Inclusion

Me in the Director's Chair

Boy, a lot has happened since my last blog post. Let me try to bullet point it all:

* We went into pre-production for Live To Tell. Suddenly some jackass (a man, FYI) in my school district decided to spread the rumor that I was filming a movie based on how I was bullied all throughout the school district. I received hate mail and harassing phone calls. My neighbor even posted about me on Facebook, where there was a smear campaign going on about me. Ironically, I found myself being bullied for planning to shoot a film about bullying. I decided to find another school in my town to film the movie, which I did... But I'm still awaiting all approvals. So...

* ...While all of the approvals were going through (and still are), it was suggested to me by a production company to write a spin-off series of What Happened Last Night. Shortly thereafter, New Dogs, Old Tricks was born.

* GVN Releasing picked up What Happened Last Night for distribution through SONY Pictures Home Entertainment.

* The pilot for New Dogs, Old Tricks was filmed.

* Safecracker Pictures picked up Whhttp://whlnmovie.com/at Happened Last Night for distribution in the U.K.

* I turned 40 on September 23rd and broke my ankle in six places the day after, thus sidelining me and all of my projects until now.

* What Happened Last Night is in contention for the Oscars, including four songs for "Best Original Song."

So, there you have it. You are now all caught up.

We are currently in the process of securing funding for the rest of the first season of New Dogs, Old Tricks, as well as other projects. This is genuinely one of the most frustrating things about filmmaking... Having someone with the finances to believe in what you do enough to fund it, then to wait for the return. I hope to eventually be able to finance everything myself, but I don't know when that will happen. With the DVD release date in the USA and Canada in less than a month, and the U.K. soon thereafter, there is certainly hope.

Last night, I was speaking with my dear friend Kodi. We were talking about the future of my projects, especially New Dogs, Old Tricks, which we are currently working on getting the funding for. We got onto the topic of what a diverse series it is, and somehow got onto the topic of whether or not the LGBT community would be interested in my show.

Joe Bruno as Bundy

I told Kodi that I have an LGBT storyline starting in episode seven, which I'm not going to share because it's really good. (If I do say so myself.) I also mentioned to him that one of our characters, Bundy (played by Joe Bruno) is gay... But he doesn't have a storyline about being gay. Why? Because he's just Bundy. He's accepted as he is by his friends and fraternity brothers. There isn't anything written specifically about Bundy to "make him gay." It's a choice that the actor made, and we just went with. Furthermore, it just fits the character. Then again, all of these characters are so relatable, he could easily have taken him in a completely different direction and still have fit in. It's a choice that Joe made for his character, and I'm going to support and encourage him. As the writer/director, it is something that I have the luxury of doing, and I even spoke with Joe about doing something with his character to have a storyline about the struggles of sexuality in college and when dealing with others (friends, parents, strangers, etc) and getting discriminated against because of it.

I've encouraged Joe to reach out to Gay News America to be a guest on their podcast (as per Kodi's recommendation). Bundy is a great character, and there should be more shows with LGBT characters that are just accepted, without having a storyline surrounding their sexual preference or bringing attention to it. There needs to be more inclusion, and my show is going to do just that.

If you or anyone you know is interested in contributing to New Dogs, Old Tricks, please visit the GoFundMe campaign for details.