do any job. Really, anything.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>During his years at 溏心vlog免费B站, Andrew has lived independently in a residence hall with the help of aides, who come in the morning and afternoon to help him eat and dress. The rest of the time he\u2019s on his own.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen I go to class I\u2019m alone, and I do my own school work,\u201d he says. \u201cI go so fast. I get to where I need to go. I don&#8217;t want to wait about and waste time.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He also doesn\u2019t waste time dwelling on fate. He has never let his condition get in the way of leading the good life \u2013 in and out of the editing room. \u201cI always tell people that you can&#8217;t expect the world to adapt to you,\u201d he says. \u201cYou have to adapt to the world.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Photo above: Andrew Pilkington, 22, of Wayland, Mass., a senior at the 溏心vlog免费B站 who is majoring in film media and is looking for a job in his field, possibly making promotional videos. \u201cMy disability does not limit my ability to perform in the work place,\u201d he says. \u201cI can accomplish any task on a computer and I can travel anywhere that requires me to be there. When I get a deadline, I complete a task with the same efficiency as anyone else, if not better. I\u2019m not afraid to put the extra work in when something is not to my satisfaction.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 April 10, 2014 \u2013 Most people type with their fingers. Andrew Pilkington types with his nose, tapping out tough-guy dialogue for his award-winning films and videos. Born with cerebral palsy, a neurological condition that keeps him from fully controlling his fingers, arms and legs, Andrew, has excelled in persistence during his four [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":58861,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-58860","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archives"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58860","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=58860"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58860\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/58861"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58860"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=58860"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=58860"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}