KIM ROCCO SHIELDS: DIRECTOR & CO-WRITER
“‘Love is All You Need?’ is a universally relatable story,” said Shields. “I originally considered using inversion approaches founded on race, religion and appearance. I decided the lens of sexuality works best in speaking to intolerance for this story, because love is universally important, honorable and especially pure from a child’s point of view. The film is built so that the viewer can easily connect with our leads’ perspectives and empathize with their painful experiences of being bullied for being different.”
“I chose the setting for ‘Love Is All You Need?’ carefully,” said Shields. “I very much wanted to avoid creating a stereotypical ‘gay world’ full of effeminate men and masculine women. The movie takes place in an everyday American town, where the church and college football team play big roles in local culture. I simply switched the predominance of sexualities so that homosexuality was the norm and heterosexuality was the minority.”
“The core takeaway of the film is simple,” said Shields. “Intolerance to any sort of diversity is detrimental not only to individuals, but also incredibly destructive to society as a whole.”
"There are many incredibly hard-working, talented people that made 'Love is All You Need?' possible. Above everyone else, I'm so grateful for David Tillman, my co-writer."
Kim Rocco Shields is one of Hollywood’s hottest young filmmakers on the rise. Her passion-driven projects fearlessly push the envelope and breach controversial topics.
Shields studied Film Theory at the University of California Santa Barbara and was initially drawn to editing. She went on to script-supervise for directors including J.J. Abrams and Gore Verbinski. Shields founded Wingspan Pictures in 2007 and directed and produced several shorts and features, including the short film, Love is All You Need? In 2014 she founded Genius Pictures with the intention of creating films that change culture. She’s since produced numerous documentary and educational films for institutions including the University of Southern California. She directed and co-wrote the feature-length film, Love Is All You Need?
Shields was inspired to create the feature and short LIAYN? films by the drastic amount of teen suicides caused by bullying. “In 2010, there were a bunch of teen suicides in the media. In these stories, time and again reporters would make comments about how they couldn’t fathom what would drive a child to take his or her own life. Parents, of course, seemed to struggle the most to make sense of it. I wanted to create a film that could give everyone the perspective to really understand these kids’ experiences.”
WATCH: K. Rocco Shields recieves the 2014 Key to the City of West Hollywood
Shields on the set of Love is All You Need? with
Katherine LaNasa (Vicki Curtis)
Shawn Parsons (Allen Santilli), Shields and Robert
Gant (Pete Santilli) on the set of Love is All You Need?