“Happyland is a half-hour dramedy,” he notes.
“For that, I was reading The Catcher in the Rye. It
was a recommendation by Ben Epstein, the creator
of the show and the director … It has a little bit of
that in this series. Things like that always help.”
With his most recent films now released and
his role on Happyland wrapping up, Harper is back
on the audition circuit, trying to decide on his next
gig. In the meantime, he’s added another role to his
resume — producer.
Called An Apprentice, Harper’s first producing
project is a short film that’s long on purpose. It
details the struggles of a young autistic man who’s
just trying to get a job. The focus of the film takes
a neurotypical approach, meaning it explores
autism from the point of view of autistic people
themselves. Confused? This may help: The term
“neurotypical” is what those who have some kind
of neurological condition give to those who don’t.
“Just being able to talk about diversity and how
these beautiful men and women are interacting
with our culture is very important,” Harper says. “I
also like to focus on dealing with the neurotypicals,
the people without anything cognitively wrong
with them, with the way that their brain is
communicating with their body or the way that
they’re receiving and sending information. So
I’m really passionate in talking about how we can
engage the neuro-diverse community. It’s up to us
to create an infrastructure where they can succeed
and thrive — not the other way around.”
68 ragged // raggedmag.com