Clean Slate is out today on @primevideo ! Binge it babes. It’s time. As a writer slash producer, I agree with the following:
“This show is the warmest hug in trying times, a welcome antidote that’s genuinely hilarious... Clean Slate is a show about how it’s never too late to learn, and never too late to grow.” (@thedailybeast )
Some photos from set in Savannah, from table reads & filming. Extra gratitude to @nisha.ganatra for allowing me to shadow her as she directed the pilot. Congrats @ewenmekid@sbaidwan@lavernecox@therealgeorgewallace@thebrent_miller and the hundreds of hard worker who made Clean Slate happen.
Quick reminder to: WRITE YOUR VERY GAY TV SHOW! FINISH THAT QUEER PROJECT AND SHARE IT WITH THE WORLD. PLEASE! What a night at the @glaad awards celebrating queer media and Clean Slate, nominated for Outstanding New TV Series. Sure, we lost to Heated Rivalry, but it still felt like we WON!! Also Liza made a special appearance, and I borrowed my husband's fancy cookie purse for the occasion and definitely wanted to eat it by the evening's end.
I love you @samleeearly ! Here’s to 5 years of marriage (get it while it’s still legal!) + a million years of togetherness before! + hi to the kind woman of the courts who zoom married us in 2020 with a digital beach backdrop and an aviation grade headset on. I think of her daily and hope this instagram post finds her well.
Was gang leader, boxer, general rabble rouser and unlikely trans masc icon Whistlin’ Jack McConnell given the ULTIMATE queer ultimatum after a few too many run-ins with the law?
Recently bought this press photo from the 1920s featuring Jack that ran in the papers covering his decision to go back to his birth name after the court gave him a choice… prison, or freedom if you leave your old identity behind. Wrote about it for Brag Book and curious of your take!
We loved every second of screening NO ORDINARY MAN at the Paradise Theater in Toronto as a part of the Queer Cinema Club. So many shared laughs and reminders that we are all we need when together.
Thanks endlessly to @peterknegt for the vision and the hustle.
You may have heard of revered jazz musician Billy Tipton, who rose to fame in the 1940s and ‘50s, but it’s unlikely you know the whole story behind him. It’s actually quite possible that what you think you know about him is tainted with the vicious transphobia that was unleashed by the mainstream media after his death in 1989. Which is one of the many reasons you should come to our August 11th screening of @chasejoynt and @aislingchinyee ’s extraordinary documentary No Ordinary Man.
One of the best films — queer or otherwise — to come out during the peak of the pandemic, No Ordinary Man essentially reimagines Tipton’s narrative through a diverse group of contemporary trans performers and experts. Blending recordings, archival and present-day interviews, and the performers’ interpretations, the film provides a necessary dialogue about transmasculinity — something even the recent surge in trans representation and storytelling hasn’t done nearly enough of.
We are so excited to screen No Ordinary Man in a cinema, a place few have been able to see it since it was released when most of them were shuttered. We’re even more excited that Joint, Chin-Yee and the incredible @amosmac will *all* be joining us in person for a Q&A, and that the great @chrisevargas made this wonderful poster for us (which will be available in print at the screening).
See you at @paradiseonbloor , August 11th at 8pm 🎹🎹🎹
Do you ever look at an old photo and wonder: boyfriends, brothers, business associates?
This is from my vernacular photo collection — specifically my 20th century beach boys file where I enjoy the past through very queer eyes. Two handsome bozos, estimated to be in the 1930s, one in all black with a white belt, the other in all white. For many moons I thought they were wearing bathing costumes. Turns out it’s a tank top and shorts. I realized after scanning it and zooming into 300% because my eyes are giving up on me. But I wish they were wearing old bathing costumes. I want a bathing costume. Can we bring those back into fashion please?
Last month, Sam and I went to Channel Islands National Park and I wrote about it, and this snapshot, in my latest substack. Link in my bio if you wanna take a dip!
Directed my first standalone short film the other day — I CAN APPRECIATE THAT. Starring the wildly talented @the_brianmichael , with @jamiemanelis , and the camera + sound stylisings of @collinccyoung and @braythirteen . More on this as it’s ready to share…
If you came up in the era of Original Plumbing, you knew Amos Mac as an iconoclastic hunk responsible for lensing portraits of trans life that changed the contours of visual culture. This week, I felt like I was living out my young transmasc dreams with him on the other side of the camera.
For a limited time, Amos is back on the market to take the photos you have longed to create! Find him, follow him, and spend time in the bright light of his singular vision.
15+ years later, I love that we are going grey together @amosmac , what a fucking gift.
Photos from the world premiere of CLEAN SLATE! All eps drop Feb. 6th on @primevideo . The late, great Norman Lear’s final series. I was a writer/producer. Laverne Cox & George Wallace are Desiree and Harry Slate —daughter and father, reconnecting in the Deep South after decades apart. A story I relate to on multiple levels (iykyk). A heartfelt comedy coming to you at the right time. Thank you @lavernecox@ewenmekid@sbaidwan@thebrent_miller@thenormanlear for inviting me in. An honor and a privilege is an understatement.
(Styled by @trudy0nduty 💅🏼)
