In late 1999, I was walking down Ventura Boulevard in Sherman Oaks with my late producing partner Sharyn Lane after a day of editing 'Sordid Lives.' We passed the Psychic Book Store and decided to go in and get a reading. We weren't believers, but what the hell? We needed a sign.
When I wrote 'Southern Baptist Sissies,' that was the first time that I really ventured out into pure drama with themes where there was not one laugh sometimes. But I've always gravitated organically to blending tones and usually get good reviews about that. That's what life is about.
I started writing 'Southern Baptist Sissies' right after I had written the screenplay for 'Sordid Lives', so that's when I started on a darker path in telling the truth about my journey in the church, but there was still a lot of funny.
So many kids are still sitting in pews being told they are not worthy of God's love. 'Sissies' will show them they are not alone, and I hope that healing will follow.
'Sordid' is rather unique. That's why so many gay fans are comfortable to share 'Sordid Lives' with their families. It's not really a gay story. It's just much more a family story that happens to have gay members, which most people do.
I can't tell you how many letters I've gotten where someone showed 'Sordid Lives' to their mom, dad, or family and used it as a tool to come out.
I have no regrets of fighting for four years to get 'Sordid Lives' on the small screen. It was a fantasy. I mean, I got to work with amazing actors like Rue McClanahan!
Through the years, I have been overwhelmed by the number of people who have shared how much they relate to my 'Sordid Lives' family, and how many gay men and women used it to come out to their conservative families through the humor of the film.
Not a day goes by where someone doesn't write me asking me for more 'Sordid Lives.'
