Filmmakers on LGBTQ Short Film ‘Frankie’

Frankie is a LGBTQ, live-action short film about a nonbinary, transgender person who attends a cisgender men’s codependency group meeting to confront their ex. Currently screening at film festivals across the country, Frankie is a powerful film that shares the authentic story of a LGBTQ character coming out at an inopportune time.

Created by Red Seed Films founders and spouses Morgan Ruaidhrí O’Sullivan and James Kautz, the film stars O’Sullivan in the titular role as they attempt to come out to this group of men and make their ex recognize them for who they really are.

Kautz and O’Sullivan took some time to chat more about the film with OFM.

Hello! Thank you both for taking some time to chat with me about Frankie. James, let me begin by asking, what inspired you to create this film?
James Kautz: I originally set up to tell a story about a person who is hungry for belonging, hungry for a place to kind of be seen on their own terms, regardless of gender. Full disclosure, I have been in Al-Anon rooms or codependency recovery rooms for years now, and it was really that first men’s room that kind of gave me the space to realize that cisgender men could be vulnerable with each other and they could really share their fears. I have never been around that before. Around the same time that I started in those rooms, Morgan was coming out as transgender/nonbinary, and we saw a lot of the same needs and hunger for a space to belong. It kind of became this story.

Morgan, playing the lead character, what did you gain from this experience?
Morgan Ruaidhrí O’Sullivan: Oh my gosh. It has been incredibly humbling, and it has been a huge gift. This was so unique. Partly because this is the first time I have ever had the opportunity to play a character that identifies the same way that I do. If you told me 10 years ago that I would play this role, I would have laughed. Like, there is no way. This was very, very powerful, and it was a story that gave me a space to express a lot of the same feelings I had, as Frankie. It also just gave me so much hope for people like me in the industry and where we can all end up. I can be trans and nonbinary and have a career. That’s a new concept.

Frankie is produced by Red Seed Films, which you two are the founders of. Can you tell us how this partnership began?
JK: Morgan and I met doing a play. We were both actors in a play that my theatre company produced. I would say two years ago, I started going, I really want to explore film. Not just as an actor, but finally after years of supporting other writers, be a writer myself. I think Morgan was super hungry for creative control as well.

MRO’S: Yeah.

JK: We are married, and there is nobody we probably trust more than each other. If we do, then I don’t know who that person is [laughs]. So much of our work comes down to having to trust that other person. We go to some pretty vulnerable, scary places and personal places, and I just could not imagine doing that with anyone else. It is kind of the core of Red Seed.

How has Frankie been received by audiences?
MRO’S: Not to sound like a broken record, but it has just been an incredible experience. It has been received very well, but I think the really incredible part is that people who identify similarly to me have had extreme emotional responses. Friends, especially of mine, have reached out and been like, ‘Seeing this touched a part of me I didn’t realize had not been touched by cinema before.’

For folks who do not identify as I do, it has been a great learning experience. I think part of what’s awesome about Frankie is, it really marries two worlds together. Regardless of how you identify or what your gender experience is, we all know what it feels like to repress who we are because of the fear of not being loved, and everybody has felt that on a very deep level. Of course, there is also the experiences of, I have a very conservative family member who watched Frankie, and I was able to open up a conversation with them about being transgender for kind of the first time. That is literally why we do what we do.

It sounds like Frankie is also truly opening doors for more nonbinary and transgender representation in film.
MRO’S: I very much hope so. Again, part of what’s great about this script is that it centers a trans, nonbinary person and it includes queer experience, but it is about codependency. It’s about being seen on one’s own terms, and I hope that what James has done with this film opens the door for nonbinary folks, trans folks, gender-nonconforming folks to play roles that includes their experience, but it is not just about that. There is a little bit more dimension and a chance to explore.

JK: Absolutely.

What were you both feeling once you saw the final product?
JK: It is a weird experience. You have to be a little perfectionist; you have to be a little obsessed with stories. It was magic to see it all come together, but it was a little hard letting it go out into the world. We can’t tinker with this anymore. Folks need to see it. It is very vulnerable and scary, even now. To kind of piggyback off what Morgan talked about in the last question, the response has been very heartfelt and lovely across the board, even from people that we were maybe a little scared to share the movie with. I think when we first saw the final cut, we were scared. A good scared. Like, OK, here it is.

MRO’S: We knew it was special, which is a rare thing to experience, but there is also this part of you that’s like, even still when I watch it, I am saying all my lines in my head. You kind of can’t really let go of the fact that there is a small part of you that’s like, we could just tweak this little thing. You never really get to just be an audience member.

Have you both always had a passion for acting, writing, working in the entertainment industry?
MRO’S: Yes, I think I came out of the womb trying to sing and dance [laughs]. I was very lucky that my family has always been very supportive. They could not get me to put down my mom’s big, chunky camcorder and stop trying to remake the Lord of the Rings in all my spare time. I do not remember a time where this has not been my whole world.

JK: I feel like I was kind of the opposite. I grew up in a place that did not have a drama department. We did not do a school play; it was very blue-collar, and I was going to go to art school. It was not until six months before I graduated high school that we did some Shakespeare. My family was kind of breaking up at the time, and it felt good to say this text out loud. Like, the first relief I had in a long, lone time. My English teacher actually pulled me aside and was like, ‘You should consider going to New York. Get the fuck out of this town, go find other weird, crazy, artistic people.’ So, I did.

What more do you both hope to accomplish with your platforms?
MRO’S: For me, personally, part of the most important thing that I hope to accomplish with my platform, whatever that ends up being, is to create radically safe spaces for people to explore authentic storytelling, especially for trans and gender-nonconforming folks. All I really want is to create good stories that tell the truth and help people feel seen. Hopefully, that will affect real change politically and we will not see as many anti-trans bills floating or hammering their way around the United States and other places.

JK: For me, my particular lane is definitely cracking open masculinity, especially in this country. Kind of all the different shades of it. Most particularly, of course, toxic masculinity and where that coincides with other issues and topics in our society. Whether it is gender, class, or what have you, I am thankful to be doing that with Morgan for the rest of our lives.

How can one watch Frankie?
JK: So, technically, we are still in consideration for a bunch of festivals, so we cannot put it online publicly yet. Hopefully, within the next few months, we plan to roll it out. I would say, if folks want to follow us on Instagram, that is where we are announcing all the next steps for that kind of stuff.

Before we wrap up, what’s next? Are there any other upcoming projects we should be on the lookout for?
JK: Yes, we have been busy! We have two other short films that we have made in the last eight months that are both in post-production, both through Red Seed Films, and we are currently writing a Frankie feature.

For more information and to stay up-to-date, follow the film on Instagram or visit it’s official website. Kautz and O’Sullivan can also be found on Instagram.

Photos Courtesy of Tommy Agriodimas