The Bluest Sky
Boonton, New Jersey | Film Feature
Drama, LGBTQ
Welcome to The Bluest Sky, a film with six trans actors and an entire trans crew. In a time when our rights and bodies are under attack, we've come together to share a story that depicts trans people in a realistic, illuminating light. The film features a trans chosen family—exactly what we are IRL.
The Bluest Sky
Boonton, New Jersey | Film Feature
Drama, LGBTQ
1 Campaigns | New Jersey, United States
Green Light
This campaign raised $6,602 for production. Follow the filmmaker to receive future updates on this project.
35 supporters | followers
Enter the amount you would like to pledge
Welcome to The Bluest Sky, a film with six trans actors and an entire trans crew. In a time when our rights and bodies are under attack, we've come together to share a story that depicts trans people in a realistic, illuminating light. The film features a trans chosen family—exactly what we are IRL.
About The Project
- The Story
- Wishlist
- Updates
- The Team
- Community
Mission Statement
The Story
FULL SCENE (ROUGH CUT) OF SKY & JODY
subtitled version below first video
BACKGROUND: In the first scene of The Bluest Sky, the titular Sky (they/them) sits on their front steps, smoking and watching the snow fall. Inside, Sky returns to their bedroom where their girlfriend Frankie (she/her) awaits. Frankie is frustrated by Sky, mistaking their severe depression and anhedonia for disinterest in Frankie. They fight, and Frankie storms out. Our scene begins when trans mom Jody comes home from work, finding Sky alone and far from okay...
SUBTITLED VERSION:
OUR MOVIE POSTER:
The Quick Pitch
A transgender chosen family gathers on a summer evening to commemorate the one-year anniversary of the passing of Sky, a beloved friend who took their own life. A well-intentioned reverie, or a recipe for tragicomic chaos?
Delicious food is prepared and shared.
Alcohol is consumed liberally.
Guilt and grief resurface.
Fingers are pointed.
Deep secrets are revealed.
Deeper secrets eclipse the less deep ones.
A very married, not-very-discreet chaser boyfriend appears.
It all comes to a head when Sky's transphobic parents arrive in time for dessert. Just desserts.
Can the bonds of this trans chosen family withstand bigotry, unprocessed trauma, and a flying fist or two?
What We Are Fighting Against By Making This Film
Life for transgender people, especially trans kids, isn't easy. Within our own group, several have experienced being kicked out of their homes as minors for being transgender. Some have been unhoused. Very recently, we had to cancel shoot days because one of our actors was physically attacked in the street.
If you're transgender, you live with these realities every day. If you're cisgender, all you have to do is pay attention to the news to see how bad things are.
The murder rate of trans people has nearly doubled over the past four years. Trans people are more than four times more likely to be violently attacked than cisgender people, including sexual assault. Right now, twenty-six states have bans against gender-affirming care for trans youth, with restrictions making access limited to nearly impossible in many other states. This has a devastating effect on the mental health of trans kids, leading to a 72% increase in suicidality. A US President signed an executive order seeking to erase transgender existence, the impact of which is only beginning to be understood.
Imagine what an uplifting trans film would mean to the transgender community.
There are almost 3 million of us in America. So many of us are hurting every day.
We also need cisgender allies now more than ever. By supporting our film, you are not only financially supporting a group of low-income trans artists, but you are also helping us get our story out to the world.
It's a story that has the power to both heal and educate, two things that would benefit everyone at this pivotal moment.
Graphic thanks to HMI.org
Why We Are Making This Film
In a world that often refuses to recognize our existence or seeks to erase us, we believe that now is the time to declare:
We exist. We are human beings.
The Bluest Sky aims to show a positive and accurate representation of transgender lives. We celebrate. We struggle. We share joy. We experience pain. We band together in love and solidarity when nobody else will support us.
We are resilient AF. We have no choice but to be.
Our group of trans artists is tired of being judged by those who have never met us. We are fed up with the fear mongering built on baseless claims about transgenderism. We are tired of being told that our gender isn't valid, especially by the people meant to love us unconditionally.
Why are you helping to make this film, 1st AD Phoenix?
The Bluest Sky shows the importance of chosen family in the trans experience. It humanizes trans people, showing us as we are: complex and flawed, beautiful and brave, bound to each other by necessity and love.
The world needs positive transgender representation now more than ever. We're making this film for the trans people who feel alone and isolated, who believe nobody understands them. We do. We're making this film for the trans kids who want so badly to see people just like them in movies and TV. Here we are!
We're making this film for us because we need it. Though you may not know it, we believe you need this film, too, no matter what your gender identity is.
A test scene directed, shot, edited, and scored by Alex.
Note: The character of Alex, Max's partner, will be played by Niko Mauve in the full-length feature. We will also be shooting the dinner outside on a lovely patio, which will ultimately become the arena for battle.
Who will see this film?
It’s for everyone! Even transphobes will walk away with something, even if it’s just getting big mad.
Despite the serious synopsis, it’s also comedy that walks the thin line between bleak and hopeful. Joking about the never-ending dumpster fire of life is a time-tested coping mechanism, especially for marginalized groups.
Trans people who read the script say things like, “It made me feel seen,” "You captured the exact feeling of..." and, “I related to so much of it.”
Every cisgender person who has read the script has said a version of, “It made me consider and understand things I never thought about.”
These are the reactions we're aiming for.
We've raised about two-thirds of the budget already. We need your help to get fully financed in order to complete this film, especially for the second half of production and then post-production. Filming runs from July 1st to August 15th. Alex will be editing the film as we go, as well as creating a score, with the goal of having a mostly polished cut assembled by the end of October to submit to festivals.
For those of you who want to know more about the plot of the film, we now present...
The Bluest Sky, a detailed summary
The film opens with Sky, a nonbinary twenty-year-old struggling with their mental health. They live with their chosen family, including thirty-something trans mom Jody and brother Max, a 19-year-old trans man.
Sky is in a bad way after a fight with their girlfriend Frankie (20s). With Sky's consent, Jody takes them to an inpatient psych clinic. Six months later, things seem better—at least on the surface.
One vulnerable night when Sky needs them the most, Jody, Frankie, and Max are nowhere to be found. Sky starts drinking heavily after a mysterious phone call from their biological mom, Barb. Devoid of hope and completely alone, Sky takes their own life.
CUT TO: One year later.
It’s the anniversary of Sky’s death, and the group gathers to commemorate Sky, joined by new addition Alex (20s, nonbinary, Max's partner).
Jody and Max cook an elaborate feast. Frankie brings booze. It's on.
Dinner and conversation gather momentum like a runaway freight train going downhill, wheels greased with alcohol. Jody plays referee to the spats and squabbles, minor and major. Some major-major. Frankie gushes about working for a Goop-like company, pretending to be thriving to mask a massive secret that will change everything. Max and Alex make an unexpected announcement that raises all the red flags for Jody and sends her into a tailspin.
Right as she's beginning to recover, Jody's boyfriend arrives unannounced. She's kept him secret for two years, and for good reason: he's a 40-year-old married-with-kids chaser who has the personality of a lapsed frat bro pining for the glory days. The existence of Derrick brings a shocking fact into focus for Max, something that happened on the awful night of Sky's lonesome death one year ago.
It all comes to a head in a climactic showdown with Sky’s transphobic parents, Rick and Barb. Unbeknownst to the group, Jody invited for them for dessert. Barb is the perfect villain, calculated and unforgiving, while Rick is a wet blanket with a hidden past of his own. You'll really want to see what happens in this ultimate showdown.
Hint: it involves a soon-to-be-famous blueberry pie.
Can the bonds of this chosen family withstand the guilt and grief that have been quietly consuming them for the past year? Can society's stigma against transgender people be battled by trans solidarity, love, and baked goods with a pinch of justified violence?
You'll laugh. You'll cry. You'll rage. You'll feel all the feels, with the warm 'n' fuzzies hopefully coming at the end.
Most of all, you'll understand what it means to be trans and that what's below our waist is the least interesting part about us.
Thank you for checking out our film! We hope it will mean something to you. It means everything to us.
Wishlist
Use the WishList to Pledge cash and Loan items - or - Make a pledge by selecting an Incentive directly.
Pay an actor's full rate!
Costs $1,000
No cast or crew will go unpaid on this film.
Pay a crew member's full rate!
Costs $1,500
I don't make anybody work for free. Not in this town.
Pay a day rate
Costs $50
Every microbudget should include budget for cast and crew.
Wardrobe
Costs $1,200
We are shopping for cheap clothes, and we need doubles of six actors' outfits for the "big dinner" scene, which is most of the film.
Pay for one day of craft services
Costs $150
Ciabatta! Frezz mozz'! Antipast'! Feed 11 people for a long day's shoot.
Craft service accessories
Costs $500
Pay for all the stuff aside from meals for the whole shoot: plates, utensils, napkins, cups, beverages, loads of coffee, snacks to nosh, etc
RAID Hard Drive 16TB
Costs $820
An essential secure storage for raw footage, transferred from the camera then used for editing.
External Hard Drive, SSD 2TB
Costs $360
"3-2-1 Rule of Video Editing": Use three storage devices. 1. Storage for camera 2. External HD for active use 3. External HD for backup
Pay a double day rate
Costs $100
Did I mention I don't believe in making people work for free?
Final Sound Mix
Costs $2,500
The cheapest rate to hire one sound engineer to do a final sound mix of completed film, which takes about 3-5 days.
Cash Pledge
Costs $0
Direct link:
Share this update!
About This Team
There is nothing a director could hope for more than a wonderful, committed cast and crew. I am fortunate to have every single one of these incredible people working on The Bluest Sky.
I was close with a few of them long before this project. Jame is my fiancée. July 15th marks seven years together. Ellis is my chosen family son who is the most together 19-year-old you'll ever meet, the opposite of his character Max. Phoenix is a brilliant artist and poet with boundless enthusiasm and an attention to detail I knew would make him a perfect assistant director.
Before I even had a premise, I knew I wanted to make a film starring my friend Jodie. She is warm, wise, and lights up any room she enters.
One day I casually said to Jodie, "I want to make a microbudget film with you as the star. Interested?"
"Hell yeah!" Jodie said.
As far as the cast and crew I didn't know before, they each came into my life in a way that felt like destiny.
Cliff submitted an audition tape for Rick with a portrayal of a grieving father that made me cry, and I wasn't the only one. I wrote the monologue just for auditions, but Cliff's performance made me realize it needs to be included in the film.
Kate stepped up in a big way to the role of Barb after the first hired actress revealed herself as a transphobe. Kate is the opposite: kind, compassionate, and excited to dive into the complexity of Barb.
Sky isn't technically a leading role, but they might be the most important character in the film. Audrey's audition brought the Sky I envisioned to life. I cannot wait for everyone to see Audrey's portrayal of the troubled, lovable Sky.
Emerson joined the crew with professionalism and immediate commitment to the project. Her enthusiasm gets me excited! She has a welcome, unique energy that always lifts my spirits.
To say that PJ saved the entire production wouldn't be a stretch. After another actor suddenly dropped out for personal reasons, PJ joined up that same day, fully committed. To sweeten the deal, PJ happens to be one of the kindest, most considerate people you'll ever meet. They bring pure joy to set.
At a recent table read, I had tears in my eyes more than once. The emotions of the actors were palpable, and the whole group felt like a family, a sensation I've struggled to find in life. I was overcome that these beautiful humans found their way to my film.
Except it's not my film anymore. It's our film.
Incentives
- The Story
- Wishlist
- Updates
- The Team
- Community
Mission Statement
The Story
FULL SCENE (ROUGH CUT) OF SKY & JODY
subtitled version below first video
BACKGROUND: In the first scene of The Bluest Sky, the titular Sky (they/them) sits on their front steps, smoking and watching the snow fall. Inside, Sky returns to their bedroom where their girlfriend Frankie (she/her) awaits. Frankie is frustrated by Sky, mistaking their severe depression and anhedonia for disinterest in Frankie. They fight, and Frankie storms out. Our scene begins when trans mom Jody comes home from work, finding Sky alone and far from okay...
SUBTITLED VERSION:
OUR MOVIE POSTER:
The Quick Pitch
A transgender chosen family gathers on a summer evening to commemorate the one-year anniversary of the passing of Sky, a beloved friend who took their own life. A well-intentioned reverie, or a recipe for tragicomic chaos?
Delicious food is prepared and shared.
Alcohol is consumed liberally.
Guilt and grief resurface.
Fingers are pointed.
Deep secrets are revealed.
Deeper secrets eclipse the less deep ones.
A very married, not-very-discreet chaser boyfriend appears.
It all comes to a head when Sky's transphobic parents arrive in time for dessert. Just desserts.
Can the bonds of this trans chosen family withstand bigotry, unprocessed trauma, and a flying fist or two?
What We Are Fighting Against By Making This Film
Life for transgender people, especially trans kids, isn't easy. Within our own group, several have experienced being kicked out of their homes as minors for being transgender. Some have been unhoused. Very recently, we had to cancel shoot days because one of our actors was physically attacked in the street.
If you're transgender, you live with these realities every day. If you're cisgender, all you have to do is pay attention to the news to see how bad things are.
The murder rate of trans people has nearly doubled over the past four years. Trans people are more than four times more likely to be violently attacked than cisgender people, including sexual assault. Right now, twenty-six states have bans against gender-affirming care for trans youth, with restrictions making access limited to nearly impossible in many other states. This has a devastating effect on the mental health of trans kids, leading to a 72% increase in suicidality. A US President signed an executive order seeking to erase transgender existence, the impact of which is only beginning to be understood.
Imagine what an uplifting trans film would mean to the transgender community.
There are almost 3 million of us in America. So many of us are hurting every day.
We also need cisgender allies now more than ever. By supporting our film, you are not only financially supporting a group of low-income trans artists, but you are also helping us get our story out to the world.
It's a story that has the power to both heal and educate, two things that would benefit everyone at this pivotal moment.
Graphic thanks to HMI.org
Why We Are Making This Film
In a world that often refuses to recognize our existence or seeks to erase us, we believe that now is the time to declare:
We exist. We are human beings.
The Bluest Sky aims to show a positive and accurate representation of transgender lives. We celebrate. We struggle. We share joy. We experience pain. We band together in love and solidarity when nobody else will support us.
We are resilient AF. We have no choice but to be.
Our group of trans artists is tired of being judged by those who have never met us. We are fed up with the fear mongering built on baseless claims about transgenderism. We are tired of being told that our gender isn't valid, especially by the people meant to love us unconditionally.
Why are you helping to make this film, 1st AD Phoenix?
The Bluest Sky shows the importance of chosen family in the trans experience. It humanizes trans people, showing us as we are: complex and flawed, beautiful and brave, bound to each other by necessity and love.
The world needs positive transgender representation now more than ever. We're making this film for the trans people who feel alone and isolated, who believe nobody understands them. We do. We're making this film for the trans kids who want so badly to see people just like them in movies and TV. Here we are!
We're making this film for us because we need it. Though you may not know it, we believe you need this film, too, no matter what your gender identity is.
A test scene directed, shot, edited, and scored by Alex.
Note: The character of Alex, Max's partner, will be played by Niko Mauve in the full-length feature. We will also be shooting the dinner outside on a lovely patio, which will ultimately become the arena for battle.
Who will see this film?
It’s for everyone! Even transphobes will walk away with something, even if it’s just getting big mad.
Despite the serious synopsis, it’s also comedy that walks the thin line between bleak and hopeful. Joking about the never-ending dumpster fire of life is a time-tested coping mechanism, especially for marginalized groups.
Trans people who read the script say things like, “It made me feel seen,” "You captured the exact feeling of..." and, “I related to so much of it.”
Every cisgender person who has read the script has said a version of, “It made me consider and understand things I never thought about.”
These are the reactions we're aiming for.
We've raised about two-thirds of the budget already. We need your help to get fully financed in order to complete this film, especially for the second half of production and then post-production. Filming runs from July 1st to August 15th. Alex will be editing the film as we go, as well as creating a score, with the goal of having a mostly polished cut assembled by the end of October to submit to festivals.
For those of you who want to know more about the plot of the film, we now present...
The Bluest Sky, a detailed summary
The film opens with Sky, a nonbinary twenty-year-old struggling with their mental health. They live with their chosen family, including thirty-something trans mom Jody and brother Max, a 19-year-old trans man.
Sky is in a bad way after a fight with their girlfriend Frankie (20s). With Sky's consent, Jody takes them to an inpatient psych clinic. Six months later, things seem better—at least on the surface.
One vulnerable night when Sky needs them the most, Jody, Frankie, and Max are nowhere to be found. Sky starts drinking heavily after a mysterious phone call from their biological mom, Barb. Devoid of hope and completely alone, Sky takes their own life.
CUT TO: One year later.
It’s the anniversary of Sky’s death, and the group gathers to commemorate Sky, joined by new addition Alex (20s, nonbinary, Max's partner).
Jody and Max cook an elaborate feast. Frankie brings booze. It's on.
Dinner and conversation gather momentum like a runaway freight train going downhill, wheels greased with alcohol. Jody plays referee to the spats and squabbles, minor and major. Some major-major. Frankie gushes about working for a Goop-like company, pretending to be thriving to mask a massive secret that will change everything. Max and Alex make an unexpected announcement that raises all the red flags for Jody and sends her into a tailspin.
Right as she's beginning to recover, Jody's boyfriend arrives unannounced. She's kept him secret for two years, and for good reason: he's a 40-year-old married-with-kids chaser who has the personality of a lapsed frat bro pining for the glory days. The existence of Derrick brings a shocking fact into focus for Max, something that happened on the awful night of Sky's lonesome death one year ago.
It all comes to a head in a climactic showdown with Sky’s transphobic parents, Rick and Barb. Unbeknownst to the group, Jody invited for them for dessert. Barb is the perfect villain, calculated and unforgiving, while Rick is a wet blanket with a hidden past of his own. You'll really want to see what happens in this ultimate showdown.
Hint: it involves a soon-to-be-famous blueberry pie.
Can the bonds of this chosen family withstand the guilt and grief that have been quietly consuming them for the past year? Can society's stigma against transgender people be battled by trans solidarity, love, and baked goods with a pinch of justified violence?
You'll laugh. You'll cry. You'll rage. You'll feel all the feels, with the warm 'n' fuzzies hopefully coming at the end.
Most of all, you'll understand what it means to be trans and that what's below our waist is the least interesting part about us.
Thank you for checking out our film! We hope it will mean something to you. It means everything to us.
Wishlist
Use the WishList to Pledge cash and Loan items - or - Make a pledge by selecting an Incentive directly.
Pay an actor's full rate!
Costs $1,000
No cast or crew will go unpaid on this film.
Pay a crew member's full rate!
Costs $1,500
I don't make anybody work for free. Not in this town.
Pay a day rate
Costs $50
Every microbudget should include budget for cast and crew.
Wardrobe
Costs $1,200
We are shopping for cheap clothes, and we need doubles of six actors' outfits for the "big dinner" scene, which is most of the film.
Pay for one day of craft services
Costs $150
Ciabatta! Frezz mozz'! Antipast'! Feed 11 people for a long day's shoot.
Craft service accessories
Costs $500
Pay for all the stuff aside from meals for the whole shoot: plates, utensils, napkins, cups, beverages, loads of coffee, snacks to nosh, etc
RAID Hard Drive 16TB
Costs $820
An essential secure storage for raw footage, transferred from the camera then used for editing.
External Hard Drive, SSD 2TB
Costs $360
"3-2-1 Rule of Video Editing": Use three storage devices. 1. Storage for camera 2. External HD for active use 3. External HD for backup
Pay a double day rate
Costs $100
Did I mention I don't believe in making people work for free?
Final Sound Mix
Costs $2,500
The cheapest rate to hire one sound engineer to do a final sound mix of completed film, which takes about 3-5 days.
Cash Pledge
Costs $0
Direct link:
Share this update!
About This Team
There is nothing a director could hope for more than a wonderful, committed cast and crew. I am fortunate to have every single one of these incredible people working on The Bluest Sky.
I was close with a few of them long before this project. Jame is my fiancée. July 15th marks seven years together. Ellis is my chosen family son who is the most together 19-year-old you'll ever meet, the opposite of his character Max. Phoenix is a brilliant artist and poet with boundless enthusiasm and an attention to detail I knew would make him a perfect assistant director.
Before I even had a premise, I knew I wanted to make a film starring my friend Jodie. She is warm, wise, and lights up any room she enters.
One day I casually said to Jodie, "I want to make a microbudget film with you as the star. Interested?"
"Hell yeah!" Jodie said.
As far as the cast and crew I didn't know before, they each came into my life in a way that felt like destiny.
Cliff submitted an audition tape for Rick with a portrayal of a grieving father that made me cry, and I wasn't the only one. I wrote the monologue just for auditions, but Cliff's performance made me realize it needs to be included in the film.
Kate stepped up in a big way to the role of Barb after the first hired actress revealed herself as a transphobe. Kate is the opposite: kind, compassionate, and excited to dive into the complexity of Barb.
Sky isn't technically a leading role, but they might be the most important character in the film. Audrey's audition brought the Sky I envisioned to life. I cannot wait for everyone to see Audrey's portrayal of the troubled, lovable Sky.
Emerson joined the crew with professionalism and immediate commitment to the project. Her enthusiasm gets me excited! She has a welcome, unique energy that always lifts my spirits.
To say that PJ saved the entire production wouldn't be a stretch. After another actor suddenly dropped out for personal reasons, PJ joined up that same day, fully committed. To sweeten the deal, PJ happens to be one of the kindest, most considerate people you'll ever meet. They bring pure joy to set.
At a recent table read, I had tears in my eyes more than once. The emotions of the actors were palpable, and the whole group felt like a family, a sensation I've struggled to find in life. I was overcome that these beautiful humans found their way to my film.
Except it's not my film anymore. It's our film.