Piece of Cake

In 2017, as I was driving with my family to Savannah for the first time, we talked about the possibilities that might wait for me at the end of this trip. Sure, we were just taking a tour of one school on a long list of others I could attend after high school, but something told me this one was different. SCAD had an animation program that wasn’t like the others I had seen. I had excitedly mentioned the idea of directing a film at the end of my four year tenure, and that lit the creative match in my mother’s brain. We both started brainstorming possible ideas, thinking of stories that haven’t been told before. When someone mentioned the words “cake toppers,” my mind ran wild with ideas. Characters who were destined for romance? The possibilities!
I wouldn’t come out to my family for years after that day, but my scratched up iPad was already filled to the brim with gay sketches. The story seemed clear: two bride cake toppers are stuck with grooms they don’t love. It had everything my professors would go on to tell me makes a great story; a good setting, action and love. Val and Mara would spring to life right in front of me, and I knew I had to share their love story before I graduated from SCAD. In the years following, a lot of queer characters would make headlines, whether for better or for worse. By senior year, I felt confident pitching “lesbian cake toppers” to the entire animation department, because I was confident in my own identity as a lesbian. Representation for queer women is slim, and often stereotyped in ways that make us seem ‘dirty.’ I wanted to show the world that being gay isn’t too mature for children, and this is a love story anyone can relate to.