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Julie Goldman’s Big Gay Romantic Comedy

Comic Julie Goldman is blazing some new trails. The star of Logo’s The Big Gay Sketch Show has recently relocated from New York to Los Angeles, started her own fashion blog, and has co-written a new lesbian romantic comedy, Nicest Thing, which she is currently developing for the big screen.

Goldman has been a fixture on the New York comedy scene and has already made memorable appearances in a slew of short and feature films, including Big Dreams in Little Hope, Out At the Wedding, Happy Birthday, and The D Word. When she’s not busy being a television and movie star, Goldman is performing stand up comedy across the U.S., for which she has won the 2007 MAC award for Headlining Comedian in NYC and the New Now Next Award for Brink of Fame Comic in 2008.

We recently caught up with Goldman to talk about what she did last summer, which includes setting sail for Alaska with Sharon Gless and putting together her dream cast for Nicest Thing.

AfterEllen.com: You recently moved to Los Angeles from New York. Do you like it? Have you acclimated yet to being around the disproportionate amount of attractive people who live here?

Julie Goldman: Actually, I had no trouble getting used to it, because I see a gorgeous person in the mirror every single morning. In fact, going out on the town is a constant disappointment compared to what I see in the mirror every day. I am so blessed.

AE: How does the stand-up world in New York compare to the one in Los Angeles?

JG: New York feels a little more gritty and a little more raw. So far the stand up out here has just felt a little more shiny. But they’re pretty similar. Comedy Clubs, for the most part, are pretty consistent no matter where you are: Consistently repulsive and disgusting. I try not to do them. But I have had some fun little alt-y shows out here, and around Los Angeles.

AE: I know that you performed on the R Family Vacations cruise to Alaska this summer. What was the highlight of your trip?

JG: Getting wasted with Sharon Gless, followed by the realization that there really are no glaciers but glacier pieces. Literally.

AE: Were you a Cagney & Lacey fan when you were growing up?

JG: I was a huge Cagney and Lacey fan. I loved that show, I loved them. I so wished that Cagney and Lacey would get together. It seemed so wrong to me that Marybeth was with a husband.

When I saw her for the first time, I was on my first R cruise. She was in the audience for my show and I finally got to voice what we were all thinking, and said “F***ING CAGNEY is sitting in here! And what lez didnt want to see Cagney give Marybeth the old finger blast?”

She loved it, and it was my honor to be able to play for her a little. Hanging out with Sharon Gless was so cool. There was that level of “Holy sh**, Im sitting with Sharon F***ing Cagney and Lacey Mother F***er Gless!”

As we sat and got to hang out and talk with her, I felt like she was so fun, and cool, and down to earth and warm, and it was awesome. A true highlight.

AE: In addition to stand-up, what else are you working on these days?

JG: My main focus these days is a script I co-wrote and am co-producing. The film is called, Nicest Thing, and I wrote it with my friend, actress Brandy Howard. She and I have been working on it for a year. It’s the hardest and most fulfilling thing I have done to date.

We are on a push to raise the money to get this thing done. We made a little website to introduce the movie and the people we have attached so far. Everyone should go check it out.

It’s a lesbian romantic comedy and we intend on being in it which of course just makes getting it made all the more easy ÔÇò cause Hollywood totally wants to make a lesbian romantic comedy starring two virtually unknown people.

However, we’re excited by some of the talent that has attached themselves to the project and we’re so excited to work with everyone: Tammy Etheridge, Guinevere Turner, Sharon Gless, Paul Vogt, Kate McKinnon, Kate Clinton, Bryce Johnson, Michael Serrato.

This business loves lesbians. When they’re naked. and not lesbians. So, the movie should get done in about 50 years.

AE: Can you tell us a bit about the premise of the movie?

JG: The movie is a lesbian romantic comedy. Or a romantic comedy with a lesbian love story. Or a comedy that’s romantic and the love story is between two women. “What would Judd Apatow say?” I often ask myself. He’d probably just say it’s a romantic comedy. ‘Cause that’s normal.

It’s a really funny, and romantic story based on the movie Just Friends with Ryan Reynolds.

The gist is: two best friends since they we’re little girls go through high school, and have a major misunderstanding, sexually as they say.

My character, Jordan, runs away cause she’s so hurt and embarrassed and then has to return to her hometown 10 years later to go to her brother’s graduation. At the same time, she gets an invitation to the wedding of her former BFF, Abby (played by Brandy).

She decides she’s not going to it and that she is going to hide out while she’s in town. But while she’s at the mall with her little brother, Jordan bumps into Abby and her mom, and she’s caught. Abby’s mom re-invites her to the wedding and begs her to come to the rehearsal dinner. Now Jordan is screwed.

The movie then goes on to Romantic Comedy Town, with Jordan trying to win Abby back, and fighting with Abby’s fiance, dealing with her little brother, and all kinds of craziness. Let me also say this. No one comes out. No one is struggling with their sexuality, and all these characters are fully based on archetypal romantic comedy characters. There’s something in it for everyone, and I deeply believe it’s the first crossover lesbian comedy … if someone would just give us the money to make it..

AE: You’ve assembled an impressive all-star lesbo cast, but are you still casting any of the roles? Any dream stars you’d still like to get for the movie?

JG: Yes, we are totally still casting. We need a young, cool, hilarious boy to play my brother, Ronnie. Plus we have some really fun cameos and possibly Brandy’s mom character. (Sharon Gless has first dibs, but she is interested in playing another role.)

So if we had our dream list, we’d have Lily Tomlin, Cloris Leachman, Lindsay Lohan, Henry Winkler, Kathy Bates, and Neil Patrick Harris, just to name a quick few. Yes, we’re aiming high, as we should.

AE: Romantic comedy can be a tough genre. There are a lot of bad romantic comedies, but when they’re done right, they are sublime. What do you think makes a good one?

JG: I think what makes a good romantic comedy is believable chemistry between the actors. When the actors are funny, and when there’s real heart in it. The love story has to be romantic, but it has to be funny.

AE: In your movie, will the lesbian get the girl?

JG: In this story there are only lesbians, and they will definitely get each other.

AE: How did you and Brandy meet, and how has been working with a collaborator on the project?

JG: We met thru a mutual friend on an R Family Cruise. we’ve been working together now for over a year. I also want to say that the story was written by Brandy’s talented husband, Kavan Reece. Originally me and Brandy wanted to write something that took place on a cruise ship ÔÇò being that there really is so much comedy there ÔÇò and that dream isn’t dead, but Kavan came up with this idea and it worked so much better.

Neither Brandy or I had ever written a feature script before, and Kavan has an uncanny ability for structure and story. So he jotted down the story on note paper, and we took it and developed and wrote the script.

We’re all really proud of it. He’s really the unsung hero. No, no. I take that back. I am. I am. Yes, it’s me. I’m the wind beneath my wings. And Brandy of course. She is so talented and so funny and we’ve just had a blast working together. It’s really been such an incredible collaboration and we’re both really committed to seeing this through. We’re not stopping until we see this movie made and that we’re in it and involved in every part of the process.

AE: The Village Voice recently named you as one of the people who is making butch fashionable. How do you feel about being a butch fashion icon?

JG: I feel great about it. In fact I hope I can influence people to stop wearing vests with no shirts, and a tie and fedora hats.

AE: You also have a fashion blog, “It’s Not Gay, It’s Fashion.” How did that come about? Have you always been interested in fashion?

JG: I’ve always been interested in some aspects of fashion, and Brandy is really into it, so it was a natural thing for us to be able to do while working on the movie. It’s a great source of creativity for us, and we really wanted to do something funny and ridiculous, which we could also tie into the movie somehow.

We also met someone very special who worked on Project Runway and she has been writing a little behind-the-scenes column and it’s been so fun.

AE: Everyone is eagerly awaiting the premiere of the third season of The Big Gay Sketch Show in February 2010. Can you give us any hints as to what to expect this season?

JG: We are too. Let’s see … Fitzwilliam is back and funny as ever, all the favorite characters are making a little comeback. I can say Sappho’s Lips is back and we think with two of the funniest songs we’ve ever done.

The show is just getting funnier and funnier, and we all wish it wasn’t just eight episodes and would last longer (and with shorter periods between seasons). I think everyone’s gonna love it.

AE: I heard that there weren’t any female writers on BGSS in the third season. Do you think it made a difference in the types of sketches that were written for the female performers on the show?

JG: We had one female writer come in for two weeks I think. I think the writers, all the boys, did a really good job this season with the amount of female characters and the lesbian stuff. They would come to us directly and ask for guidance.

I wish we had a woman around in the writing room. It’s pretty astounding how few women get in the writers rooms … and I say that as a sweeping, generalization, blanket statement, across the board, all over this business.

AE: Will there be a fourth season of BGSS?

JG: We won’t know until April 2010 probably, when I’m 65 and working as a barista at Starbucks.

For more information, go to Julie Goldman’s official website, or the site for her upcoming film, Nicest Thing.

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