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It is also Sloan's hope that despite having a gay protagonist, the movie will reach a wider audience. In seeking that wider, mainstream audience, Sloan does acknowledge some complications caused by the film's gay content.

He admits, “It's been frustrating with the film because it's not gay enough for some gay festivals, and too gay for straight festivals.”

Originally written as a play, WTC View is very minimalist in its approach. There is not a lot of action, sets or locations, and making the play work onscreen presented Sloan with a variety of challenges.

“The biggest challenge,” says Sloan, “was telling the same story in less time. The play was about two hours long, and I knew for a film version that 120 minutes in one location was going to be too long.”

The stage version of WTC View debuted at the 2003 New York International Fringe Festival. As it evolved from stage to film, Sloan had very definite ideas on which actors to cast in it: those who originated the stage roles.

Sloan cast all of them in the movie. “They were all so integral to the process of creating these characters in the first place that replacing them was just impossible,” he says. “I couldn't see the piece any other way really.”

With WTC View  just out on DVD, Sloan is busy at work on several future projects, including two new films, Prom Queens and 100 Flowers.

Sloan says: “For a change of pace, my next project is a high school comedy called Prom Queens. I'd say this at film festivals after screening WTC and it would get a big laugh. The irony is that Prom Queens is actually the film I was working on when 9/11 happened. We had just received our first investor's check, and I was supposed to go pick it up from the producer's office that day, just a few blocks from the Trade Center. Needless to say, after 9/11 the project fell apart, and the producer even decided to leave the business after her experience downtown that day.”

But life goes on, and Prom Queens is moving forward with Queer Eye's Carson Kressley not only playing a supporting role, but also serving as a producer.

After that, Sloan will take on the adaptation of the play Let a Hundred Flowers Bloom by David Zellnik. Flowers is a romantic comedy about a gay cartoonist who is handicapped, discovers Viagra, and falls for his best friend.

Sloan jokes, “I like to say it's my most commercial project yet — a gay guy in a wheelchair! But what sold me on this project is the humor, which is so surprising and genuinely warm, too. It's basically a very sweet comedy about falling in love.”

And after the tragic events of WTC View, that just might be what moviegoers need.

Get more info at www.WTCview.com

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