We're making a feature film for trans and LGBTQ youth. And you can be a part of it, too. You can pay it forward.

My name is James Lantz. I’m a filmmaker. I make the Angry Gay Grandpa web series. I’ve been standing up for trans and LGBTQ youth for a long time. Fifteen years ago my LGBTQ youth play "The Bus " ran Off-Broadway and got great reviews like "The Bus is theater magic!"

Now I’m making a feature film for LGBTQ kids called A Still, Small Paw.

Here’s how Pay It Forward works:

Every $18 you give does two things. It goes into making the movie, and it reserves one free ticket. Not for you, but for an LGBTQ kid, or someone in their family, in small-town, rural, Middle America who might not otherwise get to see our film. When the movie comes out, they get to see it for free, in a theater or online. Because of you.

$18 provides one free ticket.

$36 provides two.

$90 provides five.

$1,800 provides 100 free tickets.

$10,000 provides 555+ free tickets!

Wow! Now, that’s paying it forward!

To be clear, our movie isn’t made yet. Your $18 funds the film now and holds a seat for an LGBTQ kid when it’s finished in 2028. One donation, both jobs.

Why this movie now?

The Trevor Project estimates that more than 1.8 million LGBTQ young people in the U.S. seriously consider suicide every year. Our goal is to give away one million or more free tickets. That’s a seat for more than half of them.

Now I can’t take care of all these kids, but I can make them a movie that does. One that stays with them on a bad night and says: there’s nothing wrong with you. You are not alone. More love in the world is better than less love.

The movie:

A Still, Small Paw is the story of an America that has slid into fascism, where small dogs, the small, tender, gentle things we love, have been outlawed and ordered to be put down. It’s about a boy who won’t give up his little dog named Peek. The script scored an 8 on the Black List, which puts it in the top 3 or 4 percent. We’ll shoot our film next year and release it in 2028. astillsmallpaw .com

Where the money goes:

Every dollar we receive goes into A Still, Small Paw: pre-production, shooting, finishing the film, and all the work it takes to get it in front of the kids and families it’s for. I’ll be 100% transparent about how your funds are spent, with quarterly reports here on GoFundMe. You can watch the ticket count climb at A Still Small Paw .

Donations go through our production company, Last Little Dog, L3C, a Vermont mission-first, low-profit company formed to further charitable and educational purposes.

Who am I?

I'm a gay grandpa. I grew up in rural Virginia and before I made movies I was a country radio DJ, a veterinary technician, and a high school teacher who was awarded "Teacher of the Year."

Then I wrote plays. The Bus, about two teenage boys in a small town who fall in love, ran Off-Broadway in New York. For the last few years I’ve been running the Angry Gay Grandpa web series , where about 25,000 people on YouTube follow along, plus more on TikTok, Instagram and Substack. I live in Burlington, Vermont. This film is the one job I’ve got left.

One more thing:

If you watched our video, you heard John Lewis say that when you see something that’s not right, you have a moral obligation to do something, to say something.

This is your chance to do something and say something right now. So please, hit the button. For trans and LGBTQ youth.

Thank you.

James