My Cast

 I knew I was going to cast Maddie as my main character from the very beginning since she’s pretty, in theatre so she knows how to act, is lesbian, and is reliable, so I know she’ll show up for filming. I think Maddie can perfectly fill that masculine female lead I want as the main character while also keeping feminine features, which visually is exactly what I want. She’s also Cuban/Dominican, which I feel there isn’t a lot of female Latin main characters in rom coms, especially in wlw film. Even when there is a Latina in a rom com film, they're just the love interest or a supporting role more often than not. In my film, I wanted to have Maddie as this focus without Hollywood stereotypes about Spanish women as well.

For the love interest, there’s little Filipino representation in film just in general, so having a female Filipino love interest is even less typical. I cast Elena for this reason since I’ve heard her talk about how there’s minimal representation for her nationality. I even spoke to her, asking if she knew any Filipino actors or actresses in Hollywood and she could only name Ned from Spider-Man. I've done research into other Filipino representation in films and there was only Hollywood LGBTQ representation with Lea Salonga acting as Elodie Honrada, a lesbian mother, in "Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin". Elena is also in theatre, but isn’t good at spoken lines, which is why I have her only in the opening sequence where there is no dialogue. She’s reliable as well and I know she will show up and take her role seriously.

Both Maddie and Elena are a part of the LGBTQ community, and I think that's an important feature of this film as well.