Film Independent’s Fiscal Sponsorship program opens the door to nonprofit funding for independent filmmakers and media artists. Donate today and help bring T to life.

Logline

Filmed over lead actor Mel Glickman’s real-life first year taking testosterone, T is a fictionalized, never-before-seen journey of transmasculine discovery, authentically portraying the moving struggles and joys encountered in friendships, family, and romantic relationships.

Synopsis

Filmed over lead actor Mel Glickman’s real-life first year taking testosterone, T is a fictionalized, never-before-seen journey of transmasculine discovery, authentically portraying the moving struggles and joys encountered in friendships, family, and romantic relationships.

After being out as non-binary for four years, Em decides to take charge of their body and life and begin testosterone therapy. Their fiancé Spencer reacts badly – though he is bisexual, he can’t imagine coming out to his family and publicly dating someone who isn’t a woman. Em leaves him, gets their prescription, and does their first testosterone shot with their friend Rose, a trans woman navigating how to get back onstage after quitting music when she transitioned.

Em starts dating Ana, a non-binary performance artist who shows Em how to let loose – and inspires a sexual awakening in Em. But when Ana stops taking her bipolar medication, she starts acting erratically – and Em falls back into the comfort of their relationship with Spencer.

Throughout the film, Em grows into themself, all while balancing their romantic relationships, friendships, and how to tell their loving but conflicted mother who they truly are.
 

Meet the Filmmakers

Lane Michael Stanley – Writer/Director
Lane Michael Stanley (he/they) is a transgender writer and director making community-embedded work around queerness, healing, grief, recovery, restorative justice, and housing insecurity.

Lane’s award-winning short and feature films have played festivals including Austin, Outfest, Sidewalk, and American Dance Festival. Lane’s plays have been presented at 20 theaters including The Barter Theatre, Island City Stage, and Kitchen Dog Theatre. Lane’s writing has appeared/is forthcoming in Electric Literature, The Rumpus, Foglifter, Brevity, The Ana, #EnbyLife, and HowlRound; they are an alum of the Tin House, Kenyon, PEN America, and Lambda Literary writing workshops.

Lane has shared his community-embedded work in soup kitchens, shelters, addiction treatment centers, meditation gardens, and San Quentin State Prison. He was the NEA-funded 2023-2024 Resident Artist with Mission First Housing Group and coLAB Arts, and is the 2024-2025 Artist-in-Residence with Pathway Home of Los Angeles County.

Lane has won awards from the Film Fund, Baltimore City Paper, and Creative Baltimore Fund; received film grants from Art with Impact, Queen Anne’s County Cultural Arts Division, Maryland State Arts Council, and Austin Cultural Arts Division; been commissioned by Dance Camera West and Ground Floor Theatre; and holds an MFA in Directing from the University of Texas at Austin.

More info: www.lanemichaelstanley.com

Lowell Blank – Producer (he/him)
Lowell Blank is a producer with over twenty-five years’ experience on both studio and independent productions. As President of Chicago Pacific Entertainment, he developed and produced feature films, documentaries and commercials with director Andrew Davis (The Fugitive, Holes), for Walt Disney Studios, Warner Bros., Fox, and others. Blank produced the independent film Addict Named Hal, written and directed by Lane Michael Stanley, a dramatic love story set in the world of drug and alcohol recovery, which made its world premiere at the 2021 Santa Barbara International Film Festival.

Mel Glickman – Em / Co-Producer/Story By (they/them)
Mel Glickman is a non-binary transmasculine actor, writer, and fight director based in Los Angeles. They are excited and honored to be part of T as their first feature project. Their acting and choreography have been seen on stages in LA (MB Stage Productions, Mouthbone Productions, New Musicals Inc.), New York (Fight Theater, Danspace), Baltimore (Cohesion Theatre Company, Baltimore Shakespeare Factory), Kansas City (Rose Theatre), and at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Film/TV credits: SEAL Team (CBS), Jersey (coLAB Arts), Haunt (AFI), Atop God’s Breakfast (NYFA). Education: BFA Drama NYU/Tisch/Experimental Theatre Wing, BA Mathematics NYU/Courant Institute. Proud member of the Society of American Fight Directors.

Deb Fink – Rebecca / Executive Producer (she/her)
Deb Fink is a writer, producer, actor, director, fundraiser, community builder, poet, storyteller (Your Stories Here), teacher, and coach. She is creative director of Your Stories Here, a story/new work incubator, and Beautiful Collaterals LLC, a production company. Deb just finished shooting the feature film, T, for which she both executive produced and played the role of Rebecca. T begins its festival season at Dances With Films in June 2025. She has also produced the award-winning short film Boifriend and has several short film projects (Pinsetter, In an Instant) and feature film projects (Beautiful Collaterals, The Worlds that Made Me), as well as a book of essays and poetry in development. Deb is a founding member and an associate artist of Central Works Theater Company in Berkeley, Ca, where she sits on the board of directors. Other affiliations include The Remarkables, Sundance Collab, Notes on Your Notes, and Unmute. Deb is an award-winning actor in theater and film, She has appeared in feature films including voice work for Pixar’s Finding Dory and Coco, and roles on TV and in commercials throughout her 35+ year career. Deb’s passion, mission, and purpose is to create stories of otherness to assist us in recognizing we are one or we are done.

Make a donation to T.

Contact

For inquiries, please contact fiscalsponsorship@filmindependent.org.