PSA


Some of you may remember that last fall I PSA'd a Kickstarter project to fund a movie about a gay baseball player. That project subsequently met its startup goal, and the filmmakers are currently seeking funding for the film, The First Out. That PSA spurred an exchange of emails with the scriptwriter, Rick Bauer, who told me about another script of his, written in 1988, concerning a struggling young professional wrestler. 

Earlier this afternoon Rick checked in with some pretty exciting news. That script, currently titled Bobby Champion, is now being developed as a TV series, with plans to shoot the first two episodes in the Raleigh/Durham area, where I live. Virginia-area wrestler Adam Page is attached to play the title role. Just last week Adam signed a contract to wrestle for Ring of Honor, so this may be his big year. (As I type this, his autographed 8x10 hangs in the hallway between signed photos of Chris Steeler and "Stone Cold" Steve Austin.)

Rick trained as a pro wrestler under the late Fabulous Moolah (whose signed glossy hangs three rows above Adam's, across from the bookcase holding a copy of her 2002 autobiography), for a while he promoted wrestling shows in the New Jersey area, and he has years of sports broadcasting experience, three years at ESPN, so it's safe to say that he knows the industry he writes about.

He tells me that a funding campaign may begin in October. For now, he and Chieko Alice Films, LLC, the Durham-based production company for the film, are drumming up fan interest in the project with a Facebook page and Twitter account. He asked me to "help spread the word about this project," adding, "It is going to be a fun program to watch."

For more information on this project as it develops, follow "Bobby Champion" on Twitter and Facebook (click the links above).

Comments

  1. Hey, I recognize the delicate interplay you've had with Adam Page, given his religious sensibilities and, thus, his reluctance to be spotlighted in your blog. But damn, this just beats all: a muscular, good-looking young stud, all earnestness and backwoods charm, who will turn on more heathens like us than he ever feared possible, if the TV show only allows some glimpses of those pecs, those golden locks, those bulging trunks Hallelujah.

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  2. And amen, Brad. But it's not so much a "delicate interplay" as not wanting to give anybody any publicity he doesn't want. A very small (three that I can think of) number of wrestlers have asked not to be included in this blog, and I have tried to honor their wishes. Then there are other wrestlers, promoters, photographers, etc., some with fairly high public profiles, who have proved themselves friends of this blog and welcoming of gay and bi fans and the salacious (but respectful) gaze that sometimes comes with our adoration.

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  3. And perhaps you should take a share of the credit for a trend that I marvel at: the preponderance of skimpy, bulging trunks on young, masculine indy (and major fed) wrestlers. In an American culture in which speedos are nearly universally frowned upon and mocked, wrestlers are going in the opposite erection, er, direction. These guys are savvy enough to know that salacious -- of both respectful and other varieties --- sells.

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