Totally Transfixed: Seeing Stars On the Set of 'Muses'

A version of this feature appears in the June issue of AVN magazine. Click here for the digital edition. LOS ANGELES — Before the sex could commence—before the director’s slate clapped and the Honey Birdette lingerie dropped to the floor—Bree Mills tended to one final order of business. “Where's my phone?” the Adult Time Chief Creative Officer murmured to no one in particular. Unfolding before Mills in the center of this Sun Valley, Calif., studio was a photoshoot featuring Emma Rose, Jade Venus and Khloe Kay—three of porn’s top trans performers. Mills, of course, would eventually have access to all of the glamour shots, but she also wanted to capture some images of her own. “I’ve been waiting months for this!” said Mills, her voice radiating with excitement as she snapped photos of the all-star trio with her iPhone. “What a photo! What an iconic photo!” And even more so, an iconic moment. Not just for Mills and her Transfixed brand, but for the entire adult industry. Rose, Kay and Venus had gathered that day in late March to shoot the first-ever group scene for Muses, a new series masterminded by Mills that debuts this week on Transfixed. The goal of the yearlong project, Mills said, is to honor trans performers who have stood out as ambassadors to the Adult Time brand. Each month, Transfixed will release a high-end “luxury scene” pairing a trans performer with a cis female. And once per quarter, the studio will drop a group scene featuring three trans talents with a surprise cis guest star. A tryst involving Kay and Jane Wilde kicked off the series this week. Siri Dahl joined Rose, Venus and Kay in the inaugural—and “iconic”—group scene that will be released later this year. “There are all sorts of Vixen Angels and ‘girls of the month’ at other studios,” Mills said, “but there’s never been a space that’s highlighted trans women. These women have become superstars. They are their own mega-brand. “Our goal with this project is, ‘How do we honor these performers who have inspired us? How do we give back?’” Along with gifting them with high-priced lingerie from Honey Birdette, Mills is allowing each “muse” the opportunity to choose not only their partner for each scene, but also the theme. Venus, for example, picked a motorcycle concept for her tango with Brooklyn Gray. Rose, who worked with April Olsen, selected a 1800s, Marie Antoinette motif based loosely on the television series Bridgerton. From the costumes to the set, Kay wanted her scene with Wilde to feature lots of pink. “Most of the time,” Kay says, “I’m in gym clothes. I usually don’t wear makeup and I never get my hair done. But inside, I feel very girly and pink, like a cupcake. I wanted to show how I feel through my scene.” Kay is appreciative to Mills for giving her that opportunity. She labeled the experience “surreal.” Rose called Mills “a trailblazer” and Venus thanked Mills for being one of the trans community’s biggest advocates. “We don’t get recognition like this from other studios; we don’t get fun stuff like this,” Venus said. “Bree doesn’t follow the status quo. She’s doing what other directors aren’t. Everyone should learn from her.” Indeed, Mills has long been regarded as one of the adult industry’s elite directors and producers. Two of her movies—Teenage Lesbian (2020) and Casey: A True Story (2022)—nabbed Grand Reel honors at the AVN Awards. But with Transfixed, Mills is flourishing like never before. The launch of Muses comes on the heels of award-worthy efforts such as The Physical a four-scene, doctor’s office-themed storyline involving Kay, Dee Williams and others; and Fairest of the All featuring Natalie Mars and Emily Willis in a multi-part series. Transfixed also unveils sizzling, single-scene featurettes showcasing the top trans and cis performers in porn seemingly every week. Mills’ passion for working with trans talent is one of the biggest reasons for her increased, and often-frenetic workload in 2022. But she’s also striving to meet her audience’s growing demand for trans content, as Adult Time’s metrics show that people are seeking out material in that genre like never before. Basing her information on questionnaires and previous viewing history, Mills said many of the consumers clicking on trans content are doing so for the first time. “What’s been cool,” Mill said, “is to not only see increased interest from people who already watched the content, but also a decline in the people who watched none of it. We have fewer and fewer of those who say 'absolutely no trans content’ on their viewing profile. “So yeah, the decline of the haters is the most interesting statistic to me. The content we’re making is piquing curiosity. We’re helping to normalize.” And also to educate. As Mills noted, adult content often marks the first time many viewers have been exposed to transgender women. They may be confused about how content makes them feel or have questions about the performers’ lives and their transition process. One of the goals of Muses is to address those issues. Before the group scene involving Kay, Rose and Venus, Mills conducted a heartfelt, roundtable interview with the three performers. She asked each of them to tell their transition stories. They talked about what it’s like to live as a trans person in today’s society and tackled common misconceptions about gender and sexuality. Mills said the interview segment could prove to be just as popular as the sex scene that followed it. “People will watch that interview and learn things,” Mills said as she stepped away from set. “I get messages every day from people who don’t know where else to get answers to their questions. Maybe there’s a guy out there that has never seen a trans woman before. He sees one and finds her attractive, and now he has to deal with how he’s feeling about his own sexuality. There’s no forum to have these conversations about sexuality as it relates to different gender identities. Why can’t we provide that? “Why not try to trojan-horse some important messages into the content? Something where you walk away from what you thought was jerk-off material, and now you’re actually thinking about what you watched.” The rising interest in trans content among viewers is coinciding with an influx of new talent on the performer side. More than ever, trans models are flocking to the adult industry, where they are experiencing a level of comfort and acceptance that, only a few years ago, may not have been as strong. “Trans girls don’t feel like they’re going to be objectified—at least not at the same level as they may have been before,” Rose said. “There are so many new, educated and knowledgeable fans. They’re recognizing them for who they are and not just because of genitalia. “There are so many new girls out there who are both beautiful and functional. They are coming in with hunger. They want to work.” They’ve also seen that they can make good money, a perk that was magnified during the pandemic. Unable to shoot studio porn during COVID, models were forced to create their own content to make a living—and that content was consumed at a high level by porn fans spending more time than ever online while stuck at home. As a result, performers earned a solid paycheck on their own and realized they didn’t need to depend solely on studio work for income once COVID protocols were lifted. The top models in 2022, Mills said, are only accepting shoots they are passionate about, and that leads to higher-quality content. “Now you have less dependency on studios,” Mill says, “which means less dependency on taking on projects that maybe you had to take before, just to pay your rent. Also, it made performers say, ‘Wait a minute. My brand is really worth something. In fact, it might be worth far more than I’d ever thought before, and I’m in control of it.’” Mills pauses. “It leveled the playing field,” she says. “The power dynamics have shifted. It’s no longer, ‘Oh cool, I get to work with this big brand. Instead it’s, ‘That company gets to work with me.’ It’s really equal footing now. The performers have the big brands, the power. No one is going to remember me at the end of the day, but they’re for sure going to remember Emma and Khloe and Jade. “They’re role models now. They’re celebrities. And that’s the way it should be.”