General Discussion – Movie Projects around the “Do Ask Do Tell” theme

 The material in my “do ask do tell” books, while anchored somewhat in narrative autobiography, lends itself to film, documentary, or dramatic television series treatments in several ways.  

In brief, in the books I have maintained a parallel between unusual events early in my own life and the arguments concerning individual rights (such as the military “don’t ask don’t tell” policy for gays in the military) today. 

The best way to put this into a dramatic context for a mainstream audience is to filter historical episodes based on me through the eyes of a younger contemporary character or through the eyes of a different minority member character, with whom an audience will identify and develop a “hook.” 

Right now I have two different treatments, both developed into full-length screenplays, around this idea.  One of these treatments would, with some expansion, lend itself to coverage of the 9-11 event. There are some comments about my progress at this link.

It is also possible to build a documentary around the idea of our shifting ideas about individual rights, particularly considering the historical developments of the last half-century including 9-11.  I have a 38 minute miniDV (and VHS) from 2002 for this concept that I can show privately.

A weekly television drama series (about 24 episodes per season) could be based on the idea of the interaction of an “ordinary person” with historical events over the past fifty years, building up a series of interrelated stories, with a particular emphasis on individual rights and building into the issues with more subtlety than has usually been done with television. There is an older proposal (written in early 2002) at my hppub site at this file that would fit a weekly drama series, starting with characters (of different ages and cultural backgrounds) sharing a dinner at the Williamsburg Raleigh Tavern.

I have been told and I certainly believe that the epigram "Do Ask, Do Tell" is a potentially very appealing and catchy title for a number of entertainment concepts. Besides my concept, other ideas could include reality television or quiz shows or perhaps a comedy sitcom or maybe even soap opera. (In one of my screenplay treatments, there is a "Do Ask Do Tell" documentary film that explores teenage hacking.) Whatever my participation, I hope it remains reserved to be applied to serious work that attacks the issues of our day, balancing freedom and responsibility.  Of course, as a matter of law, titles cannot be copyrighted; and they can only be trademarked when they are strongly associated with specific commercial brands (services or products), and generally politically oriented phrases are considered "weak marks" in trademark law practice.

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Email me at JBoushka@aol.com