Last summer I was the Associate Producer on a feature called Sodom and Gomorrah. This highly controversial film deals with the conflicts of homosexuality and spirituality within a family. S&G has garnered both positive and negative attention, including protests, from all of its promotional efforts thus far. It is truly a controversial picture. I recommend taking a look at the web site for further information. While you are there, be sure to check out some of the heated discussions in the forum.
The trailer for the second film by Writer/Director William Roebuck is premiering at the Gay Days Expo on June 1st. The screening is being held at Heritage Ballroom in The Royal Plaza at Lake Buena Vista, Florida.
Here is the synopsis from the S&G web site:
Provoked by temptation, a tumultuous affair is about to begin, and it will burn as deep as the desires that brought it to life. Michael Gooden is a God- fearing man who has been married for eighteen years. He has a wonderful wife and two teenage children. But one day he is cornered by an ultimatum that will unleash the desires pent up inside of him. Michael begins an affair that has him torn between guilt and desire and right and wrong. Michael’s wife Sarah is blindsided by his affair. Throughout her struggle to deal with the truth she must find a way to maintain her sanity and strengthen her children for the fiery events ahead. She holds on to her faith amidst the turmoil that plagues her family and her church. Michael abandons his church, family, and home for his new life with his lover Jimmy. His one choice sets off a firestorm of events that will consume everyone in its path.
Go to sodomandgomorrahthemovie.com.
I was just perusing the indieWIRE site for some news, when I decided to check out the community section, called indieLOOP. It is a social networking portal that’s almost identical to MySpace in functionality. It apears to be a relatively new community with just over 1400 members. MySpace is a great place for filmmakers, but I think this site could prove to be extremely useful. I joined. Here’s a link to my indieLOOP profile. While I’m at it, here’s my MySpace profile as well. I’m just getting started with these social networking sites, so come on over and join me.
I have been itching to get another live action project into development for some time. The miniscule amount of time on ARMY Men in December was a bit of a tease. It’s nice to have an award-winning short under my belt now, but it’s time to start stepping it up a little.
So I say to myself “Self, it would be nice to produce a series of short films that work on their own, but fit together thematically and could be packaged as a feature when completed. That way they would actually have a slight chance at distribution of some sort.” Self didn’t reply, so I conveyed this to Eric, the writer/director that I work with, and he told me that talking to myself is not normal, and to see a shrink. Okay, that’s not true. Telling Eric, that is. I really was talking to myself. What Eric really told me was about a couple of short scripts he had lying around that he had written a long time ago that would pretty much fit the bill.
Basically there are three scripts, each about thirty pages. He gave me the basic rundown on the three stories and how they were thematically parallel, and how they could be worked together to make a feature. The scripts were written in notebooks, and it took him a couple of days to dig them out. He typed up the first one, and emailed it to me. First impressions; this is going to be GREAT! After some re-writes of course.
The story is purely dramatic and takes place primarily in one location with two actors. No crazy wire rigs, no stunts, no pyro, no gimmicks. This one will be purely reliant on superb storytelling. Because of that, Eric and I both agreed not to rush into production until we both feel that the script is tip-top. I gave Eric my notes on the first draft, and I am eagerly awaiting the revisions.
