Rapt Films has acquired worldwide sales rights to Gary Jaffe’s LGBTQ+ rom-com Before I Do, putting the film on the market ahead of its world premiere at Frameline on Friday. The U.K.-based company says the title will join its LGBTQ+ sales slate as it heads into a debut that lands during Pride Weekend at the Castro Theater.
For readers searching today, the draw is the mix of business news and festival timing. Before I Do is not just another indie pickup; it is being positioned for buyers as a commercial play with queer storytelling at its center, and the sale gives it a global sales partner before audiences see a frame of it.
The film stars Cole Doman and Michael Hsu Rosen, with Nico Greetham, Robin de Jesús and Jared Reinfeldt also in the cast. Doman is set to star in Netflix’s upcoming Kennedy series, while Rosen appeared in Sex Lives of College Girls, Greetham in American Horror Story and Love, Victor, de Jesús in Black Rabbit and Tick, Tick… Boom!, and Reinfeldt in Feud: Capote vs. The Swans and Gossip Girl. That cast gives the project a reach that matches the sales pitch.
Jaffe’s film follows a lakeside bachelor party weekend that slides into riotous chaos when the groom realizes his latent romantic feelings for an old friend. That setup is broad enough for mainstream audiences and specific enough to keep the story grounded in LGBTQ+ experience, which is exactly the balance Rapt is selling. Lead producers Emily McCann Lesser and ThomasWallis, along with executive producer Joe Pirro, are backing a film that tries to be rowdy without losing its emotional center.
There is still one detail the acquisition does not make public: how large the worldwide sales deal is, or which territories and buyers are already in play. What is clear is that Rapt has chosen to move early, before the festival premiere, and to frame Before I Do as part of a slate that includes Blue Film and Departures. For Jaffe, whose previous short Last Summer With Uncle Ira premiered at Outfest, the Friday launch at Frameline’s 50th festival will be the first public test of whether that pitch lands the way the company expects.
