The young Floridians in the documentary College Boys Live don’t actually go to college. Instead, these people—all of them from broken homes or difficult situations—give up their privacy for a rent-free home and a bevy of faceless fans who pay for the privilege to watch the internet stars eat, sleep, drink, do drugs, chat and have sex.
See photos, trailer and more at documentary’s official web site.
The web site’s creator claims that CollegeBoysLive.com is about showing that “it’s okay to be gay.” But some Central Florida neighbors insist it’s pornographic and destructive, and do everything in their power to force the business out of their quaint suburb.
The film—featured at the Tampa Bay International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival at 11 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 16 at the Tampa Theatre—strives to show all sides of an intriguing and complicated story.
“I think we could easily ask whether the web site is exploitative or not,” says documentary filmmaker George O’Donnell. “As far as whether the film exploits the young men, I am very careful to tell their personal stories. I also want to give them more respect than anyone else had yet given.”
For O’Donnell, the spark of interest was immediate. “I picked up a magazine one day, and I saw an article titled something like ‘Webcam House Being Sued by Local Neighbor.’ It had everything. It had story, conflict. It had subjects who were already comfortable with being filmed!” he says.
Another aspect, though, might have been the biggest draw for O’Donnell: “I felt that nobody was portraying young people like these searching for a place to belong.”
For some audiences, it might seem strange to make a documentary about a web site already obsessively recording these young men’s lives. However, showing six months’ worth of life in the house provides for a unique long-term perspective.
In 2003, when its suburbanite neighbors found out about this burgeoning business next door, many lobbied and litigated to kick the webcam house out of Brantley Harbor. O’Donnell’s film covers life inside as well as battles outside with the local homeowners association. People on both sides of the issue faced intricate moral questions about discrimination, sex, sexuality, commerce and community.
“When you’re living in a house and required to be nude eight to nine hours a day to be on the internet cameras, it becomes a problem with parties and other activities,” complains neighbor Mike Towers in a 2008 WESH-NBC interview.
“They’re just trying to create a home in there,” O’Donnell says. “In retrospect, perhaps combining that with constant internet coverage may not be the most healthy, constructive way to do that.”
“Watch them party, have fun, laugh, cry, have tricks over, and just experience uninhibited gay life,” the site promises, with prices starting at $19.95 a month. This means the “models”—as the boys are called—and their “tricks” are all 18 years old or older. Lives have to be open books. Alcohol, drugs and sex are thrown into the mix. Housemates experience their first moments of adult life out of the closet and without reins. The site often advertises their meltdowns and standoffs as an all-gay reality show.
The webcam house was started in 2002 by a Zac Adams, who has since added another location in Tampa. Of course, this business growth indicates that the original house is very lucrative.
“Florida is like Oz,” O’Donnell says of Adams, “and all of these boys have come to this guy, like he’s the Wizard of Oz. They hope he will help them change their lives or start their lives.”
Of O’Donnell’s film, Variety stated, “Going behind the scenes of a 24/7 live website in which participants are observed everywhere—bedroom and bath included—might seem redundant, yet College Boys Live exerts a bizarre and dramatic fascination by observing that Orwellian experiment-cum-entertainment over a six-month haul.”
In fact, O’Donnell has garnered amazing reviews and honors, including the Emerging Talent Award at the 2009 Los Angeles Outfest.
When asked what he hopes the film College Boys Live will achieve, O’Donnell talks about the boys and their difficult backgrounds.
“I want people to know a little bit more about what’s behind those cameras,” he says. “I mean, these are people striving to find family, acceptance and love.”
After a small pause, O’Donnell sums up, “The story is often a lot more complicated than just those young guys in their little boxes typing all over the internet.”
