GOLD BOY
No superpowers, just spandex. Inspired by a true story. 

When a depressed college student is shaken by a campus suicide and ditches his medication, he channels his manic energy into a secret persona in an effort cheer up the student body, inspire the girl he loves, and ward off his own demons...or else risk failing out of school once and for all…

GOLD BOY is a mental-health romantic comedy film (think Silver Linings Playbook meets Spiderman…on a college campus), inspired by my mental health struggles--and coping mechanisms--at Cornell University during the period of suicides and infamous fences on campus. After my freshmen year, I took a medical leave for chronic pain, anxiety, and depression. It was during that time that six students tragically took their own lives—three of whom jumped from the bridges on campus. After fighting to return to school, I arrived to find the school covered in ominous chain-link fences to keep us from jumping. My mental state was worse than ever, and I couldn’t bear the thought of telling everyone I was still “sick.”  It was then that I invented my secret, yellow-spandex-clad identity known as GOLD BOY. I conceived of Gold Boy as the “Happiness Hero,” or a “Human Anti-Depressant,” and I was determined to cheer up the campus one student at a time. Gold Boy would stand on the quad offering free hugs, dance with passersby, or other times, or sneak into a library to liven-up a study group.  My persona even had his own social media, was interviewed by the school paper (see below), but only spoke in a British accent and no one every really knew who he was...

My film adaptation uses this time in my life as a jumping off point for the narrative of the film. Although it has been abstracted and fictionalized, the film is based on a collection of very real experiences and feelings that made me who I am today. In the style of a modern John Hughes film, I want my story to be used in the fight to destigmatize mental health conversations for teens and adults alike.