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9 months ago
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EXCLUSIVE: Candis Cayne, who made her name as one of the only trans actresses on TV when she featured on ABC drama series Dirty Sexy Money, has launched a trans-focused production company.
Cayne, who also starred on Syfy’s The Magicians, has teamed up with Danna Davis, who has worked with Cayne on a number of projects to launch Mary, It’s Mary Productions.
This comes after the duo produced Candis Cayne’s Secret Garden, a ten-part series that airs on the Advocate Channel and Youtube. The pair co-created, wrote, directed and exec produced the series, which starred Cayne.
The company is developing a number of television series and films about all aspects of trans life – activism, healthcare access, acceptance in Hollywood and local and Federal Government laws and bans.
Projects include trans-amorous rom-com feature film Chaser, Diaper Doll, a parody in response to the trans bathroom bills that are being signed into law in a number of states, and Avenue D Stories, which tells the story and evolution of Candis and Danna’s journey in NYC.
There’s also an eight-part reality series Doctor’s Orders: It’s Sickening, which is set in South Florida in an LGBTQIA+ enclave, the city of Wilton Manors.
The series will follow the lives of local healthcare professionals and illustrates how these local experts support the trans and overall LGBTQ+ community. Production is slated to begin in the summer
“The goal of Mary, It’s Mary Productions is to celebrate and shine a bright light on all aspects of trans life in America and the world – the good, bad and ugly,” said Cayne.
“As a working actor in Hollywood for nearly 20 years – roles and projects for trans actors and overall content that reflects modern trans life is just very rare. While we’ve seen trans visibility increase on-screen since my break-out role on ABC’s Dirty Sexy Money – Hollywood definitely has a long way to go,” she added. “Shortly before the pandemic, my production partner Danna Davis, my best friend and trans sister decided to put our creative passions together, to start writing, to create content that we wanted to see. Our mission is to demonstrate the whole, robust trans experience in the world – from the serious challenges we face with overall discrimination with governmental bathroom bans – to the fun, fantastical, humorous world of gardening with our first project Candis Cayne’s Secret Garden.”
Davis added, “The start of Candis’s courageous career is one of my favorite NYC in the 90’s stories. Her caring friendship inspired me to let go of all my self-loathing and finally accept myself for who I was. When we were young, navigating all our trans-chosen family lives and transitions in NYC together made it much more manageable. Sharing the few resources we had, also gave us a sense of sisterhood. My experience, passion, and goals in our co-owned trans production company are to grow it with as many young, talented LGBTQIA+ creative humans as possible. To collaborate and produce various exciting projects from all different genres – with a trans perspective as our ‘transtastic’ written scripts multiply, like bunnies, that only piqued my curiosity about what’s next. My imagination runs faster, thirsty for more.
The pair added that they found themselves “frustrated” by the lack of diverse trans characters and stories depicted on screen.
“Our mission at Mary, It’s Mary Productions is an unwavering commitment to tell stories and to create characters that are being written, developed and fully crafted by a trans writers room – with an authentic perspective,” added Davis.
