In 1995, producers Nina Jacobson and Bruce Cohen founded Out There, a grassroots collective of openly gay 20- and 30-something producers
Nina Jacobson was still early in her tenure at Universal when she turned to her colleague Josh Donen and awkwardly blurted out some version of "I just want you to know that I'm not the straightest person in the world."producer was far too embarrassed to even utter the word "lesbian," she acknowledges now, nearly three decades later.
"At the time, I think we all felt, like, 'How can we be helpful beyond just writing checks?' because most of us weren't people with deep pockets back then," says Jinks, who hosted Out There's first major event at his L.A. home, which featured a guest list of more than 80 people — a who's who of gay Hollywood and the leaders of the major queer organizations.
Ryan Murphy would join the group a little later, relishing the opportunity to gather regularly in living rooms and office courtyards with others who were navigating the same path he was. By that time, he had become intensely focused on pushing to include heretofore nonexistent gay characters and plotlines onscreen, and he remembers leaning heavily on the Out There community for support.
Director Paris Barclay's only regret is that the group disbanded as quickly as it did . He can't help but imagine the power those same people — now Oscar winners and agency partners — could have had all these years later, even if the needs have shifted. "If we were getting together today, we'd be looking at issues like transphobia and teen suicide," says Barclay, adding wistfully, "Maybe we should get the band back together.
But by the late 1990s, the industry's population of out gays and lesbians had exploded, and the committee — all busy in their respective careers — simply wasn't equipped to keep up. "It was a really happy moment when we realized there are too many gay people in Hollywood, there are too many gay organizations working in Hollywood, and there are too many connections happening organically that we helped [facilitate] that we weren't needed anymore," says Cohen.
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