Today we’d like to introduce you to Jonathan Andre Culliton.
Jonathan Andre, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
A little over ten years ago, I had graduated New York Film Academy in Manhattan and, upon completion of that program, came out as trans. I spent a few years in my home state of Massachusetts then moved out to LA. At that point I was still very much a baby trans. No hormones, legal name or gender marker change, no surgeries, though I wanted them.
I had moved to the West Coast after being fired from a bakery where they hadn’t been the most understanding of my transition. I had taken that as a sign, packed my dingy red Volvo to the brim and drove across the country in a four-day trek that was all Super 8 motels and McDonald’s.
When I landed in LA, I knew I loved and wanted to pursue film, but I was so caught up in saving for top surgery, I let my transition overtake my life. I was also at this time disconnected from the trans community. Most people connect, reach out, read up, etc. when they are transitioning, but I was adamant that I wouldn’t be influenced my others’ experience. This kept my transition journey independent, but also kept me from information that could have made my life so much easier. Eventually I was an HRT patient, had my name and marker legally changed and went through two gender-confirming surgeries.
As all that was ending, I realized: I had identified myself and my life for the last several years as a trans person taking the time to transition. Now that that was over, what was I going to do? Was it too late for my film career? I’d never stopped writing, but even my film school friends had started to count me out. Was I going to be one of the ones that didn’t make it because I never really tried?
So I bought a bunch of equipment, particularly the iPhone specialty lenses they made the film “Tangerine” with and started filming content. I made little videos of my vacations with my partner. Then I started filming some of his plays. I got a Sony a6000 and started doing photography. I really had no idea what I was doing to be honest, but I knew I had to be around actors and artists. In the meantime, I was working on a script for a webseries. I had showed this to my writing group – that group is entirely comprised of cis and het writers. And they loved my “Trainwreck”-esque story of a young gay transman navigating the shark-infested waters of LA’s gay dating scene.
I don’t know the exact date when things changed from “I want to shoot this” to “I’m going to shoot this” but I do remember feeling like I would not be able to look myself in the mirror again if I didn’t make this happen. This was a series based on my story and I knew for a fact it was a story no one had ever heard. I had had enough conversations where people learned I was trans and were shocked beyond belief to know I dated men. That is still niche right now and, in the industry, that is money. Original is truly hard to come close to, but if your story has essentially been banned for the first hundred years of cinema, you have an opportunity.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
My biggest struggle was self-assessment. Most creatives struggle with critique, but growth isn’t possible if you can’t intake that information, filter it analytically, and use it. I used to explain away critique. If someone didn’t like my story, I’d assume they didn’t get it. Then I would promptly turn and throw their opinion in the trash. But I’m in the business of creating film that people can actually watch and engage with, so if I’m not communicating the emotion and information in a way that really reaches the audience, then I don’t have an audience. From the writing stage, I am asking, how will the audience react to this? Am I bringing them where I need them to go? It’s my responsibility to make the journey entertaining and fun.
Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about Bombshell The Series – what should we know?
Our business is a webseries, BOMBSHELL the series, which consists of seven episodes between five and seven minutes. Season 1 of the webseries is designed to work as traditional 30-minute comedy pilot as well. We want to model our trajectory as a creative property after “Broad City” which began as a high-quality webseries before being picked up by producer Amy Poehler and transforming into a successful half-hour show for several seasons on Comedy Central.
I’m most proud of the fact that we made this show with a ton of queer people who truly made what was a challenging 12-day shoot the best two weeks of my life.
The true difference between BOMBSHELL and other comedies is that we are turning the actual humor around. I love Judd Apatow comedies, even though they are problematic because they enforce a lot of really harmful stereotypes for heterosexual men. However, they are funny as hell. The moment you are not as funny as that but want to compete with that, you’re dead in the water because you will get positively massacred and told to level up. So BOMBSHELL’s comedy is very purposefully crafted. Instead of the “man in a dress”-style humor we are all used to, the jokes in BOMBSHELL tend to poke fun at non-trans people’s misconceptions about the trans experience. In that, they allow a very real and emotional look into what it’s really like to be trans.
Any shoutouts? Who else deserves credit in this story – who has played a meaningful role?
I have three main people who I know BOMBSHELL could not have been made without:
My mother, Dianne Flowers, who is, as a writer, my personal audience. She’s a huge influence on my comedy having been the one to expose me to SNL, Vacation, Private Benjamin, the list goes on. If I can make my mother laugh, I’m happy with the script.
My sister, Al Culliton, who is my fellow queer and always in my corner. She’s had her own success in writing for Bon Apetit and the Boston Globe as a historian and mixologist, and inspires me daily.
My partner, Charles Johnson, who wouldn’t let me give up when it felt like all the chips were stacked against making BOMBSHELL. He was the constant voice in my head telling me I could do this.
Contact Info:
- Website: heathandhenshaw.com/bombshell
- Phone: 8058742450
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: instagram.com/bombshelltheseries
Image Credit:
All images including Jonathan (the one in the baseball cap!) are by Katerina Frederickson. All others are by Jonathan Andre Culliton.
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