Gay TV Series Will Film in SF Soon

San Francisco will soon see filming of the ABC-TV miniseries "When We Rise," based in part on the memoir of Harvey Milk confidante Cleve Jones. The movie's being shot in Vancouver, Canada but the work is set to move to San Francisco April 28-May 8, and producers will be looking for volunteer extras.

The scenes reenacted in the city are expected to include the 1978 Gay Freedom Day parade, as the LGBT Pride parade was then known, as well as the 1979 White Night riots. The latter refers to the fiery battles between police and residents that erupted after a jury convicted Milk assassin Dan White only of manslaughter, rather than murder.

Jones, who lives in the Castro, went on to become a well-known AIDS and labor activist, founding the AIDS quilt. His book is set to be released on his 62nd birthday, October 11.

"This is not a documentary that we're creating here. This is an often-fictionalized dramatic set of stories, but I do hope it's useful in informing young people about their history," Jones said in a recent interview. "One of the great privileges of my life is that there are a lot of young people in my life I get to interact with," including college students.

"It's amazing to me how little they know of the 1970s in particular," he added.

Jones said although the film isn't pure non-fiction, "We're going to do our best to have it be as truthful as possible. I think we all have a very keen sense of responsibility to make sure that the overarching narrative is accurate - though I'm sure many people will point out many things that aren't quite accurate."

Manijeh Fata, a film coordinator with the city's film commission, said most of the filming would take place in the Castro, although scenes would also be recreated at City Hall. As of Monday, filmmakers had not submitted permit applications and weren't available for comment.

A website will be available with information about how people can get involved as extras, Jones said. His understanding is that the production will wrap up in June.

"My best guess" is the film will air "in early 2017, but that's purely speculation," he said.

Milk became the first out LGBT elected official in California when he won a seat on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1977. White, a former supervisor, assassinated Milk and Mayor George Moscone in City Hall in November 1978.

Dustin Lance Black, who won an Academy Award for his screenplay for the 2008 Milk biopic, also wrote the screenplay for "When We Rise."

Jones said he's been spending as much time on the Vancouver set as he can.

"My input is constant. It's not always solicited," he said with a laugh.

He added the film also involves the lives of other people, including Gilbert Baker, who created the rainbow flag; Cecilia Chung, a transgender woman who currently serves on the San Francisco Health Commission; Roma Guy, who also served on the Health Commission and was a co-founder of the Women's Building in the city's Mission district; and Ken Jones, a longtime gay city resident who was the first African-American chair of what was then known as the San Francisco Gay Freedom Day Parade and Celebration Committee.

"These stories are based on the stories of actual people who happen to be very dear friends and colleagues," Cleve Jones said. "I think we're all on pins and needles about it. It's exciting."

Black "has been very careful to listen to all our concerns and all of our input, so it's exciting," he said. "Honestly, I'm just now wrapping my brain around how huge this is, given that it's ABC. ... The potential audience for this is really astronomical. It's very exciting that a network like ABC would feel this is an appropriate time to tell this kind of story."

'Useful' Timing

Jones said he'd tried to get Milk made since the late 1980s.

"It was very frustrating to me that it took so long to get it done, but it turned out it happened at exactly the right time," he said, as its release in 2008 coincided "with the election of Barack Obama and the final push for marriage equality. America was ready to see that, and I think, in a similar way as these local fights continue to brew in places like North Carolina and Indiana, the timing of this is going to be very, very useful."

North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory recently signed into law a bill barring transgender people from using restrooms that don't match their birth gender. It also blocks other protections for LGBTs in the state.

Last year, Indiana Governor Mike Pence signed into law legislation that legalized discrimination against LGBTs. That law was eventually amended.

Actor Guy Pearce, known for films including "The Adventures of Priscilla Queen of the Desert" and "Memento," will portray the older Jones. Austin McKenzie, who's appeared in the play "Spring Awakening," is playing the younger Jones.

Chung, 51, is being portrayed by a trans actress she declined to name because "I'm not sure if I'm supposed to disclose that information."

She said that she wants viewers to remember that "For every single character they portray, there are a lot more that they are not able to fit into the story line. ... They have only a total of eight hours to tell the stories."

In an email, Ken Jones, 65, said, "I would hope that [if] there is one child in little town America who only knows that they feel 'different' than their peers and siblings; who experiences the isolation, loneliness" and feeling "shut down ... that they might hear a word to be encouraged to boldly own their difference and step out in that bold difference to make this a better world; and, not only for those who are with us now, but, for all those who will walk these paths in the future."

The Castro has been used by several LGBT-related movie and television film crews in recent years. Whole swaths of the neighborhood were decorated to recall the early 1970s for "Milk" in January 2008. More recently HBO's "Looking," about the modern-day lives of three gay men living in San Francisco, filmed inside various businesses in the gayborhood and at nearby Dolores Park, as did Netflix series "Sense 8," which also utilized the 2014 Dyke March to film scenes involving the show's lesbian and transgender female couple.

Fata said people associated with "When We Rise" are scheduled to appear Thursday, April 7 at the regular meeting of the Castro Merchants business group.