That’s a wrap!

We have now finished shooting our Go Gently TV show. It was such an incredible adventure through California and Oregon traversing so many different landscapes meeting up with so many incredible humans doing powerful work to protect our planet. I had the most heart warming time with Pattie and when out of drag Wyn as we drove many hours together, listening to music, chatting about the world, plus lots of snacking and laughing. This project is so dear to me I cannot wait to get into post production and start piecing together the episodes.

It’s hard to pick favourite moments as it was all so special. But some moments that really stand out for me was going to the Channel Islands, where I have always wanted to go. We learnt through a Chumash elder the history of the islands and her ancestors, we kayaked around the island into sea caves and even got soaked by a big blow hole. I loved visiting the Ojai Raptor Center and getting to do some very cool things with them that I can’t wait for you to see. Another highlight up the coast was Big Sur staying at Deetjens Inn a forever California favourite of mine. Making pizza in San Francisco! To then canoeing along the Klamath River with members of the Yurok tribe in their traditional dugout redwood canoes.

Then into Oregon we went and wow the southern coast of Oregon is truly beautiful. So rugged and raw as the cold big waves crash against the headlands that sit tall with trees. My highlight here was visiting a seaweed farm and eating lots of dulse seaweed! We then headed inland through the snowy mountain pass to Bend where Pattie lives. I had such a special time meeting members of their queer community, we had such a fun afternoon at drag bingo together! The following day I finally found a snow based activity I like, snow shoeing! Much more my slow calm speed than skiing. Back to the coast we headed, meeting many people on our way as we headed north to Portland for our finale event of the show the first Go Gently The Gathering. An event we hosted at Cooper Mountain Vineyards. A day of ideas, workshops, community, good food and wine! I hope this will be the first of more gathering events.

I will leave you with some beautiful photos from our shoot…

Go Gently TV Show

I am making a TV show!!!

Inspired by the vision of Go Gently both my book and this community I am making an episodic documentary. I am on a road trip up the west coast of the United States with my co-host Pattie Gonia meeting a beautiful spectrum of folks all working to protect Mother Earth and celebrate the joy of living! It has been so exciting I could cry…I do sometimes.  

I am making the show with Daniel Sharp of Dash Pictures the company that produced my fellow Harry Potter cast mates and brothers James and Oliver Phelpes’ show Fantastic Friends. I met Daniel when I was in the Iceland episode of Fantastic Friends a trip and shoot that I loved. So after my book Go Gently was published and I had been enjoying creating videos on YouTube I reached out to Daniel to co-produce and direct the show. Luckily he said yes and we started shooting this week!

I am so honored to be co-hosting, co-piloting, co-staring with my ginger sister Pattie Gonia. I am so inspired by the work Pattie is doing to create more accessibility and safety for queer folks in outdoor spaces. A space and industry that has been very masculine and gate kept. Pattie’s deep love for nature and getting outdoors is infectious, she makes us see that we can each have our own unique relationship to nature on our terms.  

We set off on our road trip a couple of days ago! It has been about a year in development from the very early concept for the show. These last few months the show has been my main focus as we organize all of our guests and activities. It’s been quite a feat to plan, luckily, I have had a great production team to work on it with. I am so excited for this journey where we will get to meet so many people I am inspired by and see so many beautiful landscapes. We will be filming for three weeks staying in lots of different environments experiencing the unpredictable weather of March and April. But I love a challenge!

As we film the show I will be sharing as much as I can!