Creativeffectivity

Ad Council's new no holds barred PSAs on CyberBullying:

Siriusly on OutQ

Somehow the media monster that is Joe.My.God was able to receive my Sirius OutQ interview with Michaelangelo Signoreli before I could so I'll just recap here before I get the file myself.

First off, the Sirius offices are modernly designed aesthetic powerhouse! The whole look of the place is like Superman's Fortress of Solitude but instead of speaking into crystals you speak into microphones. The whole place is glass and carpet and nice wood and it's got all those elements you think something of the future would have. In short - it's a swanky place.

So I get on the show and Signoreli introduces me as a filmmaker, activist, blah blah and then we get into the discussion of my PSA and the story behind it. As I've said before- The PSA was never really meant to be a "Public Service Announcement" it was more just a piece of media I wanted to make about the reality of modern gay sex and getting tested. And, to repeat again, in the conceptualization, writing and directing of the piece never did it cross my mind that this would later be regarded as a "fear campaign" or that I was "using fear to send a message." All I was doing was translating a specific piece of my realistic experience to film- that's all. Yeah it's a scary subject but so is going to the dentist but we all got to do it.

Going forward I told the story of how I shopped the piece around to non-profits and they were all "We can't work with you because you make in fear campaigns..." And I was all, "Ummm..? What? Are? You? Talking? About?" Shrug- whatever. Which lead me to the discussion of viral videoing and the power of You Tube.

The best thing about Youtube, especially regarding gay media is the fact that we can do whatever the hell we want with simplicity of do-it-yourself filming and uploading. We no longer have to ask permission of anyone, go through the bureaucracies of finding distribution and most importantly we don't have to use straight people or straight tactics to get at the core of gay issues. This idea is incredibly exciting and it isn't until now that a filmmaker has complete freedom over their piece or message. Talk about empowerment!

Signoreli then asked about the communication gap between older and younger gay men. I explained the case as I see it. There's a non-communicating back to back stand off where the older generation who suffered through Stonewall and the utter devastation of the Aids Crisis perceive the younger generation as, more or less, taking it all for granted. The older generation says, "you don't respect us" while the younger generations says, "you don't understand us" and nothing is getting done in between. Having been to many activist and group meetings between the spectrum of AIDS to Crystal Meth it's always this resentful shoving match and when the meeting is over people either shrug or roll their eyes or sometimes both.

There is a sentiment that young people don't care, they don't want to be involved, that we know that safe sex exists but we choose not to use condoms and I feel as though that's a misconception. I DO think young people want to be involved, want to be active and want to be a part of things it's just that activism needs to evolve with the times. What I hit upon in the interview is that if a group like Imporv Everywhere can get 300 or so young people to freeze in Grand Central Station than that's proof that young people are willing to get out there and it's just a matter of combining activism with creativity which might just do the trick. Recently 3000 or so people gathered in Union Square to hold a silent rave. 3000 people! Do you know who easily you can turn something like that into an action? Activism still has tremendous room to exist it's just a matter of finding a way to put a creative and modern spin on it.

Signoreli and I then talked about other campaigns that receive the brandishing of fear mongering. Most specifically we discussed the campaign HIV is No Picnic which depicts men who suffer from Lypo dystrophy, crix belly, diarrhea, etc... People feel as though this campaign stigmatizes people living with HIV and only focuses on the negative impacts while not including the tremendous number of people living with HIV who don't show symptoms and/or are completely healthy. My response to that is- go ahead and throw those healthy people into the campaign - it will only illuminate the utter unpredictability of this virus. Some people are healthy, and healthy for a long time if not their whole lives, and other people aren't so healthy. What's wrong with talking about this? What's wrong with shining light on this?

Time ran out really quickly and both Signoreli and I agreed we were just hitting the tip of the iceberg but hopefully he'll have me on again. I've got much more to discuss like: the importance of younger men having the influence of the older perspective, of how knowing and learning about the AIDS crisis of the 80's and the government's slow response might make young people stronger, more self respecting and encourage them to feel responsibility of taking care of one another, how this nation accepts homosexuality yet does not condone it and the trickle down effect that has on gay men's mental health....

All to come.

I'll post the interview as soon as I get it. (Ahem, JMG.) And here's the Piece/PSA I made so you can have a look-see for yourself.

Happy Friday and Rage On:

HIV Stops With Me Launches Massive Campaign

14th st. & 8th Ave. Subway station:
Campaign launched by HIVSTOPSWITHME.ORG














































Suddenly my morning commute was confronted by these huge unavoidable billboards hanging everywhere in the subway station. I commend the organization- I think this is a great and confrontational effort.

International PSA's On the Creative-Effective Mark

Translastion: In the world a person dies of AIDS every 1o seconds

MTV France Ad

Scare Tactics, How Dare You, You're Wrong and That's Not Going to Work

One of the wonderful things about working freelance is you get sporadic time off throughout the year. What was going to be a long weekend out on the West Coast snowboarding in Mammoth during gay ski week has turned out to be an extended stay in Los Angeles where I have nothing better to do than keep producing the ideas that have been rolling around in my head.

Two years ago I made a somewhat jarring, somewhat controversial (although I had no intention of it being so) advertisement that deals with second guessing the choices of your sex life when you find yourself at the STD/HIV clinic awaiting the results of your next test. The ad received a mixture of both being well received as well as criticized for its level of "fear campaigning." In the writing, producing and directing of the ad I never once sat down and said to myself, "Ok. How can I scare people?!" Never the case. Not once. I took an experience as a modern, sexually active, sexually positive gay male and translated it to film with the hopes of encouraging others to slow down, think before they act and take their sex lives seriously and responsibly. "Don't let this be your second date" is more or less the tag line for the piece and that's simply all I meant. Know what you're doing comfortably and confidently and be in control of your sex life before you wind up in a testing chair uncertain of a test result which will set a new direction upon your life. If "fear" was a part of my being honest than what can I do? It's a situation I've been through and it was scary as hell and I'm not going to tip-toe around that issue. I needed that feeling to encourage myself to learn from the past to be healthier in the future. If you want to call that a scare tactic or fear campaigning- so be it. It's simply just a catalog from my honest gay life. Now, with the power of youtube and online viral videoing I don't have to ask permission of anyone to make a certain ad, I don't have to go through the bureaucracies of distribution to air my piece and I don't have to use straight people or straight tactics to get at the core issues of gay life and the gay lifestyle and I certainly don't intend on doing so.

So here I am. In Los Angeles about to begin production on my next ad and in pitching the idea to friends, activists, filmmakers, and gay folk of all different ages and cultures I have received wonderful, positive and supportive encouragement as well as the dismissive "you don't know what you're talking about," "that's a scare tactic," "you're wrong," "Why bother?" and the always fist-clenching, but totally expected eye rolling. The truth of the matter is- I'm just going to push on. I love gay men and I love gay sex. I love being gay and I love having sex. Never will it be an intention of mine to scare gay men out of having sex. I want gay men to have sex. I want gay men to enjoy sex and I want gay men to know that sex can exist in it's most hottest and passionate forms when you feel as though you know what you're doing and are in control of what you're doing. It will always be an intention to be as honest and forthright as possible and if fear comes into play while I try to translate certain realities of mine and maybe other's gay experience than all I can say is...So be it.

Link to "Second Date."

Forgetting

Amfar.org's latest Ad campaign seen all over the city.

Canadian PSA Refuses to Tip-Toe

Prevent-it.ca, a Canadian organization focused on serving a wake up call to all employees and companies to be more alert and conscious-minded when working in high risk environments, came up with this startling and hard-hitting PSA.

I don't know whether this was made to be broadcast on Canadian Television or if it was solely created for web-usage but despite the horror it does hit at a core. Yes this ad is horrific and it does border on the impossibility of not being able to predict the future, but it does score "wake-up" points and those can often be invaluable.

If you can stomach it- there are a whole series of these ads. Check out the you tube vid links under the PSA when it finishes.

Prevention PSAs: Young Men Stepping It Up

Another young gay man uses his Do-It-Yourself power to do what he feels he can to prevent HIV and vent his feelings. 28 year old stud-monster and porn actor, Francesco D' Macho, (NSFW) created this PSA which he posted to his blog on World Aids Day. Francesco's PSA is raw, hard-hitting and exactly what I feel my demographic needs to see in order to realize HIV never went anywhere and is still a tremendous issue affecting our community. The PSA is not *entirely* safe for work but it is a must see.

For a young gay rights and HIV activist, such as myself, to see another young man doing what he can to join the fight empowers me with a sense of hope and brings a tear to my eye. I am relived to know that although seemingly seldom, we are not alone in this battle and people still DO CARE about the ongoing issue of HIV and the wellness of our gay brothers. I congratulate Francesco for speaking his mind and pat him on the back for his brutal and unapologetic honesty.