DISNEY FILMS SERIES ABOUT A CHILDREN’S CAMP AT CONTROVERSIAL CAMP WHERE EMPLOYEE’S CHILD WAS KILLED
EMAIL THESE DISNEY PRINCIPALS. TELL THEM HOW YOU FEEL ABOUT DISNEY’S DECISION TO FILM A TV SERIES ABOUT A CHILDREN’S CAMP AT THE CAMP THAT KILLED ROXIE FORBES DUE TO GROSS NEGLIGENCE AND FRAUD. NOT TO MENTION, MEOW MEOW FOUNDATION CO-FOUNDER ELENA MATYAS IS A VETERAN DISNEY EMPLOYEE.
GEOFF MORRELL, CHIEF CORPORATE AFFAIRS OFFICER
CHARISSA GILMORE, VP CORPORATE COMMUNICATIONS
LOS ANGELES – The Walt Disney Company is filming a streaming television series at a summer camp where the child of a long-time Disney employee Elena Matyas died in 2019 under suspicious circumstances.
According to Key Assistant Location Manager Lucian Unruh, the series – working title “Homeroom” – is about “children at a camp.” Disney is filming at Summerkids in Altadena, an actual children’s camp where Roxie Forbes suffered a dubious death at just six years old.
Roxie Forbes, age 6, before being killed at Summerkids camp
According to media reports, court documents and admissions, Summerkids owner Cara DiMassa and her American Red Cross instructor certified counselors as lifeguards without affording requisite training or any testing. Roxie subsequently drowned in the small Summerkids pool. DiMassa and the Red Cross representative apparently orchestrated the scheme to save money.
DiMassa reopened Summerkids during the pandemic despite the California Attorney General and Department of Social Services suing her for operating an illegal child care facility.
DiMassa’s former assistant camp director admitted that her boss sent at least 8-10 children to the hospital in recent years, including another 6-year-old who suffered a serious injury only weeks after Roxie drowned.
Disney’s own media property, ABC7 Los Angeles, joined multiple major networks and newspapers in reporting Roxie’s death, her parents’ subsequent advocacy and the ensuing lawsuits. In the face of this widespread publicity, Disney nonetheless decided to secure a contractual agreement with DiMassa.
Disney Chief Corporate Affairs Officer Geoff Morrell said, “I am brand new to the company and still learning my way around, but I think I have the right people looking into this matter. We are gathering details.”
One of the people that Morrell involved is Vice President of Corporate Communications Charissa Gilmore who has worked with Matyas on a number of Disney initiatives. Gilmore said Disney had made no mention of pulling the production from the Summerkids location nor did she offer any official company statement.
“I am heartbroken and suffering more than ever,” said Matyas. “I have poured my heart and soul into my work at Disney for 17 years, yet my company is now writing huge checks to the people that killed my child. This is beyond cruel.”
Disney has not yet disclosed the sum of location rental fees it agreed to pay DiMassa. According to multiple industry sources, location fees range from $2,500/day at private houses to $25,000/day under more elaborate circumstances. Unruh said this production is scheduled to run from February-April, roughly 70 days.
“Cara DiMassa full well knows that my wife is a veteran Disney employee,” said Roxie’s father Doug Forbes. “She relishes the opportunity to be enriched at Elena’s emotional expense. She’s the same person who wrote to parents shortly after Roxie drowned to tell them they were not allowed to pick up their traumatized children because she wanted ‘to keep the day as normal as possible,’ which tells you everything you need to know about Cara DiMassa.”
Forbes said that DiMassa’s attorneys Peggy Holm and Sheryl Rosenberg should, at the very least, resoundingly admonish DiMassa if not demand that she nullify the contract and refund the money Disney paid her. He said DiMassa is not only aware of the glaring conflict of interest, but she is also engaged in a lawsuit with the couple.
Forbes and Matyas launched the nation’s only camp safety foundation “to honor Roxie in her death as they did in her life.” The couple is currently instituting unprecedented camp safety measures in Los Angeles county and working on similar legislation for the state and nation, especially since millions of children attend tens of thousands of unregulated camps each year.
Forbes said Los Angeles County is barbaric for affording Disney a permit to film at Summerkids, considering the relentless advocacy work he has done with top county officials. He said that he and Matyas could have sued the county for being complicit in the negligence that contributed to Roxie’s death, but the couple chose to take a higher road.
Paul Audley is president of FilmLA, the county’s official film permitting office. Audley said he “does not have the authority to reject or deny applications.” That decision, he said, is left to county departments. He did not identify those departments or articulate whether the Board of Supervisors plays a role.
“Regarding FilmLA’s due diligence, we have within our database all properties that have been assigned special conditions or ‘no film’ directives from our various municipal departments.
When an application is in process, our system brings forward such directives for inclusion in the review and permit conditions.”
Audley did not mention any such directives regarding Summerkids, despite the fact that officials from police, fire, EMS, the Department of Public Health, Board of Supervisors and even Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti knew about health and safety issues at the camp.