The reason why Pick Up is a particularly different film from others is that even though it’s about a young gay man who’s diagnosed with HIV, it is not a drama. It’s more of a comedy; a coming of age story and a story about acceptance. Rogers described the film as awkwardly funny, romantic, honest, heartbreaking and hopeful.

'Pick Up' is a film by Joshua Rogers, an upcoming writer and producer who started working as a trailer producer for Hollywood. He came out with the idea right after his friend told him that he was recently diagnosed with HIV.

“The conversation with my friend is what inspired me to start writing a screenplay about a character named Jesse Ritter, a driver for 'Pick Up' – a fictional ride-sharing app similar to Uber or Lyft – who falls in love with a passenger and has to tell him that he’s HIV positive.” The problem with this film is that getting the money from the studios to create a romantic comedy about HIV proves to be very difficult. 

“On a couple of occasions, I was told by studio executives that my scripts were loved but “too small” or “too gay.” And I knew writing a story about an HIV-positive gay man who wasn’t sick or dying, but trying to live an authentic life and fall in love, would be no different. So I decided to write the film as a short and direct it myself to keep it as honest as possible.”

Rogers and his team are now creating a promo video for their Kickstarter campaign that will launch on the 18th of November. They’re hoping to raise $36,000 to make the film. Pre-production will continue through the 30-day fundraising campaign period, with production set to begin in early January.

If you want to read more about HIV and cinema check out Rafa's article.