Stacy Codikow, a former television and film producer in Hollywood,
says there are many lesbian and gay filmmakers who have so much to say and, up
until recently, not many places to say it. For the past five years, POWER UP,
the company she founded, has been working to fix that problem.
MORE INFO MORE INFO Since 2000, POWER UP has produced 11 lesbian and gay films
that have traveled the gay film circuit. They are:
“Billy’s Dad is a Fudge-packer,” 2004
“Starcrossed,” 2004
“Prom-Trovsey,” 2004
“Intent,” 2003
“Little Black Boot,” 2003
“Zoe Cadwaulder,” 2003
“D.E.B.S.,” 2002
“Fly Cherry,” 2002
“Give or Take an Inch,” 2002
“Chicken Night,” 2001
“Breaking Up Really Sucks,” 2001
POWER UP 419 N. Larchmont Blvd., #283
Los Angeles, CA 90004
323-463-3154 www.power-up.net
WHAT WOULD YOU call a women’s Hollywood film cooperative that finances short
movies about lesbians and gay men? A joke? A pipe dream? Dead on arrival?
These days, you call it successful.
Despite the odds, POWER UP (Professional Organization of Women in Entertainment
Reaching Up) will celebrate its fifth birthday in October, and with considerable
pride. After all, the nonprofit production company-that-could has produced and
distributed 11 short films and is working on its first feature.
That POWER UP has succeeded where others have failed — or not even dared
to go — is due in no small part to its powerhouse founder, Stacy Codikow,
a former television and film producer, who apparently won’t take no for
an answer.
“I completely believe in what we’re doing here,” says Codikow,
whose previous credits include a stint on “Cagney & Lacey.”
“There are so many lesbian and gay filmmakers who have so much to say
out there, and up until recently, not that many places to say it. We’re
a club with members around the country, and we are trying to help as many of
them tell their stories as possible.”
Telling those stories wouldn’t have been possible, Codikow says, if there
hadn’t been exceptional people to support POWER UP’s mission. Even
she marvels at the vein of talent that POWER UP has tapped into in recent years.
Talent that many in Hollywood had ignored or didn’t even know was there.
Look at the credits for any of POWER UP’s short films, and you’ll
find the names of successful directors (Jamie Babbit, Lee Friedlander), producers
(Andrea Sperling, Lisa Thrasher) and writers (Cherien Dabis, Michele Greene).
“These people are making it right now,” Codikow says. “Imagine
what they’re going to be doing in five years.”
TO DATE, POWER UP’s most accomplished alum has been Angela Robinson,
the director of the recently released feature film, “D.E.B.S.,”
the lesbian spy caper. POWER UP financed a short version of the film in 2002,
and its success proved to be a ticket to directorial stardom for Robinson.
“Stacy and Lisa really came in and took a risk with me,” says Robinson,
whose latest film, Disney’s “Herbie: Fully Loaded,” is coming
out in June. “Here was this lesbian talking about directing a story with
girls in short skirts carrying big guns. I’m not sure everyone would have
bought it, but they did and my life changed after that.”
POWER UP has had at least one of its short films accepted into the Sundance
Film Festival (the gold standard of festivals) every year since the production
company first opened its doors. And almost every one of its short films has
won festival kudos and awards.
Originally, the grant program selected three short film scripts each year,
helping fledgling directors and writers turn their dreams into reality through
$20,000 grants and in-kind contributions that ranged from production help to
distributing the film. The group has given away $1 million in cash and in-kind
assistance since 2000.
By shelving the shorts program to focus on feature films, the company will
surely increase its visibility and influence. Feature films, not short films,
are the currency of real power in Hollywood, and Codikow and her board of directors
are determined to elbow their way into the film world’s old boys’
club. The feature film application deadline is May 1.
First at bat for POWER UP in the features league is “The Itty Bitty Titty
Committee,” a comedy about a high school girl who joins a radical feminist
group. The film was written and will be directed by Jamie Babbit (“But
I Was a Cheerleader”).
What has made POWER UP so successful up to now has been its old-school, major-studio
approach to bringing films through the pipeline. At every step along the way,
whether it’s production, marketing or distribution, POWER UP’s Codikow
and her No. 2 partner, Lisa Thrasher, have called on a cadre of friends at Los
Angeles studios and production companies to assist their first-time directors.
“POWER UP really came to the rescue when I was making ‘Memoirs
of an Evil Stepmother,’” recalls writer/director Cherien Dabis,
whose screenplay “Little Black Boot” was produced by POWER UP with
a different director. “They offered me production insurance, crew recommendations,
free locations and completion funds. It doesn’t really get much better
than that. This is a group of women who want to tell good stories and are willing
to help anyone who asks.”
The result has been compelling films with high production values and, more
importantly for some, famous names. The actors in POWER UP-financed films have
included Sharon Lawrence (“NYPD Blue”), Michele Greene (“LA
Law”), Tammy Lynn Michaels (“Popular”) and Amanda Bearse (“Married
with Children”).
SOME CRITICS SAY that POWER UP is less a club than a clique — think an
A-list lesbian sorority. But Codikow says there’s an important reason
why the same names keep appearing in the credits of POWER UP films: Those people
show up.
“Much of what we do is done for little or no pay,” she says. “We
keep calling on our friends, and they keep calling on their friends. If you’re
willing to give us your time and expertise for free, we’d love your help.”
The group caused a minor coronary in the lesbian filmmaking community when
it financed the film, “Starcrossed,” last year, not necessarily
because of its subject matter (sexually intimate brothers), but because a man,
James Burkhammer, wrote and directed it.
Codikow says POWER UP’s mission has never been about separatism; it was
and is about finding a voice for lesbian and gay filmmakers. “We aren’t
afraid to work with men, because their stories are important to all of us,”
she says.
But the real bread-and-butter for POWER UP these last five years has been the
rich, sometimes-painful and often-humorous, stories of women making their way
in a world that doesn’t always welcome diversity and dissent.
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