Wachowski is — along with her sister, Lana — the most powerful and influential trans filmmaker around. The 58-year-old had gifted us “The Matrix” series, “Bound” and “Sensse8,” to name a few, and yet, after her critically acclaimed series “Work in Progress,” about a middle-aged lesbian who begins dating a much younger trans man, was canceled by Showtime after two seasons, she spent years pitching “cool and queer trans stories” to Hollywood but couldn’t find a single taker.
So, Wachowski took matters into her own hands, joining forces with Bay Area film programmer Sarah Marie Flores and producer Lawrence Mattis to form Anarchists United Foundation and Anarchists United Studio with the mission of championing stories from marginalized communities. Here’s how it works: The foundation provides grants and fellowships to aspiring filmmakers, mentorships via its Directors Prep & Pitch Lab and office space courtesy of United Spaces of Anarchy, while helping fund the studio. Anarchists United’s first project is “Cassie Workman Is Witchy AF,” a DIY docuseries that features the trans Aussie comic exploring the history of the occultism and magic with her trademark wit. It will debut Sept. 16 on YouTube.
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What compelled you to form Anarchists United Foundation and Anarchists United Studios?
The story is: I was talking to Sarah Marie Flores, who is our third in the triumvirate of the Anarchists — between me and Lawrence Mattis — and was coming out of this TV show that I’d worked on that I was really proud of, “Work in Progress,” which went for two seasons, got on all these top ten lists and didn’t get the viewing numbers that the studio wanted, so we were summarily canceled and a few months later pulled from streaming. This rankled me. There was something particularly special about working on “Work in Progress” to me: It was the first time I was able to cast as many trans and queer people as I did, and in all of that representation and seeing all these people onscreen who I’d never gotten to see before, I was like, This is something that makes sticking around in the business worthwhile. So, when Showtime turned around and canceled the show even though it was so critically acclaimed and really made for peanuts, it lit a fire under me. I saw all these windows closing and opportunities dwindling for marginalized voices, and I was like, “Somebody needs to do something about this. Somebody needs to make another attempt at the old United Artists model where it would be an artist-run studio.” And Sarah said, “That someone is us.”
I don't go around saying that folks who enjoy HP are necessarily transphobes, but I do take issue with people spreading, popularizing, and financially supporting it. That money is being directly used to attack trans people and even fund lawsuits that silence accurate reporting from advocacy organizations. You're not necessarily my enemy because you like HP, but you are funding someone who means me and people like me harm. There is room for nuance there, but nuance is part of a conversation, not just a word to throw around to shut it down.
Calling on people to make better choices isn't an attempt to drive them away, but an invitation to work together.