Men living on the down-low, or “DL”, has been an alternately intriguing and troubling extension of the gay community. It’s also been one of the most distorted and underrepresented aspects of homosexuality.

Enter The DL Chronicles, a slick and sexy half-hour series currently making the film-festival rounds. The first episode debuts Nov. 13 at Outfest’s Fusion LGBT People of Color Film Festival in Los Angeles. It also screens Nov. 14 at the 18th annual Out on Film LGBT Film Festival in Atlanta, GA.

The DL is a slang term for African-American men who identify as being straight while secretly engaging in sexual activity with other men. DL men usually date women, have children and get married--all in an effort to publicly appear heterosexual. Not surprisingly, they refuse to be associated with "the gay lifestyle" or the gay community.

The series is narrated by aspiring journalist Chadwick Williams (Damian Toofek Raven), who is writing a book entitled Men Who Sleep With Men. Episode one details the frustrating predicament of upwardly mobile, impossibly sexy real-estate banker Wes Thomas (smoldering Australian actor Darren Schnase).

Wes enjoys an affluent lifestyle alongside beautiful wife Sarah (the graceful Jessica Beshir), but he is unhappy. It doesn’t take long to realize something hot is going to happen the minute Sarah’s younger brother, Trenton (Ty Vincent), decides to spend some time with the couple.

Quincy LeNear and Deondray Gossett are the creators, producers, directors and writers of The DL Chronicles. They wrote the pilot and a few other episodes in 2004, with hopes of creating a direct-to-DVD series. The pilot cost roughly $1,800 to produce.

Now, the duo hopes to sell The DL Chronicles as a weekly series to one of the many new gay cable networks and provide a much-needed venue and voice for the DL experience.

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