Last week Diana in NoVa dropped a comment in one of my diaries which included the following:
Someone needs to write some popular TV sitcoms featuring transpeople. To me (although I never watched it), "Will and Grace" was the thin end of the wedge that has gradually seen the dissolution of most prejudice against gays. Of course the RWNJs will go on hating no matter how much insight is offered.
This generated a minor subthread.
And now we have news along that front. BBC did a nationwide talent search looking for an appropriate script and found Boy Meets Girl, a romantic comedy following the budding relationship between Leo, a 26 year-old cisgender man and Judy, a 40 year-old transgender woman, both of whom live with their parents.
After screening the pilot earlier this year, BBC Two has ordered the full 6-part series. BBC gives the following synapsis:
Leo's had a bad day. He's been fired (again), is being given a hard time by his mum and, to cap it all, his blind date fails to show up. But then he bumps into Judy and finds himself deeply attracted to this surprising and beguiling woman.
They bond over drinks and, unfazed by the fact that there's a bit of an age gap between them, arrange to meet the following evening. Leo's mother is unhappy that he's having dinner with an older woman. But Leo doesn't care what she thinks; he knows that he's just met someone very special.
The part of Judy will be played by transgender actress Rebecca Root, who appeared in the pilot. She writes about the role here.
I suppose at this point I should put my acting career in context. For about a decade from my graduation from drama school, I worked fairly consistently as a male actor. As many trans people will tell you, however, the strain of living a double life finally became too much for me, and eventually I transitioned to female. The range of roles apparently suitable for me was immediately reduced, not only because of an imbalance between female actors and characters available to them, but because I was now in an even smaller minority. How many trans characters do you see on stage, television and in films anyway? Back then there were even fewer than the few you can think of now. Julie Hesmondhalgh as Hayley Cropper in “Coronation Street.” Jaye Davidson in “The Crying Game.” Ummm…
--Rebecca Root
Rebecca became a voice and speech teacher, doing some stand-up comedy, and acting sporadically when a project included a transgender woman as minor character.
I was invited to audition first for Tom Glover’s piece, “Nobody’s Perfect”, which was being produced by Jon Plowman and directed by Francis Matthews. This was the story of a trans woman of a certain age in a relationship with a cis (not trans) woman; the couple lived with their various children from whatever previous partnerships they had. The script sought to find humour in society’s misconceptions of what the trans experience is; there were gags about the size of boobs and hands, and being an outsider even at a school diversity event. It was funny in places, but the humour felt awkward. I enjoyed the audition; however, in the end I didn’t get the job.
I was then asked to try for the other winning script, Elliott Kerrigan’s sweetly-titled “Love”, in which Judy, a 40-something trans woman still living with her mother, meets Leo, a 26-year-old cis man, also living at his parental home. The tone was noticeably different. The comedy sprung as much from this unlikely couple’s living arrangements as from their age-gap. Tired of rejection by previous lovers, Judy decides to do the “Big Reveal” on the first date with Leo. He quietly processes the information and then just gets on with the meal. “Would you like a starter?” he asks. No questions about her body. No inappropriate comments about the toilet. Just so. This episode makes no more bones about Judy’s gender than had she confessed to liking Fleetwood Mac (which she did in an early draft). I was over the moon to get the part.
Root notes that
Nobody's Perfect eventually went with a male actor wearing prosthetics, ala Jared Leto in
Dallas Buyers Club. That's not generally helpful because it reinforces the false notion that transgender women are "really men." Laverne Cox's role in
Orange is the New Black, while groundbreaking, doesn't paint us as "regular folks," seeing as how it is set in a prison and all. Candis Cayne's role as Ms. Hudson on
CBS' Elementary does not cast her being transgender as the most important part of her character, but rather that she obsessively neat and taught herself to be fluent in ancient Greek. And she has a history of being a "kept woman" and "a muse."
The pilot for the series was aired under the new name in March at the Salford Comedy Festival.
We're very excited to be making Boy Meets Girl for BBC Two. It's always great to work with brand new writers and Elliott has a delightfully quirky comedy voice which manages to combine big laugh-out-loud moments, with warmth and truthfulness.
--Sophie Clarke-Jervoise, Tiger Aspect (the production company)
Full casting has not yet been completed. Harry Hepple will play Leo.
The television series should not be confused with the movie of the same name by filmmaker Eric Schaeffer, which you can learn more about at Indiegogo
Kerrigan writes about the series here: Boy Meets Girl: The Story So Far
Fast forward to the following year. I’m on the Internet. Before I log off I check the Writersroom website. There’s a new competition: The Trans Comedy Award. I read all the info and thought, “God, what a great opportunity for someone.” (I must just take a second here to say a big thank you to everyone who helped organize The Trans Comedy Award. Everyone at the Writersroom, and also everyone at All About Trans – especially Alana Avery and her team – because The Trans Comedy Award came out of an All About Trans initiative, and if it wasn’t for them…well I wouldn’t be writing this.)
So I’ve seen The Trans Comedy Award on the Writersroom website. I went to bed that night, and I actually said – out loud, to any muse who might be listening – “I’d love to enter that competition, if you have any ideas, send ‘em my way.” I woke up: nothing. Fair enough, I thought. The muses have bigger fish to fry. Later that day, I went for a walk and, bit by bit, the ideas and characters started coming. I got home, thanked the muse, turned on the laptop and started typing.
--Elliot Kerrigan
As for what happens next… well nobody knows. I’ll work hard, listen to what the muse says, and hope we make a TV show which will delight the audience. A few years ago I turned on my laptop and wrote the word ‘LOVE’. That was the original title. I’ve felt a lot of love from a lot of people on this project. If a fraction of that love reaches the audience I’ll feel like it was all worth while.
--Elliot Kerrigan