Sometimes, struggles are not entirely doom and gloom. Some good comes out of them, and in the case of Isaac Lee Montgomery, he’s driving a whole conversation and championing a never-achieved-before feat in the film industry.
Growing up diagnosed with a special type of autism, also called Pervasive Developmental Disorder Not Otherwise Specified (PDD NOS) at four, into a film student and American Sign Language enthusiast is the springboard that lurched Isaac Montgomery into his current journey. Isaac is studying film and media arts at Cleveland State University while working on a pitch for a cartoon centered on a deaf main character.
While his main objective was to major in acting, he had been told time and time again that his creative ideas are remarkable. This prompted him to pursue both acting and directing in order to get his show noticed at a major production studio. With his college graduation just around the corner in about a year, Isaac is working hard and fast at kickstarting an animated pitch. He presently combines his college education with three jobs as a delivery driver, a restaurant host, and a secretary at a testing center.
He is also charting a course for himself as he identifies as a transgender male (female to male). He is scheduled to have masculinization surgery later this month. He has set a goal to be one of the first FTM trans creators for an animated series.
His animated series is centered on a deaf girl who moves into a new town and finds a mysterious object that takes her to another world where she lives out her mother’s past. Isaac is working on developing the character and building a world for the characters. “I aim to educate people on the beauty of ASL (and other forms of sign language like Black Sign Langauge and British Sign Language) and how just because someone is deaf does not mean they are also human too. My show is different due to how my main character is POC and deaf, and one of my key characters is transgender,” he explained.
Isaac wants to create a show that both children and adults can enjoy as the theme touches on salient societal issues like racism, identity, depression, dysphoria, etc. He hopes a major studio like Nickelodeon, Disney, or Netflix will pick up the pilot and order an entire season. “I’m taking my time with creating the perfect pilot. I want to get it right. I want to be accurate, I want feedback on what to improve on for the better and eventually be able to create the pitch one way or the other,” he said.
Owing to the self-will to accomplish tasks and never rest until he gets it done, Isaac is forging ahead full-throttle in pursuit of his dreams. He sees himself working with major companies like MTV, Netflix, A24, or even Disney+ as a creator and actor. He intends to create unique stories from perspectives that many creators aren’t currently exploring to educate and take risks. Talking about how imperfect he is as a creator, he said, “I’m definitely going to mess up, get something wrong, and feel like the world is putting a gun to my head, but I want to try to create something beneficial for animated media.”
Learn more about Isaac Lee Montgomery on his official Instagram page.
