{"id":790,"date":"2019-03-13T23:06:16","date_gmt":"2019-03-13T23:06:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/childofgiants.com\/2e\/?page_id=790"},"modified":"2021-07-10T05:07:18","modified_gmt":"2021-07-10T05:07:18","slug":"about-the-filmmaker","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/childofgiants.com\/2e\/about-the-filmmaker\/","title":{"rendered":"About the Filmmaker"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Tom Ropelewski <\/strong>is an award-winning\nwriter, producer and director for film and television. He wrote\nand made his feature directorial debut with the Orion Pictures comedy MADHOUSE<\/em>, starring John Larroquette and\nKirstie Alley. Other film credits include LOVERBOY,\nTHE KISS, LOOK WHO\u2019S TALKING NOW <\/em>and THE\nNEXT BEST THING<\/em>.   His\ntelevision work includes serving as writer and executive producer for three\nseasons of Paramount TV\u2019s action\/sci-fi series SEVEN DAYS.  <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ropelewski resides in Berkeley, CA and is married to screenwriter Leslie Dixon <\/strong>(MRS. DOUBTFIRE, HAIRSPRAY, THE THOMAS CROWN AFFAIR, LIMITLESS<\/em>).

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Tom Ropelewski Interview – <\/strong>2e Newsletter <\/strong><\/em>July\/August 2018<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: We profiled you and your documentary 2e: Twice Exceptional in our January 2015 issue.  Who did you find to be your main audience and what has the response been like? <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

TR:  Well, I made the film for parents like myself\nwho were struggling with the challenges of raising brilliant kids who just\ncouldn\u2019t fit into the mainstream school system. \nI wanted them to feel that they weren\u2019t alone, that with time and support\nand the right learning environment there was light at the end of the tunnel…\nor at least at the end of high school.  I\nhad a feeling there was an audience out there of parents who had skin in the 2e\ngame.  I entered the film into a few film\nfestivals to gain some exposure and was surprised when it started winning\nawards.   More people were interested in\nthis subject than I had expected.  Many\nadults would come up to me after those screening and tell me that they felt\nthat they had been twice-exceptional and would have really benefited from the\ntype of educational model represented by Bridges Academy in the film.  Many teenagers have come up to me and thanked\nme for making a film about them.  After I\nscreened at the North Carolina Conference for the Gifted and Talented in 2015,\nthe coordinator of the Gifted Program for the entire NC public school system\nannounced she was starting a State Task Force on twice-exceptionality and ordered\none hundred and fifty copies of the film to distribute to each of her school\ndistricts.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since then, the\nfilm\u2019s been playing at schools, colleges and educational conferences across the\ncountry and around the world.  It\u2019s also\navailable free in many libraries through a streaming service called www.kanopy.com<\/a>.  It\nseems to be particularly popular in Australia and New Zealand.  Recently it played in Tokyo where they\ntranslated it into Japanese, and in Santiago, Chile where they ran a Spanish\ntranslation.  It also has a strong\naudience with home-schoolers.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: How many people do you think you\u2019ve reached with <\/em>2e: Twice Exceptional?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

TR: That\u2019s really\nimpossible to say.  Some DVDs might be\nviewed by a single family or by an audience of 600.  And I encourage people to pass them around. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: Earlier in your\ncareer you were a Hollywood screenwriter and film director, mainly working in\ncomedy.  These films are much\ndifferent.  How would you say your\nexperience helped you develop your current \u201cvoice\u201d?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

TR: Well, I think\neven in my early career, I wanted to make the audience care about the\ncharacters and take them on an emotional journey.  I\u2019ve always been a good listener.  As a director, I\u2019ve always tried to make people\nfeel comfortable in front of the camera and that I care about their\ncontributions.   I think that\u2019s important\nin directing actors and interviewing non-actors, especially kids.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: So now you\u2019ve seen the film play with many different audiences.  Do you get different responses?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

TR: Actually,\nno.  As a filmmaker, I structured the\nfilm to take the audience on a particular journey.  I knew the spots that would get laughs or\nwould move people.  So the film basically\nplays the same with all audiences.  The\nonly thing that might vary is the degree of those responses.  However, what has<\/em> changed since the early screenings is the audience\u2019s\nunderstanding of the concept of twice-exceptionality.   At first many people had never even heard the\nterm \u201c2e,\u201d although they had kids who fit the description.  Now at the screenings there are many more\npeople who arrive informed and are already actively advocating for their kids. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Q: Why did you decided to make a sequel?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

TR: While I was\ntravelling around the country with the first film, I was gathering intel. What\nquestions did people have after watching it? Was anything confusing or unclear?\nWhat did they want to know more about? Usually the Q&A sessions lasted\nlonger than the film itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some of the most\npersistent questions I got were from teachers, often from public schools, who\nwanted to know how they could be more effective with their 2e students.  They were often frustrated \u2013 they knew they\nwere failing some of their brightest kids. \nThe first film focused on the personal stories of a handful of kids and\ntheir parents, and their journeys through middle and high school.  The teachers in the audience wanted to know\nmore specifically what goes on in the Bridges classrooms.  What sorts of strategies did they use to\nengage these kids, and how could they apply those strategies in their own\nclassrooms?  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So I went back to\nBridges Academy and talked with headmaster Carl Sabatino about the possibility\nof a follow-up film. This one would focus on teachers, the issues they face on\na daily basis with 2e students \u2013 like social anxiety and perfectionism — and\nhow they try to solve them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: So what\u2019s the most important thing you\u2019d like to convey to your audience with this film?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

TR: Well, I think\nthe biggest revelation is that the strategies used by teachers at Bridges can\napply to any learning environment and benefit every student. Of course, small\nclass size helps, but it\u2019s not the biggest factor.  I think the key is in Bridges\u2019 philosophy of strength-based,\ntalent-focused education, where they identify and teach to the strengths and\ninterests of a student and help them address their challenges without defining\nthem by those challenges.  Because who wants\nto be defined by what they can\u2019t<\/em> do? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: What\u2019s your biggest ambition for this new film?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: I\u2019d love to\nscreen it for Betsy DeVos.  If she\u2019s\nlooking for outside-the-box solutions for our broken school system, I\u2019ve got\nlots of ideas for her.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q:  Any plans for a <\/em>2e3?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

TR: Not yet, but I\nwouldn\u2019t rule it out.  Let\u2019s see what\nkind of questions this film generates. \nIn the meantime, I\u2019m putting the finishing touches on a companion piece\nto 2e2. <\/em> Last fall Bridges hosted a symposium entitled\n\u201cVision and Leadership in 2e Education.\u201d  As part of that event, Susan Baum and Robin\nSchader of Bridges\u2019 2e Center for Research and Professional Development\nconducted a day-long workshop in which they introduced a suite of tools they\u2019ve\ndesigned to help teachers quickly identify the strengths, styles, talents, and\ninterests of students, and then integrate that information into the decisions\nthey make about curriculum.  We taped the\nworkshop and are editing it into six short episodes.  These will be available, along with the suite\nof tools, sometime this fall.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: One final question \u2013 what\u2019s the most rewarding part of being one of the voices of the 2e community?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

TR: That\u2019s easy \u2013\nwhen a parent or student tells me they feel less alone after seeing my\nfilms.  That means everything to me.  This is by far the most rewarding work I\u2019ve\never done.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Find out purchase information for <\/strong>2e:<\/a><\/strong><\/em> <\/a><\/strong>Twice Exceptional<\/a><\/strong><\/em> and <\/strong>2e2: Teaching the Twice Exceptional<\/a><\/strong><\/em>.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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FILMMAKER\u2019S STATEMENT<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

As the parent of a \u201ctwice-exceptional\u201d teenager (he\u2019s intellectually gifted \u2013 that\u2019s the first exception \u2013 but with a learning difference \u2013 ADHD \u2013 that\u2019s the second), I know first-hand about the challenges of trying to understand and nurture a child who at one moment seems wise beyond his years and the next can throw a tantrum like a much younger child. I know the heartache of speaking with school officials who acknowledged that my son was brilliant but unmanageable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But I also know the thrill of being in the presence a unique and lively mind, one that has little patience for a three-minute pop song but can sit through the entirety of Wagner\u2019s Ring cycle and discuss it excitedly afterward. To this day, he\u2019s never seen the Star Wars trilogy; at age seven he got through about ten minutes of Episode 4 before turning off the TV and running to his room to start building his own Imperial Fleet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I admit my son\u2019s a challenge, but why can\u2019t everyone see the same brilliant kid I see? Why do they always focus on the problems instead of the gifts? And why can\u2019t my son just go with the flow once in a while? Why does he always have to make everything so hard on himself by insisting on doing things his own way?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The simple answer is that that his brain is \u201cwired\u201d differently. Basic executive skills (like remembering to turn in his homework on time) that come so easily to other children are real challenges for him. But studying graduate-level molecular genetics in tenth grade was a piece of cake.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although the concept of twice-exceptionality has evolved over the past half-century, I hadn\u2019t heard of it until I discovered Bridges Academy. I had no idea that there was a small but passionate network of educators around the country who were developing curricula that focused on the strengths of these unique students while also helping them address their challenges. Most importantly, these teachers were helping students identify and develop their talents and passions. They were defining these kids by their strengths \u2013 what they can do, often brilliantly \u2013 instead of by their weaknesses, which is the predominant approach of the American public school system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No federal agency or organization currently gathers statistics about giftedness, but the National Association of Gifted Children estimates that there are approximately three million school children \u2013 about 5-7% of the student population \u2014 \u201ccapable of high performance\u201d and \u201cin need of services or activities not normally provided by the school. \u201c Almost all funding decisions regarding gifted education are generated at the state and local level. While \u201cNo Child Left Behind\u201d was designed to address students performing below proficient levels, gifted children \u2013 and especially the twice-exceptional \u2013 are usually left out in the cold.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Navigating adolescence is challenging enough for anyone, no matter what path to adulthood you find yourself on. That challenge is compounded greatly for the young person who finds himself on a path which few, if any, have forged before. Parents and teachers are equally lost when trying their best to nurture and guide them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is my hope that 2e: Twice Exceptional will expand the national dialogue about twice-exceptional education and shed light on educators who are developing insightful, effective programs to engage these idiosyncratic kids who may indeed grow up to change the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tom Ropelewski
Director \/ Producer<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tom Ropelewski is an award-winning writer, producer and director for film and television. He wrote and made his feature directorial debut with the Orion Pictures comedy MADHOUSE, starring John Larroquette and Kirstie Alley. Other film credits include LOVERBOY, THE KISS,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-790","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/childofgiants.com\/2e\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/790","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/childofgiants.com\/2e\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/childofgiants.com\/2e\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/childofgiants.com\/2e\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/childofgiants.com\/2e\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=790"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"http:\/\/childofgiants.com\/2e\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/790\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1814,"href":"http:\/\/childofgiants.com\/2e\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/790\/revisions\/1814"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/childofgiants.com\/2e\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=790"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}