BEFORE I DO

FISCALLY SPONSORED BY bREAKING THROUGH THE LENS,
a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization (EIN: 88-3840078)
making all donations tax-deductible for u.s. citizens.


HOVER OVER PHOTOS FOR TEAM BIOS AND PROJECT DESCRIPTION

GARY JAFFE | Writer / Director (he/him)

Originally from Austin TX, Gary is a Brooklyn-based award-winning writer/ director of film and theatre. He was a 2020 Outfest Screenwriting Lab Fellow for his feature screenplay OUR LAST SUMMER, which was also selected for Film Independent FastTrack 2021, Gotham/IFP Week 2020, and Inside Out Film Finance Forum 2020. His three short films SUNSET (2017), NEXT LEVEL SHIT (2019), and LAST SUMMER WITH UNCLE IRA (2020) have all had award-winning international festival runs -- including premieres at the Palm Springs International Shortfest, the Rhode Island International Film Festival and Outfest. His most recent short film 5 PLAYER GAME (2025) is about to hit the festival circuit! Gary is also working with director/producer Justine Raczkiewicz on MUSIC OF CHANGES, a film about queer experimental composer John Cage. His theatre work has appeared on stages around the country, including his plays DIASPORA TX and SONG TO THE MOON and the musical AT FIRST SIGHT. In Austin, he received the B. Iden Payne Award for Outstanding Director of a Comedy and the Austin Critics’ Table Award for Best Drama. Gary received his BA in Theatre from Yale University. In all Gary’s work, he makes space for a more complex and nuanced understanding of modern queer life, queer love, queer dreams, and queer self-acceptance.

Project Type: Feature Film
Status: Post-Production
Genre: Romantic Comedy
Production Country: USA
Production Company: Go Berzerkshires, Inc.
Writer/Director: Gary Jaffe
Producers: Emily McCann Lesser, Tom Wallis
Executive Producer: Joe Pirro
Language: English

Logline: A lakeside bachelorette weekend devolves into gay chaos when the groom and the best man’s past romantic feelings reignite, entangling the wedding party—their college BFFs and the groom’s not-so-straight best friend—in the pre-wedding drama.

Request Screener Link, Budget or Further Information.

 
Donate
 
 

Please note that all credit-card transactions incur a 2.7% processing fee. If you’d like to make an ACH or Wire Transfer, please email us at: accounts@breakingthroughthelens.com

EMILY MCCANN LESSER | Producer (she/her)

Emily McCann Lesser is a producer born, raised, and based in NYC. Her work has premiered at Sundance, SXSW, and TriBeCa, and been distributed by Netflix, HBO, IFC Films, and more. Projects in development at her company Monarch Kaleidoscope have received support from the Sundance Institute, Film Independent, The Gotham, and Cinereach. She produced the SXSW 2025 audience award winning feature film FANTASY LIFE that will be released later this year by Greenwich Entertainment, and her latest collaboration with Charlie Kaufman—his short film HOW TO SHOOT A GHOST starring Jessie Buckley and lensed by Golden Frog winner Michal Dymek—recently world premiered at Venice 2025. Emily's previous work includes FAREWELL AMOR (Sundance 2020 Producers Award), RULE OF TWO WALLS (Tribeca 2023 Special Jury Prize for Human Rights and Artistic Expression), and the first season of the HBO variety show RANDOM ACTS OF FLYNESS (2018 Peabody Award). Emily’s mission is to create work with heart that sparks meaningful conversations about our shared humanity and offers strong market appeal. With a focus on storytelling that transcends borders, she is committed to producing work that engages, challenges, and inspires audiences worldwide, told by diverse writers and directors who bring unique visions and a passion for telling powerful, entertaining, and deeply personal stories.

TOM WALLIS | Producer (he/him)

Tom Wallis started his producing career in broadcast news where he found himself as an assistant line producer on Australia’s #1 breakfast show SUNRISE before moving to NYC. After finding his feet in the city and working in production, he launched his own company BAD ON PAPER PRODUCTIONS with partner Sarah Mather of Pinky Promise Films. Their first feature CORPUS (Dir. Corrin Evans) is an indie horror in production in New York (where he met the fabulous Emily McCann Lesser!). Tom holds a BA and a Masters degree in Creative Writing from Macquarie University and is about to finish a Masters in Screen Business at the Australian Film Television & Radio School. His MO (and company mandate) is to create commercially viable queer films across all genres, making the films and representation he wishes he could’ve seen growing up in the suburbs of Sydney. His recent credits include: HOWL (Berlinale 2025 & Melbourne International FF 2025); INFINIT3 (Melbourne International FF 2025); WILD DOG (SXSW Sydney 2025); and TAPPED (Mardi Gras Film Festival 2024).

JOE PIRRO | Executive Producer (he/him)

Joe Pirro produced Andrew Ahn’s THE WEDDING BANQUET starring Bowen Yang and Lily Gladstone which premiered at this year’s Sundance Film Festival where he won the Sundance Institute - Amazon MGM Studios Producers Award for Fiction. The film was released theatrically in April in the U.S. by Bleecker Street. His other recent credits include Ahn’s DRIVEWAYS (Berlin ’19), Mike Ott’s MCVEIGH (Tribeca ’24), and Minhal Baig’s WE GROWN NOW (Toronto, ’23) which was released in 2024 by Sony Pictures Classics and was nominated for three Film Independent Spirit Awards including Best Feature. Other credits include Kitty Green’s CASTING JONBENET and THE ASSISTANT, Amman Abbasi’s DAYVEON, Rhys Ernst’s ADAM, and Jean-Stéphane Sauvaire’s A PRAYER BEFORE DAWN which premiered at Cannes in 2017.

 

Key Cast: Cole Doman, Michael Hsu Rosen, Robin de Jesus, Gus Kenworthy, Brodie Townsend

Project Goals: (coming soon)

Director’s Statement: (coming soon)