Tag Archives: Kickstarter

Lesbian Film ‘Almost Adults’ Being Made by Stars of The Gay Women Channel

If you’ve been around the queer media block a few times then you’ll be very familiar with the ‘gay girl falls in love with her best straight friend’ trope. We’ve seen it on many occasions in Glee, Degrassi and Once Upon a Time, just to name a few. But by now we’re bored of it. Lesbians don’t always fall in love with their straight BFFs and they deserve to fall for someone who loves them back.

Thankfully, the stars of The Gay Women Channel know this and the two YouTubers, Sarah Rotella and Adrianna DiLonardo are using their years of experience as a director and writer (respectively) to put together a movie. The film is a comedy called Almost Adults and unlike the trophy gay content we’re used to, the film will star a lesbian who isn’t in love with her straight best friend whatsoever.

Instead, the conflict between the two main characters Mackenzie (played by Elise Bauman of Carmilla fame) and Cassie (the actress who plays her will be revealed on April 1st) is because they are headed in different directions in their lives. Mackenzie is coming to terms with her sexuality and Cassie is choosing a career path and this is extra stress on top of the fact that they’re in their final year of college. You’ll be glad to know, though, that despite the massive amount of pressure on Mackenzie, she does find love. Rotella and DiLonardo are staying quiet on the details of that, though.

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So when can we see Almost Adults? The film is currently seeking backers on Kickstarter and although the goal is $40,000, backers have blitzed through that and at the time of writing the current raised amount is $96,000. Backers are being told that their perks (some of which include digital downloads of the movie) will be delivered by July 2015 so we can expect to see the film then.

The campaign ends in four days and some of the other perks include a personalised voicemail from Sarah and Adrianna, an executive producer credit on IMDB, and an invitation to go to an Almost Adults table read.

Chely Wright Launches Kickstarter to Fund New Album

Putting together a studio produced album is no easy feat. If you want the album to be of top notch quality – following the successive quality of your previous albums – instead of being recorded in a tin can then you’ll have to plan accordingly. If you want your songs to be less monotonous than just you on the track with a twangy guitar then that will have to be factored in too.

And, if you want more people to listen to it than your immediate family (including your parents who don’t even know what an MP3 is!) then you’ll have to fork out for marketing too. It’s not cheap either and out country singer Chely Wright recognises this which is why she’s launched a Kickstarter campaign to bring her next album to the masses.

The budget on her campaign is $175,000, which might seem pricey, but Wright explains that it’s necessary because she wants to “make a great album of great songs and to do that, we need to reach our goal”.

That relatively high figure will go towards “using the best musicians, the best engineers and recording in the best studios available” and although that $175,000 number was usually doubled by major labels (her last release on a major label was in 2010, but since coming out the same year Wright has since gone independent) some of the raised money will go to marketing too.

Fans will be able to take pride in the backer rewards, though. A digital download of the final album is available while for those interested in Wright’s coming out, her marriage to Lauren Blitzer in 2011 and the birth of their twin sons in 2013, then there’s a backer tier that also nabs you a copy of her documentary. Meanwhile, the most expensive tier is worth $10,000 and not only will that let you meet Wright in person, but she’ll even take you as her guest to the 2014 GLSEN Award in Los Angeles later this year.

Visit her Kickstarter for more information.

Watch Chely Wright – Jezebel

Groundbreaking New Project Captures the ‘GayFace’ in All its Glory

GayFace: 1st Class is the latest art project from Ashley Kolodner, a queer photographer who has snapped over 150 LGBTQ people from six different cities in the US. Ashley is now raising funds on Kickstarter to publish a book of the portraits and reach an international audience.

You can help her do that via this link.

GayFace’s intention is to capture the beautiful diversity of gay faces, honouring people who are proud to call themselves lesbian, gay, queer, bisexual or anything else. Ashley’s approach is to photograph each subject twice – firstly with their eyes open to denote confidence and engagement and secondly with their eyes closed to signify the historically marginalised situation of LGBTQ people. Ashley then creates a series of alluring diptychs from these images. All subjects have been encouraged to make a statement about their sexual identity, and these will be included in the final book.

The overall effect is to challenge viewers’ preconceived notions about gayface i.e. what LGBTQ people look like and what they think about themselves. The “1st Class” part of the title asserts that the queer community will no longer tolerate being treated as second class citizens.

‘I hope that these photographs bring awareness, a human connection and invoke emotion,’ says Ashley on her Facebook page. ‘This project celebrates the colour, vibrancy and diversity of a community that for decades as been in the dark.’

She began the project in 2011 and has so far attracted interest from websites such as BuzzFeed and The Advocate, as well as Sirius XM Radio. In order to produce the book she needs to raise $46,720 before May 7th. That budget will not only cover the publication of a high-end, photo-quality book but allow Ashley to travel all around the US and photograph over 2,000 more gayfaces.

KitschMix wishes you the best of luck Ashley – See more on: Pintrest, Facebook, and her Website.