Today we’d like to introduce you to Lane Stanley.
Hi Lane, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I started in the arts with a love of Shakespeare – I was that weird kid in middle school who got too into Romeo & Juliet. Reading Shakespeare turned into staging Shakespeare, and from there I discovered the beautiful world of new plays. As much as I loved (and love) putting my spin on an old classic, I was even more excited to create new worlds that intrinsically centered a wider range of people.
My work since has been community-centered storytelling in theater and film. Since my fiance’s sudden death in 2016, I have been fascinated by people who are living some kind of profound Plan B. For me, this has meant telling stories about transness, recovery, healing, and restorative justice. I have been privileged to work extensively with people experiencing homelessness, people returning from long incarcerations, and my peers in the queer and trans community to make authentic, collaborative work.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
I don’t know any artist who feels like they’ve had a smooth road! Getting the mission, values, people, and resources to align is an uphill battle, but one that gives back to you. From my personal journey through gender transition and substance abuse recovery to the enormous task of producing feature films, I have learned a huge amount about how to center meaningful values through any process and how to be vulnerable in storytelling and in the community.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I am an independent filmmaker and playwright primarily telling stories that center queer and trans people and/or people in recovery and restorative justice spaces. My award-winning debut feature film ADDICT NAMED HAL (Austin Film Festival, Santa Barbara International Film Festival) was inspired by my personal experiences living in a recovery house after the sudden death of my fiance in 2016 – I now have seven years sober. I am currently wrapping my second feature film T, which is a narrative feature shot incrementally over our lead actor’s first two years on Testosterone. My kinky and queer short films have played festivals, including Outfest, Seattle Queer Film Festival, and Oxford Film Festival, and I have been a commissioned artist with Art with Impact, Ground Floor Theatre, and coLAB Arts. I will soon be heading to the festival circuit with my documentary QUENTIN BLUE, about a band formed by lifers in San Quentin in 2014 and re-formed in Compton when three band members were paroled in 2020. We just finished the short version of this story and are now raising funds to expand into a feature documentary.
Overall, I believe what ties my work together is curiosity about how people change and heal. That might look very different if it’s through gender transition than the trauma and accountability groups people find in prison, but it’s the underlying system of moving toward authenticity and grounded self-actualization that catches my eye.
To see my portfolio and films, please visit my personal artist website at www.lanemichaelstanley.com or my production company’s website at www.secretlyfamousprod.com.
So maybe we end on discussing what matters most to you and why?
I care about creating community-centered processes and empowering people to tell stories that have never been heard. I use a person-first approach in my artmaking to forge connections and hope to empower others to be more vulnerable in their relationships but also with themselves.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.lanemichaelstanley.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lanemichaelstanley/
- Other: https://vimeo.com/user79077932
