Band Practice is a coming of age romantic comedy set in New Orleans following Kaylin, a majorette dancer, and her best friend Vivian, who plays the flute in the band. 

Kaylin used to be at the top of the high school food chain. Captain of the dance team. Homecoming queen. She was that girl — until senior year, when she comes out as a lesbian, and her crown slips. She finds herself at the bottom of the high school totem pole, where Vivian has always been. But Vivian won’t let her best friend’s fall from grace ruin their senior year. To cheer Kaylin up, she concocts a bucket list for them to finish before graduating, starting with item #1: KISS GIRLS. 

Their escapades begin when Kaylin’s long-time crush Bee, a player on the girls’ basketball team, invites them to a kickback. Instantly, Kaylin and Vivian get to plotting. They show up at the party ready to make moves on Bee and her teammate Erin. But when all members of the girls’ basketball team end up being straight, Kaylin and Vivian end back at square one. 

As the night winds down, Kaylin and Vivian take off each other’s makeup as usual, but something’s shifted and they feel it too. Suddenly checking off item #1 doesn’t seem so far-fetched…

New Orleans, Louisiana, USA. 2024. In the Big Easy, the trees swing low. The horns blow loud. The kids dance in the street. The backdrop of jazz and Mardi Gras culture seeps through this story about teens who grew up marching in parades. Our characters reflect two sides of New Orleans: the majority Black community and the large community of Vietnamese people, who emigrated to the Crescent City during and after the Vietnam War.

KAYLIN (18, Black) is used to her charisma, talent, and competence carrying her to It Girl status. A pleasure to have in class. After a long struggle with comphet, she’s finally come to terms with her lesbian identity, the reaction to which forces her to confront long dormant insecurities.

VEE (18, Vietnamese) is the leader of the woodwind section of the band and a wallflower. The type to point out “This is actually a sample!” at the function. Though she’s just as funny and bold as her bestie, she prefers the safety and comfort of obscurity in the jungle of high school social dynamics.

I originally wrote Band Practice as a feature film to honor and reflect on my own coming of age. Much of the film’s central premise is based on my own experiences as a lesbian who struggled with comphet (compulsive heterosexuality) growing up. At a young age, I would invite my girl friends to “practice” kissing with me so we’d be “ready for when we do it with boys.” Band Practice is an alternative imagination of what it could have been like to engage in that sort of intimacy in a safer, more honest setting as I came of age. How it could have been to confront my sexuality earlier. To investigate the feelings I had for my friends. To question my own need for the validation and attention of my peers.



The humor and romance central to the film’s tone is essential to its mission. Too often, Black queer youth, especially in the context of the South, is only represented at its most traumatic. But I have a lot of reverence for where I’m from. A lot of New Orleanian culture IS Black queer culture, and so I wanted to return home and tell a story that has all the things I remember most about growing up there: magic, music, and laughter.

Linda Denson, Writer & Co-Director

As filmmakers, the lens we view this world through is playful, sensual, and nostalgic — you know how all memories are romantic? That’s what Band Practice is. It’s almost sunset and you’re driving home with your best friend who looks like a dream; you’re so over high school but still have enough energy to blast music on the way home. Band Practice encapsulates those growing pains and belly aches, adorned in sticky-sweet heat. We’re inspired stylistically by lurid, feminine worlds encapsulating the American South like The Florida Project (2017). Hazy pinks, purples, sweeping oak trees older than your loved ones combined.

Sonically, we imagine this world filled with diegetic noise; steady bass lines pumping through car windows, mean gossip, music spilling out the walls of a house party. New Orleans is overflowing with sound. Growing up is loud for anyone, let alone a band geek and a majorette. And we’re laughing hard — it’s a comedy after all.

Lastly, and most importantly, intimacy direction is central to our process, and we ground our work in consent and care. This story is a tender one. First times are humbling experiences, heart bared. God knows we could all be kinder to first timers.

Black and Vietnamese communities found communion in New Orleans. In many ways, this work is a loved child of our identities, our friendship, and the art we hope to seed in this world; may you join us on this journey and stay a while.

Inspirations: Bottoms (2023) / The Florida Project (2017) / Booksmart (2019) / But I’m a Cheerleader (1999) / Saving Face (2004) / To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before (2018)

Diana Khong, Co-Director

We are currently in pre-production and are seeking any support to help with the production costs of telling our story. Having locked our two principals already, we will round out the rest of our cast by January 2025. Because this is a New Orleans story, we are planning to shoot for a total of 3 production days on location, in New Orleans, LA, to achieve maximum setting authenticity. Principal photography is slated to take place on March 21st, 22nd, and 23rd, 2025. We will then enter our post-production phase and run the film on the domestic and world festival circuit.

To bring the complete vision of Band Practice to life, we need to raise a minimum production budget of $18,500. These funds will go towards compensation for our cast and crew, equipment rentals for our camera department, locations, food, transportation, production design, and post-production.

Band Practice provides another entry into a growing canon of work that relishes in the humorous and human complexities of lesbian adolescence. Your contribution to our campaign will help this ever-timely story tangibly come to life and get before audiences who need to receive its message (and have a fun time while doing so!). 

You can further support our film by following our journey across on our instagram account and sharing our campaign with your friends and networks:

INSTAGRAM: @bandpracticefilm

You can also support us by showing up to any of our upcoming campaign events. All proceeds from RSVPs will be contributed to this Seed & Spark campaign and ultimately the film's budget. We will be having a myriad of events in NYC, LA, the Bay Area, Atlanta, and New Orleans, the first of which are all happening on December 7:

RSVP for NYC - Campaign Party, 9 PM EST, Someday Bar, Brooklyn

RSVP for LA - Queer Short Film Festival, 7:30 PM PST, Robinson S.P.A.C.E.

RSVP for Oakland - Campaign Party, 8 PM PST, private location

STRETCH GOAL #1: CAMERA ($25,000)

This stretch goal will aid our camera department in capturing the visual magic, intimacy, and vibrancy of our film. Funds will go towards procuring upgraded camera gear and hiring an additional Assistant Camera.

STRETCH GOAL #2: COSTUMES & PRODUCTION DESIGN ($35,000)

By helping us achieve this stretch goal, the production value of our short will be considerably raised through more detailed and curated art direction that is foundational to bringing a New Orleans coming-of-age story to life. We will also be able to elevate our band members' wardrobe by using the funds to order custom-made band uniforms.

STRETCH GOAL #3: MUSIC ($40,000)

Needless to say, music is elemental to this story. This stretch goal will allow us to obtain the licensing to the song "band practice" by queer New Orleanian singer, Ambré. This song perfectly captures the story of our Kaylin and Vee and the exhilaration of being free and safe to explore desire.

Thank you in advance for your support of Band Practice - it truly means the world!

With appreciation,

The Band Practice Team