STUDIO ONE FOREVER is the untold story of America’s trailblazing gay disco, a kaleidoscopic excursion into LGBTQ+ history through the lens of this groundbreaking club. 

Studio One was more than just a disco; it was a mecca for gay men looking for identity in a world that saw them as outcasts. Its adjoining nightclub, The Backlot, merged the gay community with the Hollywood elite for the first time. From 1974-1993 it became the center of nightlife in West Hollywood and the staging ground for the rise of the LGBT rights movement and the fight against the AIDS crisis. STUDIO ONE FOREVER takes the audience on an excursion into LGBTQ+ history through the lens of this groundbreaking club.

Featuring interviews with Chita Rivera, Bruce Vilanch, Sam Harris, Felipe Rose, Charlo Crossley, Melissa Rivers, Roslyn Kind, Lance Bass, Thelma Houston, Julie Budd and many more.

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DIRECTOR NOTES

Marc Saltarelli (Director, Editor, Cinematographer)

When the former Studio One building – home of the trailblazing gay disco – was on the verge of demolition in 2019, we realized we were on the verge of losing a major piece of LGBT history. Over two years – through Covid and other delays – we shot interviews with those who lived, played, and survived those wonderful and turbulent decades years from 1974-

1993. This film is about our gay history, as seen through the lens of this iconic club. But it’s also a universal story since it was the first club to integrate gay culture with the Hollywood elite many years before Studio 54, and was the site of the first major fund raiser for AIDS, hosted by Joan Rivers. The Backlot – Studio One’s performance space – became Los Angeles’s “must-play” venue, and became the hang out of celebrities too numerous to mention, and the launching pad for many more. And as AIDS decimated the community, so went the club. As LGBTQ+ stories are on the verge of being forgotten (or even banned), the film preserves this remarkably unknown history as told by the people who lived it.

About the Author

Bryen Dunn is a freelance journalist with a focus on travel, lifestyle, entertainment and hospitality. He has an extensive portfolio of celebrity interviews with musicians, actors and other public personalities. He enjoys discovering delicious eats, tasting spirited treats, and being mesmerized by musical beats.