Have you ever heard of "precarious housing"?

Many people haven't... Ever known a person who "couch surfs"?  They don't have a permanent place to live.  They stay with friends until they can't anymore, bounce around, and if places to drop your bag aren't there, it's a shelter...or the street.

In urban centres, like our setting, Toronto, Canada, teens flock from smaller communities to a more anonymous, more accepting environment, and many are LGBTQ+.  But the city holds more dangers, and the streets are no place for an eighteen year old.

Moss Park Arena

Our Story

“Could You Take My Equipment?” tells the story of Rae, young woman who leaves her childhood home in small town Ontario to escape her domineering, homophobic father, and passive mother for a new life in the city.  It starts out well enough, staying with a close friend, until she is forced to leave.  Her hockey bag is a metaphor, not just of her living circumstances, but also of the lack of accessibility for youth to participate in athletic or artistic endeavours. 

As many in the queer female community have experienced, like myself, recreational queer leagues not only provide a chance to play your favourite sport with other like-minded women, but also provide a safety net of friendship, and support for those who have come out in difficult or even dangerous circumstances. 

MJ Jopling as "Rae"

In this story, Rae hides her living situation from those around her, trying to eke out some semblance of a normal life, but when she is spotted early one morning near the rink, Shannon, an executive in the league, figures out all is not what it seems.  She rallies support and ultimately, a win-win solution to Rae’s housing crisis, when she finds a temporary home with “Aunty G”, someone’s elderly aunt from the league. Rae has some room to breathe, establish a new life and allies to support her.

Women's Hockey Club of Toronto

The setting for our 15 minute film is downtown Toronto, near Queen and Sherbourne, an area with the city’s highest density of shelters, and transitional living environments.  In the heart of it all is Moss Park arena, a private facility, and home to the Women’s Hockey Club of Toronto (WHCT), a queer league in operation since the early 1990s.  I have played in the league for many years.  We are honoured to have their support, including background actors (for the hockey scenes), and use of their league name / jerseys.  Like us, they want to create a hopeful story that opens people’s minds about the issue of precarious housing in the LGBTQ+ community and the importance of queer sports leagues as community builders.

Production, Timelines, Our Goals

We are hard at work prepping our shooting schedule, securing locations, city permits, and finalizing our cast.  Our projected shoot dates will be between March 28-31.  The production will involve two shoot days, including our action sequences on ice.  And our post-production team is set to go. 

Our goal is to complete the film by mid-May in time for some larger fall festivals.  Following our festival run, which could last up to 6-8 months, our film will have a home on LesFlicksVOD, a UK streamer of exclusively sapphic (LGBTQ+) content.  My 2022 film, "Don't Go Back in the Hut" is currently on LesFlicks.  We will always be exploring additional streaming opportunities as they appear.

ACTRA Ontario, the actor's union, still has significant COVID requirements for crew and cast.  We will be following their guidelines in all stages of production, including masking, and COVID tests for all actors.  

With our production dates coming up in a few weeks, we have our team built, have secured all of our locations, including the amazing Northern Maverick Brewing company!  Our goals is to complete the film by mid-May and enter it into great festivals!

Join us! Any size of pledge will help us toward our goal. 

And SHARING our campaign is such an important way to help, and so appreciated! 

Spread the word to your socially minded friends, your sporty friends, your LGBTQ+ network…  And when you follow us on Seed and Spark, and on Instagram / Twitter, you’ll have the inside scoop on our progress.

Here are some examples.  Feel free to copy and paste!

Help filmmaker @swarrenfilm by supporting the production of "COULD YOU TAKE MY EQUIPMENT?", their film about precarious housing and the community role of queer sports leagues.  Join them at www.seedandspark.com/fund/could-you-take-my-equipment  

I just read about "COULD YOU TAKE MY EQUIPMENT?" directed by filmmaker @swarrenfilm and WOW, you need to support this short film!  Join them at www.seedandspark.com/fund/could-you-take-my-equipment  

I'm so excited to see the short film "COULD YOU TAKE MY EQUIPMENT?", by director/writer @swarrenfilm, being made in Toronto, Ontario in March. It will include players from the Women's Hockey Club of Toronto. Support them at www.seedandspark.com/fund/could-you-take-my-equipment  

Sheila Warren, Producer, Director, Writer