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I have no recollection of meeting Buddy Wood for the first time. In fact, I can’t even recall hiring him to shoot for Grooby. It just seems that he’s been part of the company for so long, and is so ingrained into its culture – and that we’ve spent so many evenings having a beer, talking about the girls and the sites, while lamenting we were both meant to be working in Hollywood – that he is part of the DNA that makes up Grooby.
What I do know (from looking at the records) is that he came aboard in 2002, when the company was only six years old and competing for space in the boom years of the early part of the millennium. Working out of San Diego, where he was an editor for a gay porn company, which is where he met his friend Danny (Sparky Snakeden), he started producing content of trans girls from there, which developed into what would be his life’s work. When the stage name Buddy Wood was born, it was as if millions of future trans girls’ voices suddenly cried out, “Film my butt, Buddy!”
Buddy soon relocated from San Diego to Los Angeles, where the pool of trans girl talent was huge at that time. There were two super clubs: Peanuts (Club 7969) in Hollywood and the legendary Queen Mary on Ventura Blvd in the Valley. These were the days that all the top models would go to trans-specific clubs, as the acceptance and inclusivity in non-trans clubs was still far off. On any given Friday at Peanuts, you could bump into Gia Darling, Kimberly Devine, Olivia Love, Meghan Chevalier, Vo D’Balm, and any number of other trans girls. Queen Mary catered to the same girls, but was also more accessible to new girls discovering themselves (with the help of the internet), and you would find Vicki Richter, Khloe Hart, Danielle Foxx also. The scene was quite cliquey at the time in LA, and I put a lot of Buddy’s success, which translated into the success of Grooby, into how he broke down that clique. After the clubs closed, everyone was welcome back at Buddy’s house; it didn’t matter if you were the top trans model in the world or the brand new cross-dresser finding her feet, he didn’t gatekeep on age, looks, background, or where a model was in their transition. They all came together, shared a joint, had some drinks, and a bigger community was born. When you are that open and as inclusive as Buddy was, a beautiful thing happened. New girls started asking if he would shoot with them. Girls who had previously felt like outsiders, because they didn’t have the look, the presence, or the perceived value that the box cover stars had (the majority of trans porn at that time), but new girls who had that fresh ‘girl next door’ look, or girls who didn’t fit any stereotype and that’s what helped Grooby find its true direction.
If you want to make a comparison to those days, if you imagine what Andy Warhol’s Factory did for the NY art movement or the music coming out of the counter-culture hub of Laurel Canyon in the late 60s and 70s, then this was Buddy’s house in Toluca Lake. Any weekend night, there would be girls from out of town staying, people popping in, drinks flowing, and the pool full. This wasn’t a big porn mansion, but a typical valley-style corner lot, with a bit of privacy, two bedrooms, and a carpet and sofa that you wouldn’t want to shine a black light on, and would be a crime investigator’s nightmare. It was cool, it was relaxed, and it was the melting pot where everyone met. Buddy’s strength in finding new models, debuting so many, and having the reputation he does, beloved among so many of the girls, isn’t down to his work ethic, his professionalism or his drive. It’s down to his acceptance of everyone, his patience, his ability to find what makes a new girl tick, and his ability to put girls at ease, presenting them at their best, and making them comfortable and happy with the results.
But it’s not just about the models. Buddy Wood has got ideas and an eye on him. He comes from a film school background (as do I) and has developed plots and scenes over the years, from his well-received ‘Neighbourhood’ series, his Secret Service DVD, his much anticipated Halloween shoots (who could forget Daisy Taylor’s!) and of course, the on-going Poolboy series. He is, in my mind, without a doubt, the best editor working in porn, and when he edits his trailers and his own shoots, then you are in for a treat. His ideas, his look, his style, and editing make him like trans porn Tarantino or Scorsese…with a lot more buttholes.
I tried to count how many models Buddy has shot for us over the years, and gave up but picked two random years of 2017 (49 models) and 2019 (52 models), so one could extrapolate approximately 600-800 unique models. Buddy has had a few muses who he has filmed more than most girls: Khloe Hart, Hazel Tucker, Kimber James, Morgan Bailey, Domino Presley, Daisy Taylor, Celeste, and, of course, Sofia Ferreira (being the most obvious). When you look at the list of stars he’s filmed, many of whom had their first shoots with Buddy: Foxxy, Yasmin Lee, Heather Towers, Doll, Jessica Host, Amber Bangs, Olivia Love, Danielle Foxx, Amy Daly, Jesse Flores, Natassia Dreams, Astrid Shay, Bee Armitage, Ashley George, Juliette Stray, Sunshyne Monroe, Jenna Rachels, Eva Lin, Aubrey Starr, Natalie Foxx, Adrianna Rush, Jane Marie, Venus Lux, Annalise Rose, Gianna Rivera, Ryder Monroe, Kim Bella, Penny Tyler, Sofia Sanders, Chelsea Marie, Tori Mayes, Jessy Dubai, Johanna Bardin, Kylie Maria, Luna Rose, Nadia Love, Korra Del Rio, Casey Kisses, Aspen Brooks, Jamie Kelly, Annabelle Lane, Carrie Emberlyn, Lena Moon, Natalie Mars, Melanie Brooks, Andrea Zhay, Alisia Rae, Shiri Allwood, Nicole Knight, Luna Love, Claire Tenebrarum, Jenna Gargles, Gracie Jane, Natalie Stone, Tori Easton, Crystal Thayer, Emma Rose, Ariel Demure, Jade Venus, Izzy Wilde, Eros Orisha, Paradise, Ember Fiera, Lola Morena, Alexa Scout, Billie Beaumont, Bella Sky, Kalli Grace, Rachael Belle, Akaya Prime, Drewcilla, Aubrey Kate, Amanda Riley, Kasey Kei, Leilani Lei, Brittney Kade, Olivia Would, Jasmine Lotus, Eva Maxim, Genesis Green, Valeria Atreides, Chloe Jordan, Asia Belle, Jayne Calloway, Victoria Grant, Blake Lovely, Nikki North, Eris Jolie, June Ferrari, Madison Dakota, Lucy Fae, and of course, our brand ambassadors, Zariah Aura, Cloudy Vi, and bang up to date, with Avery Lust. No producer has done more to proliferate trans girls in porn, and as importantly, the widest range of trans models, as Buddy Wood.
When not working, Buddy is a huge sports fan and follows his beloved Chicago Cubs from his birth city, as well as being a big movie buff – both of which you can see alluded to in his shoots. When he’s not working, or watching his sports, he gets to spend time with his gorgeous wife, Raquel.
This honor is overdue for Buddy Wood – the trans porn world owes him a debt of gratitude. The fans really need to appreciate Buddy, even if they’re not fans of Grooby websites. If it wasn’t for him, there would be far fewer new trans girls coming through, and many of the models who came to be the largest performers in the world, started with him, and many honed their looks, their confidence and their performances with him. Trans models, almost all of whom have worked with Buddy, love working with him and should understand the difficulties in production back when we started. Buddy was able to cut through the stereotypes of what a porn producer was and present such a wide range of models to the world. We hear from girls now who tell us, they weren’t born until long after the websites were up, yet the types of models they saw on our sites give them the confidence to be themselves, and much of that is down to Buddy.
And I, of course, owe him a personal debt of thanks – not only for what he’s done for our company over the years but for teaching me in those early years about acceptance and inclusivity of everyone, about the art of the schmooze (and Buddy is one of the best schmoozers around), for the great laughs over the years, the many beers shared, the comedy stories about the shoots (there really should be a book), for the feedback, the patience, the listening and I’m grateful to be his pal.
Stand up and thank Buddy Wood.
The post 2025 TEA 2025 Lifetime Achievement Award: Buddy Wood appeared first on Grooby.
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