If we want queer artists to succeed, then there need to be systems that support them.
Unfortunately, providing free resources to aspiring artists hasn’t always been America’s priority. This is even more blatant for marginalized creators; while the U.S. has rarely offered artistic programs the funding they deserve, recent years have seen countless conservative attacks against most kinds of LGBTQ+ creativity. But despite these institutional and social roadblocks, queer creatives have always persisted! No matter what era of film and television we’re in, it’s heartening to watch so many creators fighting to not only make their own projects but also make it easier for other marginalized artists to do the same.
In a city as vibrant as Los Angeles, there are luckily dozens of groups helping to platform underserved filmmakers today. These organizations fight to create a film industry where truly anyone can thrive, and nowhere is that work more visible than within the Queer Film Collective.
Growing from a small networking group into a thriving nonprofit, the Queer Film Collective (QFC) serves as a resource hub for LGBTQ+ directors, actors, and all film and TV professionals in Los Angeles. The LA Blade spoke with QFC’s founder, Ray Taylor, about how important the group’s work is today, emphasizing how it’s more important than ever that we support the people making inclusive media possible. He spoke about the impact of this representation, the experience of trying to create LGBTQ+ films in our current political environment, and, when discussing QFC’s exciting new Summer Panel Series, how he’s excited to foster an LA film industry that gives queer filmmakers the respect they deserve.
“We’re doing everything we can to make it so filmmakers can make their films,” explained Taylor, as he described the whirlwind process his past year with QFC has been. “The Queer Film Collective is a nonprofit that provides resources, opportunities, and education. We focus on four pillars: connect, collaborate, create, celebrate, and our main focus is making it easier for films to be made.” It’s an important mission for not only queer filmmakers but creators in general! The past few decades have seen big studios grow more reluctant to give new creatives a chance (or offer livable wages to the many workers who make their projects possible). And while recent years have shown that not only original ideas but also small creators are essential to improving the film industry, it’s been extremely disheartening to see that this hasn’t changed today.
Ray, an accomplished film director, spoke about how the QFC was created in opposition to this unfortunate phenomenon. He organized the group’s first official meet-up — a small get-together of only a few dozen people — as a space for folks to share advice about navigating this tenuous profession while queer. “The more I talked to people, the more I realized they wanted resources, they wanted opportunities, they wanted to get on sets,” he reminisced. “So I threw together a pitch deck, and I said, ‘All right, here’s my five-year plan. We’re going to become a nonprofit.’ And in January of this year, we got our official 501c3 status, and that five-year plan is now thrown out the window — because everything that was on it has already happened in the first six months of our being alive.”
The Queer Film Collective couldn’t have arrived at a better time because, as Taylor is quick to remind anyone who will listen, inclusive media has always been key in the fight for LGBTQ+ rights. The man stressed, “It’s really important to focus on telling these stories that allow queer people to just be seen as people — they’re just everyday people! They experience joy; they experience heartbreak…I think that it’s really important to normalize seeing queer people in media, because the more normal that you see queer people in media, the more normal you will see queer people in life.” And while we’ve been lucky to see allies create inclusive media, Taylor emphasized that it’s only by uplifting queer filmmakers that we ensure this industry continues to make media that our communities can find themselves within.
Whether it be community meet-ups, their constantly evolving job board, or the organization’s constant spotlights on queer projects and individuals, every aspect of the QFC helps create the onscreen representation that so many people need to see. And while each of these facets is integral to the group’s work, Ray has never been more excited for the upcoming resource they’ll be providing LGBTQ+ filmmakers: The QFC Summer Panel Series.
“I wanted an event that we get to do every year, and whatever that is, I wanted it to be impactful,” raved Taylor, as he excitedly described how he and other QFC leadership initially thought of the series. He spoke at length about the many industry professionals they’re honored to have join these panels and, in a shocking rarity for educational opportunities in film, how all of the conversations will eventually be uploaded completely free online. “The conversations that we chose this year we felt were really important because we’re starting our panel series with a whole conversation about queer joy and telling stories beyond trauma, and we’re ending our panel series on a on a panel that’s talking about how to create art in today’s political climate…all of these are hot topics right now, and I think that they need to be told. And I think not only do queer filmmakers need to hear this, but everyone needs to hear.”
As the interview came to an end, it was obvious how ecstatic Ray was to talk about the Summer Panel Series and invite everyone reading to attend. Not just because of what an accomplishment it was — though he proudly listed off the many amazing discussions this series had in store — but what it represented for QFC as a whole. This organization was founded to empower LGBTQ+ filmmakers and help create an industry where not only can inclusive media be easily made, but the people who want to make it actually have the chance to. This panel series caps off an astounding first year of doing just that, with Taylor teasing even more to come in the next few months.
And as a final pitch to encourage folks to come, Ray summarized why this panel series — and all of the Queer Film Collective — is so vital: “I think that queer stories are so important to tell…and not just the ones focused on trauma or coming out! In my opinion, the most important queer stories right now are the ones focused on joy and succeeding in life, because we need to show the world — and not just the world, but also young LGBTQ+ people — that queer people are here. We’re going to survive. We’re going to keep pushing, and nothing’s going to bring us down. And so I think that queer filmmakers need to have those opportunities to tell these stories, because I think that they are so important.”
The National LGBT Media Association represents 13 legacy publications in major markets across the country with a collective readership of more than 400K in print and more than 1 million + online. Learn more here: NationalLGBTMediaAssociation.com.
Sign up for the Watermark Out News eNewsletter and follow us for more:
BlueSky | Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn | TikTok | Threads | YouTube
