Life, Love, Death, and Porn: Creating During Covid
By: James Finn
Tags: Creative Non Fiction, Equality, Art, LGBTQ, Entertainment

What is the basic premise of “For Years to Come”?

It’s a subversive romantic dramedy about a young gay man who falls in love with his dead mother’s hospice nurse, while struggling to reconcile with his elderly father… who’s secretly a porn director.

Portrait of James Patrick Nelson. Photo by Taylor Noel.

What has been the genesis of the project ?

I first wrote it as a play, way back in 2014. Then a couple years later, I rewrote it as a screenplay. Then finally, in early 2020, before the pandemic, I rewrote it as a series, and the whole thing just cracked open. It was funnier and sexier and there was a lot more time to get to know the characters, and for their conflicts to be more internal.

How did you come up with the idea?

When my mother was dying, I found out my father was a porn director! Ten years ago, I went home to L.A. when my mom got sick, and of course, we had a lot of honest conversations, and I asked my parents a lot of the questions I’d always wanted to ask. And then, one day, my dad and I were driving to Costco, and he just casually mentioned that before I was born, he was one of the highest-paid writer-directors in Hollywood, for porn!

Do we get to see that scene in the show?

Potentially. My character — Johnny — doesn’t find out about his father’s pornography until about halfway through the first season. The audience finds out at the end of the first episode.

What about the hospice nurse — is he based on a real person?

That character — Edward — is fictional, but he’s been influenced by a number of guys I’ve dated over the years, and observations of the folks from the hospice, who took care of my mom.

Was that tough, when your Mom died?

Portrait Art of James Patrick Nelson. Photo by Jesus Lopez.

Of course. But it was also a lot more complicated than I had expected. My mom used to get really stressed out a lot, but when she got sick, she was more peaceful than I’d ever seen her. She knew there was no time to waste complaining. She finally learned to be thankful for all the beautiful little things.

So, after she died, I’d always talk about how lucky we are to be alive. And I meant it, but the more I said it, it became a kind of defense mechanism, to keep me from feeling any pain. I think I was young enough to think that pain was a waste of my time. Of course, now I know that when you try to avoid pain, you just make it worse, and it gets harder to experience any real happiness.

So, that’s the biggest lesson my character will learn over the course of the first season of the show.

And how does the father’s porn relate to this??

Well, it’s interesting, at first, I just loved the absurdity of the contrast — “my mother’s dead, and my father’s a porn director.”

I think, when one of your parents dies, your narrative about them changes. Like, if you idolized them, they’re suddenly vulnerable. Or if you were mad at them, suddenly you have to forgive. And then, when your perspective shifts, the next questions are “Well, then, who am I? If they weren’t who I thought they were, then how am I different than I thought I was? Who am I, now that they’re not around anymore?” And you get to know yourself in a whole different way. And if you’re lucky, you’ve got another parent who’s still alive, and you’ve got time to get to know them for who they really are.

Trailer for James Patrick Nelson’s recent LGBT short film “Waking Up”.

So, Johnny and his father — Wally — spend the first season trying to get to know each other again, to reconnect and get past their hang-ups, and rediscover each other as two adults…And, again, if you discover that your father, who you thought was a modest house-husband, was actually a prolific porn director — I think that’s a pretty epic and hilarious discovery.

Portrait of James Patrick Nelson. Photo by Taylor Noel.

Tell me more about Johnny and Edward’s relationship?

There’s a spark between them almost right away. They meet at Johnny’s mother’s memorial service, of all places. And there’s an immediate intimacy between them, given Edward’s history with the family. And when the two of them stumble into a sexual relationship, Johnny is elated to be with someone who makes him feel so alive, because he’s reckoning with the inevitability of dying, and wants to live life to the fullest while he can. Edward has a calm, healthy perspective on life and death, which Johnny finds comforting. But Edward’s habit of taking care of other people, at the expense of taking care of himself, may get the two of them in trouble down the line.

What kind of work have you done previously?

I’ve spent a lot of my career in the theatre, acting in a lot of Off-Broadway and regional theater productions. And in recent years, I’ve started doing more independent films, and developing original work.

James Patrick Nelson and Terrence McNally at the Opening Night of “Immortal Longings” at the Zach Theatre.

Last summer, I acted in the world premiere of Immortal Longings, the final play by the great Terrence McNally (who tragically passed away earlier this year). Terrence created so many incredible plays about LGBT people, so it was a really momentous experience to be performing his latest play during Pride Month on the 50th anniversary of Stonewall!

Poster for James Patrick Nelson’s quarantine short film “Without Touch,” which won an audience favorite award on the queer streaming service Dekkoo.

And during the run, I realized that — although I’d been out and proud since high school, and a working professional actor for over a decade — this was the first time in my life I’d ever been hired to play a gay character.

So ever since, I’ve focused almost exclusively on projects with LGBT leading characters — creating short films, writing feature screenplays, and chiefly developing this new limited series “For Years to Come”.

Who are some of your collaborators?

Micah Stuart

Micah Stuart is a remarkable young director based in L.A. — I first connected with him because of a short film he made called “Johnny,” a really courageous, vulnerable story about a young queer sex-worker. That film screened at several of the top LGBTQ film festivals, including Outfest and Inside Out Toronto. Micah also just directed a daring short film called “Vial” and a new episode of the popular web-series “Doomsday”.

Trailer for the short film “Johnny,” directed by Micah Stuart

Micah is a wonderfully generous, humble, compassionate, talented guy, and his previous work displays a wonderful spectrum of different genres and styles. I’m excited to work with him.

What are some of your creative influences for the project?

I’ve always been heavily influenced by “Six Feet Under,” that was a really important show for me growing up. It has genuine, high-stakes drama, with lots of irreverent humor throughout, and occasional bits of magical-realism. For similar reasons, “Transparent” is a big influence. I also really loved Mae Martin’s “Feel Good” and I just got hooked on Josh Thomas’ “Please Like Me”. These are both great references for shows with queer protagonists navigating romantic relationships and complicated family dynamics. And then another big inspiration is “Work in Progress,” created by Abby McEnany, who I got to meet last year when her pilot screened at NewFest. That pilot was made independently, with a modest budget, but it was so authentic and unique, it got into top festivals, and then got picked up by Showtime.

Do you think we need more LGBTQ+ characters on TV?

Absolutely. We’ve clearly made a ton of progress in the last several years. But I want to see more shows like the ones I just mentioned — shows with queer characters at the center of the story, instead of the margins.

Portrait of James Patrick Nelson. Photo by Taylor Noel.

And I think it’s really important that we portray queer characters facing universal experiences. While there is certainly an urgency to discuss homophobia and discrimination, I think if we only tell stories in which queerness is the primary source of conflict, it actually makes it easier for a hetero-typical audience to think of us as “other”. Whereas, if we acknowledge that in addition to homophobia, queer people go through all the same messy challenges as anybody else, I think that’s a positive step towards compassion.

I also want to see more queer romances. On the rare occasion I see a queer love story on screen, the characters are usually in high school or college, played by straight actors, and almost always insanely beautiful. When I was a child, watching TV, the impossible standards of beauty were no less toxic for me than the pervasive heteronormativity. Both of those influences combined to create the harmful message that someone like me is unworthy of love — a notion I now thoroughly reject.

“For Years to Come” is about an unconventional-looking gay man in his mid-30’s, falling in love. My hope is that the characters will be complex, multi-dimensional human beings, and that their story will appeal to a broad audience, with diverse backgrounds and experiences.

Where can we watch “For Years to Come”?

My team and I go into production next summer. Folks can subscribe for updates at www.For-Years-To-Come.com and we’ll keep you posted on casting, production, trailers, festival screenings, etc.