Gregory G. Allen, “Sure Let’s Do It”
Gregory G. Allen
In this profile series, Revry is highlighting authentic contributors to the LGBTQ media and entertainment community. We ask questions to find out who they are and where they are going in the future. The questions remain the same but the answers tell their unique story. It’s time to explore and celebrate true representation beyond the limits of Hollywood.
Gregory G. Allen is an award-winning author, screenwriter, director and filmmaker. His LGBTQ short film HIDING IN DAYLIGHT was one of 29 films chosen to screen at the American Pavilion at the Cannes Film Festival for 2019 and has won several awards at festivals including Best Drama 2019 at QueerX and Best Screenplay at Reel East Texas Film Festival. His most recent short film REPARATIONS played virtual film festivals during the pandemic including the Emerging Filmmakers LGBTQ Showcase at the American Pavilion at Cannes and won several awards including Best Director at Vancouver Independent Film Festival, Best Editor at Montreal Independent Film Festival, and Best Actor from Venice Shorts. His short film MOTHER won numerous awards at film festivals around the country including Best Director at Boston International Film Festival & Los Angeles International Film Festival and a 2015 Remi Award from WorldFest-Houston. His LGBTQ screenplay HE IS GONE was an official selection in the 2019 Beverly Hills Film Festival. Gregory has been the recipient of grants from BMI, ASCAP, the Watershed Foundation and is a member of The Dramatist Guild, the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators, and a former member of the BMI Musical Theater Workshop. His plays and musicals include HIDING IN DAYLIGHT, WELL WITH MY SOUL, INVISIBLE FENCES, DESTINY AND DREAMS, RIVER DIVINE, and several children's musicals. He is the award-winning author of four novels, one nonfiction memoir, two short stories, and three children's books.
What are you best known for?
The guy who will say sure…let’s do it. I am a storyteller no matter if it’s in my writing or when I was acting on stage in my previous life. I just want to share stories with the world in any format. It’s funny as many people know me as the guy who wrote the kids book on autism and won a contest with it and others think of me for my award-winning LGBTQ books or films that I make. Even with my kids book, my goal is to drive home that lesson that ‘different’ is ok…since I grew up in the 70s & 80s when coming out of the closet wasn’t an easy thing and I never heard that message.
What is the first thing you worked on?
As a child I was always filling spiral notebooks with stories. Finally in high school a local children’s theater company started producing my musicals that I would write. The first one was a Halloween musical about monsters who must hide in a basement throughout the year and can only come out on Halloween. Even as a freshman in high school I was writing stories about being in the closet.
What are you working on that no one knows about yet?
The pandemic sort of took my mojo away for writing. Instead I kept putting up silly videos on Instagram of me lip-syncing behind my husband’s back all around the house when he wasn’t noticing. I am working on adapting one of my LGBTQ books into a film with an Emmy award-winning writer/producer. The project is still very new so I don’t want to say too much, but it’s been so good being able to zoom with him during the pandemic and get my creative juices going again.