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Jake Helgren (born November 28, 1981, in Elgin, Texas) is an American film producer, director and screenwriter. [1]
Helgren studied creative writing at St. Edward's University in Austin, Texas. [1]
Helgren has twice been nominated for GLAAD Media Awards: in 2020 for Dashing in December as Outstanding TV Movie or Limited Series and in 2023 for A Christmas to Treasure in the renamed category Outstanding Film – Streaming or TV. [2]
Helgren is gay; [3] about Dashing in December, he said he wrote and directed the film as an Americana romance and a "love letter to the ending" he wanted in Brokeback Mountain . [4]
Marcia Gay Harden is an American actress. Her breakthrough came in the 1990 Coen brothers' film Miller's Crossing. For her portrayal of artist Lee Krasner in the 2000 biographical film Pollock, she won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. She received a second Academy Award nomination for her performance as a troubled wife in the drama film Mystic River (2003). Her other notable film credits include The First Wives Club (1996), Flubber (1997), Space Cowboys (2000), Mona Lisa Smile (2003), and the Fifty Shades film series (2015–2018).
Leslie Allen Jordan was an American actor, comedian, writer, and singer. His television roles include Beverley Leslie on Will & Grace, several characters in the American Horror Story franchise (2013–2019), Sid on The Cool Kids (2018–2019), Phil on Call Me Kat (2021–2022), and Lonnie Garr on Hearts Afire (1993–1995). On stage, he played Earl "Brother Boy" Ingram in the 1996 play Sordid Lives, later portraying the character in the 2000 film of the same name. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Jordan became an Instagram contributor, amassing 5.8 million followers in 2020, and published his autobiography How Y'all Doing? Misadventures and Mischief from a Life Well Lived in April 2021.
Chad Michael Murray is an American actor, writer, and former model. He played the lead role of Lucas Scott in The WB/CW teen drama series One Tree Hill, and recurring roles as Tristin DuGray on Gilmore Girls (2000–01), Charlie Todd on Dawson's Creek (2001–02), and Edgar Evernever on Riverdale (2019), all on the same network.
The House Without a Christmas Tree is a 1972 television movie, novelized into a children's book by Gail Rock in 1974, that centers on the relationship between Adelaide "Addie" Mills, a bright and energetic only child, and her melancholy father, James Addison Mills III. James had never recovered from the death of his wife Helen, and is bitterly against ever having a Christmas tree in the house. The videotaped production was seen regularly on CBS during the holiday season between 1972 and 1977.
LGBT representation in children's television is representation of LGBT topics, themes, and people in television programming meant for children. LGBT representation in children's programming was often uncommon to non-existent for much of television's history up to the 2010s, but has significantly increased since then.
Kiernan Brennan Shipka is an American actress, best known for her roles as Sally Draper in the AMC drama series Mad Men (2007–2015), and Sabrina Spellman in the Netflix fantasy series Chilling Adventures of Sabrina (2018–2020) and the sixth season of The CW series Riverdale (2021–2022).
Camila Banus is an American actress. She is known for playing the roles of Lola Montez on the ABC Daytime soap opera One Life to Live, Gabi Hernandez on the NBC Daytime soap opera Days of Our Lives, and Nina Ferrera on the Fox series Star (2018). In 2015, Banus was nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Younger Actress in a Drama Series for her work on Days of Our Lives.
Kevin Patrick Mills is a Canadian film director, screenwriter and actor, whose feature film debut Guidance was released in 2015.
Travis Robert Burns is an Australian actor and model. He first came to prominence with his role in the American action-drama television series, SAF3 (2013). He played Tyler Brennan in the long-running Australian television soap opera Neighbours from 2015 to 2019. After leaving Neighbours, Burns starred in the romance film Sunrise in Heaven (2019) and television films The Wrong Boy Next Door (2019), The Christmas Listing (2020), and Save the Wedding (2021).
Blake Lee is an American actor, known for his roles on Mixology, Parks and Recreation and the Freeform hit Cruel Summer. Blake and his husband Ben Lewis made history starring in The Christmas Setup, Lifetime's first Christmas movie centered around a gay love story.
Happiest Season is a 2020 American romantic comedy film directed by Clea DuVall, who co-wrote the screenplay with Mary Holland. Starring an ensemble cast consisting of Kristen Stewart, Mackenzie Davis, Alison Brie, Aubrey Plaza, Daniel Levy, Mary Holland, Victor Garber, and Mary Steenburgen, the film follows a young woman who struggles to admit to her conservative parents that she is a lesbian while she and her girlfriend visit them during Christmas. A semi-autobiographical take on DuVall's experiences with her family, Happiest Season is the first lesbian Christmas rom-com produced by a major Hollywood studio.
Dashing in December is an American romantic holiday drama film directed by Jake Helgren. The film stars Peter Porte, Juan Pablo Di Pace, Andie MacDowell, Caroline Harris, Carlos Sanz, and Katherine Bailess.
The Christmas House is a made-for-television film produced for the Hallmark Channel. A Christmas-themed comedy-drama, it was directed by Michael Grossman. It features an ensemble cast, including Sharon Lawrence and Treat Williams as a wife and husband who invite their two adult sons to come back home for Christmas and recreate a past family tradition. It premiered on November 22, 2020.
The Christmas Setup is an American-Canadian romantic comedy television film, directed by Pat Mills and broadcast in 2020. The first LGBTQ-themed Christmas film ever broadcast by Lifetime, the film stars Ben Lewis as Hugo, an uptight New York City attorney who comes home with his best friend Madelyn to visit his mother Kate for Christmas, and is forced to consider what he really wants in life when he reconnects with his high school crush Patrick just as he is offered a promotion to his firm's office in London.
Netflix has contributed substantially to LGBTQ representation in animation. Lesbian, gay, bisexual, pansexual, asexual and transgender characters have appeared in various animated series, and some animated films, on the streaming platform. GLAAD described Netflix as a company taking "impressive strides in viewership and impact," when it came to LGBTQ representation. Scholars have stated that LGBTQ characters on streaming services, such as Netflix, "made more displays of affection" than on broadcast networks.
Single All the Way is a 2021 Canadian Christmas romantic comedy film directed by Michael Mayer and written by Chad Hodge. The plot follows a man who convinces his best friend to pretend to be his boyfriend when he goes home for Christmas, only to be set up on a blind date by his mother. Luke Macfarlane, Barry Bostwick, Jennifer Robertson, and Jennifer Coolidge also star.
Under the Christmas Tree is a 2021 romantic comedy Christmas television film directed by Lisa Rose Snow in her feature film directorial debut. The film premiered on Lifetime on December 19, 2021, as part of the network's "It's a Wonderful Lifetime" holiday movie slate. Telling the story of government worker Charlie attempting to secure a Christmas tree from business owner Alma, the film was Lifetime's first lesbian Christmas movie. It received generally positive reviews and was nominated at the 33rd GLAAD Media Awards for Outstanding TV Movie.
This article features the history of the representation of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) characters in animated productions under The Walt Disney Company, including films from the studios Walt Disney Animation Studios and Pixar, and programming from the Disney Branded Television channels as well as the streaming service Disney+. From 1983 onward, Disney struggled with LGBTQ representation in their animated series, and their content often included LGBTQ stereotypes or the content was censored in series such as Blazing Dragons. Some creators have also criticized Disney studio executives of cutting LGBTQ scenes from their shows in the past, or criticized that their shows were not seen as part of the "Disney brand", like The Owl House.
The Holiday Sitter is an American-Canadian romantic comedy television film, directed by Ali Liebert and broadcast in 2022. The first LGBTQ-themed film ever broadcast by The Hallmark Channel in its annual lineup of Christmas-themed romance films, the film stars Jonathan Bennett as Sam Dalton, a single and commitment-phobic gay man who is roped into taking care of his sister Kathleen's kids just before Christmas, only to find himself drawn into a romance with Jason DeVito, his sister's neighbour, after asking for his help.