"Fairy Tale" started as a New Year's Resolution in 1995, when writer/director David Kittredge, already having produced two short films, vowed to write and direct a thirty-minute film. Throughout that year, he wrote several drafts and he and producer Melissa Ray garnered contacts and raised funds to cover production costs. In November of 1995, the ad for actors ran in "Backstage" magazine, prompting a response of over 150 headshots. Of these, 35 actors were called to do readings.

Auditions took place in January of 1996. From the auditions, Eric M. Cole and Paula Roth were cast, and shortly thereafter, Eric introduced the filmmakers to Terrance Flynn.

"I saw them together and I knew he was Todd," said Kittredge. "It was important to me that the chemistry between Eric and Todd be there immediately on film. With a short film, you have to establish situations very quickly, and the bond between Todd and Eric needed to be instantly tangible. These two characters love each other very much."

In May 1996, after four months of pre-production and rehearsal, the cast and crew traveled up to a picture-perfect Gloucester, Massachusetts and the primary set of Todd's childhood home. The entire shoot took nine days on location in Massachusetts with a final day in New York City.

"The last scene we shot was the party scene that opens the picture," says the director. "And by that point, it felt like we deserved a party!"

Kittredge worked on the post production of the film for two years, bringing the film in at a cost of under $30,000. Its world premiere was in July of 1998 in New York City, when over 175 friends, relatives, and journalists gathered at the Anthology Film Archives to see the film screened for an audience for the first time. The reaction was sensational, and the film was written up in the gay magazine H/X and Kittredge was featured in a segment on the nationally syndicated "Barry Z Show".

Since 1998, the film has been screened at many major national and international film festivals, including festivals in Los Angeles, Seattle, Chicago, Sydney, New York, Toronto, Montreal, Philadelphia, Turin and Tokyo. It has recieved critical accolades for its dark humor, uncompromising view into the hearts of three complex characters, and its examination of universal issues of trust and identity that affect not only the relationships of gay men, but everyone.

In August of 1999, the film was included in "Boys Briefs" (Picture This! Home Video), a collection of award-winning short films about gay youth and first love. A DVD was released in late 2000, and both have sold in the thousands.

"Now that I'm away from it, I can really look back with some perspective and appreciate it. The film is about intimacy and communication, and how people deal with it in relationships, which is a difficult subject to tackle, but the actors really were amazing. I'm thrilled with the response the film has received. It's been really amazing to have people at screenings approach me in tears and tell me how moved they were by the film. The fact that people all over America own my movie just blows me away."