RED WITHOUT BLUE is a film four years in the making. We met Mark, decided to make this film, and then the real work began.
We began researching and applying for grants, which was no easy process. We were rewarded almost immediately by receiving Frameline’s Completion Fund. A year later, we received a grant from The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, an amazing organization in San Francisco that fundraises through street fairs and massive parties all year long to give money to artists like us.
The grant money allowed us to continue filming (luckily video is cheap), but we knew that we would need much more money in order to finish this film. Thus began the grassroots fundraising.
We showed segments of the film to some impressive people in San Francsico’s LGBT community, who immediately made calls, and then more calls, and then some more. We had a highly successful benefit. The Full Moon Partisans and DJ Pee Play performed for the event at StudioZ. The treasurer of San Francisco gave our money pitch, and three SF Supervisors and the Human Rights Commisioner served as hosts for the event. Gavin Newsom awarded us all with certificates of appreciate for our positive contribution to San Francisco Media (and this was all from a twenty minute rough cut!)
Then we moved our efforts to Tucson, Arizona, Brooke’s hometown. The LGBT organization there, Wingspan, sponsored the event, and the Loft Cinema (Brooke’s all-time favorite theater) hosted. Again the community at large rallied behind us. We showed the twenty-minute cut, followed by a Q&A session. The audience was moved. We raised over $7,000 in just one spectacular night.
Finally, Jenny Farley (the twins’ mother) outdid us all. She hosted a three-night benefit spree. She cooked for days and invited everyone she knew. We got a great write-up in the Missoula Independent, and the LGBT community got wind of the events.
Brooke flew in for the third night of the benefit to a packed house. She hosted a Q&A along with therapist, Andy Lao. After the twenty-minute rough cut screened, the trans members in the audience flocked to Jenny to express how powerful it was to witness her acceptance of Clair, most of whom hadn’t been in contact with their own parents for years or even decades. It was a powerful event. One that raised almost $10,000 for the cause.
Additionally, all of our families and friends donated to the film. They wanted to see us succeed more than anyone.
In making RED WITHOUT BLUE, we had a profound responsibility to the Farley family to tell their story with respect and dignity, but we also had a great responsibility to all those individual sponsors from our communities who supported us from the beginning and without whom the film would never have been made.
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