With any good sports film, you’ll need what’s known as “a Loop Group” to provide crowd noise and reactions to the game being played. GOAT is a recent animated sports film from Sony Pictures Animation. What most people don’t know is that this Loop Group at GOAT consists of 2 dozen individuals with disabilities.

The Disability Loop Group was created through the Easterseals Disability Film Challenge, founded by Nic Novicki, who had been wanting an opportunity like this for 13 years. The Easterseals Disability Film Challenge was created after Nic realized there wasn’t much opportunity in Hollywood for people with disabilities.

It all came together. The Loop Group spent 2 days on the Sony Pictures lot recording what they needed to for the loop.

According to Nic, the group tried various things when they recorded the loop. They improved some of the dialogue by trying different accents. Prior to the recording session, the Loop roup took part in a workshop provided by Sony which gave the participants feedback on what they had to do to create the loop. Nic said that loop groups are great for disabled people because it doesn’t matter about looking a certain type or a certain way. Just like with your voice, you can play anything.

I  went to see this film, and I didn’t realize that the group itself actually made the prominent crowd noises in the film. I thought that it was professional voice actors, or as is the case with most animated films, voices from people who worked at the studio producing the movie. Now knowing otherwise, I must say that they sounded so professional and believable as well. I’m so glad these people with disabilities contributed in part to a major studio’s feature film, and I wish we can see more of this in films in the future.

Link to original article: Sony Pictures Animation’s ‘GOAT’ Makes History as First Major Studio Film Looped by an All-Disability Group