5/20/2013

The British Masters of Erotic Transgender Movies

I talk to Cheryl of Tranisa about making TG movies.
This is the poster for their recent magical transformation movie.
Click to enlarge!

Tranisa is one of the very few producers of erotic TG movies in the English language part of this market. I talked to Cheryl about story lines, filming, porn stars and the future of Tranisa.

Q: Tranisa has established itself as one of the major producers of what we probably could call softcore MTF transgender erotica. What made you start this enterprise?

A: For many years I had wanted to create a range of transgender fantasy films which were 'tasteful' and fun. I have never seen any available anywhere and had no idea if there was a market for them. 

I had all the kit and skills required but no idea of how to actually go about all the admin and logistics behind making such films. I started working for a client about 5 years ago filming and editing hard core films for a famous UK sex site and soon learned the business. I was introduced to the models we use and it went from there. It is one of those industries where I think you have to be introduced to  by someone in order to get into it and understand it all. It has been a real learning curve, but fun.

Paige Turnah and Sapphire Blue.
From Rosemary's Tranny.
Q: You have mostly produced films with a focus on crossdressing and feminization of men. In Rosemary's Tranny you have -- for the first time, I believe -- made use of another motive from transgender erotica: The magical transformation. What made you do this, and in what way does this pose different challenges for you as a movie maker?

A. I guess we are really trying to create a movie out of the niche of TG Caption erotica, which does feature magical transformations as well as real female models playing the part of the transformed male. 

There does seem to be quite an interest in using real girls to play the transformed males rather than making use of a transsexual model. Maybe using a transsexual model or even a male dressed up is simply not enough to make the fantasy work for TG Caption enthusiasts?  So I knew that there is an interest in this type of genre, it is itself a niche within the world of transgender erotica. 

As this was our first magical film it was a real challenge to think up a story where magic would be a justified use of transformation. I have always been interested in horror and exploitation films and so applied my interest to the film, as I did with Shock Transformation and Sexchange Experiment Camp. 

The real problem was adding all of the green screen special effects and other visuals to make it a fun movie. It took ages to edit, far more than our regular Tranisa films. If I was to do another magical one I'd have to have some suggestions as to what story to follow.

Q: You are working with some very known stars from the British adult industry. Rosemary's Tranny features Paige Turnah and Sapphire Blue. I am sure some of my readers would really like to know how that feels. Moreover, how did you get to know them?

A: I was on holiday recently and I let out to out tour guide that I make erotic films and I work with Paige Turnah sometimes. He was amazed, as he put it "God Paige Turnah is famous". He was very curious about me after that conversation LOL.

Tranisa has also made some TG caps based on their movies.
Click on image to enlarge!
When filming I have no time to think about how well known the models are as I'm too stressed out. All of the models we use are very professional and talented at what they do. Not many people can do what they do. They really enjoy filming with us and do work very hard at giving their best. 

Paige Turnah is very friendly and a joy to work with, I do put her on a pedestal as she really is a goddess in my view. All of the female models are full of energy which rubs off on you. Their energy lasts with me for several days after a shoot. 

I got to know Paige and the other models from working with them on hard core shoots. The girls are all very nice people and I feel honoured to work with them. Sadly I don't do these hard shoots any more as the recession has hit hard and my client now manages without my talents.

Q: Have some of them asked you  what all of this feminization and transformation stuff is about?

A: On our first filming day almost three years ago the two models didn't know anything about the transgender fantasy scene. When I first approached one of the models she said,"You want me to dress as a boy?", as she really didn't understand what I was going on about LOL.

Upon explaining she was quite amazed and could not wait to get started. On that day I had a post op friend on set with me. At the break the female model asked to see her post op vagina so they went off into the toilets for study. The transgender scene is very far removed from their own lives so it is something very different for them.

Filming a scene with Paige Turnah

Q: You know I love that wonderful British humor that permeates you movies  and some of the dialogue is very funny in an understated kind of way. Do the actors improvise or do you write a complete script for them?

A: It is a bit of both. The scenes are scripted (Paige never reads the scripts, but manages very well) and we walk through it all.

Some of our best material is when we just give a very brief outline and the girls just make it up as they go. It comes across very naturally that way. Just like the way the American comedy series Curb Your Enthusiasm is filmed really.

Q: In Rosemary's Tranny your team has clearly put a lot of effort into props and surroundings. There are Renaissance magical diagrams and drawings, candles and pentagrams. Where do you find all this stuff?

Reproductions of old manuscripts are used to find
occult symbols.
A: The images were from very old works from around 1750, so no copyright issues. Seek and you shall find.....Ebay is a great place to find cheap props.

Q: Do you plan to make more movies of this kind, i.e. where the main male character is physically changed into a woman?

A: I would like to. We have to see how popular this one is first.

All of the films are very expensive to make. If you imagine we pay the models their daily rate and their expenses, together with studio hire, equipment hire and admin costs. So they have to pay for themselves so as we can continue making them. 

I think we have approx 75 films so far including the You Will Dress films. I hope to keep going for as long as people like and buy our films.

While most Tranisa movies are about crossdressing,
some also includes a physical transformation.
Click on cap to enlarge!
Q: There is clearly a market for transgender erotica, and looking at the statistics for my own site, I realize that there are millions of "crossdreamers" out there. Where do you find the majority of your customers? In Europe? In the US?

A: All over the world, there seems to be no main area. It is a universal interest that goes across all cultures. 

The non English speaking countries also purchase the films too. We have many sold in Japan.

Q: You have stuck to the less explicit kind of adult erotica, and I understand there are good reasons for this. But do you think there is a marked for more hard core TG movies? Japan's adult industry seems to produce a new body swap movie every month (all of them more or less alike), while the Western industry has not seen this market.

A: Well the hard core films are about twice as costly to make and we found they are harder to sell. The market is swamped with hard core trans films and they all look the same, it's all one big blurr. 

We did a few hard core Tranisa films but they were hard to shift. 

We also had complaints from customers asking us to keep them softcore. I think eroticism is more important for the transgender fan, verbal triggers are also very important. Hard core fans are well used to seeing it all for free on the Tube sites and don't want to pay for it. 

Also with hard core content there are many, many problems and there is always someone out there trying to prevent you from making them. When the shit hits the fan with hard core you find you have no friends when dealing with any legal problems.

Q: So where does you and Tranisa go from here? What are your plans?

A: Well good question. I don't know. I just enjoy making films. With each filming session I really want to improve on my last film releases. I hope the fans continue to write to me giving me ideas and suggestions. The response has been very good and fans go out of their way to tell me how they enjoy the films.


6 comments:

  1. Big drawback from the standpoint of the hearing-challenged: they don't do subtitles and claim "can't afford them." Problem is, of course, that means it's not worth my while to buy the films.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous5/22/2013

    I can't seem to read you the feeling anf hillbilly horror pdf files its there some place i can download them.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous5/23/2013

    i actually went to pay for this, and I pretty much NEVER pay money for porn anymore, but then I saw it was only 20 minutes long. That's about a dollar a minute, in a world where you can get all the porn you want for free.

    ReplyDelete
  4. @Anonymous

    "That's about a dollar a minute, in a world where you can get all the porn you want for free."

    Yeah, well, I guess you could say Rebecca's World provides TG porn for free, but I can assure you, it is impossible to make TG movies for free. In other words: If we want someone to make films dedicated to our audience we have to pay for it.

    The price is also a function of the market. Tranisa cannot possible expect to sell as many movies as -- let's say -- Brazzers, which means that the price has to be higher.

    As for a price of a dollar a minute: If it is a good film, that may be a reasonable price. If the quality is low, a cent per minute would be too much.

    ReplyDelete
  5. PDFs for
    Hillbilly Horror

    https://www.box.com/shared/static/dn7rrtassw.pdf

    The Feeling

    https://www.box.com/shared/static/4b29pore4ilovl1e4jy2.pdf

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anonymous5/26/2013

    I am grateful for this article, though, as I hadn't heard of Sapphire Blue, and she has such a lovely voice.

    ReplyDelete

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