The Waltz - seeking financing ($1.5MM)

A single young trans woman teams up with a reluctant dance partner to pursue her dream of learning the waltz, only for the two to slowly fall for each other while fighting insecurities and social pressures.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Title: The Waltz

Length: Feature

Genre : Romantic Comedy/ Drama

Subgenre : LGBTQ

Estimated Budget : $750K to $1.5MM

Pages: 91 

Days of shooting: 15 to 25 day

Help support the making of our movie with a tax-deductible donation through our fiscal sponsor, Film Independent.

Ava DAvis

Actor | Writer | Queer | Trans

Ava Davis, Sundance Fellow and also known as the Duchess of Grant Park, is a trans actress,  producer, and writer living in Atlanta, Georgia. She is also an advocate for increasing trans and queer representation, especially that of black and other minorities. She founded her production company, Studio Vosges, in 2019 with the expressed purpose of telling the stories of queer and trans (GSM) black, brown, and beige people. She hosts the talk show, The Ava Davis Show, on you42.com.

She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Comparative Literature, with a focus in art history, film, and creative writing, from the University of Georgia, and has made Atlanta her home, along with her partner, two standard poodles,  one Bengal cat, and one Russian ragdoll cat. 

She has acted in, written, and produced several short films, including Feast, The Decision, and the short film The Duchess of Grant Park, about a trans woman who claims the Grant Park neighborhood of Atlanta as her duchy. 

Ava Davis’ stage credits include Alice in Wonderland, The Laramie Project, It’s A Generational Thing, Stuck, and Locked. In addition, she has performed with the One Minute Play Fest, including a special performance in collaboration with the Queens Theater in New York City to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Pride. She also performs sketch comedy and collaborates with Critical Crop Top. 

She is currently working to produce and secure financing for her first feature film, The Waltz. 

Hey there, I’m Ava Davis. I’m an actor, producer & writer, working and living in Atlanta.

So I'm Ava. Some may know me formerly as Patrick. I act and write. I also do other things: paint, garden, raise standard poodle puppies, sing loudly to music in my car, etc. I am a former jellybean and gummy bear lover, but still hopelessly addicted to cheese and coffee (not together. That would just be unholy).

I’ve been pretty blessed in life, from my partner and my family to my friends to everyone I get the chance to collaborate with. I’m incredibly lucky to have found my tribe, and to be surrounded by people who love and support me.

It's been a pretty fun and wild ride so far, and I'm pretty excited to see where I'm taken next.

GOOD LUCK,

A

Background

I graduated from the University of Georgia with a degree in Comparative Literature. I act like I don't care too much about that degree, but I’m pretty proud of the work I put in. And, as a storyteller through acting and writing, it's pretty awesome to have a background in literature. I had some amazing teachers there and got the chance to study abroad in Paris for a semester. To go from reading Down and Out in London and Paris one day, and then our teacher taking us on a walking tour of the places mentioned was pretty amazing. 

While at UGA, I studied dramatic writing with Dr. Cheryldee Huddleston. She's pretty awesome, taught me a lot, and gave me my dramatic writing foundation. After graduation, I've seemed to have settled in Atlanta. And it appears I've found my tribe working and studying with creative minds from Critical Crop Top, Pinch 'n Ouch Theater, PushPush Theater, and Drama, Inc. 

I've worked in the Atlanta community, doing film and theater and whatever artistic projects, like the One-Minute Play Festival for the past few years, reading my own poetry with the Atlanta Queer Literary Festival, or performing in Critical Crop Top's sketch comedy shows. Oh, I even got the chance to be one of the leads in my first feature, The Bitter Better (directed by Julianna Sosa and Yotum Almor)! A small, independent film, yes; but quite possibly one of the best experiences of my life!

I was in Critical Crop Top’s upcoming short film, The Parts That Stay, directed by Sarah Alison Hodges and written by Nicole Kemper. I helped to produce a movie Melissa Kunnap wrote and wanted to direct, Feast, where I also had the honor of playing Will, our lead character!

And, of course, if you couldn’t tell from the top of the page, the most recent project I wrote, produced, and acted in - The Duchess of Grant Park.

Over the pandemic, I fulfilled my lifelong dream and started a video blog that deigns to call itself a talk show, The Ava Davis Show!

Now, I’ve got two big projects ahead of me (besides staying busy as a working actor and running a video blog/online talk show) - the Royal Southeastern Independent Film Tour and The Waltz.

We launch our film tour of curiously curated creative content in the Spring of 2022, and we’re currently fundraising to raise capital to launch this tour!

In addition, my production company is working on securing financing to undertake our first feature film, The Waltz; an already award-winning script! Starring Ava Davis (myself) and Spencer Mumford (he’s amazing), the story centers around a trans woman, Claire, who wants to learn how to dance, and teams up with Dave, an unlikely initial dance partner. What develops is beautiful, but both are unsure if it can last.