For trans and non-binary performers there is a market of their own in Germany with demand of its own. It is smaller than the one for cis female performers and at the same time harder to cast in booking, because few people apply. This article is a working text: it describes how productions advertise, which terms come up, what belongs in an application and how the name is regulated in the contract. It is not a guide to transition and not a medical classification. Anyone who wants to work as a trans porn performer needs the answers about the work, not about the body.
The market and its size
Productions enquire for these castings regularly, for photo work as well as for video work. Reliable figures on the size of this segment do not exist for Germany, and we invent none. What can be said from booking: on a corresponding enquiry markedly fewer fitting applications arrive than on a general one, which improves the position of those who are available.
The fees follow the same ranges as otherwise: 250 to 600 euros per shoot day on photo productions, 400 to 1,200 euros on video productions, 200 to 500 euros on event accompaniment without sexual acts. There is no surcharge or deduction with us because of gender identity.
On the format side they are the same jobs as otherwise: photo sets, video productions, solo and duo scenes, occasionally event accompaniment. It is not a special field with its own processes, and the rules on set are identical with all other bookings.
How productions advertise
This is where the uncomfortable part begins, and we do not dress it up. In advertisements and in marketing there stand terms that come from consumer language and not from self-description: “shemale” is the most common, “tranny” and “TS” occur, plus constructions with “sissy”. These words are derogatory. We do not use them in our communication, and they do not stand in our enquiries to you.
We cannot prevent them everywhere. If a production markets its material under such a label, that is its decision, and it stands in the contract under usage rights and marketing. What you make of that is a working decision: some people work under a label they privately reject, because that is the market; others decline exactly these productions. Both are a legitimate choice — you should only make it before you sign, and not when the trailer is online.
In practice that means: ask before the acceptance under which category publication will take place. That question is permissible, and a production that does not want to answer it says something about itself.
What belongs in the application
Everything that concerns the casting. Nothing that does not concern it. The dividing line sits closer to practice than the question first sounds.
- Belongs in: how you want to be cast, which role designations come into question for you, which body areas may be shown and which may not, which acts are possible, which pronouns should apply on set.
- Does not belong in: diagnoses, treatment status, medication, surgical history, former names. A production does not need that for the casting, and we do not ask for it.
There is one exception, and it is purely practical: if a planned treatment or aftercare restricts your availability or resilience on a concrete shoot date, the information about the restriction is relevant — not the medical reason behind it. “Not available in this period” is fully sufficient.
What happens to your details: they sit with us, do not go to other agencies and stand in no file for third parties. On an informal email we delete them within seven days. The further rules are on our page on safety and discretion.
The name in the contract
Two names, two functions. For the legally required age documentation the name from the ID document applies — national ID card or passport, not a driving licence. This documentation is not public; it serves as proof towards authorities and platforms and is not published.
For publication your stage name applies. It stands on the material, in the credits and in the marketing. If the ID name differs from your lived name, that is a documentation process and not a subject for the set. If first name and gender entry have been changed officially, the current ID simply applies.
What we settle in advance: we tell the production before the shoot day by which name and which pronouns you are addressed. That way it is no longer a matter of clarification on set, in front of crew and camera. Anyone who additionally wants to know which details can be separated technically finds the details in the article on working anonymously.
Limits in the depiction
The yes-no-maybe list has two extra columns in this pairing that are otherwise rarely needed. The first concerns the body: which areas are in the picture, which are not, what is touched, what is not. That is not a special rule, but the same category as with everyone else — only with different entries.
The second concerns language. Which designations may be used on the soundtrack, which may not, how the role is named, which forms of address are excluded. For many this is the harder limit than any physical one, and it is just as binding: what stands on no does not take place, not even for a surcharge.
Write these points as concretely as possible. “Respectful treatment” is not a usable detail, because everyone understands something different under it. A list of words that may not fall is one.
A third point belongs here that reaches beyond the shoot: no outing as part of the marketing if you do not want that. Whether your trans history is part of the marketing you decide, not the production. This determination belongs in the contract, not in a verbal assurance.
What applies on set
The same rules as for everyone: at least three people at the casting, a studio or a booked location and never a private flat, a companion even without prior notice, no sexual acts at the casting, condoms required for vaginal and anal intercourse, an agreed word that stops the shoot at once.
And one point that becomes relevant more often on these bookings: if people on set speak about you in a derogatory way, that is a reason to end the day, not a reason to endure it. Tell us. We do not continue to work with productions where that occurs. How you check whether a provider works seriously at all is in the article on dubious offers, and the path to the application itself is the same as for everyone else.
Note: This article provides a general overview and is not a substitute for legal advice. On medical questions only the treating doctors decide.
Questions about this?
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