IAN MCKELLEN and “Vicious” producer Gary Reich launched a call for brands and broadcasters to back a planned series of short-form films aimed at LGBT youth. The pair, along with The Brooklyn Brothers agency founder Jackie Stevenson, are set to create a series of four films built around and by people in the LGBT community.

Facebook is on board to be the broadcast partner for the first film, with the premiere streamed live on the platform. The social network is also set to support the film with targeted outreach and community support.

“I’ve been impressed with gay rights all over the world how much commerce wants to be involved,” said McKellen. “Hollywood, to crudely sum it up, has tended to deal with fantasy, tended to deal with escape. Branding has to be up to date otherwise. Brands come up with a response to the world as it really is. It’s a much different approach to anything that Hollywood would do.”

McKellen, who has thus far resisted working with brand partners throughout his career, cited the attempt by Coca Cola’s Dasani water to recruit him in the mid-2000s for its U.K. launch. “I thought, ‘I can’t. I feel I’m selling my soul and my soul is worth more than this’,” he said. He says he’s now willing to work with brands to back these films because of their response to human rights around the world.

“In Hollywood to get something done takes such a long time, whereas brands move quickly and we feel they can tell these great and true stories,” added Stevenson.

“We can align very quickly and then in terms of the talent that is waiting in the wings – there are lots of key really big pieces of talent,” added Reich.

They said they are already in talks with “A-list directors” including the Wachowskis and Tom Ford to direct corresponding films for the project called LGBT Heroes. McKellen is onboard, as is other acting talent, Reich said.

(SD-Agencies)