Contents
Introduction
When Dr. Allison Druin and Dr. Ben Bederson, lifelong educators, tirelessly searched for a school that would nurture and empower their transgender son, nothing seemed to be a perfect fit. The solution? To create one. The J.S. Bryant high school, opening in the Fall of 2025, will be the first therapeutic high school for LGBTQ+ teens in America. Students will finally be able to express their most authentic selves through innovative curricula, traditional farming practices, and a safe environment.
Meet The Team
Lorelei Essman-Freeman
Director
Lorelei Essman-Freeman is an award-winning filmmaker who focuses on gender and queer rights, bodily autonomy, mental health, and sexual education. She began making films in high school and graduated from Vassar College with a B.A. in Film and Education. Throughout her education and beyond, she worked with film legends such as cinematographer Ellen Kuras, director Sean Lennon, producers Beth Levison, Marilyn Ness, and Christina Kiely, actor Denis O’Hare, and more. Lorelei believes that film is and should be the most accessible form of education, which is why she focuses on current social issues. Her first film PRETTY ODD (2018) won Best Student Director at Top Shorts Film Festival and Best Student Short and Best Young Actor at Indie Short Fest. Her first thesis film TOUCHY SUBJECT, a short documentary about female masturbation, won an honorable mention at the Chroma Art Film Festival. It is still circulating through festivals, along with her second thesis film FIVE MINUTES, a short narrative about a reality-bending pregnancy scare, which is an Official Selection at the Women’s Voices Now Film Festival and the East Village Film Festival. Lorelei currently resides in NYC and works as a freelance Director, DP, Cam Op, and PA on documentaries, music videos, commercials, and more.
Jane Lipper
Producer
Jane Lipper (she/her) is a graduate of Vassar College with a B.A. in Mathematics, Art History, and Spanish. She has experience working in production and costume design on theatrical shows at Vassar College such as Gloria, The Pillowman, and Rodeo and Juliet. Jane is currently working as a Development Associate at Inspiration Point, a center for the arts in the Hunts Point section of the Bronx.
Mallory Holst
Director of Photography
Mallory Holst (she/her) graduated Boston University in May 2024 with a B.S. in film & television with a specific concentration in cinematography. Over the past year, she has been a cinematographer for multiple short films and works as a gaffer and electric for music videos, commercials, feature films, and short films. Her variety of experience allows her to bring a unique approach in lighting and composition to each project. She is a passionate advocate for the queer community and uses her background in the female and queer community as a visual lens.
Nina Essman
Executive Producer
Nina Essman (she/her) is a producer and general manager for commercial theatre and a partner of 321 Theatrical Management, which represents the three most recent Best Musical Tony Award winners. Current Broadway productions include Wicked (Worldwide), The Outsiders, and Death Becomes Her. Previous credits include Kimberly Akimbo, Gutenberg! The Musical!, Suzan-Lori Park’s Topdog/Underdog, A Strange Loop, Is This a Room/Dana H, What the Constitution Means to Me, The SpongeBob Musical, War Paint, Oh Hello! on Broadway, Fully Committed, Fun Home, If/Then, Peter and the Starcatcher, Bring It On, Sister Act, Next to Normal, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, The Graduate, Man of La Mancha, Bat Boy: The Musical, The Improbable Theatre’s Lifegame, The Vagina Monologues, and the original Broadway productions of Disney’s The Lion King. Nina is an active member of the Broadway League, and is a founding board member and past Chair of Detroit Public Theatre. Most Recently, she helped create The Sweets Factory Fellowship in Broadway General Management and Producing in partnership with the Epic Theatre Ensemble. The year-long paid fellowship is open to New York City High School seniors currently enrolled in the Epic NEXT Arts Leadership initiative, providing students the opportunity to work alongside leaders in the theatre industry as they gain an intensive look at commercial theatre. Nina attended Smith College and received a B.A. from Colorado College and a J.D. from Cardozo School of Law at Yeshiva University. She lives in New York City.
Statement of Intent
At SVP Productions, our goals are twofold: to uplift marginalized communities through the power of storytelling and to uplift the filmmakers that are dedicated to this project. With your assistance, we would be able to continue supporting the school and their mission, giving them publicity and allowing them to become known to a wider audience of prospective students and families, in addition to supporting our majority LGBTQ+ crew. While Allison, Ben, and Atlas dedicate themselves to the J.S. Bryant School and its future students, our crew dedicates themselves to documenting every step with the idea that someday, young queer people can see themselves in the media, in schools, and in society. While we are making a film, we are also building a community of young queer creatives looking to make a film that will provide representation for the next generation.
Why Now?
Today’s high school students are struggling with anxiety, depression, suicide, victimization and more. Teens that identify as LGBTQ+, particularly those that identify as trans and nonbinary, report much higher rates of struggle. According to The Trevor Project, 41% of LGBTQ young people seriously considered attempting suicide in 2022, yet 56% who wanted help couldn’t find it. 68% of LGBTQ+ students reported feeling unsafe at school because of their sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression. Researchers have found that an affirming school environment for LGBTQ young people improves students’ mental health and reduces their risk of suicide. LGBTQ+ high school students suffering from anxiety and depression need a safe and nurturing learning environment that leads to college readiness and/or workforce development.
Why Us?
The team making this movie are primarily emerging queer filmmakers. We experienced queerness as students experience it today, with technology, social media, and mass communication embedded in our lives. We found art as a way to keep our voices heard, when society tried to keep us silent. We were the students who this film is for. The LGBTQ+ community in the world right now is different than it has ever been, and we understand it just like the students at the J.S. Bryant school will. We are making this film because we want to, we need to, and we have to. For us and for them; we are a community and we will help this community grow, thrive, and flourish.
Characters
Dr. Allison Druin
Head of J.S. Bryant School
Dr. Druin was a Professor of Information for 20 years at the University of Maryland, and for the past almost 7 years has been a leader at Pratt Institute in New York City where she recently left the position of Vice Provost for Research and Strategic Partnerships. She is the author/editor of 3 books on designing children's educational technology; published over 140 academic papers; given almost 150 public talks; and for 10 years was on-air at the DC NPR affiliate as a radio correspondent discussing technology trends. Dr. Druin is known for her co-design work with young people, bringing them into the design process to create new approaches for educational experiences and technology. And while the J.S. Bryant School is perhaps Dr. Druin's most ambitious new school, it is not her first. She cofounded a public charter school while at the University of Maryland, and in Fall 2023 launched the Design Works High School (on design and social justice) in downtown Brooklyn, NY.
Dr. Ben Bederson
Chief Operating Officer, J.S. Bryant School
Dr. Bederson was a professor of computer science for 20 years at the University of Maryland where he was Executive Director of the Teaching and Learning Transformation Center and Associate Provost of Learning Initiatives for his last 5 years. With a focus on user experience in the design of innovative technology, Dr. Bederson wrote two books, well over a hundred academic papers, has given over a hundred public talks, wrote software that has been used by millions of users and has 14 issued patents. Ben, with Allison and their research team, developed the International Children's Digital Library (ICDL) back in 2001 and it is still the world's largest collection of freely available online children's books. He has worked with numerous government agencies, many companies, and led a deep partnership with the World Bank where he was responsible for developing a Mongolian version of the ICDL and setting it up in Ulan Bator as well as several remote villages.
Atlas Bederson
Son of Allison and Ben
Atlas is currently a full-time student at Union College in Upstate, NY, going into his Junior year. He is focused on anthropology and social sciences, currently on track for a B.A. in anthropology. Atlas is passionate about mental health advocacy in teens and youth. He has a history of depression and anxiety, going to residential treatment centers, a wilderness therapy program, and graduating from a 12-month therapeutic boarding high school. He has a lifetime of co-design experience and lived-experience as a queer person in multiple therapeutic milieus. Since the age of 6, he has been working alongside his mom, Dr. Allison Druin, codesigning new learning programs and technologies in “KidsTeam” at the University of Maryland. There he worked with grad students, professors, and other young kids to co-design projects with such partners from the White House (the Every Kid in a Park program), the National Park Service/Department of the Interior (the Lincoln Memorial, WebRangers which became Junior Rangers online). Most recently he was on a co-design team at Pratt Institute where he helped to co-design the first ideas for a new public high school focusing on design and social justice. As a summer intern in 2024, he spoke nationally about his experiences for StoryCorps which resulted in a public radio piece aired August 2024.
Comps
As part of our pitch, we've included a list of comparable titles in the genre to give you a sense of what we want to create.
For Sama
For Sama is a war film that was documented in real-time, just as we are doing in Transitions. It was filmed for the filmmaker’s daughter with no certainty about what the product would look like. While we are filming in a safer space, the goal is the same: to film the process and find the story in the footage.
Jiro Dreams of Sushi
Jiro Dreams of Sushi is a feel-good documentary about a passionate sushi chef’s culinary practice and his relationship with his son. In a similar fashion, we want to capture these familial relationships that have bumps, but in the end, are important and uplifting. We also want to emphasize the passion for this school, just as Jiro is with his sushi.
The Biggest Little Farm
The Biggest Little Farm is our biggest inspiration, as it is about a family who does not know much about farming but is passionate about their project to create a self-sustaining farm in California. The J.S. Bryant school is trying to build a perma-culture farm which is similar to that and, while Allison and Ben have worked in the education system for years, no one has opened a school like this. Our documentary will take a similar approach to The Biggest little Farm, with interviews and continuous shooting over a long period of time. We hope to take inspiration from this film both in our cinematic approach as well as our approach to story.
Tone
