Recently, I had the chance to speak with Kathryn Taylor and Keith Sweeney of Dalliance Films, LLC. Dalliance is based in Charlotte, NC with projects from Asheville to Wilmington. Its first feature-length production, Timing, begins filming at the end of summer.

Timing already has a fantastic ensemble cast lined up, including Colin Ferguson and Sean Maher. Ferguson is best known for starring as Sheriff Jack Carter in the Sci-Fi series Eureka, and has performed roles in More Tales of the City, The Opposite of Sex, and Firefly.

The story is based on the life of writer/director A. Blaine Miller and will be filmed in and around Charlotte, the city Miller calls home. “The film is important in terms of perception,” Miller said, “I want to show that many [in the gay community] have very basic existences – we have kids, a dog, and a house that’s never totally clean and laundry that’s piled.” Where could be better for showcasing a real life than Miller’s actual hometown? Nowhere, according to him.

Miller is part of the team that comprises Dalliance Films, LLC. According to Taylor and Sweeney, the group works very well as a group. Taylor’s first experience on a film set was Miller’s earlier, critically-acclaimed, film The Last Confederate. She retired from the military and moved to Charlotte where Sweeney and Miller were living at the time. Sweeney told me “all four of us represent a different element and that gives me confidence.” Indeed, Sweeney is confident that this quartet will be successful with Timing.  The fourth member of the group is D.J. Barton.

I asked Taylor and Sweeney why they weren’t using their creative talents in L.A., which seems to me to be the center of film activities. “More and more films aren’t being made in L.A.,” she said. “They’ll bring a production here or to South Carolina because it’s less expensive, the beaches on the coast are what they used to be on the west coast, and we’ve got mountains. Producers want to bring their projects here for all those reasons… and they’re on the verge of passing the [corporate tax] rebate to bring more productions here,” Taylor continued.

Sweeney talked about some of the local benefits of filming in the Carolinas. “There are many talented and capable people in the region – the Carolinas and Georgia,” he said. Drawing from local talent boosts the local economy.

“We have a lot of colleges in North Carolina that have filmmaking programs, and we hope to help foster those through internships and support the next generation of filmmakers,” Taylor added.

Timing, still in its developmental stages, is a romantic comedy. Colin Ferguson will play Jesse, a gay man whose romantic life is uprooted when his estranged son returns home in the middle of Jesse’s marriage proposal. Sean Maher will star opposite Ferguson as Connor, Jesse’s love interest. Marriage proposals aren’t the usual stuff of gay films, but Sweeney and Taylor felt that the “timing is right for Timing.”

“With the state of gay rights in this country right now… the northern states making gay marriage legal, the networks having gay characters… it’s a hot topic being sought out by the public,” Sweeney said.

Sweeney and Taylor said the group hopes Timing will help them launch a solid foundation that will help Dalliance Films and the Carolinas for the long haul. They’re not in it for one film, they’re in it because they love it. “All the passion we have about this first project, from my perspective… our passion isn’t limited to this project. We love filmmaking. It’s long hours on the set around a table. There’s nobody that walks away from that. We all look forward to the next project… that next shining star,” Taylor said.