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New movie inspired by Constance McMillen’s fight to attend prom with lesbian partner
October 10, 2010
Cross-posted from LGBTPOV
By Karen Ocamb
Constance McMillen
Despite fears of retribution, the young lesbian stuck by her right to freedom of expression and became a reluctant hero. “My daddy told me that I needed to show them that I’m still proud of who I am,” McMillen said at one point. “The fact that this will help people later on, that’s what’s helping me to go on.”
When openly gay Storyline Entertainment producing partners Craig Zadan and Neil Meron heard the story, they knew they had to try to make into a TV movie – as McMillen said – to hopefully help young people.
The producing team has a solid track record of going to the heart of a civil rights issue and changing hearts and minds by telling a story, including:
Craig Zadan and Neil Meron
Craig Zadan and Neil Meron
Serving in Silence: The Margarethe Cammermeyer Story, the gays-in-the-military story co-produced with Barbra Streisand and starring Glenn Close and Judy Davis; What Makes A Family, starring Brooke Shields and Cherry Jones about lesbian child custody; Wedding Wars, starring John Stamos, the first film about same sex marriage; Hairspray, the John Waters civil rights/integration story made into a musical starring John Travolta in the character made famous by Divine; and Cinderella, the TV retelling of the old favorite with African American singer Brandy as Cinderella, heading an intentionally racially diverse cast.
I spoke with Craig Zadan by phone late Thursday about the news that he and Meron are producing the McMillen story. He was on the Atlanta set of yet another civil rights movie, Footloose, a re-make of the popular 1984 movie about youth culture confronting staid small town religion. We talked about the timing of this TV movie for ABC Family – in which McMillen triumphs – at a time when gay teen bullying has become an epidemic.
When McMillen’s story first made news in February, Zadan said, “we started seeing reports on CNN and reading about it in the newspapers. Neil and I said this seemed like a very, very important subject to tackle and we went after it.” Told there were other producers vying to option the story, they said they really wanted an opportunity to “audition” for it.
Here’s Craig Zadan on how and why they came to the acquire the rights to the story:
“We did two things: one, we sent her a whole large selection of some of our movies. And the second thing we did was we got on the phone with her for about an hour and we explained our point of view and what we wanted to do. It was a long process because she spoke with other producers, also. We just said, ‘Look, we’re passionate about this. We want to make this. This is something we really want to do!’
We just wanted our day in court where we thought if we sent Constance Serving in Silence, and What Makes a Family, Wedding Wars - and we sent her Chicago and Hairspray – we just thought that she’d see those movies and see that we were right for it. When we spoke to her, we told her what we wanted to do.
We had a conversation with ABC Family and they said they’ve never done anything like this – ever – and that it would be a totally unique kind of movie for them to make that they’d never tackled before. But we were excited at the idea of reaching that audience that had never seen a movie like this.
So we got really excited about ABC Family and they made us an offer and said if you end up with rights, we would like to do it. Finally one day we got a call – recently – saying, ‘Constance decided to go with you.’
Craig Zadan headshotCraig Zadan
We were thrilled and really excited about it. And then – out of the blue, sort of – this situation last week or so happened where all of a sudden all day long on CNN and everywhere else are stories about teen bullying and the tragedy of all these suicides. We were just horrified by it.
We hadn’t gone into optioning this material because of that – because we didn’t know that this rash of things was going to go on this week.
But it turned out that just at the moment we got the rights, set it up at ABC Family – we went after John Gray because John Gray is one of our best collaborators we’ve ever worked with – ever – because he wrote and directed Brian’s Song for us, which we thought was fantastic and Martin and Lewis, which we thought was fantastic. He’s so talented. It’s also one-stop shopping because you get to hire him and he writes a brilliant script and hen he directs so well. He’s a great director.
We told him about this and he said, ‘I have to do this because this story is amazing and it has to be told.’ Then he called Constance and spoke to her for a long time – I think he spoke to her a couple of times – and then he spoke to the ACLU lawyers and other people. He came back to us and pitched us the entire movie.
When we actually heard the details – the ins and outs of what really happened behind the scenes – we were even more shocked than we were in the beginning. The story is so complicated and so filled with such devious behavior that we couldn’t even believe what he was telling us. So we thought, ‘Wow, now more than ever, we have to do this.’
And then John pitched ABC Family executives in the last couple of days and they were flipping out: ‘Oh, my God – we had no idea it was even this complicated.’ They loved it and said, ‘Go write the script immediately. Let’s get it written right away and let’s go make the movie as soon as possible.’”
Zadan is also excited that the story of how Constance McMillen stood up for herself in her small town in Mississippi will inspire other LGBT youth at a time when gay teen suicide seems to be an epidemic.
“All these bullying stories, sadly – very sadly and tragically – ended in suicides and in this story, Constance is triumphant. She became a reluctant hero and she stood up and I think the movie will be an inspiration for these kids who might normally think of doing something bad to themselves. I think it will inspire them to say, ‘You know, I don’t have to kill myself.’”
Zadan said he and Meron are keenly aware of how the power of television can save lives.
“We’re honored she chose us to do it and thrilled we’re able to make something so important to us and hopefully to a lot of people. What we showed with Serving in Silence and What Makes a Family and Wedding Wars is that there’s nothing like going into people’s living rooms and having them see this on TV. That changes minds and really makes people look at things differently.
Serviing in SilenceAfter we aired Serving in Silence, Greta Cammermeyer went out on a speaking tour and she was in Oklahoma and she called from the road. She said that after each speaking engagement, everyone would leave but there would there would be a handful of people who stayed behind who would want to shake her hand and meet her. She said this one teenage boy went up to her said to her, ‘I just want you to know that I just saw your movie on NBC and recently I had realized that I was gay – and I had decided to commit suicide. And when I saw the movie, I decided I didn’t have to.’ She said the kid collapsed in her arms and they both were crying.
So we thought – if that happened to one teenage kid, how many did we not know about who had that experience by watching the movie? So for us, we’re getting an opportunity, once again, to do something with Constance that hopefully will have the same effect on teenagers all across America.”
Zadan said they expect to provide resource-links to one or several helpful organizations at the end of the TV movie.
Zadan also noted that the Cinderella TV movie in 1997 starring Brandy and Whitney Houston:
“was the first time that multicultural casting had ever been done that to that extent on a broadcast network. It was really unique and unusual and people were so surprised and I think that the reason we reached 60 million viewers – we got the highest rating that any movie on ABC had gotten in 14 years – was because we were inclusive. White people and Latinos, and African Americans and Asians – everybody could watch the movie and see themselves in the film.”
Zadan said that Footloose will wrap early in November and will open in movie theaters on April 1. “It’s going really, really well and Paramount loves it. They’re so excited about it.”
Another Zadan and Meron endeavor – Promises, Promises on Broadway – has been a “smash” since they opened, Zadan said, landing in the top five
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“The show’s success, Zadan said, is “a tribute to Sean Hayes and Kristin Chenoweth. I think people have fallen in love with them as a couple in the show. We’re really excited because Molly Shannon goes into the show next week in one of the other roles.”
Also in the works is a Broadway revival in the Spring of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, starring Daniel Radcliffe and directed and choreographed by Rob Ashford.
Radcliffe, a strong advocate for LGBT rights who is best known for his Harry Potter character, told MTV that he is “heartbroken” over the epidemic of gay teen suicides:
“These young people were bullied and tormented by people that should have been their friends. We have a responsibility to be better to each other, and accept each others’ differences regardless of sexual orientation, gender identity, race, ability, or religion and stand up for someone when they’re bullied. When a friend is feeling depressed or says they’re thinking of killing themselves, we must take it seriously and get them help.”
Radcliffe made a PSA for LGBT helpline, The Trevor Project:
Having technical problems? E-mail equalityontrial AT couragecampaign DOT org for assistance!
29 Comments Leave a Comment
1.
Ronnie | October 10, 2010 at 1:08 am
YAY!!!!!….I <3 Constance…… : ) …Ronnie
2.
Richard A. Walter (s | October 10, 2010 at 1:25 am
Will try to catch up later. Way to go!
3.
Sagesse | October 10, 2010 at 1:36 am
Scribing to read between cooking tasks.
It gets better.
4.
Frank | October 10, 2010 at 2:00 am
Off topic but an interesting story about economic boon re. ssm in Connecticut. Hope the link works.
http://www.courant.com/news/connecticut/hc-same-s…
5.
Lesbians Love Boies | October 10, 2010 at 2:22 am
subscribing
6.
Ronnie | October 10, 2010 at 2:41 am
Speaking of It gets better……Who's that girl?
(La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la)
Eve's that girl
(La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la)
Who's that girl?
(La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la)
Eve's that girl
(La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la)
Eve says "It Gets Better"….<3…Ronnie:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oaMdllWsqno&fe…
7.
AndrewPDX | October 10, 2010 at 2:51 am
subscribing… I'm usually not a big fan of 'current affairs movies' — I usually prefer my movies to be an escape from the day-to-day instead… But I might make an exception in this case.
Liberty, Equality, Fraternity
Andrew
8.
alaneckert | October 10, 2010 at 2:52 am
What's on your plate today? I'm making tomato sauce to freeze, and maybe some cookies.
9.
Ronnie | October 10, 2010 at 3:10 am
& so goes another innocent life….. : (
http://www.dallasvoice.com/gay-oklahoma-teen-comm…
Gay Oklahoma teen commits suicide following ‘toxic’ city debate over GLBT history month
Posted on 10 Oct 2010 at 11:46am
A 19-year-old gay man from Oklahoma has taken his own life, and his parents say a hate-filled recent City Council meeting he attended may have driven him over the edge.
Zach Harrington was a talented musician who’d endured years of struggles due to his sexual orientation in high school in conservative Norman, Okla.
On Sept. 28, Harrington attended a three-hour public hearing on a proposal to declare October gay history month in the city. Although the council ultimately approved the proposal, Harrington’s parents described the meeting as potentially “toxic” for their son, a private person who internalized his feelings.
(me) like was asked before by so many of us…..How many people have to die?…. How many innocent lives need to be lost before people realize that its not only the things they do but the things they say that also hurt…..
Yes, I have said some mean things in the past in defense of myself & others of this community & out of provocation & anger over what was said to not only me but all of us…..But the things said & done to the LGBT (as well as our Straight Allies) are direct attacks…They are harmful & meant to hurt on purpose because of some Homophobic Troglodytes desire to force their disdain of aspects of other people's personal lives on the rest of us through law & other means without any provocation…just a few simple notions…"I don't like it"…."The Bible says so"….& through in a few good old fashion hateful platitudes such as "that's not normal", "that's not natural"……I'm stopping there because I'm about to be sick just typing the words myself….These anti-gay people are heartless…& I honestly do not know how they live with themselves with such dark souls…such a sad way to live the one life given to you…
THIS NEEDS TO STOP!!!!….. >( …..Ronnie
10.
alaneckert | October 10, 2010 at 3:22 am
I was thinking this morning about the possibility of petitioning the IRS to recognize my and my husband's community property rights in California as a married, same-sex couple. The IRS recently recognized community property under California law for domestic partnerships. Here is an article about the decision:
http://articles.sfgate.com/2010-06-03/business/21…
Granted, they did only decide for this one person, but the decision applies to all domestic partnerships in the state, and one can even amend previous tax years to apply the law.
I have been considering filing a petition, but I haven't been sure how to go about it. Does anyone have any idea what to do next? I have a few ideas for how to go about this. First would be to show that the IRS does not recognize the domestic partnership couples as married (technically), but they do recognize the community property laws within the state. As a legally married couple recognized by the state of California, my husband and I fall under California's rules for community property. We are similarly situated as both domestic partnered (cause that has a nice ring :/ ) and married couples.
My thoughts this morning was that if the IRS does not recognize our assets as community property, this could be a violation of the Equal Protection and Due Process clauses of the 14th Amendment. My marriage would be seen as a foreign identity to the IRS, even though they basically recognize domestic partnerships as married for purposes of tax laws. A ruling against us is basically saying that to enjoy tax benefits, my husband and I would have to divorce and join in a domestic partnership. We are similarly situated, and we would be proof of Ted Olsen's confusing web of relationships, neither married nor domesticly partnered, even though the state says we are and should enjoy community property benefits. The government, especially the IRS, is in no position to tell anyone that they must get divorced.
Thoughts? Ideas? Help?
11.
alaneckert | October 10, 2010 at 3:26 am
I'll tell you how this is possible. There are people who don't understand the situations that these people are in. They think that it can't be so bad that the gay people would be driven to suicide. These outsiders on other sides of the country haven't listened to the vitriol and the day-to-day hate that many people face. This separation allows them the benefit of blaming the victim. It's just too easy for them to not care unless it affects them personally.
12.
Kathleen | October 10, 2010 at 4:21 am
Glad to see the projected in such capable hands.
13.
Franck | October 10, 2010 at 4:35 am
I have seen Wedding Wars a few months ago and had first thought it had been made as a response to Prop.8 being passed… then I saw online that it had been done long before.
Anyway, I had liked that movie (and even got the rest of the family to watch it). Good to know Constance's story will be in the hands of these people.
– Franck P. Rabeson
Days spent apart from my fiancé because of DOMA: 1206 days, as of today.
14.
Ann S. | October 10, 2010 at 4:45 am
superscribing
15.
JonT | October 10, 2010 at 4:48 am
Subscribing on a gray, rainy Sunday in Denver.
16.
JonT | October 10, 2010 at 5:29 am
I added Zach to the 'list'.
http://thepriceofhate.blogspot.com/
'THIS NEEDS TO STOP!!!!'
You said it brother.
17.
Lesbians Love Boies | October 10, 2010 at 5:57 am
JonT, I am jealous. Have a great day!
18.
JonT | October 10, 2010 at 6:01 am
Hehe, actually I had been hoping to go on a ride today, but…
You have a great day too LLB!
19.
JonT | October 10, 2010 at 6:02 am
OT, via JMG:
SERBIA: Riot Police Clash With Violent Anti-Gay Protesters At Belgrade Pride
http://joemygod.blogspot.com/2010/10/serbia-riot-…
20.
Ronnie | October 10, 2010 at 6:06 am
Joel Madden from Good Charlotte says "It Gets Better"……..<3…Ronnie:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLkw2PY8ujI&fe…
21.
Sheryl, Mormon Mothe | October 10, 2010 at 8:21 am
Alan, don't know how you would go about it but I think it is a great idea. The more married same-sex couples that sue for this, the sooner the laws will change. Wouldn't this be somewhat similar to the MA cases against DOMA? Perhaps find some other similarly-minded couples and make it a class action lawsuit?
Looking forward to meeting you and your husband Friday night.
Sheryl, Mormon Mother
22.
Kate | October 10, 2010 at 8:23 am
I am so envious of all of you who get to meet up with Sheryl and have such a fun evening with her and her son.
23. Weekly Feminist Reader&hellip | October 10, 2010 at 12:40 pm
[...] new movie is inspired by Constance McMillan’s [...]
24.
Rhie | October 10, 2010 at 1:13 pm
So glad that a company that understands LGBT and issues is taking this on! I was very nervous when I heard it was going to be made for TV. TV stations are NOT good with LGBT storylines and characters at ALL.
25.
Mark M. (Seattle) | October 11, 2010 at 8:59 am
Those Pride marchers are indeed brave heros. I can't even imagine what that must be like.
Thanks for posting that Jon
26.
JonT | October 11, 2010 at 10:04 am
Yeah Mark, that's what I thought too.
Helps to get a little perspective from time to time
27. Women Can't Drive! &&hellip | October 12, 2010 at 5:25 pm
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