The Motivation

When the Brady Bunch was redefining what family looked like, I was an only child being raised by a single parent in rural Pennsylvania. And while Ellen was coming out of the closet on her sitcom, I was proudly watching in a room full of already-out friends in the East Village.

As invaluable as these examples of otherness were for me and many others, I have yet to see characters on television that accurately reflect the full range of diversity I experience in my everyday life. For example, I am proud to be married to one of the smartest, funniest, kindest, bravest, most talented and beautiful women I have ever met – who also just happens to have been born male.

Our definition of family has broadened considerably since widower Mike Brady married the (mysteriously single) Carol. But single parents are still mostly portrayed as divorceés, widow/ers, or irresponsible teenagers, as though the millions of single-parent households in the U.S. currently are all by-products of some tragedy or mistake. And sixteen years after Ellen’s famous “Puppy Episode,” there are many more gay protagonists, but most are shallow, sassy stereotypes. And transpeople are rarely represented as anything other than victims of violence or punchlines to tasteless jokes.

My reality has been so much more complex and textured, and my writing, I hope, reflects this. Anyone can be a victim or a punchline. Or beautiful. Or even heroic.

I have had to learn to empathize with, root for, and even love all kinds of characters who, on the surface, bore very little resemblance to me. In my experience, we all have more in common than not. By telling stories that remind audiences of that, I hope to help fill this void.

- Jen Ralston, writer/director