Logline
MEANT TO BE MADDIE chronicles a decade in the life of a North Carolina transgender teenager as she navigates her identity and adolescence with the unwavering support of her family. An intimate and funny coming of age story, Maddie’s journey unfolds against the backdrop of growing anti-trans rhetoric, legislation, and conservative backlash against the LGBTQ community.
Synopsis
When Maddie was six years old, she started first grade as a girl, the gender she always knew she was. While she was assigned male at birth, she had been telling her parents, Katie and Craig, about her gender for as long as she could speak. After seeing a therapist with Maddie and watching their child suffer for too long, they allowed Maddie to transition publicly. Most families in their neighborhood had not met a trans child before. In fact, a local TV news crew filmed a segment in front of Maddie’s elementary school, without the family’s consent, and claimed “a student who started school as a boy came back this fall as a girl.”
Two years later, North Carolina’s “Bathroom Bill” would catapult the state and trans youth to center stage, and Maddie would be forced to walk across the hall from her class to use the only individual stall. With Trump’s election in 2016, the family was faced with the decision of whether or not to become outspoken activists, risking their safety and their privacy. They chose to fight. This is their story.
“When Maddie was outed in a news report on TV at age six, it took away her choice to ever be stealth. We are reclaiming Maddie‘s power by becoming public advocates for trans and non-binary youth in our state and everywhere.”
-Katie
This decade-long film follows Maddie through adolescence as she and her family work to build a life filled with joy, love, unconditional acceptance and purpose. For Maddie's mom, Katie, that means going to law school at age 45 to become an attorney specializing in trans rights so that she can be ready and able to fight for the safety and sanity of her daughter. While Maddie continues to find her voice in activism, she begins to wish that she can be like every other teenager whose only worries are getting on the cheerleading squad, passing her driving test and hanging out past 10.
The film is based in observational verité: viewers will come along as Maddie goes to doctors appointments and meets friends at the pool. They’ll see Katie sworn in as a lawyer and attending a pride march. They’ll ride with Craig on his motorcycle and attend class at UNC Chapel Hill with older sister Grace. Adding to these scenes are interviews our team has conducted over the years, and Maddie’s own narration that will weave everything together, allowing her to look back at these formative ten years of her life.
The film will convey the tension that the family feels; teetering between idyllic moments of youth and adolescence, and contrasted with the harsh realities of politics and transphobia. The cinematic imagery of Maddie and her family paired with the sterile coverage of anti-trans hate.
Sample Scenes: 2016-2017
Characters
Maddie
Katie
Maddie (she/her) is a thoughtful, goofy and compassionate teenager on the cusp of adulthood. She loves cheerleading, spending time with her friends and dreams of her forthcoming independence; she hopes to be living near the beach for college.
Katie (she/they) is an attorney and a force of nature. When not volunteering at name change clinics or pride events, she fights for the rights of her daughters and the LGBTQ community as a Staff Attorney at Legal Aid North Carolina. Sometimes they worry they have overprotected Maddie from the reality she could face.
Grace
Craig
Grace (she/her) is Maddie’s hilarious and sharp-tongued older sister, a queer activist who is steadfast in her support for Maddie and the LGBTQ community as a whole. An ardent Swiftie and musician, she spends her time with friends and family when she’s not in class at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Craig (he/him), Maddie’s Dad, is a nurse who loves hunting and riding motorcycles. On the weekends, he can often be found riding with his Christian motorcycle group in the mountains or coastline of North Carolina. Craig had a bit of a hard time at first when Maddie opened up about her identity, but has shown tremendous growth in his journey. Like any parent, Craig just wants his children to be happy, safe and healthy.
Sample Scenes: 2021-2023
Director's Statement
Meant to Be Maddie is the most ambitious and challenging project I’ve embarked on; and the one I am the most proud of. That is entirely due to Maddie and her family: the relationships we have built and the love and respect we have for each other. This is truly a collaboration with the participants and it makes for a unique film; one that enables viewers to see inside the lives, feelings and experiences of Maddie and her family. It is a privilege for me to connect with them and share this story, and it is a privilege for the viewers who will get to meet them.
I come from a family of artists and storytellers and believe in the power of story to create social change, which is ultimately how and why I began collaborating with Maddie and her family in 2016 when the bathroom bill was passed.
When we began working together, I thought it would be a triumphant joyful piece about how a family overcame the challenge of a bigoted law and moved forward.But it’s become much more than that, having taken place during one of the most turbulent decades of U.S. history, particularly for the trans community. Despite more youth identifying as LGBTQ than ever before, there are also more laws curbing their basic human rights and taking away healthcare and education.
We hope that trans people and their families will see themselves and their lives reflected in Maddie’s story; that they will be inspired by her joy, hope, and support that she is surrounded by.
But this film is, in a large part, for the cisgender community. We need them to reflect deeply on the overwhelming weight that Maddie and her family carry. They cannot do it alone. It is all of our responsibility to stand up to blatant discrimination.
Why Now?
Map Key
As of December 2024
Blue: states that currently have bathroom laws
Green: states that have bans on gender-affirming care
Purple: states that have sports bans
Red: 530+ anti-LGBTQ bills were introduced in 2024
Sample Scenes: Election 2024
What's next?
With Trump’s re-election, Katie, along with many other families of trans youth around the country, are preparing for the worst. She gathers funds from her savings, requests a loan from her Mom, and goes immediately to apply for passports for herself and Maddie, in case they need to leave. She researches remote jobs and digital nomad visas, and Maddie starts to realize that she might not get to finish high school with her friends, attend prom and walk across the graduation stage. The ability to leave the country is not a privilege Katie takes lightly, but she feels that Maddie’s safety is her utmost priority. The consequences are real; Maddie cannot lose access to her healthcare. She has told her family repeatedly, if it were not for access to this care, she is not sure she would be here today.
The film will premiere during Trump’s administration – the same administration that spent millions of dollars on ad campaigns targeting the trans community. We are constantly evaluating what this means for the film, and more importantly for the safety of the family. We believe that this film and showing their joy, resilience and the family’s determination to support their daughter and sister are more important than ever. Viewers who think that they do not know a trans person will have a better understanding of the real and dangerous consequences of the anti-trans backlash and rhetoric sweeping the country. It is vital that audiences understand what the trans community is up against.
Film Team
We are so proud of the team we have assembled to make this film.
It is imperative that our team is representative of the people in the film, in order to ensure that we are doing justice to Maddie, and not bringing harm to her or her communities. Our core team is composed of cis women, trans folks and parents of trans kids. We hire consultants and sensitivity viewers from within the trans community to discuss our materials and edits. Some of us are queer, some of us are allies, and some of us are still trying to figure out how we identify. Below you can learn a bit more about our team.
Miles Hill (they/he)
Editor
"I'm working on this film because as a trans man who's dealing with a bigoted parent I hope the story of Maddie's parents can inspire parents to accept their trans children. As an editor, I'm excited by the creative challenge of crafting a story that takes place over 10 years and features 4 characters. I love everyone on the team working on this and believe in our collective vision."
Miles is interested in work that furthers transgender liberation. MEANT TO BE MADDIE is his second time editing a documentary feature.
His feature documentary editing debut WHAT WILL I BECOME (ITVS) seeks to unravel a deeply disturbing truth; according to the American Academy of Pediatrics, more than fifty percent of transgender boys have attempted suicide.
Anna Clare Spelman (she/her)
Director, Producer, DP
"The project began as a ten-minute film, coming from a place of moral outrage and a sense of responsibility to help Maddie and her family tell their story. Over the past nine years the film has transformed into something much deeper and more personal; they have become my second family."
Anna is a three-time Emmy-nominated filmmaker who is passionate about storytelling that focuses on healthcare and human rights.
Her work has been named a Vimeo Staff Pick and has been recognized by the GLAAD Media Awards, the Webby Awards, the Edward R. Murrow Awards, Pictures of the Year International, and NPPA Best of Photojournalism among others.
MEANT TO BE MADDIE is her first feature film as a director.
Bridgette Cyr (she/her)
Producer, DP
"As a queer documentarian, I strive to amplify the stories of those I love who are often misunderstood and overlooked."
Bridgette is an award winning filmmaker and audio producer. As of late, her work has a focus on access to education, healthcare, and LGBTQIA+ rights in the rapidly evolving American South.
She is a 2024 Southern Producers Lab Fellow with the New Orleans Film Society and was selected for the Investigative Reporting Workshop for Filmmakers at UC Berkeley in 2018.
She is the Director of Photography of SANTUARIO (2018) which won the Jury Prize for Best Documentary Short at the New Orleans Film Fest.
Luchina Fisher (she/her)
Producer
"When Katie first reached out to me, I knew as a fellow parent of a trans child and advocate that I wanted to be involved."
Luchina Fisher is the Emmy Award-winning director/producer of The Dads, a short documentary about five fathers of trans kids bonding on a weekend fishing trip, which won the 2024 Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Short Form Program and GLAAD's Special Recognition Award.
Her feature directorial debut, Mama Gloria, about a Black trans elder activist, was nominated for a 2022 GLAAD Media Award and broadcast on PBS.
Luchina is also the director/producer of several award-winning documentaries and scripted shorts films, and teaches documentary filmmaking at Yale University.
Additional Crew
Alix Adrian
Consultant
Tony Zosherafatain (he/him)
Consultant
Tony Zosherafatain is an Emmy shortlisted and GLAAD nominated filmmaker known for his stories about underrepresented and marginalized communities.
His films have screened at domestic and international film festivals, including Nashville Film Festival, Cannes Short Film Festival, Richmond International Film Festival, OutFest, NewFest, and Frameline.
He wrote and directed the critically acclaimed series Trans in Trumpland, which was shortlisted for an Emmy award and nominated for a GLAAD award.
Julia Wall (she/her)
Additional Cinematography
Julia Wall is a cinematographer, editor and photographer based in North Carolina who is passionate about visual journalism and storytelling in the state. She has worked on documentaries and for local, state and national news outlets there.
Her work has won a MidSouth Regional Emmy, screened at film festivals across the U.S., and been published in The Washington Post, ProPublica, The New York Times, TIME, National Geographic, The News & Observer, The Assembly, and PBS North Carolina.
Budget
We hope to raise $316,000 for the final year of production and dive into post production and
begin developing our impact and educational campaign.
We have fiscal sponsorship through the Southern Documentary Fund.
Timeline
2016
Research
2016 - 2025
Production
We anticipate 30 remaining film days
2024 - 2025
Editing
&
Impact & Educational Work
2026
Premiere
Behind the Scenes
