JOHNNY - A SHORT FILM

THE STORY

A lonely and conflicted older man named Dave (played by Tony Abatemarco), hires a young male sex worker named Johnny (played by Brandon Crowder) to spend a night with him in a motel room and be his first sexual experience with another man.

Dave has spent his entire life trying to outrun his sexual attraction to other men. A devoted husband and father, Dave has carefully constructed a life he hoped would make him happy. But the harder Dave tries to force himself to be the man he believes he should be, the harder it is for him to resist becoming the man he's secretly always been.

And as it turns out, Dave is not the only one with a secret, and the intimate night the two men share forces Johnny to come face-to-face with a haunting moment from his past that he thought he'd left behind.

JOHNNY is a story about finding the strength and courage that it takes to accept responsibility for the choices you have made and the person you have become.

WHY WE NEED YOUR HELP

We live in an exciting time for LGBT stories being depicted on film, and great strides have been made in the prevalence of LGBT characters represented in mainstream media. However, LGBT material is very often still marginalized, and it can be difficult to find funding to produce gay-themed content. 

That's why we've turned to IndieGoGo and YOU to help us tell this story! Thanks to crowdfunding, viewers now have a say as to what stories they believe are important to be told. 

JOHNNY takes a raw, emotional look at the process of coming out and coming of age as a gay man in today's world. 

With your help, we can tell this important story and become part of an ongoing dialogue about the struggles we encounter while learning to accept ourselves for who we truly are.

WHAT WE NEED

We felt it was very important to tell this story using the format of a short film. The advantage of using short film to tell a story like this is that it allows the film to be incredibly accessible, giving us the exciting opportunity to reach a much wider audience. Our hope is that we can use this film to initiate conversations and promote the importance of examining life from a different perspective than our own.  

There are still a lot of resources that are needed to make  a short film, however, and we need your help to bring them all together.

Your contribution will help us assemble a talented cast and crew, secure beautiful locations, and gather the necessary equipment we need in order to create a film that is as visually stunning and impactful as the story we want to tell.

MEET THE TEAM

Brandon Crowder | Writer & Actor

The screenplay for JOHNNY was written by Brandon Crowder. An established actor and playwright, this is Brandon's first project as a screenwriter.

Brandon and Micah have worked together on two previous independent short films: The Ballerina and the Rocking Horse and Lucidia. Their work has been shown at film festivals nationwide and has garnered several awards, including the award for Best Narrative Short at the LA Int'l Underground Film Festival for The Ballerina and the Rocking Horse.  

Brandon is passionate about sharing stories from and about the LGBT community, with the hope that exploring the complexity of gay experiences will promote and contribute to an ongoing dialogue about the importance of acceptance and understanding that people from marginalized communities are as equally nuanced and substantial as everyone else.

Micah Stuart | Director

Born and raised in Massachusetts, Micah Stuart has spent over a decade working in the Los Angeles film industry. After producing the award-winning independent feature film Anderson’s Cross, he shifted his focus to editing, drawn to its creativity in storytelling. His talent quickly granted him work cutting independent films, and creating movie trailers for studio features. 

Using his background in editing, Micah has utilized his skill set to explore his true passion – directing. The Ballerina And The Rocking Horse, an award-winning sci-fi drama, marked Micah’s debut as a director, and he has since directed several projects including his last film Lucidia, which was honored by SAG in their short film showcase. 

It is his longstanding respect for films which guides Micah’s work philosophy – simply put, he feels he holds the responsibility to make the audience care. It’s a promise he makes to himself and to viewers as he continues to explore and develop his skills as a storyteller.

OTHER WAYS YOU CAN HELP

We would love for you to be a part of this journey with us, regardless of whether or not you can contribute monetarily to helping us reach our goal. Please share our campaign on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and any of your other favorite social media platforms. By helping us spread the word about JOHNNY, you are making a huge contribution not only to this project, but also to the relevance of independent film-making and LGBT film as important tools for creating a broader and more complete understanding of the human experience, regardless of our differences. 

From the bottom of our hearts, thank you for joining our team and supporting this story. We look forward to sharing JOHNNY with you.