ep 23. Ben Barnz - excerpt from his memoir WE

As an independent producer, Barnz seeks out character-driven material, often with a strong literary bent. He frequently collaborates with his husband, filmmaker Daniel Barnz. Together they formed We’re Not Brothers Productions, so named because everyone who doesn’t know them assumes they must be brothers. They are not.

Barnz produced CAKE, starring Jennifer Aniston which premiered at the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival. Barnz’s next film project, I’LL DROP A HOUSE ON YOU, will start production in the fall of 2018, and is the story of Ryan Wash – a young black queer debater who revolutionized the world of debate. Barnz is producing with Plan B and Macro. Barnz is also producing LONESOME TONIGHT about the love affair between Elvis Presley and young Priscilla Beaulieu. He is also producing a one-hour television drama written by his husband and sixteen-year old daughter. The show takes a frank and uncensored look at teenage sexuality and identity, as well as a limited series for NBC .

After working as a casting director for many years in film and television, Barnz produced Daniel’s first film, the critically acclaimed PHOEBE IN WONDERLAND which premiered at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival and was released nationally in 2008.

Barnz's first book will be published this fall by Wyatt-McKenzie. WE: An Adoption and A Memoir is about the adoption of his daughter, and the legal (and emotionally fraught) battle that ensued with her birthfather - a battle that began the day after her birth and two days after 9/11. The book interweaves this story with Ben's path to parenthood - beginning with his closeted youth in 1980s New York City, a time when it was statistically more likely he would die from AIDS than become a father.

Born and raised in New York City, Barnz attended Hampshire College.

twitter: @WEbyBenBarnz IG: @benbarnzwe