The Great Now What - Post!
Denver, Colorado | Film Feature
Documentary
Hollywood tells us disability is a tragedy to overcome or a lesson to inspire. It's neither. This film is a raw and honest ten-year reckoning with what it actually takes to rebuild an identity after a stroke steals the one you spent a lifetime building.
The Great Now What - Post!
Denver, Colorado | Film Feature
Documentary
2 Campaigns | Colorado, United States
Green Light
This campaign raised $53,703 for post-production. Follow the filmmaker to receive future updates on this project.
299 supporters | followers
Enter the amount you would like to pledge
Hollywood tells us disability is a tragedy to overcome or a lesson to inspire. It's neither. This film is a raw and honest ten-year reckoning with what it actually takes to rebuild an identity after a stroke steals the one you spent a lifetime building.
About The Project
- The Story
- Wishlist
- Updates
- The Team
- Community
Mission Statement
The Story
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Stroke is the #1 cause of long-term disability in America. Only 10% of survivors make a full recovery. And 1 in 3 strokes now happens to someone under 50.
At 33, Maggie was one of them.
A rare brainstem stroke left Maggie partially paralyzed on one side of her body and face, with hypertrophic olivary degeneration (HOD) that makes her vision shake, and chronic pain severe enough to reshape every hour of every day — eleven years and counting.
She couldn't find that reality on any screen. So she started filming it herself… and we need your help to finish it.
It takes a community to heal.
Everyone, eventually, has their own "hardest chapter." The loss that cracks the self wide open. The moment when the old identity stops fitting and there's no map for what comes next. You've been there, or you will be, or you love someone who is. This film is for you—not as a lesson, not as inspiration, but as company. And because no one rebuilds alone, every backer becomes part of the community that makes this film possible.
Maggie's story is universal.
At 33, Maggie was an aspiring classical actress when a rare brainstem stroke shattered her future plans and everything she thought she was. Externally, this film follows her decade-long journey from emergency brain surgery back to the stage, where she relearns how to use her body and her voice as a newly disabled, partially paralyzed performer. She seeks out other disabled female artists and asks them the hardest questions: about femininity, about dating, about art, about grief, about suicide, and about loving a body you didn't choose.
Internally, the film follows a woman reckoning with the life she thought she had. As Maggie rebuilds, she starts to see that the "perfect" past she's been mourning was never as perfect as she remembered... that the rules she'd built her identity on (be productive, be pretty, be impressive, don't be too much!) were never really hers to begin with. This isn't a recovery story. It's a demolition. Maggie doesn't fight her way back to who she was; she dismantles who she thought she had to be, brick by brick, in real time.
Quána Madison | multi-disciplinary artist
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Regan Linton | multi-disciplinary artist
Kalyn Rose Heffernan | multi-disciplinary artist
Through Maggie's art and her friendships with other disabled women, she moves beyond the myth of the miracle recovery toward something more radical: a life rebuilt on her own terms. Her journey culminates in a high-profile performance in David Byrne's "Theater of the Mind."
MAKING THE INVISIBLE VISIBLE
Chronic pain is one of the most underrepresented human experiences in film, in part because it is almost impossible to show. Maggie makes it visible.
Using Barbie dolls (because she used to look like one) she translates sensation into sculpture: one doll wrapped tightly in rubber bands, another weighed down with dozens of vice grips, a third encased in cement-gray clay.
She takes her old actor headshots (the face she used to book work with) and pierces one side with needles, burns holes through the features, cuts them into strips and reassembles them into fractured self-portraits.
This film sits at the intersection of two crises almost no one is talking about.
- Stroke is the #1 cause of long-term disability in America. Only 10% of survivors make a full recovery. 1 in 3 strokes now happens to someone under 50. Thoughts of suicide are higher among stroke survivors than among people with heart attack, diabetes, or cancer.
- And on screen, the people living through this are almost invisible. 80% of disabled characters in film and television are played by non-disabled actors and less than 1% of characters have a visible disability. When disability does show up, it's almost always performed by people who have never been in the body, the mind, the hospital bed, or the aftermath.
This is the film we're making to change that.
We promise to deliver a film that refuses the tropes, tells the truth, and puts a self-authored disability story in front of the audiences who need it most. Beyond the film itself, we're building an impact campaign to host screenings and community events centered on expressive arts: for stroke and brain injury survivors, disabled artists, medical students, chronic pain and mental health communities, and everyone working alongside them.
If you know an organization, venue, medical school, or community that would host a screening or event with us, please reach out.
This film is made by disabled filmmakers.
Maggie and Dash came to this film through the same conviction: that art heals pain, and storytelling is one of the most viable paths through trauma. Maggie lives it, narrates the film, and speaks to medical students about what stroke recovery actually looks like for a young person. Dash directs. An award-winning filmmaker whose work has screened at SXSW, Tribeca, and the Austin Film Festival, Dash has told stories for and about marginalized communities since 2014, lives with invisible disabilities (major depressive disorder, ADHD, OCD) rarely taken seriously on screen and in culture, and is pursuing a Master of Social Work at UT Austin, building toward community mental health spaces where expressive arts are central to healing.
Maggie turns chronic pain into sculpture. Dash builds rooms where people use story to meet the parts of themselves they've been running from. Across every domain of their work, Dash returns to the same question: what is the story you're telling about yourself, and what becomes possible when you rewrite it? That question is also the engine of this film.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT!
Our goal: $50,000 to be spent on post-production costs for editing, color, sound mixing, music, visual effects, graphics, captions and audio description being implemented in the summer and fall of 2026.
------ STRETCH GOAL ------
$55,000 - INTO THE WORLD
Hit our $50K base goal and the film gets finished. Hit $55K and the film starts traveling.
- $2,000 - festival submission fees
- $3,000 - the first strategy phase of our impact campaign: building the screening network, identifying community partners, and shaping the conversations this film is meant to spark. Our ultimate impact campaign will be large scale!
> OTHER WAYS TO GIVE <<
- Interested in making a tax-deductible donation to The Great Now What?
- We are fiscally sponsored by Denver Film, a 501c3!
- https://www.denverfilm.org/fiscal-sponsorship/the-great-now-what/
- Does your employer offer a match grant donation and you would like to match with us?
- Please email us at [email protected] and we can coordinate!
>> OTHER WAYS YOU CAN HELP <<
1. FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL MEDIA!
➡️ on Facebook! https://www.facebook.com/TheGreatNowWhat/
➡️ on Instagram! https://www.instagram.com/thegreatnowwhat/
for posts about the film plus disability // stroke // chronic pain, and more! Encourage your friends to follow us too!
2. SPREAD THE WORD ABOUT #TheGreatNowWhat
CROWDFUNDING IS ALSO AUDIENCE BUILDING!
Tell you friends, family, colleagues, and neighbors about the film - in particular, we want to reach stroke and brain injury survivors, people with chronic illness or chronic pain, people with disabilities, and members of the medical community. Share our posts, campaign page, and our backer updates!
3. JOIN OUR EMAIL LIST!
Stay up to date on the film - click here to join - we send about one email a month!
4. KEEP FOLLOWING OUR CAMPAIGN!
Regular visits to our Seed&Spark page keep you in the know AND increase our chances of being featured on the site!
Thank you!
Wishlist
Use the WishList to Pledge cash and Loan items - or - Make a pledge by selecting an Incentive directly.
Editing
Costs $15,000
This funds 6 weeks with our editor, Kenny Miracle, to take the film from rough cut to picture lock + exporting to all post departments.
Original Score
Costs $10,000
Funds an original score: composer fees, live musician recording sessions, and final cue placement throughout the film.
Sound Mix + Design
Costs $10,000
Bad sound is unforgivable! Help us fund dialogue cleanup, noise reduction, room tone balancing and ambiance, SFX, and stereo + 5.1 mixes.
Color Grade/Correction
Costs $5,000
We want gorgeous color! This will fund temp correction, primary and secondary grades, cross-camera matching, and HDR conform.
Graphics & Titles
Costs $5,000
A gfx artist will create a dynamic and cohesive design for an animated opening title sequence, end credits, and chapter titles.
Archival & Clearances
Costs $5,000
Stock licensing, master + sync clearances for 2 tracks, fair use legal assessment, talent/location releases, and logo/trademark clearances.
Cash Pledge
Costs $0
Direct link:
Share this update!
About This Team
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The Creative Team
Director/Producer:
Dash Donato (they/she) is an award-winning filmmaker and writing coach based in Austin, Texas, where they spend most of their time toggling between existential reflection and choosing their favorite breakfast taco.
Her films have screened at hundreds of festivals worldwide (Cannes American Pavilion, SXSW, Tribeca, Outfest, and more), telling stories that live in the tender space between pain and possibility. Her feature debut Gossamer Folds earned a GLAAD Media Award nomination and Best New Director at the Brooklyn Film Festival. She co-wrote the queer rom-com Signature Move (SXSW premiere), directed the Telly-winning docuseries Behind the Drag, and her short Spunkle won the Emerging LGBTQ+ Filmmaker Award at Cannes before being developed with LuckyChap (Margot Robbie) and sold to Warner Bros.
Living with invisible disabilities (major depressive disorder, ADHD, and OCD) Dash has built a career telling stories for and about the people and experiences rarely taken seriously on screen. A certified Enneagram teacher, Dash uses the framework the same way they use story, as a map back to yourself. Their passion is blending film, psychology, and community healing into spaces where personal growth feels less like homework and more like creative play. Now pursuing a Master of Social Work at UT Austin, she's working toward community mental health spaces where expressive arts are central to healing.
Producer/Subject
Maggie Whittum is a filmmaker, theatre artist, disability advocate, public speaker and stroke survivor at age 33. She won a True West award for her performance in the world-premiere immersive experience ‘Theater of the Mind’, co-created by David Byrne and produced by the Denver Center. She often acts with the ‘disability-affirmative’ Phamaly Theatre Company, which exclusively casts disabled actors. Other immersive work includes Third Rail Projects, Control Group Productions and PATH Entertainment.
Maggie has directed and produced plays, musicals and improv comedy in the US and abroad. She assistant-directed under Tony Award winner Rebecca Taichman and Peabody Award winner Emily Mann at McCarter Theatre in Princeton, New Jersey, where she was named the Charles Evans Fellow. Commercial acting credits include MapQuest, Samsung and Starz/Encore.
Maggie has presented her medical story at Johns Hopkins, Georgetown and Craig Hospital among others. Maggie is a 3x RespectAbility / Disability Belongs Entertainment Fellow and a member of FWD-DOC and The D-Word. Maggie seeks to create projects that engender more empathy and compassion in American society for people with disabilities. She is keen to create more visibility for disabled talent and more projects helmed by disabled people. Maggie uses a cane to walk and lives with facial paralysis, visual impairments and chronic pain. Maggie is a graduate of Colorado College.
Cinematographer
Robert Muratore is an award-winning cinematographer and producer whose work has screened at Sundance, Venice, and festivals worldwide. Based in the Rocky Mountain region, he has spent over three decades behind the camera on independent narrative features, documentaries, and shorts. Through his production company Exhibit A Pictures, Muratore has shot and co-produced a celebrated slate of feature documentaries exploring the mythologies of cinema and pop culture.
Chain Reactions took home the Black Lion for Best Documentary on Cinema at the Venice Film Festival. 78/52 (his deep dive into the shower scene from Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho that changed film history) was named a Sundance standout by the American Society of Cinematographers. Other credits include: The People vs. George Lucas, Memory: The Origins of Alien, Leap of Faith, The Taking, Lynch/Oz, and You Can Call Me Bill.
Whether turning the camera on George Lucas, David Lynch, or William Shatner, Muratore brings the same instinct to his subjects: a fascination with the artists and moments that shaped how we see the world.
Editor
Kenny Miracle is a story editor & videographer with two decades of experience creating award-winning independent documentaries that have been acquired by Netflix, premiered at Oscar-qualifying film festivals, and screened at the U.N. Most of his work focuses on critical issues like trafficking, child abuse, immigration, and homelessness. He has a passion for ethical filmmaking practices and human-centered stories that are often excluded from mainstream media. Kenny lives in Austin, TX with his three daughters.
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Featured Artists
Regan Linton
Actor, Director, Writer
.png)
Quána Madison
Painter, Designer, Model
Kalyn Heffernan
Musician
https://wheelchairsportscamp.co/
.png)
Rachel
Actor
Laurice
Actor
Erin
Actor
Current Team
Incentives
- The Story
- Wishlist
- Updates
- The Team
- Community
Mission Statement
The Story
Stroke is the #1 cause of long-term disability in America. Only 10% of survivors make a full recovery. And 1 in 3 strokes now happens to someone under 50.
At 33, Maggie was one of them.
A rare brainstem stroke left Maggie partially paralyzed on one side of her body and face, with hypertrophic olivary degeneration (HOD) that makes her vision shake, and chronic pain severe enough to reshape every hour of every day — eleven years and counting.
She couldn't find that reality on any screen. So she started filming it herself… and we need your help to finish it.
It takes a community to heal.
Everyone, eventually, has their own "hardest chapter." The loss that cracks the self wide open. The moment when the old identity stops fitting and there's no map for what comes next. You've been there, or you will be, or you love someone who is. This film is for you—not as a lesson, not as inspiration, but as company. And because no one rebuilds alone, every backer becomes part of the community that makes this film possible.
Maggie's story is universal.
At 33, Maggie was an aspiring classical actress when a rare brainstem stroke shattered her future plans and everything she thought she was. Externally, this film follows her decade-long journey from emergency brain surgery back to the stage, where she relearns how to use her body and her voice as a newly disabled, partially paralyzed performer. She seeks out other disabled female artists and asks them the hardest questions: about femininity, about dating, about art, about grief, about suicide, and about loving a body you didn't choose.
Internally, the film follows a woman reckoning with the life she thought she had. As Maggie rebuilds, she starts to see that the "perfect" past she's been mourning was never as perfect as she remembered... that the rules she'd built her identity on (be productive, be pretty, be impressive, don't be too much!) were never really hers to begin with. This isn't a recovery story. It's a demolition. Maggie doesn't fight her way back to who she was; she dismantles who she thought she had to be, brick by brick, in real time.
Quána Madison | multi-disciplinary artist
Regan Linton | multi-disciplinary artist
Kalyn Rose Heffernan | multi-disciplinary artist
Through Maggie's art and her friendships with other disabled women, she moves beyond the myth of the miracle recovery toward something more radical: a life rebuilt on her own terms. Her journey culminates in a high-profile performance in David Byrne's "Theater of the Mind."
MAKING THE INVISIBLE VISIBLE
Chronic pain is one of the most underrepresented human experiences in film, in part because it is almost impossible to show. Maggie makes it visible.
Using Barbie dolls (because she used to look like one) she translates sensation into sculpture: one doll wrapped tightly in rubber bands, another weighed down with dozens of vice grips, a third encased in cement-gray clay.
She takes her old actor headshots (the face she used to book work with) and pierces one side with needles, burns holes through the features, cuts them into strips and reassembles them into fractured self-portraits.
This film sits at the intersection of two crises almost no one is talking about.
- Stroke is the #1 cause of long-term disability in America. Only 10% of survivors make a full recovery. 1 in 3 strokes now happens to someone under 50. Thoughts of suicide are higher among stroke survivors than among people with heart attack, diabetes, or cancer.
- And on screen, the people living through this are almost invisible. 80% of disabled characters in film and television are played by non-disabled actors and less than 1% of characters have a visible disability. When disability does show up, it's almost always performed by people who have never been in the body, the mind, the hospital bed, or the aftermath.
This is the film we're making to change that.
We promise to deliver a film that refuses the tropes, tells the truth, and puts a self-authored disability story in front of the audiences who need it most. Beyond the film itself, we're building an impact campaign to host screenings and community events centered on expressive arts: for stroke and brain injury survivors, disabled artists, medical students, chronic pain and mental health communities, and everyone working alongside them.
If you know an organization, venue, medical school, or community that would host a screening or event with us, please reach out.
This film is made by disabled filmmakers.
Maggie and Dash came to this film through the same conviction: that art heals pain, and storytelling is one of the most viable paths through trauma. Maggie lives it, narrates the film, and speaks to medical students about what stroke recovery actually looks like for a young person. Dash directs. An award-winning filmmaker whose work has screened at SXSW, Tribeca, and the Austin Film Festival, Dash has told stories for and about marginalized communities since 2014, lives with invisible disabilities (major depressive disorder, ADHD, OCD) rarely taken seriously on screen and in culture, and is pursuing a Master of Social Work at UT Austin, building toward community mental health spaces where expressive arts are central to healing.
Maggie turns chronic pain into sculpture. Dash builds rooms where people use story to meet the parts of themselves they've been running from. Across every domain of their work, Dash returns to the same question: what is the story you're telling about yourself, and what becomes possible when you rewrite it? That question is also the engine of this film.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT!
Our goal: $50,000 to be spent on post-production costs for editing, color, sound mixing, music, visual effects, graphics, captions and audio description being implemented in the summer and fall of 2026.
------ STRETCH GOAL ------
$55,000 - INTO THE WORLD
Hit our $50K base goal and the film gets finished. Hit $55K and the film starts traveling.
- $2,000 - festival submission fees
- $3,000 - the first strategy phase of our impact campaign: building the screening network, identifying community partners, and shaping the conversations this film is meant to spark. Our ultimate impact campaign will be large scale!
> OTHER WAYS TO GIVE <<
- Interested in making a tax-deductible donation to The Great Now What?
- We are fiscally sponsored by Denver Film, a 501c3!
- https://www.denverfilm.org/fiscal-sponsorship/the-great-now-what/
- Does your employer offer a match grant donation and you would like to match with us?
- Please email us at [email protected] and we can coordinate!
>> OTHER WAYS YOU CAN HELP <<
1. FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL MEDIA!
➡️ on Facebook! https://www.facebook.com/TheGreatNowWhat/
➡️ on Instagram! https://www.instagram.com/thegreatnowwhat/
for posts about the film plus disability // stroke // chronic pain, and more! Encourage your friends to follow us too!
2. SPREAD THE WORD ABOUT #TheGreatNowWhat
CROWDFUNDING IS ALSO AUDIENCE BUILDING!
Tell you friends, family, colleagues, and neighbors about the film - in particular, we want to reach stroke and brain injury survivors, people with chronic illness or chronic pain, people with disabilities, and members of the medical community. Share our posts, campaign page, and our backer updates!
3. JOIN OUR EMAIL LIST!
Stay up to date on the film - click here to join - we send about one email a month!
4. KEEP FOLLOWING OUR CAMPAIGN!
Regular visits to our Seed&Spark page keep you in the know AND increase our chances of being featured on the site!
Thank you!
Wishlist
Use the WishList to Pledge cash and Loan items - or - Make a pledge by selecting an Incentive directly.
Editing
Costs $15,000
This funds 6 weeks with our editor, Kenny Miracle, to take the film from rough cut to picture lock + exporting to all post departments.
Original Score
Costs $10,000
Funds an original score: composer fees, live musician recording sessions, and final cue placement throughout the film.
Sound Mix + Design
Costs $10,000
Bad sound is unforgivable! Help us fund dialogue cleanup, noise reduction, room tone balancing and ambiance, SFX, and stereo + 5.1 mixes.
Color Grade/Correction
Costs $5,000
We want gorgeous color! This will fund temp correction, primary and secondary grades, cross-camera matching, and HDR conform.
Graphics & Titles
Costs $5,000
A gfx artist will create a dynamic and cohesive design for an animated opening title sequence, end credits, and chapter titles.
Archival & Clearances
Costs $5,000
Stock licensing, master + sync clearances for 2 tracks, fair use legal assessment, talent/location releases, and logo/trademark clearances.
Cash Pledge
Costs $0
Direct link:
Share this update!
About This Team
The Creative Team
Director/Producer:
Dash Donato (they/she) is an award-winning filmmaker and writing coach based in Austin, Texas, where they spend most of their time toggling between existential reflection and choosing their favorite breakfast taco.
Her films have screened at hundreds of festivals worldwide (Cannes American Pavilion, SXSW, Tribeca, Outfest, and more), telling stories that live in the tender space between pain and possibility. Her feature debut Gossamer Folds earned a GLAAD Media Award nomination and Best New Director at the Brooklyn Film Festival. She co-wrote the queer rom-com Signature Move (SXSW premiere), directed the Telly-winning docuseries Behind the Drag, and her short Spunkle won the Emerging LGBTQ+ Filmmaker Award at Cannes before being developed with LuckyChap (Margot Robbie) and sold to Warner Bros.
Living with invisible disabilities (major depressive disorder, ADHD, and OCD) Dash has built a career telling stories for and about the people and experiences rarely taken seriously on screen. A certified Enneagram teacher, Dash uses the framework the same way they use story, as a map back to yourself. Their passion is blending film, psychology, and community healing into spaces where personal growth feels less like homework and more like creative play. Now pursuing a Master of Social Work at UT Austin, she's working toward community mental health spaces where expressive arts are central to healing.
Producer/Subject
Maggie Whittum is a filmmaker, theatre artist, disability advocate, public speaker and stroke survivor at age 33. She won a True West award for her performance in the world-premiere immersive experience ‘Theater of the Mind’, co-created by David Byrne and produced by the Denver Center. She often acts with the ‘disability-affirmative’ Phamaly Theatre Company, which exclusively casts disabled actors. Other immersive work includes Third Rail Projects, Control Group Productions and PATH Entertainment.
Maggie has directed and produced plays, musicals and improv comedy in the US and abroad. She assistant-directed under Tony Award winner Rebecca Taichman and Peabody Award winner Emily Mann at McCarter Theatre in Princeton, New Jersey, where she was named the Charles Evans Fellow. Commercial acting credits include MapQuest, Samsung and Starz/Encore.
Maggie has presented her medical story at Johns Hopkins, Georgetown and Craig Hospital among others. Maggie is a 3x RespectAbility / Disability Belongs Entertainment Fellow and a member of FWD-DOC and The D-Word. Maggie seeks to create projects that engender more empathy and compassion in American society for people with disabilities. She is keen to create more visibility for disabled talent and more projects helmed by disabled people. Maggie uses a cane to walk and lives with facial paralysis, visual impairments and chronic pain. Maggie is a graduate of Colorado College.
Cinematographer
Robert Muratore is an award-winning cinematographer and producer whose work has screened at Sundance, Venice, and festivals worldwide. Based in the Rocky Mountain region, he has spent over three decades behind the camera on independent narrative features, documentaries, and shorts. Through his production company Exhibit A Pictures, Muratore has shot and co-produced a celebrated slate of feature documentaries exploring the mythologies of cinema and pop culture.
Chain Reactions took home the Black Lion for Best Documentary on Cinema at the Venice Film Festival. 78/52 (his deep dive into the shower scene from Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho that changed film history) was named a Sundance standout by the American Society of Cinematographers. Other credits include: The People vs. George Lucas, Memory: The Origins of Alien, Leap of Faith, The Taking, Lynch/Oz, and You Can Call Me Bill.
Whether turning the camera on George Lucas, David Lynch, or William Shatner, Muratore brings the same instinct to his subjects: a fascination with the artists and moments that shaped how we see the world.
Editor
Kenny Miracle is a story editor & videographer with two decades of experience creating award-winning independent documentaries that have been acquired by Netflix, premiered at Oscar-qualifying film festivals, and screened at the U.N. Most of his work focuses on critical issues like trafficking, child abuse, immigration, and homelessness. He has a passion for ethical filmmaking practices and human-centered stories that are often excluded from mainstream media. Kenny lives in Austin, TX with his three daughters.
Featured Artists
Regan Linton
Actor, Director, Writer
Quána Madison
Painter, Designer, Model
Kalyn Heffernan
Musician
https://wheelchairsportscamp.co/
Rachel
Actor
Laurice
Actor
Erin
Actor