Carefest Spotlights Role Of Film And TV In Shaping Image Of Caregivers

Filmmaker Liz Sargent says she cannot remember a time when her personal narrative of being adopted didn’t influence her work.

“Somewhere in the back of your head, immediately you start thinking about the systems of care, who’s able and allowed to care for people,” she said of her upbringing as one of seven children, most from Korea ,who were adopted by a Chicago-area couple that also had four biological children. Looking after her siblings “was just how it worked,” she added.

Sargent, whose film based on her experience, Take Me Home, will premiere on the festival circuit next year, was joined by two other prominent creatives Thursday for a panel discussion at Carefest in New York. The other participants were comedian and actor Cristela Alonzo, who created the ABC sitcom Cristela; and DJ Nash, creator and showrunner of A Million Little Things, which ran for five seasons on ABC. (Watch full video above of the panel, which was moderated by Deadline Business Editor Dade Hayes.)

Carefest, which had been held just once before, in Los Angeles, unfolded over three days in New York at the headquarters of the Ford Foundation. The first two days featured a wide range of policy and societal conversations, with speaking appearances by Hillary Clinton, Jane Fonda, MS NOW host Chris Hayes, filmmaker Hikari. The event is predicated on the reality that tens of millions of Americans directly affected by various manifestations of care, from the health care system and aging to child care and people with disabilities.

Alonzo, Nash and Sargent each have pursued projects rooted in care in one form or another.

Alonzo, the youngest of four siblings, recalled being chosen by her family to care for her mother. After her mother died, she worked as nanny and helped her sister raise her three children. “When you write stand-up, you realize, that is what makes me different compared with other people my age,” she said. “And the difference is what makes you interesting.”

About 10 years ago, Alonzo said, she decided to take on the issue of class. The result, a trio of specials for Netflix under the umbrella title Classy, touch on her past. One extended riff centers on the fact that she never had children of her own. There is a “realness” to that circumstance, she said. “As a caregiver, a lot of your life is taken away because of the investments and the choices you have to make, the sacrifices. I like presenting those in a funny way.”

Nash also elicited laughs from the crowd even though his series centers on the impact of suicide and a number of other care-related themes that are depicted as drama.

He said he met his “hero” when he was “30 seconds old:” his father. “He was blind and he put himself through law school and raised five children,” Nash said. Tongue in cheek, he continued, “Do you have any idea how hard it was growing up with a blind lawyer as a father? ‘Dad, I’m having trouble with my book report.’ ‘I went to law school blind!’”

While the TV industry is full of stories about nervous network suits blitzing creators with notes and setting up roadblocks, Nash complemented ABC on supporting the show’s ambitions. “They let me tell the stories we wanted to tell,” he said.

Before the show’s run began in 2018, Nash added, mental health was an uncommon topic of promotions or other network messaging. After it wound down, in 2023, “after cancer, it’s the biggest thing they spend time doing,” he said of ABC execs. “So, I think the needle has moved.”