Written by BREE MILLS
Cliché or not, when it comes to trying to connect with someone I truly believe that honesty really IS the best policy. And that’s just as true for art as it is for intimacy. We as directors, filmmakers, auteurs and artists want nothing more than to connect with our audiences, to elicit genuine emotions in people through our craft. Adult entertainment is no different from other media in that regard, and perhaps even all the more profound for welcoming the lonely and the touch-starved into its warm embrace and providing some much-needed connection – connection with the fictional lover they get to envision joining them in their fantasies; connection with the talent bearing their sincerity and vulnerability for all to appreciate; and sometimes even connection with the work itself as it transforms the passivity of “watching” porn into the immersion of “experiencing” it. The works that shine brightest in this regard are the ones that feel realest, that offer an authentic window into the truths of love won and lost, of lust outweighing logic, of attraction provoking action. This realism is what I sought to capture within “True Lesbian”, an honest and earnest portrayal of sapphic desire that builds from a foundation of truthfulness to tell its stories.
WRITE What You Know
Two clichés in one article? Shame on me… but the old adage still stands strong. The underestimated power of writing what you know – which is to say, drawing from personal experiences and anecdotes to inspire your stories – is that your pieces will overflow with authenticity. After all, fiction doesn’t get much “realer” than when it actually happened in real life, now does it? So many of my favorite projects over the years share one thing in common, which is that I can recognize personal touches of myself and my romantic history infused into the work. Now granted, that’s not to say I was ever a repressed straight housewife or a scheming mad scientist in real life (although marketing can sometimes feel as close to “mad science” as you can get!) but rather that there’s something deeply personal about the allegories, the morals, the character motivations & psyches, or the underlying attractions that define the films. I wouldn’t be half the director I am today if I weren’t always consciously or subconsciously instilling my projects with all manner of things that I’m passionate about or are important and meaningful and precious to me.
But why stop with just me? I’m only one woman, with one life lived. Hardly enough to even scratch the surface of the vast lesbian landscape we can tap into for endlessly deep, rich, and varied sexual tales. How better to make each of those tales ring truest than by directly translating their personal experiences to porn? And who better to tell those tales than the real women who have lived them?
And so, I set out to create “True Lesbian” to fuel more of that authentic representation of sapphic exploration that touches so many lives. Each episode drew from genuine recountings of real moments or deeply personal fantasies that were shared with me by friends, loved ones, colleagues, and collaborators. Themes of bicuriosity and uncertainty, sexual epiphanies, closeted angst, and the euphoria of self-discovery weave together a tender and thoughtful tapestry that unite us all by our common thread of women who love women. Whereas our other lesbian series sell a fantasy, I wanted this series to have truth running through its very veins.
Write What You LOVE
One of the porn concepts we talk about often at the office (first coined by our Programming Manager 3X West) is “relatability”. Put simply, the theory goes that the more relatable a fantasy is, the more it will resonate with audiences. Relatable protagonists are ones where we can easily picture ourselves in their shoes; relatable love interests are ones that feel plucked straight out of our everyday lives. If the plot, dialogue, sex positions, or overarching theme challenges the suspension of disbelief or sexual appeal of the fantasy in the viewer’s mind, you risk alienating your audience. Relatability doesn’t exist as a binary but as a spectrum, with some content being more relatable (either more to an individual, or to more of the population) and some content being less relatable. But generally, we believe that even when our projects are daring and unusual, we still want our members to find bits they can relate to as they consume our products.
Writing not just what you know, but also what you happen to know you love, combines this mindset of relatability with that authenticity I mentioned above. If YOU find something appealing, alluring, arousing, then there are surely like-minded people around the globe who feel the same. By representing your own passions and attractions honestly within the porn you create, you will draw others to you with similar tastes. In this way you are cultivating an audience that “gets” you, and you “get” them. All of the guesswork goes away in trying to figure out what kind of content to produce next, because if you just stick to what YOU enjoy then you know that the community you’ve created will enjoy it too.
And so for “True Lesbian”, I loaded the series up with the things that I myself was fascinated by and drawn to, especially those that other lesbian series didn’t seem to satisfy. Quiet moody moments with nothing being said (and everything being said by the silence); heightened visual focus on facial expressions, body language, and the negative space between actresses to build sexual tension and anticipation; an attention to the subtle touching and caressing before any clothes ever come off. These elements that I loved so much and saw represented so little, I knew would resonate with all the viewers out there who loved them as much as I did.
LOVE What You Love
True Lesbian was such a joy and delight for me to create because it truly spoke to me – and spoke FOR me – not just as a producer but as a human being. I can see myself, and so many of the amazing women who I’m surrounded by every day in this industry, all reflected in every episode we’ve released. I encourage everyone who ever has an opportunity to explore their creativity within sexual spaces – even if just by writing erotic fiction as a hobby online, or meeting up for a naughty roleplay, or taking boudoir photos for a loved one or for yourself as a confidence boost – to approach every one of these moments with raw honesty and authenticity. If you love what you love – and love WHO you love – confidently and unapologetically, you will feel infinitely more fulfilled by the pursuit. And if you’re lucky, you might find kinship with a special someone or someones by living your truth. So be True to your heart – and the rest will follow.
Click here to watch a full True Lesbian scene for free!
