Filmmakers Reveal Unmade Queer Projects at Outfest UTA Panel

Filmmaker Hayley Kiyoko pitched a lesbian reboot of "Pirates of the Caribbean" during a Thursday panel at United Talent Agency in Beverly Hills, calling the concept "Keira Knightley, but gay."

The remark landed during "Saving Queer Media," a fundraiser for the Los Angeles-based LGBTQ+ film festival Outfest. The event was hosted by UTA Proud and moderated by Variety's Marc Malkin. Kiyoko shared the stage with directors Angela Robinson, Adam Shankman and Wash Westmoreland. Each panelist outlined an unproduced passion project, sketching what queer cinema could look like if the projects got funded.

What did Kiyoko say about her pirate pitch?

Kiyoko, a musician turned novelist turned director, said she wants to bring a same-sex romance to the high seas. She described her pitch as "Very gay and fantastical." The pitch sits beside her just-released directorial debut, "Girls Like Girls," a YA romance she adapted from her novel and earlier song of the same name.

She explained the film's winding path to screens. She first tried to get "Girls Like Girls" greenlit based on the song, but financing didn't arrive until after she wrote the novel. The book became a bestseller and unlocked the budget.

Kiyoko now plans to adapt her second novel, "Where There's Room for Us," as a period film. "It's a period piece, which no one wants to pay for, but they will one day," she told the audience, drawing cheers and applause.

What projects did the other directors pitch?

Shankman, whose credits include "Hairspray," "Rock of Ages" and the upcoming "The Man With the Bag," wants to bring "Spring Awakening" to the big screen. The Tony-winning rock musical is set in late-19th-century Germany.

He acknowledged the material's darkness — "Where terrible things happen to these kids" — but said the story "lives in me in such a haunting and beautiful way." An off-Broadway "Spring Awakening" revival begins previews Nov. 27 and opens Dec. 17.

Westmoreland, who directed Julianne Moore's Oscar-winning turn in "Still Alice" and the recent "Heartstopper Forever," pitched a film based on Chris Bryant's 2020 book "The Glamour Boys: The Secret Story of the Rebels Who Fought for Britain to Defeat Hitler." The book follows a group of closeted British MPs (Members of Parliament) who travelled to 1930s Berlin.

"They were drinking, dancing, just having a great time," Westmoreland said. "It was a true expression of freedom."

He framed the book as a story about "queer war heroes" with contemporary resonance: "It is a powerful analogy to what's happening now, the authoritarians they need people to beat up on and guess who's very easy to beat up on? LGBTQ people are."

Robinson, the writer-director behind "Professor Marston and the Wonder Women," said she's been trying to adapt her 2004 action comedy "D.E.B.S." into a television series. "Sometimes the stars start to align and then they don't, but that would be really fun," she said.

What does this change for queer filmmakers?

The four pitches expose a structural gap. Each project — a fantasy adventure, a period romance, a German-language musical, a 1930s political thriller — sits in a genre Hollywood still treats as risky.

Kiyoko's prediction that period-piece financiers "will one day" show up captures the room's mood: real enthusiasm, real obstacles. The panel itself doubles as a public audition, putting scripts and books in front of industry gatekeepers who might otherwise pass.