It takes a village of transgender people to produce high quality transgender stories, according to Emmy-nominated filmmaker Rhys Ernst.
Ernst, who directed and produced the Amazon documentary web series, "This is Me," spoke on a panel of transgender filmmakers at the Roxie during the Frameline film festival in late June.
Ernst, who also produced "We've Been Around," a series of five-minute online films about transgender pioneers (http://www.wevebeenaround.com), talked about the importance of featuring a "wide range" of people in productions, making sure to keep them "racially diverse."
In addition to featuring transgender talent in front of the camera, it's also important to hire transgender people behind the camera, said Rhys, who lives in Los Angeles and is currently developing a feature film.
"I worry," said Ernst, "that in a worst case scenario" the popularity of trans stories on TV and on film is "just a trend" and that when the next trend comes around, "we'll be back where we started" with little visibility in the media.
Panel members said that while they were growing up, the images they saw of transgender people on film and TV were often sensational.
Angelica Ross, who starred in the 2015 six-part web series "Her Story" (http://www.herstoryshow.com) about the lives and loves of two Los Angeles trans women, said she first remembers seeing transgender people on Jerry Springer's talk show. In the past, screen images of trans people of color were "dismal," she added. But as respectful images of transgender people began to appear, people of color still "remained marginalized" and were largely absent on the screen, she added.
Ross, who grew up performing in church choirs and community theater and worked as a runway and print model before appearing onscreen, founded TransTech Social Enterprises, a program to empower trans and non-binary people through on-the-job training in leadership and workplace skills.
Jen Richards, co-writer, star, and producer of "Her Story," said that transgender actress Candis Cayne became a positive role model. Cayne, who came to national attention in 2007 when she starred in the ABC drama, Dirty Sexy Money, was the first transgender actress to play a recurring transgender character in primetime, said Richards.
Growing up, Richards said she didn't see people like her on television. They were usually "the dead prostitute or the punch line," she said.
The next generation of trans people will have the advantage of seeing "trans people speaking in their own voices" onscreen in programs like "Her Story," said Richards.
Because "Her Story" was written, directed, and stars trans people, "I think it feels authentic to many trans people" while still engaging non-trans people too, said Richards.
Richards, who was featured on the premiere season of I am Cait, said that two "historical accidents" have brought transgender media visibility to where it is today.
One, said Richards, was that Caitlyn Jenner was a member of one of the most visible families in the world when she transitioned last year. Second, said Richards, was the fact that writer Jill Soloway's father came out as transgender, inspiring her to create the Amazon original series, Transparent .
Had transgender people been depicted this way when Richards was younger, she thinks it would've helped her to come out sooner than she did, at age 36, "if I had known it was possible to have a whole, happy life."
"Now, a generation is growing up seeing that it's possible," she said.