Unconventional

From the creator of the Emmy-winning dark comedy series Eastsiders on Netflix

Project type: Fiction Feature
Project status: Post-Production
Director/Writer/Actor/Executive Producer: Kit Williamson
Executive Producer/Director/Actor: Miranda Bailey
Director/Writer/Producer/Actor: James Bland
Producer/Editor: Larissa James
Executive Producer: Christopher Miller
Executive Producer: Jason Beck
Executive Producer: H Shen
Executive Producer: Erwin More
Executive Producer: Edward Ruttenberg
 
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Logline

From Kit Williamson, creator of the Emmy-winning series EastSiders on Netflix, Unconventional follows eccentric, queer siblings Noah and Margot Guillory and their significant others Daniel Charles and Eliza Slate, as they try to start an unconventional family while navigating their thirties, try to stay sane in an unstable world and, most importantly, try to hold onto the bonds they share.

Synopsis

NOAH and ELIZA are trying to have a baby. But Noah won’t be the father. He and his husband DAN will be the baby’s very special uncles. Because Eliza’s planning on raising the baby with her wife MARGOT, who happens to be Noah’s sister. But Eliza is having second thoughts after Margot’s most recent manic episode, and Dan wants Noah to drop out of his PhD program so they can start a family of their own. Can this unconventional family stay together, or will their lives and relationships fall apart?

Hilarious and heart-breaking, this unapologetically queer dark comedy captures the highs and lows of being a Millennial today, and considers what it means to be entering the next phase of adulthood, wether you’re ready or not.
 

Cast and Characters
Series creator Kit Williamson (EastSiders) stars as Noah Guillory, alongside Emmy-nominee James Bland (Giants, Insecure), Aubrey Peeples (Nashville), and Briana Venskus (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.). Bland also serves as a writer, director and producer on the project. The cast also includes Emmy-winner Beau Bridges (Masters Of Sex), Emmy-winner Kathy Griffin (Search Party), Dana Wheeler-Nicholson (Friday Night Lights), Tuc Watkins (Uncoupled), drag sensation Willam Belli (EastSiders, A Star is Born), trans model Laith Ashley (Pose), Constantine Rousouli (Charmed) and Jenna Ushkowitz (Glee).

Meet the Filmmakers

Kit Williamson – Director/Writer/Actor/Executive Producer
Kit Williamson is the creator, director and star of the Emmy Award-winning LGBTQ series EastSiders on Netflix. Kit has been nominated for six Emmy Awards, including Outstanding Digital Daytime Drama Series, Outstanding Writing, and Outstanding Directing. He began his acting career on Broadway in Eric Bogosian’s Talk Radio, played the role of Ed Gifford on Mad Men and recently appeared in Brea Grant’s feature critically-acclaimed feature 12 Hour Shift, which premiered at Tribeca Film Festival and is now streaming on Hulu. He is an alumnus of the Sundance Lab and has written projects for CBS, Universal, Sony, Legendary, A&E and MTV Studios. Most recently, he wrote a feature film adaptation of the YA novel Camp for HBO Max, a comedy feature for Netflix and directed the independent film CTRL+ALT+DEL starring Jason Priestley, Mena Suvari, Laurel Marsden and Elsie Fisher. He received his MFA in playwriting from UCLA and splits his time with his husband between the apartment Silver Lake where he filmed EastSiders and the homestead in Joshua Tree where he filmed Unconventional.

Miranda Bailey – Executive Producer/Director/Actor
A production powerhouse, Bailey’s Cold Iron Pictures has amassed an extensive list of critical and commercial successes including Daniels’ Swiss Army Man starring Paul Dano and Daniel Radcliffe; Don’t Think Twice directed by Mike Birbiglia, starring Gillian Jacobs and Keegan Michael-Key, and produced with Ira Glass; Marielle Heller’s Gotham and Spirit Award-winning The Diary of a Teenage Girl; and Norman, directed by Oscar-nominated director Joseph Cedar. Other titles include the Sundance hit documentary The Untitled Amazing Johnathan Documentary which was acquired by Hulu and the 2022 Sundance acclaimed film God’s Country starring Thandiwe Newton.

James Bland – Director/Writer/Producer/Actor
James Bland is an Emmy-nominated actor, writer, and director who excels both in front and behind the camera. He is the creator, showrunner, and star of the hit digital drama series Giants, for which he was nominated for a Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Digital Drama. In 2018, Giants won a Voice Award and Best Drama at the Streamys, Indie Series Awards, and International Academy of Web Television Awards. A multi-hyphenate with a mission, James began his career working under producers and creative executives at Sony Screen Gems on films like Takers and Death at a Funeral. While navigating the studio world, James wrote and directed numerous award winning short films, including the BET Lens on Talent finalist Cocoa Love and the Cannes Short Film Corner Select Thula. He then went on to work as a digital producer for TV Land’s The Soul Man and Younger as well as Nickelodeon’s All In with Cam Newton. James portrayed the legendary Hip Hop producer Easy Mo Bee on USA’s Unsolved. He is currently in development on a new television series with Lee Daniels executive producing.

Christopher Miller – Executive Producer
Christopher Miller has been entrenched in the business and forensics of motion picture and television physical production for over two decades. Mr. Miller founded Rogue Apostrophe, Inc. and The Money Pool, LLC with capital investment partnerships and strategic relationships to the motion picture industry that launched the companies’ success. Mr. Miller previously held positions on the Advisory Board of the Sedona Film School in Arizona as well as guest lecturer. He has lectured on independent filmmaking to high school and college film students in Los Angeles and Arizona. Mr. Miller has previously worked with underserviced communities in central Los Angeles and was one of the first to build a website offering guidance to young people through the personal reflection and stories of incarcerated men and women in the United States.

Writers
Kit Williamson, James Bland, Brea Grant, Chad Callaghan

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Contact

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