Dear Handbasket fans,

We’re incredibly proud of what we’ve been able to accomplish under the banner of Handbasket Productions. In 2010 we completed the first and only porn film by and for trans women and our community, Doing it Ourselves, and were collectively put on VelvetPark’s list of The 25 Most Significant Queer Women of 2010. Just one year later, we released a campy and political sci-fi pornographic parody, The Genderfellator. We won Feminist Porn Awards for both of them.

Since then we’ve kicked off a free trans focused sex education series, beginning with the video Trans Women and Strap Ons. We’ve attended and filmed events such as Girl Talk: A Trans and Cis Women Dialog and the Butch Trans Women Panel from the Butch Voices Conference (coming in segments, beginning next week!), making these important discussions available to those who were unable to attend. And, of course, we have a constantly growing collection of the sexy, insightful and creative zines that started Handbasket in 2006.

But we have to be honest with you; despite being a for-profit business, these projects have yet to make back their original costs. Doing it Ourselves cost us $8,000. After learning from that experience, we were able to create The Genderfellator for $4,000. So far we have only made about $5,000 of that initial $12,000 investment back. That’s not bad, but until we make most of it back we can’t afford to take on any more large projects.

We’re not asking for donations, just for support. Have you been thinking about buying a copy of Doing it Ourselves? Now’s the time. Can you not afford a copy? You can still support Handbasket by telling your friends about our promotion below and how we need your support. You can also check out the wide variety of zines we have for $1-5.

The truth is, Handbasket Productions is a community resource. We’ve heard from dozens of people letting us know how much of an impact our work has had on them. Most media focuses on cis audiences because it’s hard to be profitable otherwise. When businesses are created to support the trans community, they rely on word of mouth and community support in order to stay in business. In multiple anti-oppression online discussions seen critiques of both mainstream and queer porn in which positive things were said about Handbasket Productions’ work. We don’t imagine ourselves to be perfect, but we know that we are doing something important. If you want us to be able to create more, we’re going to need your support. Here’s how:

• We’re announcing a promotion between now and the end of the year. If we get 30 or more DVD sales, then each of those sales become a two-for-one deal. Full details here.
• Fay has begun a side business, Spell Binding Books,  making high quality artistic journals and books on Etsy. Sales there support Handbasket as well. Use coupon code: HandbasketFan and get 10% off in addition to free ground shipping for the holiday season.
• Don’t have much money? Most of our zines are now available for direct download as pdf files for just $1-2, and there are even two free ones!
• Spread the word about this announcement. It doesn’t cost anything to re-post, or re-blog. Already seen one or both of our films? Write a review about them.

Thank you for your ongoing support. You make our work possible.

Much love,

the Handbasket family