Birthday Boy

Birthday Boy is deeply personal to me. It’s an unfortunate fact that most LGBTQ people grow up experiencing bullying, and that includes myself. I felt completely alone in school. I saw no information, no positive role models to aspire to. Thatcher’s Section 28 even forbade teachers from promoting homosexuality. All I felt about being gay was shame and fear.

I was grateful, however, to have been a teenager during the age of the internet. I remember finding LGBTQ forums and finally connecting with others like me.
The internet often has a bad reputation for being an unsafe space, but for Queer youth, it can be a sanctuary. It’s online that I found a feeling of belonging.

When sitting down with my co-writer, James Bell, we both agreed to explore this idea of the internet being a safe space. We were also inspired by the real-life events of someone very close to him.

Over the years, there has been a positive change for gay men. Transgender stories and rights, however, seem to have been left behind. When trans characters appear in film and tv, their stories tend to focus solely on their transition or a scandal. They are usually cast as cis-gender actors, and often as the wrong gender altogether. Male to female transitions are rarely represented at all.

Single-sex schools are built on the idea of binary gender, and being trans in that environment can create all kinds of hardships and feelings of isolation. I wanted to play with the idea of memories and how we perceive events over time. When writing and directing Birthday Boy, I tried to go back to those moments where I too felt bullied and alone.

Working with my Director of Photography Michael Filocamo, we wanted to make the school scenes feel real and yet uncomfortable. We played with the shutter angle, sometimes blurring or sharpening the action so that the viewer would unconsciously feel as though something is wrong.

Filming in a school triggered me with uncomfortable flashbacks. During the edit I worked to capture that same feeling for the audience, opting to tell the story in a riskier non-linear style. The result was a film that comes in and out of the memories of our lead, Alex. I feel that it is a risk that paid off.

I worked closely with our composer, Saul Bragman, to capture a digital warmth and nostalgia during the online scenes, contrasted by a colder, classical feeling throughout the private school.

During the crowdfunding stage of our production, we were overwhelmed by the support that we found and successfully raised £13,000 in thirty days.

From the beginning, we decided to push for a majority LGBTQ+ crew, as the industry needs to be more diverse on and off the screen. We also wanted to lift transgender people every step of the way. We were honoured to interview five trans activists for our campaign video, two of which, Maxine Heron and Cairo Nevitt, also appear in our final film.

With so little transgender roles available, it was non-negotiable that we would cast a trans male actor for our lead. Alongside my co-writer and producer James, we held completely open castings, auditioning trans men from all over the country. This caught the attention of BBC LGBT Correspondent Ben Hunte who filmed and interviewed some of the actors.

During these castings, we found Sebastian Emmerson, who perfectly embodied the spirit and wit of our character Alex. I worked closely with Sebastian in rehearsals, wanting to ensure he was mentally prepared for going back into a female uniform at an all-girls school environment. He truly rose to the challenge and gave an incredible performance, setting a tone of excellence for the entire film.

I was extremely ambitious with Birthday Boy, yet I am proud to say that we have produced something of an even higher production value than I ever dreamed. This was all possible thanks to the hardworking crew, cast and donors who were passionate about doing this important LGBTQ story justice.