KENT COUNTY, Michigan — Brittany Devon, the co-founder and CEO of She Them Productions, is gearing up to film her first documentary which will focus on Pride festivals and participants, asking the question – What does Pride mean to you?
The Grand Rapids-based production company has been creating original content since becoming an LLC in March of 2022. All the content, which includes the digital series Platonic Girlfriend and the short film Falling, has been scripted, but that won’t be the case with this next production.
“That’s something that has kind of bit me in the past, having too much of a vision or a plan that you get attached to it, and I think I really want the people to guide this,” Devon said.
The Ada native who uses they/she pronouns is kicking off the project this weekend at one of the biggest pride events in the county.
“I get to be at LA Pride,” Devon said. “The vision of this is something I've had for the last year, and it's cool because my girlfriend also had a similar idea. So we're going on this trip together, and we were able to kind of merge those ideas.”
She will arrive back in West Michigan just in time to get interviews and footage at the Grand Rapids Pride event on Saturday, June 17.
“Grand Rapids is my roots, so that's where I originally had planned to kick this off and have She Them be a large presence at that pride,” Devon said. “Actually, LA Pride wasn't even planned. We just had a trip out there and we found out that Pride was happening. So we're like ‘that's perfect!’ It will be really cool because it's one of the biggest Prides in the country, so to be able to include that as well alongside Grand Rapids, I think it can kind of show maybe some parallels and differences.”
She said she’s also open to getting footage from other Pride events around Michigan and beyond. One of the goals, Devon said, is to create a film that fully encompasses Pride.
“My hope is that it can be submitted to film festivals and it can be used as promo material,” she said. “I think that I want it to capture people's pain and the beauty in that, their journey, their hardships that are even in our own families, and really just giving people roots behind the celebration and this excitement, and giving people an idea of what that means. Hopefully, it can expand people's minds.”
Devon said the project falls very much in line with her reason for starting a production company in the first place – to create a lane for people within the LGBTQIA world.
“That's the work that I’m passionate about. And if you look at my body of work, it's mainly that. That's why I feel like I'm here. That feels like my purpose. And just being who you are, not only standing up for that and the advocacy for that, but also normalizing that in the world. That change, it has been taking place, but there's a lot of work to do,” she said. “I really want people to have a voice and a space, and to be able to give them that is really I feel like what pride is about, right? The visibility.”
To everyone celebrating Pride, even from the comfort and safety of their own home, Devon said this:
“Wherever you're at in your journey is valid. I think that people can think that their queerness, their transitions need to look a certain way, and they don't. If you're still battling with or you’ve only come out to yourself, that's valid. I think that it can be scary to come out in a world where we are pushed back on and disowned so often. And I think that just to celebrate whatever step the individual has taken within themselves is so important. And I just want to make sure that people can feel seen and like they have a safe space, at least with me.”
To learn more about Devon and her production company, click here.
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