"It's Time We Started Telling Our Own Jokes, Don't You Think?"

"What Hollywood exec would greenlight a show based upon someone's gender transition without it being some sort of joke?"

That's the question Marlo Bernier asks in her YouTube spot advertising the fanbacked page for the television series she's developed about her own transition - Myrna - An Original Dramedy Television Series. 

"Going the conventional route would take decades." 

I think we can all agree that's an accurate assessment, considering the representation of pretty much every other group except straight, white men in Hollywood. We're all fringe, people. We're all underrepresented.

After a successful career in front of the camera and on the stage, an actor is willing to sacrifice everything when she finally confronts her true gender identity and transitions from male-to-female. 
We follow Myrna as she struggles to find work as an actress, wrestles with a manager who still wants to send her out as her former-famous self, Michael and deals with the drama of her friends' reactions as they make an effort to come to terms with Myrna and her life-altering transition.
Myrna is comical, caustic, moving and deliciously dark.

I want to hear this story - it speaks to me. What the hell could a 40 + heterosexual mother-of-two have in common with this character? A lot. That's the point. This is a human story. I could insert my own specs into this plot - as could probably all of you. Here's what I mean:

After an amazing few decades as a childless person in NYC, a woman is willing to sacrifice her freedom and financial stability when she finally confronts her drive to be a mother.
We follow Maria as she struggles to find work as a freelance writer, wrestles with a family who still wants to see her as the irresponsible baby who needs to be taken care of and deals with the drama of her childfree friends' reactions as they make an effort to come to terms with Maria and her life-altering transition.

Who wants to see the same damn characters over and over and over again? I don't. I want to hear Myrna's stories. I want groups who are underrepresented in Hollywood - basically everyone besides heterosexual white men - to tell their own stories, or at least be considered valuable enough that Hollywood is driven to not merely make them punch lines.

"It's time that we started telling our own jokes, don't you think?"

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