When I signed on as a producer/director on this project; I expected to have fun, to work with great people and to create a marketable piece. I couldn’t imagine that I would learn this much about myself and the world I live in.

Not long ago my best friend got caught up in the circuit world. My reaction was typical; “They’re just gym rats tripping out every week on drugs. You’re better than that.” My friend passionately protested that I completely missed the point. He pointed out the friendship, the camaraderie, and the ecstasy he felt being part of an overly gay environment. He would defend his circuit brothers as if guarding his own family. He would call them the most influential and motivated gay people he’s ever met; surgeons, public defenders, entertainment executives and schoolteachers.

Recently, after two years of meticulously clipped body hair, an alphabet diet of the latest designer drugs, and pioneering the way for yet undiscovered sexual acts;  My friend denounced the circuit world as a bunch of shallow party boys, trying to relive the prom, with few goals or a future beyond the next party. He stopped shaving his chest, grew a goatee and moved out of the Los Angeles gay ghetto. I wanted to understand his intense connection with this world and why he eventually betrayed it.

What I found were people no different than myself or my friend who abandoned them. The circuit world is not a community, but individuals searching for a community. It is not a group of drug users, but people taking drugs to connect with others. These aren’t gym rats but real people who associate physical beauty with self worth. Many are caught up in the scene because of the empowerment they feel from being in an overly gay environment. Others are desperately trying to hold on to their youth to avoid feeling disposable.

Circuit parties allow for professional gay men to travel to Wonderland and play Peter Pan, to escape the confines of their BMW’s and expense accounts in hopes of possibly forging the kind of relationships that will provide the ultimate happiness we all strive for. Their straight friends have long since been married, divorced and married again, dealing with their kids baptisms, soccer practice, Barmitzvahs, college funds and wedding showers.  My friend was at once correct and deeply mistaken.  These are people searching for the same things we all are... love, friendship and self worth.

Over the past two years, we’ve spoken with hundreds of potential subjects and closely followed an assortment from across the country. It is no exaggeration that these guys are some of the strongest, brightest, most wonderful individuals I have ever met. Their honesty, commitment and openness were unmatched. I feel privileged to be a part of their journey and I can’t wait for you to meet them. These are the young people that will shape our future; they are the unlikely role models that will bring us into the next century. And they may even help you learn something about yourself.