The Pacific Pride Foundation will host its annual Royal Ball fundraiser from 7 p.m. to midnight Saturday, April 25 at Bacara Resort & Spa in Santa Barbara and will present its first-ever Advocacy Award honoring Emmy winner Dan Bucatinsky and award-winning director/screenwriter Don Roos for their support and commitment to LGBTQ advocacy and the significant difference they have made.
“Don and I are incredibly humbled and honored to be PPF’s first Advocacy Award recipients,” Bucatinsky said. “We feel so fortunate to be able to live in California as a legally married couple, raising two beautiful children and value all that Pacific Pride Foundations includes in its mission: to feel included; to feel supported and safe — and healthy — and part of a community. Pacific Pride Foundation is working hard to provide those things in Santa Barbara, a place we’ve considered to be ‘home’ for almost 15 years.”
This year’s Royal Ball will also be featuring Glee star Jane Lynch as the master of ceremonies for the evening.
Actor/writer/producer Bucatinsky won an Emmy for his portrayal of openly gay character James Novack in the ABC hit show Scandal. Bucatinsky became a bestselling author with his autobiographical tales of parenthood book titled Does This Baby Make Me Look Straight?
He and producing partner Lisa Kudrow founded Is or Isn’t Entertainment, which produced the Emmy-nominated HBO series The Comeback, Emmy-nominated Showtime series Web Therapy and Emmy-nominated TLC docu-series Who Do You Think You Are? Bucatinsky currently stars on NBC’s Marry Me.
Roos wrote and directed The Opposite of Sex, which won two Independent Spirit Awards for best first feature and best screenplay and was nominated by the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) for a Media Award. He also produced the All Over the Guy, an acclaimed gay romantic comedy starring Bucatinsky, which opened the 2001 Outfest Film Festival.
Roos joined Bucatinsky at Is or Isn’t Entertainment and went on to direct all four seasons of Web Therapy. Roos’ screenwriting film credits include Marley & Me, Single White Female, Boys on the Side and directorial film credits include Bounce, The Other Woman and Happy Endings. Roos most recently wrote the pilot for Busted starring Sarah Jessica Parker based on Ruderman and Laker’s account of their Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative series on Philadelphia police corruption.
Bucatinsky and Roos first met in 1992 and over the course of their 22-year relationship have collaborated together on a series of successful film and television projects, as well as on the creation of their family. Roos and Bucatinsky were married during the small window of time in which marriage equality was legal in California in 2008 prior to the passage of Proposition 8, the state’s now-defunct same-sex marriage ban, and they have two children together.
Roos and Bucatinsky have helped change the scope of LGBTQ representation in Hollywood through both their presence as openly out celebrities and through their dedication to portraying and depicting LGBTQ characters in their work. Both are exemplary role models and the award celebrates their artistic vision and collaboration in film and television, their portrayal of gay characters, and their inspirational family that represents love, integrity and leadership.
Honorary co-chairs for the Royal Ball include Melissa Etheridge and Linda Wallem Etheridge, Lisa Kudrow and Michel Stern, Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Brad Hall, and Mary McCormack and Michael Morris. Event co-chairs include Joanna Kerns and Marc Appleton, David Crane and Jeffrey Klarik, Oliver Goldstick and Bud Leslie, Joanna Johnson and Michelle Agnew, and Jamie and Julie Kellner.
The mission of the Pacific Pride Foundation is to advocate for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer community; care for people living with HIV; and prevent the transmission of HIV.
Sponsorships and individual tickets are on sale. Individual tickets for the Royal Ball are $300 and VIP tickets are $500. Tables and boxes are available from $5,000 to $50,000. Tickets for the Royal Ball are available online by clicking here or by calling 805.963.3636 x111.
— Lauren Gunther is a publicist representing the Pacific Pride Foundation.