We Made It & Are Still Accepting Donations!
Thanks to all who have donated, we've met our goal! The campaign is now "Indemand" meaning if you missed the deadline you can still get involved with backer rewards such as adding your name to the film credits, early access to watch the movie, and more. We've secured our cast and crew budget so additional amounts raised will go towards transportation. Select a perk to donate!
Let's make a movie
I'm Shine Louise Houston, and I've created erotic queer cinema for over a decade. My movies have screened across the globe, have received numerous awards, and appear in academic works and sexuality textbooks. As a filmmaker, I strive to create an alternate vision of what's sexy -- one that is more reflective of the queer communities and communities of color that I identify with.
In 2015, I crowdfunded my first independently-produced feature film SNAPSHOT right here on IndieGoGo. It allowed me the artistic control to take a big directorial leap as a filmmaker and tell the story how I wanted to tell it -- from who I cast to how it was distributed. The film played at festivals and venues like Frameline and the British Film Institute, and was recognized with awards and nominations by the Toronto International Porn Film Festival ("Movie of the Year"), XBiz Awards, Cinekink ("Best Narrative Film") and in publications like COSMOPOLITAN Magazine, Autostraddle, and The Huffington Post. I even got a write-up in a Sunday edition of The New York Times! While all these achievements were built upon a passion to tell my story, our film's success was truly made possible because of the over 390 donors like you. And now I’m back to do it again!
Chemistry Eases the Pain is a short film about reassessing ones self-made sexual identity. The beauty of the queer experience is that we have an opportunity and space to redefine ourselves -- but that doesn't mean it's easy. Chemistry is a humorous and heartfelt look at the struggle of change.
Our main character Frankie (played by Lotus Lain) struggles with her attraction to a straight white guy. It's here that Frankie encounters shame and ambivalence about her feelings towards him and her fear of being rejected from her community.
With every film I like to push myself creatively. This film calls for special directorial attention to bring these characters to life. Chemistry is a shorter project than my past feature films, focusing on this story with your support will complete this production to the best of our abilities.
What We Need & What You Get
We already have seed money saved up for the not-so-sexy aspects of production such as insurance, location fees, and equipment rentals... but we'll need quite a bit more to make our film come to life. This is where you come in. Raising $23,000 will allow me to hire experienced crew, pay our talented cast, and feed everyone throughout our 7-day production.
Over a decade of experience producing micro-budget films has taught me where to keep costs tight, and where it counts to splurge. Our last full-length feature film was made for just under $50,000. Though we had to cut corners to make it work, the finished movie was a huge success.
While most indie films have access to grants and government funding, queer pornography relies on its small audience for support. As a resourceful artist and a jack-of-all-trades, I know how to work with very little, and how having even a slightly bigger budget can take a film to the next level.
Cast
Frankie - Lotus Lain
Mags - Emperatrix
Janice - Valentine
Sarah - Mona Wales
Mom - Nina Hartley
Cute girl - Nicki Honey
Teacher - Jack Strano
Crew
Director - Shine Louise Houston
Lighting Director/Assistant Camera - AjaPorn
Director of Photography - Fisty McGee
1st Assistant Director - Jiz Lee
Audio Recordist - C. Daddio
Assistant Recordist - Sivan
Make-up Artist - Treina Alexander
Set Photographer - T. Crane
Catering - Nerine Mechanique
More Ways You Can Help
The value of word-of-mouth support cannot be understated. Please spread the news about this campaign far and wide.
- Tell your friends, tell your friends to tell their friends, tell their friends to tell...
- Share on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, or wherever you're social... Use IndieGoGo's share buttons, or copy/paste on your own. (Tag @ShineLouise and Pink & White Productions!)
- Follow our social media accounts to like, comment, and repost our milestone moments.
- Bloggers: Write about our campaign. Embed our campaign video or fundraising widget.
- Journalists: Request an interview with Shine about making adult films, her way.
- Do you have an e-newsletter? Include a spotlight about our campaign!
- Always let us know with a tag and we'll repost to share the love.
Our Leaders' Circle of Support
We're grateful for support from our leaders in our community, comprised of academics, authors, advocates, and fellow artists:
- Cheryl Dunye
- Madeleine Lim
- Mireille Miller-Young
- Tobi Hill-Meyer
- Nenna Joiner
- Alex Austin
- Linda Williams
