Launching a new generation
'Shelter' is the first movie financed by an initiative that funds gay-themed films
"It's a good time to be a gay filmmaker," said Jonah Markowitz, whose debut movie, "Shelter," opened at the Kendall Square Cinema Friday.
The first-time writer-director and 1999 Emerson College graduate said he's thankful for movies like "Brokeback Mountain," which proved that films with homosexual content can appeal to the mainstream - and clean up at the box office, too. He cited "Milk," Gus Van Sant's forthcoming biopic about Harvey Milk, starring Sean Penn, as further evidence that America has widely accepted gay-themed cinema.
"Shelter" is the first feature film to be financed by here! Networks, whose new Independent Film Initiative is charged with producing one "meaningful gay-themed" film a year for under $1 million dollars.
Noting that people today are less concerned with gay or straight labels than in the past, Markowitz said there's been a "generation shift" on what it means for 20- and 30-somethings to be gay and to come out. "I think gay people are looking for stories that reflect that," he said in a phone call from Los Angeles.
To position his film to appeal to a wider audience. Markowitz ensured that a personal identity crisis alone would not drive the plot; the story also deals with unrelated troubles among family members, making a living, and finding one's place in the world.
"I wanted to make sure that the characters were struggling with more than just their sexuality. It's not a gay story, but a story about an ideal relationship born from a less-than-ideal situation," Markowitz said.
In "Shelter," main character Zach, a young California skateboarder-graffitist, puts his art school dreams on hold to support his sister and nephew. The brooding Zach doesn't understand why his relationship with girlfriend Tori has soured. But when Shaun, the older brother of his best friend, returns home, Zach's beer-drinking and surfing-buddy bond with Shaun enters the uncharted waters of a romantic relationship.
As with "Brokeback Mountain," neither of the two lead actors is gay. For Trevor Wright, who plays Zach, that initially raised concerns - namely, that "Shelter" might be "the gay 'O.C.,' " the Fox TV drama set Orange County, Calif.
"I didn't want it to be the typical sex-driven 'guys with their shirts off film,' " said Wright ("George Lopez," "Boston Public") in a phone interview. But once he met with Markowitz, he knew the writer-director was "not all about the sex," Wright said. "I trusted it and put my faith into him. He didn't let me down."
Brad Rowe ("Billy's Hollywood Screen Kiss" ) said the hardest part of playing Shaun was not the couple's passionate "tearing each other clothes" scene. "That, as an actor you can do . . . once you commit to it," Rowe said via phone, also from LA. What he found challenging was "the stillness" of his scenes with Wright. "The hanging out, the intimate things in bed."
Beyond handling the gay content convincingly, Markowitz had to contend with a shoestring production budget. Calling in favors from his work art-directing such films as "House of Sand and Fog" and "We Are Marshall," he shot "Shelter" in just three weeks for under a half a million dollars. He credits Emerson's "amazing" LA internship program for preparing him well, and "alumni camaraderie" for making connections.
"Emerson has such a great reputation out there," he said. "[The college] is taking over." The film's executive producer, Anne Clements, is also an Emerson grad.
"No matter how much you plan things out, things change. Jonah was very good at that, letting things roll of his back, not letting things get personal," recalled Jim Lane, Markowitz's former teacher, and executive director of Emerson's Los Angeles Center. "Perseverance, bringing people in, making people feel comfortable - those are the skill sets you need to be a director."
Getting a big break also helps. Markowitz said he wrote "Shelter" a few years ago, shopped it around, got no bites, and put it in drawer. His eventual deal with here! Films was a case of right time, right place.
"They took a chance on me," Markowitz said. He had directed a few short films, some dating to his Emerson days. But he had never tackled a feature. "You can get lucky. . . . You have to work hard as well." 