Director and Producer W. H. Bourne

Caucasian/Native American, female, bisexual: everyone wants to know this for the sake of diversity, yet aren’t we more than just labels? In I Need a Hero, comic book creator Agnes Czaja talks about how the LGBT community is finally gaining acceptance and how the next step is that we stop making assumptions. I couldn’t agree with this more. If I had to pick one word to define or label myself, I’d say “storyteller”. It manifests itself in various ways such as my writing everything from White Wolf”s Guide to the Sabbat, to my journalistic writing for Louisiana Film and Video Magazine, to my screenplay writing including my supernatural thriller Shaman’s Mark, which is currently in post. But in addition to telling stories with words, I also found that I love to create stories with pictures. As an editor, there’s nothing more exciting than looking through all the documentary footage and finding (and telling) the most compelling stories.
Executive Producer and Editor Odin Lindblom

Odin attended his first sci-fi/fantasy/comic convention at the age of 3. It was also around this time when he first saw Star Wars. Thus began his love for sci-fi films and television which manifested in curious ways such as the constant turning of mashed potatoes into Devil’s Tower. Growing up in New Orleans, Odin never imagined being involved in the film industry. Access and affordability of the consumer video camera changed all that. About 15 years ago, Odin started doing corporate, commercial, and industrial video work. About 10 years ago, he bought his first copy of Avid and starting editing his own projects. At the moment, he’s chained to his computer working on the edit of Bikeman Begins.
Producer and Doc Subject James Mercel

As an infant, James Mercel was sat daily in front of the campy, classic, super-hero TV show whose theme resulted in his first word being “Batman”. Thus was born his life-long love of comic books. At 4, Uncle Spike introduced him to the Legion of Super-Heroes, an obsession to this day. At 9 he plotted to see the age-inappropriate Maude.. By 12 he had discovered John Wesley Shipp (in boxers) on Guiding Light and sensed life had charted a different course for him. Risky Business became a complete compulsion (theme develops) at 17, and turned his intent to create comic books to a desire to make movies. He lives in vaguely LA-adjacent Palm Springs and is the screenwriter of The Deported (not to be confused with Scorcese’s The Departed as his Mom did and thought him a genius for 10 minutes) and various forthcoming projects.

Producer and Cinematographer Wéland Bourne
Wéland started attending sci-fi/fantasy/comic conventions when he was an infant. He loved to act and starting winning costumes contests across the south with his performances. At 9, he got a Tyco video cam and started re-making Godzilla-like movies with the dinosaurs and toy cars in his room. He studied acting, art, and ballet growing up. His Christmas highlight was performing The Nutcracker for eight seasons. His first documentary short was Nutcracker Dreams: Shattered. While it didn’t get into any festivals, it gained him entrance into the filmmaking program at NOCCA (New Orleans Center for Creative Arts). After Hurricane Katrina, he relocated to California and participated in the AVPA film program at Culver City High School. During this time period, he had an award winning short, B.Z.P.C., and an award winning animated PSA about recycling motor oil that played at numerous festivals across the country. He studied film, animation, and visual effects at Santa Monica College while planning his feature Bikeman Begins. Wéland is currently busy at work on Bikeman in addition to doing freelance motion graphics and visual effects.

Producer Joan Gossett

After a 28 year career as a social worker for the state of Louisiana, Joan started working with Odin and
Hawk on their documentary Recycled Christmas as well as some other projects. She became a production assistant, driving, carrying equipment and most of all listening. While in Golden Meadow filming the Blessing of the Fleet right after the BP oil spill, she realized that with her knowledge and experience she could contribute to the film and her interest in producing and creating to form. Today, she is busy working as a producer on several Lion Dance Films.

Director’s Statement
While I was co-directing Wéland Bourne’s documentary, Bikeman Begins, I noticed the Prism booth at San Diego Comic Con. We stopped and interviewed Brian Anderson (So Super Duper, Friends of Dorothy). Somehow, the interview just stuck with me. I sat in the editing suite listening to it over and over again. It occurred to me that with as many LGBT people that there are in this world, there wasn’t an equivalent amount represented in comic books. But I needed to ask an expert to be sure, so I called my friend and fellow screenwriter James Mercel. We spent several hours on the phone talking about gay characters in comics, LGBT creators, and a bit of the historical evolution of it all. Surely, there was a doc on this that I could watch! “No,” James said, “I’ve never seen one.” My answer, “Let’s go to Wondercon next week and shoot one!” Fortunately, he agreed along with everyone else who participated and helped. I realize that our short film is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to this subject. That is why we’re actively working on fund-raising right now to do a feature on the same subject. I can’t stress how important this is. I love Archie comic’s Kevin Keller, because I think comics like this are a key ingredient to help LGBT youth gain acceptance with their straight peers. At a time where increasing numbers of LGBT youth are victims of bullying, hate crimes, and suicide, it’s important that media conveys a positive image of LGBT characters. Imagine the societal impact if Superman was gay? We need LGBT youth to understand that they are indeed Super!

Director’s Anecdote
For me, the most rewarding moment on I Need a Hero was listening to Bob Schreck talks about his bisexuality and how his friends and family thought he came out the closet twice. When a bisexual person settles down into a long term relationship (particularly a monogamous one), everyone seems to assume that they’ve “made a choice” like your sexuality is something you turn on or off. In media today, no one seems to talk to old married folks about being bisexual. The tabloids focus on celebrities being “bi-curious”, but it’ usually written off as a “phase”, the by product of their youth. I wish there was more open conversation about this issue, perhaps, another doc ….