HOLLYWOOD—The 7th Annual Transgender Erotica Awards (TEA) Sunday night gave Grooby Productions and distributor Third World Media plenty to cheer about, with Grooby's Shemale Secret Service taking home the trophy for Best Transsexual DVD of the Year and Third World co-owner/director Ed Hunter being honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award.
A big-budget, storyline feature, Shemale Secret Sevice stars Doll, Chanel Couture, Khloe Hart, Stephanny Tricks and Natalie Foxx, plus Jane Marie in her first ever hardcore scene. Its Best Transsexual DVD honor, sponsored by Gamelink, was accepted by Marie along with co-actor/producer Christian XXX and director Buddy Wood, who commented, "Shemale Secret Service, a move about shemales protecting the president—what more could you want?"
This year's Lifetime Achievement Award, sponsored by Grooby, was presented to Third World's Hunter by general manager Diego Castles and a former recipient of the award, Gia Darling, who is also a member of the AVN Hall of Fame. In making the presentation, Darling referred to Hunter as her "mentor in the adult industry."
Hunter has directed over 900 movies, a great number of them within the transsexual genre, all over the world, including in Thailand, Brazil, Japan, Europe, Mexico, South America and the Philippines. He gave a very special thank you to Stephen Grooby, CEO of Grooby Productions.
Grooby and Third World also took home a trophy at the TEAs for Best Fourway Scene, from the title All T-Girls Vol. 1 and featuring Nina Lawless, Michele Firestone, Chelsea Marie and Miranda Meadows. That award was sponsored by T-Girl Nights.
The celebration continued on Monday night with the official TEA after-party at Avalon nightclub in Hollywood (where the awards ceremony was also held the previous night), attracting a couple hundred top transgender stars, company owners, F2M performers and more for what many called one of the best industry after-parties in years. Amongst the stars in attendance were Foxxy, Chelsea Marie, Morgan Bailey, Jamie French (who won Best Website for TSJamieFrench.com), Shemale Moran from Japan, Michelle Austin, Christian XXX, Eva Cassini, Tyra Scott, Venus Lux, Tori Mayes, James Darling, Courtney Trouble and and Elena Daluca, as well as directors Buddy Wood, Blackula and Radius Dark (who helmed All T-Girls Vol. 1). Music was provided by DJ Sparky Snakeden.
"Kristel Penn and the Grooby team did an incredible job putting both events together," Third World sales manager David Peskin said.
