On June 4th, Scorpio Rising Films launched a crowd-sourcing campaign, which, within 10 days, reached its goal on Fanbacked.com and created instant support for Myrna, a new dramedy following a successful actor who sacrifices everything to transition when she "finally confronts her true gender identity." The show will touch on real issues facing transgender people like employment discrimination and social ostracism, while Myrna navigates "the highs and lows of discovering who she truly is." Myrna will be played by Marlo Bernier, on whose personal story the show is based.
Jennifer Fontaine, Executive Producer, said about the goal of the show:
With this show we are striving to represent the under-represented, giving a voice, a face, an understanding of the fact that no matter what label you slap on someone, we are all part of the same human race.
Included in the team are Director and Co-Writer, Ted Campbell, veteran casting director, Marci Liroff, who successfully cast several films like Mean Girls, Footloose, Pretty In Pink, among others, and Kristin Beck, the first openly transgender Navy SEAL, as part of the producing team. For Beck, the show has some personal implications, and she says:
I want the general public to get the real facts. Transgender stereotypes, bigotry and prejudice have had their day; it is time to advance civil rights to everyone and truly free ourselves.
Fontaine says she has been partners with Campbell and Bernier on several projects in the past decade and "this show is a culmination of our shared experiences and love of telling stories that touch the core of the human condition."
The show will begin principal photography August 26 in Los Angeles, CA, and then the pilot and first season will be pitched to various networks upon completion.