Written by BREE MILLS
“Porn Done Differently”. This is not just Adult Time’s slogan – it’s our motto, our mantra, and our rallying cry. Sometimes doing porn differently means taking a popular trope and putting our own unusual spin on it, or it might mean developing platform features and innovations that are unique within the adult market. It might mean championing for better standards, mutual respect, and professional conduct within our production operations. Or, it might mean disrupting the status quo of how most porn sites have run things since time immemorial, challenging conventional notions of release schedules, sexual preference partitions, and industry partnerships that are taken as a given or treated as “untouchable”.
(Humbly, I like to think that we manage to do ALL of these, and do them rather well!)
This all tends to come at a cost you have to be prepared to pay – doing things differently inherently means making people uncomfortable, quite literally “taking ourselves out of our comfort zone”. You have to be prepared for the potential for pushback from customers, industry peers, and even your own employees and colleagues who might be change-averse or don’t quite understand or agree with what you’re trying to accomplish. Furthermore, your ideas might not always succeed – that is the hazard of trying something unprecedented, after all – and you have to be ready to dust yourself off and get back up again, to not let your determination waver or you might lose that confidence to keep taking bold swings. When you try something risky and it flops then the self-doubt (not to mention all those OTHER doubters!) can sting all the more because you took a leap that nobody but yourself urged you to.
But –
– the times when it does pay off… hoo boy, does it pay off big!
I have perhaps no fonder example of this in practice than within the origins of our 2018 imprint, Transfixed. It exemplifies everything that I believe in about the positive power of advocacy, and using our industry influence to change hearts and minds. It represents a breakthrough we wanted to shepherd in so badly and for so long, but never in a million years could have done on our own. It was only made possible thanks to the courage, open-mindedness, and willingness to ruffle feathers that many trailblazers and allies demonstrated in our journey to pioneer our trans flagship studio.
Popping Our Trans Cherie
Every industry has certain “open secrets”, usually problematic or unpalatable facts about business realities that don’t generally make it to the public eye. One of these that plagued porn production in the years leading up to 2018 was some very not-so-pleasant segregation and siloing across different sexual preferences. A pervasive attitude of prejudices and phobias had been allowed for too long to define the booking practices of trans, gay, and bisexual performers (and even any who co-starred with them), gatekeeping them from being paired with many of the top-tier straight & lesbian talent of the time and sidelining them to their own bubble of content production.
Now, please don’t get me wrong, this isn’t to call out or shame any porn peers – but rather to expose the kind of systemic stigmas that can dictate decision-making. It had been normalized for so many years that it simply wasn’t questioned, and worse still new players entering the industry would be taught it was “the norm” and start perpetuating these same behaviors. Nobody was at fault because everybody was at fault, and the wheel would continue unless someone put a spoke in said wheel to stop it from turning.
…
… Oh, did you think I was going to say I was that someone? Trust me, I wish! But that honor goes to one of my most admired and respected collaborators and role models in the industry, the incomparable Cherie DeVille.
You see, Cherie approached me one day with a proposal. A grievance, even. A content visionary and razor-minded businesswoman, Cherie wanted to star in her first project paired with a trans co-star. She had a specific name in mind – Venus Lux – with whom she had a great camaraderie and off-screen chemistry, but the two had never yet had any opportunity to bring their rapport to a professionally shot scene. Cherie and Venus were eager to make it happen, but were getting naysayed at every turn – by agents, by studios, and even by professional colleagues of theirs who warned them not to make waves. “You could be blacklisted”, “your career would be over”, “nobody will want to hire you after this”. For most pornstars these kinds of threats would be more than enough to intimidate them into falling in line – but for Cherie the idea was laughable. Can you imagine someone of her pedigree and clout being told that any company would EVER turn down the opportunity to shoot her? Ridiculous! She realized she held all the cards, and the rest were just bluffing. And so, Cherie being Cherie, she decided to take matters into her own hands.
She and I had worked together on many wonderful occasions – “Project Pandora”, “Half His Age”, “Girlcore”, and countless Girlsway episodes over the years – and so she knew me well enough to know her proposal would be right up my alley. In fact, it just so happened that we were already discussing internally the idea of launching a trans brand in the near future – the timing was sheer fate! And so, we set about producing our inaugural episode, “Venus At The Party”, fusing chic glam aesthetics inspired by fashion photography with trans-lesbian sensuality and intimacy to bring our shared vision to life. The production was unlike anything we had done before – whereas one piece of content was usually filmed in either 1 day or even a ½-day, we shot this pilot over a 2-day stretch to bring the best production values and sensitivity of the subject matter to the project. If we wanted to prove the doubters wrong, we would only have one chance to get this right!
If You Build It, Trans Will Cum
Paying homage to the story of Cinderella and to the iconic masquerade ball from Jim Henson’s “Labyrinth”, the lush and ethereal 45-minute pilot was rich in both style and substance. Venus gushed about the project upon release: “A masterpiece woven with love, intention, romance, and detail unlike any movie. Strong women creating art featuring women, trans women included, this is a prime example of what I value and love.”
And sure enough, the ensuing result was groundbreaking – it not only catapulted the series into immediate managerial endorsement for a 21-episode season, but it also opened the floodgates for cisgendered pornstars across the industry to come out of the woodwork asking to be part of the project.
This was exactly what Cherie and I had sought out to accomplish – to encourage other like-minded individuals to feel empowered to speak out, and break the silence on their disapproval of these outdated attitudes and customs. Suddenly both veterans and newcomers in the pornstar community were bombarding agents and studios with impassioned pleas to start supporting more progressive practices and nontraditional pairings. The barriers that were once blocking so many INCREDIBLY talented and charismatic trans, queer, and sexually fluid performers from propelling into mainstream porn production were starting to be dismantled from within – not by us corporate-types but by a growing movement of brave, outspoken pornstars who put their careers on the line for a noble cause.
This outpouring of excitement for “Transfixed” and desire for more projects of its kind was not only talent-led. The commercial viability of our own launch has since inspired customers and companies alike to broaden their horizons and welcome trans content into traditionally heteronormative spaces. Brands like Lust Cinema in 2020, Brazzers in 2021, and InterracialVision in 2022 have joined us in treating trans attraction as mainstream instead of niche, and there are more new trans products releasing yearly than ever before – especially in the VR space. I truly believe that we wouldn’t have seen such a boom – or, at least, it would have taken much longer to reach current levels of acceptance – if our early collaborations with influential individuals such as Kenzie Taylor, April O’Neil, Sinn Sage, Cadence Lux, Ana Foxxx, Dee Williams, and all our cherished stars from Season 1 hadn’t blazed a trail that forever changed the landscape of adult entertainment.
Transfix, Transform, Transcend
“Transfixed” Season 1 and its eventual transformation into an ongoing series in 2021 became a vessel for artistic expression and personal empowerment. Recontextualizing iconic portrayals of femininity across history and pop culture through a lens of transness, we aimed to bring representation, validity, and gender euphoria to both trans women and those who desire them. Eventually, “Transfixed” became just the tip of the iceberg, as Adult Time ascended and transcended past the boundaries of a single series to expand into new projects and productions that would go on to define our catalog.
Transgressive Films: An emotionally charged, dramatic exploration of trans topics and struggles set in a grounded and too-often-flawed real world context. Transphobia, misgendering, tokenism, fetishizing, and confusion towards one’s arousal by trans bodies are subjects explored with sensitivity, nuance, and authenticity fueled by co-authorship and input by trans staff and stars. This series refuses to shy away from or sugarcoat the hardships of trans identity and sexuality, in an effort to raise awareness and empathy in audiences.
Being Trans 24/7: A docu-series seeking to explore the varied and deeply personal experiences of what it means to be trans in today’s society. A portrait of trans individuals from all walks of life, the project aims to cultivate understanding towards those things that might not even cross the minds of most cisgender people but might be everyday sources of frustration, fear, comfort, or hope for all those who can’t just “turn off” their transness when life’s not easy.
MUSES: A star showcase, talent-of-the-month campaign, and collab all rolled into one, MUSES is a luxury series co-authored and co-produced by the cream of the crop of our roster of trans actresses. Valuing creativity, inclusiveness, sex positivity and jaw-dropping quality, MUSES stands out as unlike anything you’ve ever seen before in trans porn, a visual indulgence and sensual glimpse into the mind, heart, and soul of each of our trans goddesses.
Feature Films: Casey: A True Story (2021), Office Ms. Conduct (2022) and D.O.L.L.S. (2024) mark a turning point in our evolution of trans content, each bringing unprecedented production values and project prestige to the trans market. With star-studded casts, premium budgets, ambitious runtimes and heaping helpings of originality, these represent our dream evolution of where trans content could evolve in years to come.
Oopsie!: Vibrant, playful, and sometimes completely bonkers, this colorful and comedic addition to our trans line-up doesn’t take anything seriously – except for its sex appeal. Stacked with big names and even bigger breasts & bulges, Oopsie! (ironically) doesn’t apologize for its tongue-in-cheek irreverence… or its tongues-in-cheeks action either for that matter!
Pilots & Originals: Introducing trans pairings into our existing series and content explorations has given us the opportunity to put our money where our mouth is when it comes to inclusivity and trans trailblazing. From longtime flagship brands like Girlsway and Pure Taboo, to newer launches like Modern-Day Sins and Accidental Gangbang, all the way to unique prototypes like Free-Use Industries and Extreme Pick-Ups, we want trans lovers to feel just as involved in and hyped about our most reputed product lines as everyone else.
All Aboard The Trans Train
At this point, we are way past those days where we might be met with dismissive laughs or incredulous side-eyes for holding a casting call for cis co-stars to star in trans projects. That train has long left the station! The number of A-list talent who have since filmed their first scenes paired with a trans performer has skyrocketed in recent years and continues growing by the minute. Over time we have developed an amazing “little black book” of collaborators, cis and trans alike, who we know we can call on to enthusiastically and passionately represent the pinnacle of trans sex on our screens. We’re constantly working towards new ideas for our original releases, our platform navigation, and our content recommendations to elevate the customer experience with our trans fans deeply in mind. When it comes to ushering in an era of trans representation and inclusion in mainstream, studio-quality porn, I’m so thankful to be able to say that it’s no longer a question of “how??”… but now a question of “how much!!”
Click here to watch a full Transfixed scene for free!
