Interview with Screenwriter P.J. Palmer (NORTH STAR)

Matthew Toffolo: What is your screenplay about?

P.J. Palmer: This story is ultimately about the families we are born into and the families we choose. While on the surface, the story is about a couple who has fallen on hard times and must downsize their life. But the struggle is with one part of their extended family that feels it has the best solutions for the couple, while the couple themselves have a different idea of what is best for themselves. Part of the issue is that the couple in the story is queer – and the rest of the family doesn’t fully accept or grasp that the couple is their own legitimate family unit. Put another way: if the queer couple was not married – if the story happened just a few years ago, before marriage equality – then the blood family would have been able to successfully be…