Always on
This project successfully funded on 6th October 2025, you can still support them with a donation.
This project successfully funded on 6th October 2025, you can still support them with a donation.
We need your help to fund our short film which shoots this Autumn in Cornwall!
"A transgender woman searches a Cornish coastal town for a lost boy but quickly finds herself in a race against the law."
Hey, I’m Isla, a transgender woman from the UK and the writer and director of The Boy. During my time at some big time film university in London, a lecturer said there’s nothing more dangerous on a set than a writer/director…and I can’t fully disagree with him. But I think it’s important that we make and watch more films about trans people that are written by trans people. Having produced Royal Television Society Award-winning queer comedy Split Ends and written Cornish language comedy Kernow Bys Vyken, I’m keen to transfer those skills to tell an empoweringly funny story about trans women’s fight for equality.
During a year in which transgender people are in more peril than ever, the shallow tropes used to portray trans people in modern films and shows just won’t cut it anymore. The Boy doesn’t paint its trans heroine as some stoic, tragedy-ridden martyr. The Boy is a film about a trans woman living in a screwed up world - that is most definitely out to get her - but doing so messily, joyfully and hopefully. And she doesn’t just represent trans women, but rather I think, she speaks to all of us. This is a cowboy-inspired comedy about fighting back during times of increasing Authoritarianism…as one would expect of course.
What compelled me to get this script turned into a real life short film? Bristol Production Van, a camera company who provides kit to productions all across the South West, sure felt like The Boy needed to happen. They’re supporting the film with some very fancy camera kit that, in combination with our talented and accomplished Cinematographer Charlie Davies, will make this film look (in technical terms) really really cool. And it doesn’t stop there: We’ve got an amazing Producer in Harry Faint who’s created and worked on a whole tonne of acclaimed short films and that’s not even mentioning the expertise and achievements of the rest of the crew. So if I may say so myself, this production is the real deal!
But, the team behind The Boy have the tough challenge of raising the funds needed to turn this timely story into a reality. And so, we turn to you dear reader and fellow ‘what the hell is going on with the world’ thinker: If you can, please consider donating to our campaign to get The Boy made. And think of it this way - with the price of a cinema ticket to Superman or Wicked being around £10 and a Netflix membership costing even more: why not instead pay to watch The Boy? A film that, I swear on my non-existent collection of Harry Potter First Editions, will be better than Superman and Wicked and any film you’ve ever watched on Netflix. Think it over. Support the films that speak to you the most. Join us as we try to give a voice to the increasingly voiceless.
There’s a whole lot more that I can say about The Boy but I’ll let the film speak for itself. Thank you for taking the time to give this a read and I hope that you’ll join us in turning this film into a reality.
Sending my love and best wishes to you all,
Isla
Funding method
Keep what you raise – this project will receive all pledges made