Read a profile of Silas Howard here

AfterEllen.com: Why did you choose to tell the particular story you did in By Hook or By Crook?
Silas Howard: We tried to write an action adventure plot, you know with a thick-necked loser makes good storyline ala Rocky but we kept coming up short on character developement and so we finally gave in and wrote the story we felt most excited about. One with mild grifting and plot (the search for the birthmother, the run in with the cops) but that mainly consisted of a transformative freindship. We wanted to show that gays had friends.

Lastly, I think pushing language and the visual medium of video was key. I feel that the brillant performance by Harry Dodge as Valentine allowed us to use more poetic language without alienating the audience.

AE: What were you hoping to achieve by making the film?
SH: We hoped to achieve international fame and fortune with our film but if not that then something that spoke to a variety of people and perhps reflected back parts of our lives that don't often make it on the big screen.

AE: What aspects of yourselves are reflected in Shy (if any)?
SH: The character of Shy has class background in common with me, and the fact that my father raised me. Oh the gender thing of course.

AE: What kind of audience reaction have you received at festivals?
SH: The response at festivals has been mind blowing. The amount of poeple that come up and express how much they identified, felt empathy for, or knew someone like these characters was much more then I expected. The many awards from audiences and juries--straight and gay festivals--has also been damn great.

AE: How has the mainstream press responded to the film?
SH: The mainstream, hmm, I think that the NY Times review was favorable and the FIlm Threat guy not so much though he did say you wouldn't forget the movie. It varied. One time I was on a cable talk show about the movie and the hosts were like a real, bland version of Kelly and Regis. That was pretty hilarious to have this bottle tan guy telling the audience, in used car-salesman voice, "Tired of chick flicks like Thelma and Loise? Tell your boyfriend to pick up something diffrent when he's at the video store and bring home BY HOOk OR BY CROOK."

AE: What did you find to be the most challenging aspect of making and marketing the film?
SH: The hardest part of marketing a film is two-dimensionalizing the project and the audience for the sake of a good tag line. Really it's just difficult to get around the vast amounts of money used to market films. Making the story work in a 98-minute time frame was extrememly tiresome--it humbled us I think.

AE: What projects are you currently working on?
SH: The project I'm making now is a short documentary about a mentor of mine and Harry's who died of cancer. Oddly enough it's more of a comedy then a drama because she had humor to die for and refused to give it up. I'm also writing a feature script which I'm very excited about and will keep you posted on it.