Female Friendly: a Web Series About a Women-Friendly Porn Production Company

Female Friendly Made Me Gasp

By Ghia Vitale
@GhiaWasHere
QuailBellMagazine.com

Female Friendly is a web series about two women who found a women-friendly porn company. Their shenanigans will make your jaw drop. Light spoilers ahead!

Believe it or not, plenty of women are curious about the world of porn. Some women I’ve talked to are interested in the sex work angle of it. Others I’ve spoken to are more interested in the production end. When I first heard of Female Friendly, I thought, “Finally! A show to fill the niche of women who are interested in porn production!”

This web series follows the lives of Alex and Catherine (Cat), two young women who are facing troubles. Alex’s boyfriend broke up with her. Cat lost her job. In the aftermath of these separations, the polar-opposite best friends decide to start a porn company that caters to women.

No, this porn production company isn't real, but the story will keep you captivated.

One thing I like is how much more relatable the characters are. Alex is openly sexual and cool, but not too over the top or appealing to The Male Gaze. Cat seems like a good girl who totally wouldn’t be interested in producing porn. Neither of these ladies actually act in the porn, but they both initiated the start-up and assembled a small crew to help with the endeavor.

I also liked how easy it was to relate to the two main characters. Cat always supports Alex, even when others are talking trash about her. Cat is devoted to launching the women-friendly porn production company, so she’s offended when other people suggest she shouldn’t do it. Although the two best friends aren’t very much alike, their chemistry is still very real.

If you like plot twists, then you’ll love Female Friendly. This web series twists and turns in all kinds of directions. There were times I actually gasped at some of the things that happened. This series is full of surprises. It’s also short and sweet, so you can either binge-watch the whole thing or watch it in increments.

Here are some questions I asked the co-creators and actors, Chelsea Alana Rivera and Taylor C. Baker. Chelsea Alana Rivera plays Alex and Taylor C. Baker plays Cat.
Here’s a brief interview:

1. What was your goal behind creating Female Friendly?

CAR -  There were two goals behind FF. We wanted to make people laugh. But at the same time, we wanted to make people think as well! There were a lot of guiding factors that were at the forefront of our minds during the writing process. First off, we wanted to challenge the patriarchal exclusivity of the porn industry. We're seeing this huge push back in mainstream Hollywood regarding the lack of diversity in front of and behind the camera which is great! Interestingly enough, that push back is much smaller scale when it comes to adult entertainment. I think a lot of men have this idea that porn is porn and everyone enjoys it, but honestly, it's like any other traditional product. When you create a product, be it tangible or not, you have to know your audience. Is it for women? Men? Both? These are questions worth asking. Secondly, television is changing! It's becoming more intelligent and inclusive, so we took a lot of these old stereotypes and turned them on their heads. For instance, our Asian nerd, a character who is traditionally desexualized, turns out to be our sexy hero! I don't want to give too much away, so I'll just leave the one example but we have fun with our characters!

TCB - Our goal in creating Female Friendly was, among other things, to create female characters that we actually related to. Far too often, I see caricatures of women on television, especially when it comes to sexuality. They are either "too" prude or overtly sexual. Of course, there are women who would consider themselves to be of those extremes, but I feel most women fall somewhere in between. Thus, Alex and Cat were born. I am very proud that our characters feel relatable to our audience. While Cat is more reserved and Alex more sassy, throughout the course of the show, they take on the best of each other, proving that we are all more alike than we think we are. Furthermore, we wanted to champion a strong, positive, female relationship on screen. If I never see another catty, gossip-y lady interaction on screen, I will be SO JAZZED. The porn, the "industry", and challenging stereotypes are all pivotal elements in Female Friendly, but Cat & Alex's friendship truly is the heart and soul of the show. 

2. What was your inspiration behind creating this series?

TCB - Admittedly, our original motivation was to write and play characters that we as actors wanted to play. You can only audition for so many "Woman", "Wife", "Hooker #2" roles before you start to lose your sanity. However, in the course of writing the show, the project became so much more.  We want to use the power of our voices as women in a male-dominated industry, and what better time than right now? Even before the lid blew off Hollywood (and the world) regarding gender bias, we wanted to use porn as a lens through which to shed light on the aforementioned topic. Why make a ripple when you can make a wave?

CAR - Growing up, I was always a fan of dumb, raunchy comedies, but HATED the way the women were talked about and presented. Touching on what Taylor said, it seemed almost impossible to be in a fun project like that and drive the story. The best we could hope for was to be the love interest of the guy who was having all the fun! For me, personally, Female Friendly was a fun way for us to flex our comedic muscles and channel our inner Judd Apatow, but do it on our terms.

3.) How do you want this series to impact your audience?

CAR - We are lucky enough to be streaming on Seeka TV, a digital distribution platform that, while new to the scene, is growing its audience by the day. We know our series has eyes on it and we wanted to make people laugh, but also be calculated about the message we send. We want women everywhere to feel comfortable with themselves and know that they don't have to fit into some stock character box. You can be an Alex who definitely leans into her sexuality, you can be a Cat who is just now getting comfortable with that aspect of herself, or you can be somewhere in between! It doesn't matter. All that matter is that our audience walks away feeling entertained AND empowered. 

TCB - Women's bodies and sexualities have been highly stigmatized in the media since day one. Literally. I mean, c'mon, Adam and Eve were rocking it until Eve took a bite of that apple. Now, we blame her for feeling all of this bodily shame while Adam just prances around letting his acorns flap around in the breeze. Let’s be real: Eve was probably just HANGRY. (Like me, constantly. Where are the snacks?!) Consequently, women are left with a constant media overload telling them they aren't skinny enough or that they are a "slut" for having a healthy sexual appetite.  We want to our audience to know that they are not alone: there are women out there who have never used a vibrator and that is OKAY! I can say that as someone who had never seen a sex toy in person until Chelsea and I shot our promo photos for Female Friendly. There are women who go to their boyfriends work in lingerie for some afternoon delight like Alex does in our pilot episode and that is AWESOME. You do you, girl! We support you on your journey to grow, appreciate, and love your sexuality in whatever way that you do it. 

Start watching Female Friendly and experience the web series for yourself. You won’t regret it.