Striving to Tell Authentic Stories with Chris Phillips
Chris Phillips
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.
Chris Phillips (He/Him) is a screenwriter, playwright and director. Raised in Austin, Texas, Chris found himself starved for authenticity at an early age and related way more to stuff like CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF, WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF?, and A SOLDIER'S PLAY than any sissy-gay-white-boy-pre-teen really should. Chris’s plays have been staged on both coasts in venues such as Celebration Theatre, SoHo Playhouse and the Cherry Lane Theater, and he’s directed 7 short films -- 4 from his own scripts -- screening at festivals such as Outfest Los Angeles. His goal is to follow in the footsteps of his idol Spike Lee, creating work that reflects LGBTQ America the same way Lee reflects Black America: with a challenging, brutally honest voice.
What are you best known for?
The people who know my work would say I’m pretty blunt about how gay men interact with and treat each other. I’ve seen this generate a wide variety of responses, from total identification to outright rejection, since I don’t mince words about the stuff we’d rather not talk about. One of my shorts got screened with the horror program at an LGBTQ film fest even though it ain’t a horror piece; one audience member’s response to a play I wrote was “only an unattractive gay man could have written that.” If some people don’t know how to categorize my work or feel confronted by it, I guess that’s validation that I’m on the right track.
What is the first thing you worked on professionally?
My first play, REVOLVER, is an anthology that was pretty much me saying everything I wanted to say about my experience as a gay man in one 90-minute piece (vintage first-time-writer stuff); everything I’ve written since has been a more specific, deeper exploration of the themes I addressed there. I’m proud to report the play got a GLAAD Media Award nomination with only 3 public performances, which told me that if you’re willing to get vulnerable and tell the truth, someone out there will relate.
What are you working on that no one knows about yet?
Right now I’m gearing up to shoot my first feature-length film, inspired by OG indie filmmaking like Soderbergh’s SEX, LIES, & VIDEOTAPE and Vinterberg’s THE CELEBRATION, which takes the old gaggle-of-gays-weekend chestnut and plows right through its conventions. I love the strides we’re making lately in diversity of race and gender-identity representation, yet I’m not seeing a lot of diversity in perspective. Not all of our stories need to be affirmative flag-wavers; sometimes we need to say “this dynamic is bulls**t, and we should ask ourselves why we do this.”