Fledgling company SignUp Media has partnered with Moonbug Entertainment and the studios behind Paris & Pups to provide sign language interpretations designed to make their content more accessible to the underserved audience of deaf kids.

SignUp is a four-year-old company that runs a free Google Chrome extension of the same name, through which desktop users can watch overlaid videos of sign language interpreters for select movies and series on Netflix, Disney+ and YouTube. Its catalogue encompasses more than 350 hours of videos interpreted in American Sign Language, British Sign Language and Indian Sign Language (a recent addition). Some of the titles the company has done interpretations for include The Incredibles, Frozen, Klaus and Wednesday.

The browser extension has 25,000 weekly active users, highlighting the large audience of deaf kids and families that want to be able to access iconic movies, says Mariella Satow, the 21-year-old founder of SignUp. Not to mention there are roughly 34 million kids around the world with moderate, severe or profound hearing loss, according to the National Deaf Children’s Society. 

Not wanting accessibility to be an afterthought for their CG-animated series Paris & Pups, 9 Story Media Group, Paris Hilton’s 11:11 Media and HappyNest Entertainment teamed up with the org for interpretations of the show. Similarly, Moonbug Entertainment partnered with SignUp on ASL interpretations for its new live-action series The Melon Patch, as well as for its CoComelon nursery rhyme videos. 

When Paris & Pups came out on September 23, the ASL videos were released day-and-date with the show’s debut on YouTube. For its producers, it was key that the episodes and interpretations rolled out at the same time, because the series is all about inclusivity and encouraging kids to embrace their inner stars, says Sadaf Muncy, EVP and head of development and production at HappyNest Entertainment.  

One challenge for Paris & Pups was that the show makes up several new words, like “glamazing” (“glamorous” plus “amazing”), and the SignUp interpreter had to develop new signs for these cute linguistic mash-ups. 

“Our hope is that these signs become part of the everyday lexicon, used by both hearing and deaf communities, helping to bridge communication and bring even more people into the magic of this universe,” Muncy adds.

Deaf performer Savannah Dahan developed signs for new words used throughout the series, such as “Glamazing”. And, as she’s showing here, “Starkle”: a combination of Star (the main character’s name) with sparkle. Images courtesy of SignUp Media. 

The company says it differs from a talent agency that can provide someone to interpret videos because SignUp delivers the videos and offers the Chrome extension, which serves as a gateway for helping audiences find interpreted kids & family content. 

For brands considering working with SignUp as a partner, the company can deliver sign language interpretations in just a few days. And Satow says the cost is comparable to what productions already budget for accessibility services, but SignUp can be flexible and tailor its pricing for clients working with budget limitations. 

ASL interpretations have been heating up in kids media over the last year, as more companies realize the traditional solution of captioning isn’t enough for deaf kids, some of whom may not have learned to read yet. PBS KIDS and Chuck E. Cheese both added ASL interpretations to their videos for the first time last year, while Irish studio JAM Media has been building a tool that will have an animated character perform ASL interpretations. 

SignUp was also created to fill a gap at streamers like Netflix, where content is available in many languages, but not in ASL, which millions of people use, adds Satow. 

So far, feeding that need has been good for the company. It raised US$1 million in funding in July, and a new pre-seed funding round that’s running now is going well, says CEO Harriet Seitler (who’s also an investor). 

Seitler emphasizes that the company is “open for business” and looking to partner with more kids & family producers, YouTubers and brand owners. It’s also keen to expand into more languages. “This is not an accommodation; it’s a language,” she adds. “There are millions of people who are deaf, and we can serve them in their native language.”