You can be assured that if our king, Billy Porter is sniffing around something, we will be all over it like a rash. So it brings great pleasure to discover that he has signed on to direct a queer teenage comedy, inspired by SuperBad and Booksmart, titled To Be Real, according to Variety.

From Gabrielle Union’s production company I’ll Have Another, To Be Real is based on a script by On My Block director Ryan Shiraki, and follows three queer friends who escape their small hometown to attend Pride in New York together. During their time in the city, they realise, in true Porter fashion, that “life over the rainbow is an insane, raunchy, often divisive, but ultimately fierce non-stop party.” According to its log line, the film is to be “an edgy, laugh out loud comedy about three queer high school seniors who go on the ultimate quest to attend their first New York Pride parade."

It is always a good day when queer entertainment is in the works, especially when still so few narratives make it to the big screen, and even fewer truly resonate - let alone represent the full spectrum of the LGBTQI+ community. Rare as the come, we are sure To Be Real will be as fun and fierce and unsanitised as we hope with Porter at the helm.

Porter, the multi-talented actor, singer, writer and director is currently nominated for his third Emmy for his work as Pray Tell on the final season of Pose, which wrapped up earlier this year. In 2019, Billy became the first confirmed black gay man to win the Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series, again for his work on Pose.