Glen Evelyn’s Second Act: From a Life of Loss and Resilience to Award-Winning LGBTQ+ Storytelling

After decades of professional success, devastating personal loss and a remarkable fight for survival, Glen Evelyn is turning his life experiences into stories that are reaching audiences through Our Family Pride and the upcoming feature film StartUp Love.

Some stories take years to find their voice. For Glen Evelyn, the journey took decades.

Long before he became the founder and CEO of GunnerMAX Productions, Evelyn was a young boy growing up in West Palm Beach, Florida, fascinated by storytelling and performance. While other children were outside playing, he found himself drawn to drawing, painting, writing stories and imagining what it might be like to stand in front of a camera.

But growing up gay in the 1970s and 1980s made embracing that creative identity—and his personal identity—far more complicated.

Instead of pursuing entertainment, Evelyn followed a more conventional path. After earning degrees in Communications and Business from Florida State University, he built an impressive career in healthcare that spanned approximately 35 years.

He became a nationally respected healthcare executive, consultant and speaker, working with major organizations and advising senior executives on leadership, performance and innovation.

From the outside, his career was a success.

Inside, however, there remained a dream he had never completely let go.

When Life Changed Everything

Evelyn eventually found the courage to live openly as a gay man and met the man who would become his husband. Together, they created the kind of life Evelyn had once believed might never be possible.

But their happiness was eventually tested by addiction.

His husband's severe drug addiction brought years of treatment attempts, hope, disappointment and heartbreak. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Evelyn even accepted an executive position in Louisville, Kentucky, hoping that a new beginning could help change their circumstances.

It wasn't enough. His husband ultimately died.

Soon afterward, Evelyn faced a life-threatening crisis of his own. A catastrophic internal bleed led to seven cardiac arrests over three days.

He survived.

The experience changed his perspective on everything.

Following his husband's death and his own long recovery, Evelyn lost approximately 90 pounds and was forced to confront a question that had been waiting for him since childhood:

If he had survived, what was he going to do with the life he had left?

At 56, he finally answered it.

He walked away from his corporate career and returned to storytelling.

Our Family Pride Becomes His Voice

That decision became Our Family Pride, a six-episode scripted LGBTQ+ television drama created, written, directed and produced by Evelyn through GunnerMAX Productions.

Inspired by his own experiences, the series explores what happens when a husband and father finally comes out later in life and a family is forced to confront years of hidden pain, unexpected truths and difficult consequences.

But Our Family Pride is not simply a story about coming out.

It is a story about family.

It examines addiction, marriage, identity, grief, forgiveness, resilience and the difficult process of rebuilding trust. At its core is the idea that authenticity can be painful, but living without it can carry its own emotional cost.

The series was filmed entirely in South Florida and features an accomplished cast that includes Garrett Clayton, Rachel Alig, Jake Holley and Glen Evelyn.

Its reception has provided remarkable validation for Evelyn’s decision to begin a completely new chapter.

The show’s pilot has now earned 19 awards, most recently receiving the Grand Prize for TV Pilot and Series at the Indiewood Film Festival on September 19, 2026.

The latest honor carries particular significance because the festival takes place at the historic TCL Chinese Theatre on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame—a setting Evelyn had dreamed of reaching since he first began imagining a career in film.

“It was always my dream to premiere a film at the Chinese Theatre at the Hollywood Walk of Fame. To screen it and actually win the Grand Prize is such an honor, almost too hard to believe.”

For Evelyn, the recognition is about more than adding another award to the shelf. It represents the extraordinary distance between the young boy who once dreamed of becoming a storyteller and the filmmaker now seeing his work recognized in Hollywood.

But perhaps the greatest reward remains the opportunity to connect with people who may see pieces of their own lives in the story.

From Our Family Pride to StartUp Love

Now Evelyn is taking another major step forward.

His second project, the feature film StartUp Love, is preparing for its world premiere at Cinema Diverse: The Palm Springs LGBTQ+ Film Festival on September 25, 2026.

Directed by Rene Lavan and Glen Evelyn and written by Dominic Giannetti and Evelyn, StartUp Love shifts the focus to a younger generation and a very different environment.

Set inside a high-pressure technology incubator, the film follows ambitious young coders attempting to build the next major artificial-intelligence breakthrough. Their professional ambitions become increasingly complicated as friendship, betrayal, attraction and a bisexual love triangle collide.

The ensemble cast includes Gabriell Salgado, Gaby Borges, Brian Drolet, Coby Oram, Sofia Lauren Giannetti, Imran Hylton and Glen Evelyn.

The world premiere will take place Friday, September 25, at 2:30 p.m. in Theatre Three at the Palm Springs Cultural Center.

The following day, Evelyn will return to the festival with Our Family Pride, which has been selected for a special screening on Saturday, September 26, at 2:15 p.m. in Theatre Two.

For GunnerMAX Productions, having two projects represented at Cinema Diverse marks an important moment. For Evelyn, it represents something even more personal.

It’s Never Too Late

Glen Evelyn spent much of his life believing that certain dreams had to wait.

He built a successful corporate career. He found love. He experienced devastating loss. He survived a medical crisis that could have ended his life.

And then he started over.

Today, the boy who once dreamed of being a storyteller is writing, directing, producing and acting in the stories he once only imagined.

Our Family Pride has earned awards and critical recognition. StartUp Love is preparing to meet its first festival audience. Evelyn is also completing his book, Why the F Not, while developing his next film project.

His career in entertainment may have begun later than most, but perhaps that is precisely what makes his story compelling.

Evelyn isn't simply telling stories about courage, identity and resilience.

He has lived them.

And now, through GunnerMAX Productions, he is turning those experiences into stories designed to help audiences feel seen, encourage acceptance and remind people that a new beginning can come at any age.

Step into Glen Evelyn’s inspiring world of storytelling. Watch the Our Family Pride trailer, visit the official website, explore IMDb, and discover upcoming festival opportunities and tickets.