Rose Troche

Rose Troche (; ; born 1964) is an American film and television director, television producer, and screenwriter.

Early life and education Troche was born to Puerto Rican parents and grew up on the north side of Chicago. In an interview she stated, "My parents thought moving to the suburbs was a sign of success," and "We were always the family that made everyone say, 'There goes the neighborhood.'" She and her family moved to the suburbs when she was a teen. She started working part-time at a movie theater where her interest in film developed. She earned her undergraduate degree in art history from the University of Illinois at Chicago and went on to get a graduate degree in film.

Personal life Troche is a lesbian. She met and started a relationship with Guinevere Turner in the early 1990s. They began to work on a film based on their own experiences and their friends in the Chicago lesbian community, which they originally titled "Ely and Max," but was changed to Go Fish. By 1993, Troche and Turner ended their relationship and Troche moved to New York where she wrote several scripts. Troche lived in London from 1997 to 1999, until she returned to the United States to direct The Safety of Objects (2001).

To make sure she would not forget the film's lesson, she had "remember that this life is short" tattooed on the inside of her left wrist, in Spanish, as she was writing the script.

Career Troche began her professional filmmaking career in the 1990s. Troche is just one of several lesbian directors who launched their careers with independent gay-themed films and have gone on to find work in Hollywood, where women make up just 12% of the Directors Guild of America membership.

Early career While studying at the University of Illinois at Chicago, Troche made several short films while in school such as Let's Go Back to My Apartment and Have Sex (1990), This War Is Not Over (1991) and Gabriella series of short films in (1991–1993).

After completing The Safety of Objects, Troche realized that she had only directed so much content and wanted to work on her craft of directing. She wanted to work on projects that were immediate work not something that was going to take three years to make.

She also directed The Safety of Objects (2001), which was adapted from the short stories of A. M. Homes and focused on heterosexual love in suburbia.

She was also a producer for both Go Fish and The Safety of Objects, as well as for Stacie Passon's 2013 film Concussion.

Go Fish Rose Troche, a Latina director teamed up with her then partner and co-writer to finance on their own an experimental lesbian feature. It was the first film to be sold to a distributor during the Sundance Film Festival. With the small amount of approximately $8000, started their road to a Samuel Goldwyn $450,000 sale. Help along the way with Vachon's company Killer Films who contributed $5000 when funds ran out and John Pierson bankrolled the remaining $53,000. "Troche's Latina identity was (problematically) written out of the marketing campaign and the film was promoted on the basis of her gender and sexuality." The film was released during gay pride month in June 1994 and eventually grossed $2.4 million. Go Fish proved the marketability of lesbian issues for the film industry. Troche mentioned that during the filming of Go Fish (1994), at one point she didn't have money to pay her phone and electric bills. The film also put a label on her and critics considered her "a professional queer", a fact that she sometimes hated: "Go Fish made me such a card-carrying member. It is, like, boring. I go into interviews for Bedrooms and Hallways and all anyone can talk about is being gay, gay, gay."

Bedrooms and Hallways In 1997, Troche moved to London to direct the film Bedrooms and Hallways (1998) with British producer Dorothy Berwin and her partner Ceci Dempsey. The film was backed by a major studio so it was completed fast. It was a film that was exploring the romantic complications among a diverse group of gay, straight, and undecided characters.

Television Troche's television work is just as extensive as her film work. She directed an episode of the HBO hit drama Six Feet Under. For three seasons, she has been a director and writer for the Showtime series The L Word, a show about lesbian friends living in Los Angeles. She has served as the associate producer for the series and was recently promoted to co-executive producer. She has also expanded her writing and directing credits, writing an episode for the series South of Nowhere and directing an episode of the series Touching Evil, as well as Ugly Betty and Law & Order. Troche got offered to do and episode of Six Feet Under (2001), and she enjoyed the beauty of being able to work with three cameras, it opened up her world to a different way of filming.

2004 The L Word (TV Show) – episodic series – various episodes Troche was the co-executive producer and writer, of this popular series about a group of Los Angeles lesbians of which she has also directed several episodes.

Themes Troche believes that even if she eschews queer themes (which she did in The Safety of Objects), every film she makes is, philosophically, gay. "For example, I write my women like I like my women. They don't let people get away with anything. They're tough-talking," she says. "The truth is, everything I do is informed by being queer. My homosexuality doesn't go away just because, the characters aren't gay."

Filmography

+ Film Year Title Director Writer Producer Notes 1990 Let's Go Back to My Apartment and Have Sex short film 1991 This War is Not Over short film 1991–1993 Gabriella series of three short films 1994 Go Fish feature film debut 1997 Pride Divide documentary, appears as herself 1998 Bedrooms and Hallways 2001 The Safety of Objects 2009 Chinatown Film Project 2012 Xanadu 2013 Concussion 2019 30/30 Vision: 3 Decades of Strand Releasing (segment "R. Troche") TBD 2022 My Fake Boyfriend

+ Television Year Title Director Writer Producer Notes 1990 Law & Order 2001 Six Feet Under Episode: "The Plan" 2004 Touching Evil Episode: "Memorial" The L Word Various episodes from season one and two 2005 South of Nowhere 2006 Ugly Betty 2010 Future States 2012 Rochelle Hunting Season 2014 Finding Carter 2015 Sugar 2017 Star 2018 Black Lightning Vida Sorry for Your Loss All American 2019 On Becoming a God in Central Florida 2020-21 FBI: Most Wanted 2020 Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist 2021 FBI 2022 Tom Swift The Walking Dead Episode: "Faith" 2023 Ginny & Georgia 2 episodes

Awards