Meet Graham Streeter | Filmmaker

We had the good fortune of connecting with Graham Streeter and we’ve shared our conversation below.
Hi Graham, is your business focused on helping the community? If so, how?
We do our part, by making films that matter!
Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
Our company is called Imperative Pictures. It’s simple. We focus on real life imperative issues that challenge our community and then we create narrative feature films that address those issue. A film that matters.
IMPERATIVE PICTURES
Even during a pandemic, Imperative Pictures saw the need to produce yet another feature film that mattered. This one titled “UNFIX – The Ari Wallenmeier Story”. Unfix is the story of a heterosexual male who gets caught in the crosshairs of Conversion Therapy. The film underscore everyone’s right to make our own decisions in life as the story takes a serious look at the long-lasting damage that lingers long after conversion therapy is over. Filmmaker Graham Streeter explains “It’s an important story because our country is rolling back on reproductive rights, marriage equality, and other basic liberties; our rights are on the chopping block that conservative lawmakers are now determined to fix”.
We started our company 22 years ago. The goal has always been to create films that illuminate imperative issues of our times. But during the midst of the pandemic, like so many businesses, we put our ideas on pause, waiting for safer times. As we stood still, we watched conservatives pass new laws that purposely chipped away at our liberties. It was clear we could no longer stand still, regardless of the pandemic.
Setting out to make a film during a pandemic was no easy task, but we knew a compelling screenplay was a great starting point. With story in mind, the cast and crew unified easily. We all knew we had to implement the most cautious and strategic safety mitigation possible while still navigating a film set. Close quarters, intimate scenes, face to face dialogue and the huddling of crew behind lights and camera could spell human disaster if not executed with great caution.
But we see safety on set, in itself, as an imperative worth embracing. We have always believed that excessive hours, strenuous or dangerous working conditions should never be acceptable behavior in the filmmaking world. Filmmaking is a business and along with any business comes the values of safety we must place on all who work in it. Although the industry often shares horrific stories about crazy on-set situations, this has never been our style. Implementing clear protocol to keep both actor and crew members safe during a pandemic was no exception.
For anyone who’s done an independent film production, it goes without saying shutting down an indie film for an outbreak could mean the end of that production. So we did the research and we implemented the best strategy possible. We convened remotely for months. We conducted auditions via Zoom. We approached pre-production through online-sessions. We rehearsed via video calls. It wasn’t until the last few weeks before filming that we finally came together face to face in small groups. Even than, we home-tested before every meeting and kept the gatherings limited and brief.
Thirty days prior to shooting, both cast and crew went back into a self-imposed lock-down one last time so we would all have the peace of mind we were doing all we could possibly do to help make everyone feel safe. During principal photography, we scheduled our shooting into 3-day chunks, with days to break between. This allowed us to properly test twice-weekly in alignment with covid safety protocols, while also logging the cast and crew’s temperatures on set, daily. It was a lot of additional steps to get the work done, but in the end, we made a film happen. We were all so happy we did it.
So while others burrowed down, we stood up. We stood tall, proudly embracing a production strategy with calculated risks in order to shed light on another imperative issue. Was it worth the risks? You will need to ask the cast and crew. I am happy to report that no one contracted the virus while we were shooting. We managed to freeze the progression of the virus within our microcosm for the duration we were shooting.
Outside our filmmaking bubble, however, the conservative agenda moved forward at what felt like light speed. Roe vs Wade was reversed, setting a pathway for losing reproductive rights, marriage equality, and many other fundamental rights our parents and grandparents have fought so tirelessly for.
We hope this film speaks to everyone. Streeter adds “Unfix is not a gay story. It’s a story about a heterosexual male at 11-years old, who was deliberately “fixed”; succumbed to the torturous acts of conversion therapy, waterboarded by shame, and reprogrammed that self-hatred is better than loving your authentic self”.
And so we made another film that matters. Despite the hurdles.
Because preserving the right to make our own decisions in life matters.
Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
It’s simple. Go to the Griffith Observatory and watch the sun rise over LA. Walk Hollywood Boulevard and Melrose Ave all day. Eat. Shop. People Watch. Then be at the beach of your choice by sunset for a glass of wine! From mountaintop to shoreline – in a single day you will have seen it all.
Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
To all the Indie filmmakers out there! Keep making them films.
Website: https://www.imperativepictures.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/imperativepictures/?hl=en
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/graham-streeter-29936b21/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100050234233166
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNvtmgeST0gD4P6WhrE0UVQ
Image Credits
Property of Imperative Pictures