Harrison Browne on the Short Film ‘Pink Light’ and the Importance of Identity

As a former hockey player, Harrison Browne wanted to create a short film about how identity can sometimes come into conflict with the sports world. Pink Light is that story, telling the dual ends of Scotty/Scott’s story from college pre-transition to adulthood, trying to enter the hockey world once more.

The run time isn’t more than 11 minutes, but this film still manages to pack an emotional punch, making it relatable to anyone who has ever or currently is questioning who they are.

It’s about more than just trans identity. Somehow, Browne goes deeper and looks at identity from the human standpoint. Identity doesn’t center on gender, and Scotty/Scott’s story drives that home with nuance and care.

I recently spoke with Harrison Browne about his short film after it premiered at TIFF last month. We discussed the themes of Pink Light and the importance of expressing yourself. (You can watch the full interview below.)

The story of Scott has the feeling of being deeply personal, as though the writer is putting themselves in front of us. In relation to this, Browne had quite a bit to say.

“ [Pink Light] does reflect a lot of my own struggles. Especially Scott having to figure out where he fits in with hockey and if hockey fits into his life in the same kind of way.”

“I deal with that struggle a lot. And then the character of Scotty just feeling really isolated but also having a moment of male bonding, a moment of male camaraderie with this frat boy was actually something that did happen to me in real life,” Browne continued.

At the end of the day, there are some dramatized elements, but Browne was candid that most of what we see in the short film comes from his own lived experiences. In fact, it is that lived experience element of the film that really brings it to life.

One of the central elements of the story of Scotty/Scott is the pink, and occasionally blue, lighting that makes up most of the scenes. In fact, it’s so significant that it influences how the viewer feels at any given moment of the story unfolding.

Interestingly enough, Browne’s inspiration behind the lighting is more than just the go-to gender assumption that most would make. Hearing him talk about it gives the story that much more unspoken depth and meaning.

“ Pink and blue, people always really think of gender in that type of way, but this film, even though written by a trans person, is about a life experience. It really didn’t have anything to do with gender,” Browne said.

Watch the Full Interview with Harrison Browne

“ I was in my apartment, and I have those colored light bulbs in my bedroom,” he said. “I was drinking tea in my living room, and I just saw that my light was set to pink, and it reminded me of college frat parties that I went to with like cheap, cheap lighting everywhere.”

“ The university I went to was the University of Maine. The frat parties always had pink lights, and the inception of it was, I was looking into this light in real time and thinking to myself, 18, 19, looking into those pink lights, like really unsure of what his future would look like.”

“Really scared, really feeling alone, like no one understood him,” Browne continued. “I just thought if I could look into this light and this younger version could look into the light and he could see where we are now, I think it would provide a lot of peace of mind.”

Overall, Harrison Browne hopes that this film can serve as a gift to his younger self as well as a gift to anyone who is currently experiencing those feelings of insecurity.

One of the interesting storytelling elements that Pink Light makes successful use of is the dual storytelling with transitions that fade into each other. The most memorable of these comes at the end of the film when Scotty gets pizza with a frat guy he’s been connecting with all night while Scott sits on his car with his partner, Laura eating a pizza on the beach.

“ The real frat boy that inspired this actually did order pizza at the end of the night, and he’s like, ‘Do you want some pepperoni and mushroom pizza?’ And I was like, ‘yeah, that’d be great,'” Browne intimated.

“ We actually had a dialogue scene [at the end] that we did cut. Actually, when [the frat boy] says I got us food, we actually had it as Laura’s voice coming out of his mouth to make that transition. But we found that the last scene, it spoon-fed.”

“It just said what didn’t need to be said. So we lost that little transition moment that I did think was pretty clever. But I think it worked out really well,” Browne said.

Our conversation shifted to the current climate in the world toward trans individuals, more specifically, trans athletes. And whether or not this current political climate affected his feelings about the release of this story.

“ Not nervous at all. If anything, it just lit that fire under me. I came out in 2016, and the landscape and the rhetoric around trans athletes and trans people is very different than it is now,” Browne stated.

He further explained that he’s not necessarily scared because his intention for this film was to always make this “for trans people and allies.” It was his hope that people would watch this short and be inspired to do more to support the trans community, especially in these dark times.

“ There’s only 1% of the population that is transgender, if that, so a lot of people don’t have trans people in their lives right now, and I think that that’s why there’s a lot of fear and a lot of unknown.” He continued, “ I think right now we need trans representation more than ever.”

Speaking of representation, Harrison Browne wrote Pink Light from the framework of telling a story, his story, not creating an after-school special. Which is why Scotty/Scott’s transness isn’t constantly referred to or even discussed.

In fact, Browne wanted the focus to be on the characters, not their gender.

“ It’s just somebody living their life that just happens to be trans. That’s what I was trying to set out through this. That’s just how true to life it is. You don’t talk about being trans. That much unless it’s like somebody new that you’re meeting.”

After this, we shifted the conversation to Harrison Browne’s writing process and the advice he has for others just looking to express themselves.

“ I love just sitting and writing,” he said. “I love just getting lost in these worlds and into the past. Just reminiscing about things. I think for me, music is a big way for me to get back into that mindset that I had.”

He explained that while music plays a big part in his writing process, it isn’t the only thing. Sometimes, Browne utilizes familiar scents or conversations with others to pull him into the correct headspace to get his creative juices flowing.

A big aspect of his process comes in his relationship with his partner, Nicolette Pierce, where they “just talk about [those emotions].” Collaborating together on projects gives them a chance to inspire each other and keep the creative flow going.

Finally, Harrison Browne wanted to end our conversation with some sound life advice.

“ You only have one life. And living it for yourself, like when you live for other people, it’s just not a way to live. So choosing yourself and putting yourself first is the biggest thing. You know yourself the best, and what will make you happy will make you show up as a better person in all aspects of your life.”

“ Also, don’t be afraid to reach out for help. I think the biggest thing for me, being a hockey player, being part of a team, I always knew how to rely on my teammates. And I found teammates in my everyday life,” Browne said.

“[Find] a supportive friend, a supportive partner, a supportive teammate, if you’re part of a team, and just start small if you want to come out to people, come out to a trusted person, and it’ll become easier and easier.”

Pink Light was featured at the TIFF 2025 Short Cuts program.

Follow us on X and on Instagram!
Like us on Facebook!