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i’ve been thinking a lot about the tma/tme concept and the fact that it’s a term used to describe institutional bigotry… and i wonder about dropout’s place as institution. obviously it’s part of the tv and film industry, and that is definitely an institution. but i see dropout as this interesting liminal space in some ways, especially being a smaller company. amazon and netflix and hbo and all of those larger conglomerate monopolistic companies i would absolutely lump in with the institution. dropout though?

this is my weaker thought, but apart from d20 it’s nonfictional media. add to that its genre of comedy but also specifically improv puts it in a much smaller niche—especially as televised improv content isn’t a terribly common type of comedy media in the us outside of standup (vs for instance the panel show culture in the uk). it’s a specialized type of job, and i can see why it would be a lot harder to intentionally hire specifically diverse cast without making them “diversity hires”, especially if they’re trying to add even a single minority demographic (no one wants to be the first and only… and that leads into tokenizing even unintentionally)(also what are they gonna do send out a casting call for specifically trans women who aren’t masc? that feels like…not a good look). you’ve also got the issue that a lot of things fall into now with purity culture—having to be out as anything to play/write/be part of something. and aren’t we trying to make people stop assuming gender and sexuality on sight? adding to that scheduling issues, type of content performers are interested in actually doing, pay, and already in-production shows that could affect scheduling and rollout, it feels like it could be a lot to juggle when trying to get new talent in

as for d20, my bigger thought, it’s not just improv but roleplaying as well. the stories that they “write” and “tell” may have a beginning middle and end, they may hit certain story beats (by virtue of the players’ choices or the gm guiding them to certain things), but they’re ultimately a very loose and nebulous type of story that can’t be planned perfectly. i’ve seen people complain about the “plot” of various campaigns and it’s like…yeah dog this is a choose your own adventure book about a yeti, not the pulitzer prize in literature

in that i find it hard to apply institutional diversity issues, because it not only necessitates writing or even playing but essentially partway being a given character (and when it comes to real life minorities and issues that doesn’t get a pass the way that, y’know, portraying a half-orc rogue or something would). this is where, yeah obviously hire more trans women is the thing, because just as having more black cast made for a fantastic table full of black performers being able to talk about being black, more trans performers would be able to talk about being trans, would be able to be trans, in-story or not. again though, having the stars align to hire new trans people for d20, as a pc, for any given new campaign given all of the factors listed above (as well as, according to beardsley, being able to shoot at “3am in a warehouse”) might be harder than we realize. how often in hollywood media do we hear about actors (or even production staff) attached to a project that ultimately drop out/get recast because of scheduling conflicts? even on a reoccurring role with potential seasons to be greenlit?

but as for rep outside of player characters, i definitely see the pitfalls of attempting that. not only do the npc’s all have to be played by the gm, but they often only develop as real characters if the pc’s interact with them more (ayda being a perfect example of essentially only being a fetch-quest npc until the players paid more attention to her, and so she was developed into a very real character outside of on-the-spot improv). brennan, as far as we know, is a white cishet man with no disabilities. sure he can create characters that have features that aren’t any of those, but he also has to be them to some degree, and this is where the phenomenon of liveplay as a relatively new broadly accessible media comes in. in a home game you can say or do or sound like something in an attempt at diversity and if it falls flat or comes out maybe not quite right it’s just between you and the table. but this is a show being recorded for millions to watch in perpetuity, so the erring on the cautious side is always how that will go

tldr; this was a long and rambly way to say not a whole lot, just that i’m not sure how tma/tme makes sense to apply to something smaller than the industry as a whole, especially when dropout are at the top of the list of trying to be representative and inclusive, even if they can do better (and also to be clear this has nothing to do with the argument about whether they should hire more trans women—they should and can do better)

I do not think Dropout is the institution. I think it is large enough to be considered part of it. Like, I know this blog is not popular for several reasons, but it still has 700ish followers. They sold out Madison Square Garden. Most irl queer spaces that tend to be transmisogynistic are like, 10 times smaller than my blog. You do not have to be the entire institution, to be institutionally transmisogynist. You just have to follow the patterns of the institution. Which like, everyone does, just a little, because humans are socially influenced.

Second, transfem doesn't mean not masc trans woman. Masc trans women are transfems as well. Case in point: me.

Third, yes dropout is primarily an improv company, and while a lot of their cast is UCB allums (of which there are not that many transfems), one of, if not their largest productions, is Dimension 20 and its side shows. There may not be the most transfems in LA doing improv, but there are, a lot of transfems in the ttrpg online spaces, and as Dimension 20 has always done with other creators, it'd be a great way to platform them on a popular show.

Fourth, Jawbone O'Shaughnessy, Tracker O'Shaughnessy, Arthur Aguefort, Wally Kugrich, Esther Sinclair, Alejandro Ortiz, etc. were all plot important npcs from the first 2 seasons of dimension 20. Brennan has no issues portraying POCs, lesbians, neurodivergent people, people battling and living with lifelong medical conditions, etc etc. In fact he has actively played a transfem npc in Unsleeping City Chapter 2. So we have evidence that it's not like, an issue for him. And even if it is, that'd be cringe af. Minorities are still people. Dropout hires sensitivity counselors and does research into these seasons to represent things safely and accurately, it's not that hard to do the same for playing minority characters. Brennan straight up played a guy name Nikhil in Battle for Beyond, he's played minorities before (the character's sister was named Malini, I know South Asians when I see them, yk)

But yeah no, Dropout is doing a comparatively good job, but the bar is in hell and we'd like one of the few groups we think might actually listen to us to improve.

That gave me chills, dang.

Looks like Winnifred finally has her crew.

I like Winnifred being worried about Nikhil's fleshy body. Anide is also fascinating in her unwillingness to acknowledge the similarities with Win's experience. And the contrast between him and Anide is really interesting. I'm liking this dynamic, and I think we've finally got the found almost-family here.

I look forward to reading about the terrible things that will happen to them.

#nikhil #winnifred #anide #seek #seekblr #seek web serial #wildbow

Second, transfem doesn't mean not masc trans woman. Masc trans women are transfems as well. Case in point: me.

But yeah no, Dropout is doing a comparatively good job, but the bar is in hell and we'd like one of the few groups we think might actually listen to us to improve.

#nikhil

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