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History, Hollywood Hustle, and the Lavender Scare with Lisa Cordileone #61
31 Plays5 days ago
The Lavender Scare — the 60-year federal policy that allowed gay people to be legally fired from government jobs — is the subject of Lisa Cordileone's historical fiction TV series Committed, and in conversation with co-hosts Kenyon Farrow and Mattie Bynum, she makes a compelling case that its echoes are very much present today. Lisa pushes back on the tendency of queer film to market itself as an education for straight audiences, arguing instead for stories where queer people simply exist, the way they always have — intersecting across race, class, gender expression, and history. Drawing from nonfiction, stoicism, and overlooked histories like Hidden Figures and The Imitation Game, she builds characters who battle with morality rather than slot neatly into hero or villain roles. She's particularly drawn to questions of colorism and passing — and how her own experience as a white queer woman means living simultaneously at the intersection of privilege and otherness. For Lisa, Power Beyond Pride means thriving without shame: not just surviving visibility, but choosing a life of truth.
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Transcript
AI's Impact on Hollywood and Storytelling
00:00:00
Speaker
Hollywood's melting right now because it's AI and tech is moving so fast and so much faster than public policy. Like we're seeing something where this is a moment for independent storytellers to go make their thing. I think everything's hard no matter what you're making. So you might as well just make the thing you want to make.
00:00:17
Speaker
i mean, yes, it's hard, but you just are going to choose your hard. do you want to play within the system or do you want to make your own system?
Introducing 'Power Beyond Pride' Podcast
00:00:26
Speaker
Hello and welcome to Power Beyond Pride, a weekly queer change-making podcast bringing you voices and ideas from across our fierce and fabulous spectrum to transform our world.
00:00:38
Speaker
I'm Kenyon Farrow, I use he, him pronouns, and I'm a writer and activist based in Cleveland, Ohio. And I am your other co-host today, Maddie Bynum, your actress, comedian, and once former dominatrix in a former life. But you know what? We're here today to start something new.
00:00:55
Speaker
And in this episode, we are joined by the beautiful Lisa Cordelion. She is a L.A. and Raleigh & Durham-based writer and filmmaker working on the Lavender Stair film and other queer-specific films.
00:01:08
Speaker
Welcome, Lisa. Welcome, Lisa. Hello. How are you guys? We're great. How are you doing? Good. Good. This is nice. This is so happy Sunday.
00:01:18
Speaker
I'm glad you're here with us. yeah So thank you for taking the time to join us for this conversation. So first and foremost, looking at your body of work, you've accomplished a lot in a short period of time.
00:01:33
Speaker
And what I mean, yeah, it feels it feels like it's been a long, long road to God knows
Lisa Cordelion's Artistic Journey
00:01:40
Speaker
where. OK. you we Yeah. it's I understand that feeling, but we' we're still young at heart, if not young and she fire So based on that, you know, what would you say are the experiences in your life that help kind of shape your your activism and, you know, your movement work now? I think that being an actor is, or being any kind of artist, is being an activist.
00:02:06
Speaker
You know, if you're an actor, you're auditioning, auditioning all the time. And if you can get the auditions, it's been pretty slow in our industry lately. And that caused me to start writing early on, started writing and figuring out what I have to say as an artist and taking time with that. And that naturally became bigger than just auditioning for other people's work and figuring out what I have to say as an actor.
00:02:29
Speaker
And I think as as a gay woman and as a white gay woman, as I look at how the world is continuing to change and how my world is opening up to me. I'm looking at, God, this is such a big question. I'm looking at like my own biases that I hold for myself and how I was raised and maybe how I see the world around me.
Art as Activism for LGBTQ+ Representation
00:02:50
Speaker
And I'm diving into the things that scare me most.
00:02:52
Speaker
And that inherently is activism and and political sometimes. So i use my work as an actor, writer, producer to tell the stories that align with my mission, which is giving representation to our community.
00:03:07
Speaker
all of our communities in the best way I know how. So I just I use art in that way to my art is my activism because I'm pretty shy about, you know, Instagram and social media stuff. So it's my way to speak up is through my scripts and through my stories.
00:03:23
Speaker
So you mentioned just in that response, kind of the ways in which you think about using your privilege to help other people in terms of the work that you create. But, you know, what roadblocks have you faced, you know, when you were starting out either as an actor or making that transition to writing or or directing and producing?
00:03:41
Speaker
I feel like for me, everything's a roadblock. I mean, it it just, this is a, this industry, the entertainment industry it's been hard. Like I didn't really know anyone in the industry. My family wasn't part of this industry. I'm the only actor in my family. So,
00:03:57
Speaker
I picked up and moved to Chicago for 10 years and worked on stage there and then went to L.A. after that for for a while. So for me, it's there's always been just getting in the room, just getting a meeting, let alone an audition. It took me many, many years to me, almost 20 years to sign with an agent for TV and film.
00:04:15
Speaker
And I've been studying and training, doing work for years, but just to get in the room. is hard. Then once you're in the room, well, then you're in the game. You haven't even really gone into the game because you haven't booked anything yet. So it's it's such a a long journey and it has been. So i've I've run into a lot of roadblocks just getting in the room.
00:04:35
Speaker
And I'm interested in building building rooms with people that I want to work with because it's so hard. This work is so hard. So I want to have fun and I want to be challenged and respected. And so Those are high standards and hard to find all the time. So I'm always interested in building teams, building teams. I think that's what gets me more excited than just auditioning or just trying to get in the room is how do we how do we create space for ourselves?
00:05:02
Speaker
Yeah. Well, since you're now in the room and welcome, we love having you in the room. I like room. It's so beautiful. It takes you back to my childhood. We used to sing a song called Plenty Good Room. So there's the lots of room in this room for you. And we love that you're here.
00:05:15
Speaker
yeah And I see that, you know, a lot of your your films are doing really well in the international film circles and all those things. So I want to ask you two support questions. One, where do you draw inspiration for the stories that you tell other than just your life and and or things that are directly in your life? Where do you draw other inspirations?
00:05:33
Speaker
And also, what particular filmmakers have inspired you the most as you go on your journey time? Okay, so the first question, this is a good question. It's changed from my 30s into my 40s what's inspiring me. And over the past five years, I would say I read a lot of nonfiction and I read a lot of history and I read a lot about technology.
00:05:54
Speaker
So I'm really into... old tech, analog tech. I'm into the history of women in tech, things like Hidden Figures or or The Imitation Game. These are the types of movies that I really love. I'm like, what are those stories that we haven't heard about before about LGBTQ characters or Black characters or all different characters that we've never heard their story from underrepresented communities who've changed the world in in ways we never learned about in school? I want to learn about who these people are.
00:06:22
Speaker
So I'm drawing inspiration from history and technology and nonfiction books. I'm also, i was reading books about um stoicism and a lot of books about stoicism and philosophy.
00:06:33
Speaker
And I started to instill some of these different traits into the characters I was writing, like integrity and morality and justice and basic good human qualities. Because I i like to see a character battle with their morality instead of just the bad guy or the good guy, you know.
00:06:49
Speaker
So I'm drawing inspiration from that. And the other question, I'd have to say like one of my favorite directors out there is like Todd Haynes is at the top of my list. And I'm a big fan of watching a lot of female actor actors or female actresses who are starting to direct for the first time and watching their directorial debut. So that's been really fun. So any number of actresses who've been on set for years and years who are getting behind the camera.
00:07:16
Speaker
I think that's awesome. I love that. I think as an actress, I think eventually that's where I want to transition is into production. yeah Because yeah to me, I would say ban on set is a beautiful thing. But one of my favorite things is sitting with post-production and watching how they do and put everything, all the pieces together.
00:07:34
Speaker
So I do want to double back to to your project, Lavender Scare. Can we talk about that? Can you give us some information sure about what's going on with that? Sure. So basically, i wrote a a proof of concept for a television series, and it's called Crazy as a Loon is the title of the proof of concept. It's set during the time period of the Lavender Scare, which began in
Unveiling 'Crazy as a Loon' TV Series
00:07:56
Speaker
1947. And it lasted really, I think, until Obama repealed Don't Ask, Don't Tell. So till 2010. So it lasted for 60 years in America and is making its way back into the
00:08:08
Speaker
into our world right now. And people know about the Red Scare, which lasted for like two years, but the Lavender Scare actually lasted for 60, which meant if you were gay, you couldn't work for the government legally. You could be fired.
00:08:21
Speaker
And I just found this very interesting. So I created a TV series and this proof of concept, Crazy as a Loon. And i created these like original characters who I thought could plausibly live in this time and space. So they're not based on any one person. They're just figments of my imagination. So it's historical fiction, but it lives in that lavender scared time period.
00:08:44
Speaker
The proof of concept called Crazy as a Loon is now making its festival debuts. We just got into Dances with Films in Los Angeles. So we'll be screening there next month, which is great. And we have more coming up.
00:08:57
Speaker
And the idea is to use it to build on and shoot the first season of a show called Committed, and the TV show is called Committed. And it's it's about the same thing.
00:09:08
Speaker
It's funny because i knew one thing I just realized is the three of us, so I don't talk about it much anymore, but i my my background is in theater. I was an actor. I've studied theater in undergrad and eventually stopped acting for some of the challenges that you mentioned that were more business related than they had to do with my talent. on you And went into it.
00:09:28
Speaker
And into writing, you say, and doing other kinds of work. And one of my favorite, that sort of period that you're kind of looking at, especially specifically like thinking about the 1950s and 60s and the kind of Red Scare and Lavender Scare is actually one of the things I'm just super interested in. um yeah i think what's interesting, as you mentioned, now we're in this moment where i think actually both things are kind of resurging. So the kind of Lavender Scare we're obviously seeing in the what's happening with the rollback of LGBT protections at the state level,
00:09:59
Speaker
And then obviously at the the federal level. But then there's this kind of undercurrent of going after people for various kinds of political stances, right? In a way that we saw in the 1950s and 60s. And you have spent your time kind of living and working in projects between L.A.,
00:10:18
Speaker
in Raleigh-Durow, North Carolina, and so much of how our kind of politics right now is animated by blue state, red state, north, south, big city, smaller city, rural, urban, you know, these sorts of divides. So I'm curious to know, as you've kind of done work and lived in both places, you know, how do you what would look like meaningful change in the country that kind of honored those different sort of dichotomies, north, south, east, west, big city, small city, red state, blue state, etc.
Art and Conversation as Community Bridges
00:10:51
Speaker
I think... What I can say what I think would garner change is conversation. And I think that's what art does, whether it's a painting, sculpture, picture, and in this case, a movie or a TV show.
00:11:05
Speaker
One of the greatest things about going to film festivals or going to community centers, like we screen this in Durham at Duke Memorial Church and at a local bar in Raleigh just as a community gathering.
00:11:17
Speaker
And conversation about our history, about our shared history and about American history. It's not just LGBT. It's America. It's not black history. It's everyone's history. It's American history. And I think having conversation, whether it's in Los Angeles or it's in Raleigh, Durham, North Carolina or in Charlotte where we shot it.
00:11:37
Speaker
is all a benefit. And one of the greatest things I like about being back in North Carolina is it's such a purple state and you really do get an opportunity, I think, to have conversation with people if they're willing to have it.
00:11:51
Speaker
In LA, I lived in West Hollywood. Everyone's very blue in West Hollywood. So not that meaningful conversations don't happen there because they do and people are fighting, but if if there's one thing i could say that would bring us together it's conversation and having discernment and wanting to learn about other types of people and really understanding that we have so much in common you have so much in common with one another and i'm and i just choose to use stories to do that so i don't know in terms of like legal or anything like that but yeah
00:12:26
Speaker
And we love a good story, especially storytellers. I do want to say we have to go for a short, quick break real quick, but we will be back with the beautiful Lisa. And and I definitely want our our viewers to continue to keep listening because it's going to get juicy as we keep talking. Oh, no. All right. Stay with
00:12:49
Speaker
Welcome back. This is Power Beyond Pride, a queer change making podcast. And I am Kenyon Farrell here with my co-host, Maddie Bynum, talking with the amazing Lisa Cordelione.
00:13:01
Speaker
Yes, so I have a quick question for you. And I think this is a topic that lot of people are wondering about you, because as I'm looking at your extensive bio over here, you are everything from a writer to a voiceover actress to TV show, to acting and producing and now also a founder and freelancer.
00:13:20
Speaker
So how do you juggle time and where do you find your comfort space to recharge? where do i fall Well, how I find my comfort space to recharge is in the move back to Raleigh-Durham. Really, to be outside of L.A., I've found perspective and some peace.
00:13:37
Speaker
I've been hustling for 20 years in Chicago and L.A., and during the pandemic, I made my way back here like a year after the pandemic. And then our union went on strike, and... I don't know. There's something about being around family and there's something about getting older where, you know, I've hustled for a long time and I have a nice, I have a deep network and great relationships with wonderful people all over.
00:13:59
Speaker
And I just learned that I don't need to be any one place to do what I love. So I'm finding peace just being Back in North Carolina and and also that space early in the morning, I get up pretty early and I try to read and read or write very early in the morning. And that is grounding me for each day to stay like aligned with like what I'm doing and stay on track. But yeah, I'm juggle a lot of things because I'm curious about a lot of things. And You got to make money. so I'm auditioning for TV stuff or for films. And then like if I book an audio book, I'll like dip over here and like record a book for a week and I'll get back to my writing. And yeah, so it's it's always a juggle.
00:14:40
Speaker
Multi-hyphenate. So with all of those various projects and roles that you take, tell us about your favorite project. know a lot of artists don't like to say what their favorite project is. I'm like, they're all my favorites. Oh my God. If you have a favorite, we'd love to hear about it and why it's so important to you in this moment.
00:15:00
Speaker
I can, oh man, so hard. So I have like, I have like a favorite play I just did and a favorite audio book I just did and a favorite like I would say this crazy as a loon, this idea for my show committed is probably the thing I'm most proud of in terms of as a writer, producer and an actor. The team we brought together for this, we brought in 40.
00:15:21
Speaker
forty We hired 40 people to shoot this from seven states. we We produced the hell out of this thing. And I'm very proud of how we produced it. We used recent graduates and alumni from North Carolina School the Arts in Elon, as well as very established people in New York and l L.A. And it was a great mentorship learning situation on set.
00:15:40
Speaker
And even for myself as an actor, which is why I wanted to, part of why I want to make this is to get those opportunities to work on set. So I'm really proud of this project that I made here with with with our team. I'm really proud of it.
00:15:54
Speaker
I just narrated this audio book that's coming out soon. That's for it's about LGBTQ plus history. And so ah I want to say it's a book for maybe like middle school, like maybe fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, something like that, like middle grade book and art up. And it has like, it spotlights different people in history, like Harvey Milk and like all the way back, like it goes through time. And I was really happy to have that book land in my lap. And I think it's coming out during Pride Month.
00:16:25
Speaker
And I'm like, I got very emotional just like reading the foreword in the book or the introduction of the book, because I wish I had had that book when I was a kid. And I was like, I can't believe this is a book that kids get to have.
00:16:38
Speaker
Because i never would have had I never had that book. And so get to get to narrate it was like, that one was really special recently. yeah i forget I have to like look up the name.
00:16:48
Speaker
i don't even remember the name of it. It's coming out soon. It's on Audible. Look me up on Audible. it's It'll be out soon. After this show, everybody's going to be running to the Audible subscription to look you up. Because i when I tell you, I have a very vast Audible subscription collection. And now that I know your name specifically, I'm going to like, oh, did she read my book? Is that what listening to?
00:17:06
Speaker
So I'm definitely going to go and be more intentional about what I listen to so I can listen to um cool I All right, cool. So I learned a new word recently. Well, I didn't learn a new word, but I guess I'm really getting more into the word that I'm and it's becoming more reverent in my everything that I do. But do you see the power in intersectionality?
00:17:29
Speaker
And do you think that that is something that. we need to talk more about or discuss more in the world. Like a bigger topic, I would say, I guess, is that something that we need to dive into more as a collective of i think that I think that intersectionality is is a representation of the
The Role of Intersectionality in Storytelling
00:17:52
Speaker
world. And we can talk about it or not talk about it, but it's the truth of who we are as as as people who live on this planet. And when we do talk about it, it's very important. And I think that it's critical to represent. I'll speak to it in terms of like even even my work. It's critical to represent like in my show, i have characters who are and Native American, who are white, black,
00:18:15
Speaker
queer, bisexual, trans, all different types of characters. And it's not to check boxes. It's because we all exist. And so because we all exist, we need to see how we, I think, how I dreamed it up is how we all existed together at one time and still do. And and in our industry, when you're making like a film that's LGBTQ film, it's usually geared towards men or towards women and more recently towards trans or non-binary audiences. That way can be marketed in a specific way and reach those audiences, which I can understand.
00:18:48
Speaker
But what I don't see a lot of is crossover. and And that's the intersection of can't we just exist? And I'm starting to see that even in how our film gets programmed or not. We're actually not hitting so much with the LGBT film film festivals, because ah i think in part, I don't know the answer, but I think in part because it's not inherently queer. It's it's really where our hook is that it's an American story. And so there's it's not outwardly sexual or anything like that. It's about a family who happens to be a mixed race, mixed family, adoptive family that exists today.
00:19:24
Speaker
and i And I just thought, well, wouldn't they have existed back in the 40s and 50s? And what would their life have looked like? And how would they have had to survive and yeah or try and thrive in some way? What would that have looked like?
00:19:37
Speaker
So yeah, I think intersection, I could go on and on, but I think intersectionality is critical. and And I'm really interested also in diving into race and not just race, but colorism and femininity and masculinity. I'm like very interested. When I saw Passing and what Rebecca Hall, speaking of an actor who had a directorial debut, Rebecca Hall did Passing with Ruth Negga and Tessa Thompson, I just thought that was a gorgeous film talking about that nuance of how we pass because we choose to. Then I went down a whole dissertation thing and read a whole dissertation about passing and whether people passed on purpose or not, if they voluntarily passed or if they involuntarily passed because it was put upon them.
00:20:17
Speaker
And these are very interesting things I could at least relate to in some small way as a white woman because of my queerness. So I'm living at the intersection of privilege and otherness. So I'm very interested. like I could go on on. I'm very interested in how how we play with privilege the line of privilege that we have and the line of otherness that we have and how we live and exist in the world together. So that's that's like a core of like what I'm working on right now.
00:20:43
Speaker
Yeah. And I will agree that is a conversation that definitely, no, no, no, that's a conversation that needs to be had because I definitely agree with you on all of those as passing as something and colorism is something that we don't discuss. We we do not talk about that, whether it's just in black and brown communities or just as a collective as as the whole of American history.
Challenges and Passion in Storytelling
00:21:03
Speaker
That's a big thing. So, yeah, i'm still learning I'm still learning, but that's, that's, I'm very curious to learn ah more about this. Yeah.
00:21:13
Speaker
Yeah, I think. one And one of the things I hear you say, too, and thinking about, you know, your work and trying to tell kind of embed queer people in stories in an authentic way that isn't like this is a gay film. This is the lesbian film. You know, this is the trans film, know, that kind of thing, which and is one of things actually that I get frustrated by as a viewer with kind of a number of LGBT specific, especially when it's very clear that it's being marketed to kind of cross into a mainstream sort of straight audience. There's a level of which sometimes the scripts to me are always like, this is what bottoming is.
00:21:53
Speaker
This is what, like, this you I'm saying? It's very, like, and I'm at... Film goers sometimes and those things, it's like I'm often like well, this isn't for me. This is purportedly about me, but it's not for me. Right. In that way, because it's it's so much of it is trying to set up as like an education on certain things in a way that that can be frustrating as a queer person living in the community, living in this body that, you know, are starting to see that ah in some things that that get produced.
00:22:22
Speaker
But, well you know, this is the ask your question, not so much about that, but like you could you could be making work about anything, right? About you could you could you could take an easier route, I think is what I'm trying suggest. I never do that. But if you listen to my fam, my family is like, you're taking the hardest route. Like even when I've talked to mentors, I'm like, oh, I'm going to I'm going to adapt nonfiction.
00:22:46
Speaker
in into narrative, not a documentary. I'm going to nonfiction, create completely original characters from the past and put them, they're like, man, you're making it so hard on yourself. And I'm like, but it's, I don't mean to, it's just where my natural curiosity is. And although it takes time, the process of that time and the processing of information is changing how I see the world and it's changing what I have to say. So I don't know even what I have to say. I'm i'm figuring it out. It's that's the fun part. you know Yeah. And so is that something? Yeah. My question was going to be, you know, what inspires you to kind of do the hard things, right? As opposed to going, doing, I don't even want to say anything to to like shade any other work that's out there, but you know what I mean? Like doing something that could be more just an easier route of of stories to tell.
00:23:35
Speaker
I think it's just, I think it's all hard. Even if I were to tell fluff stories that were on trend, it doesn't matter. Hollywood's melting right now because it's AI and it's, you know, we're seeing something happen in our industry that we've never seen happen before.
00:23:50
Speaker
Our unions are trying to keep up and are fighting for us. Like tech is moving so fast and so much faster than public policy. Like we're seeing something where this is a moment for independent storytellers, independent filmmakers to go make their thing.
00:24:04
Speaker
that this is This is a time for artists because Hollywood's changing. So i to your point, I think everything's hard no matter what you're making. So you might as well just make the thing you want to make and find a way to do it.
00:24:16
Speaker
And to me, it doesn't seem like it's, I mean, yes, it's hard, but you just are going to choose your hard. do you want to play Do you want to play within the system or do you want to do the hard outside the system and make your own system?
00:24:27
Speaker
So just, it's it's all going to be hard. So just pick the one that gets you up in the morning. that's I hope you don't mind if I borrow that statement. I like that. Like, everything day is hard. So just choose your heart. And and I think that is very true to it because, one, i think we can all agree on the two things. One, as LGBT members, I love how people... i know i heard this growing up. but Why would you make your life harder than it has to be? And I'm like, well, who said I made it harder? Not not you, but me, you know?
00:24:56
Speaker
So I think that anything that we do is going to be hard. But even as an actor... I love tackling the harder things because to me, the beauty of acting and the beauty of storytelling is finding the nuances of the underlying story.
00:25:09
Speaker
So like you said, not making it out loud clear, but having a clear underlining to me, I love that part because then I get to really do the hard part to make that underlying come to life.
00:25:22
Speaker
So where it's like you come to the movies, I love going to the movies to see one thing. and then end up leaving learning something totally different. So it's like as an actor, that's one thing that I try to work on. So I definitely agree with you on that one.
00:25:35
Speaker
And I do have to mention that we do need to go to break and take a quick short break so we can continue to pay the bills and keep the the lines the flowing and and the recordings going. that So if y'all don't mind holding just a few seconds with us, we'll be right back with the beautiful Lisa and the always amazing Kenny. All right.
00:25:53
Speaker
We'll be right back.
Rapid-Fire Personal Segment
00:26:00
Speaker
Welcome back to Power Beyond Pride, where we are talking with the filmmaker, producer, and media activist powerhouse, Lisa Corleone. I am Maddie Bynum, the hostess with the mostest, and I'm sitting here with my always fabulous, beautiful, he looks good in leather, he looks good in suede, he wears anything, Kenyan Farrell.
00:26:20
Speaker
And Lisa, I just, you know what, you have truly brightened our day. So I thank you for being here first and foremost. But I do want to come back in and ask your question. So we were talking about the movement work that you do.
00:26:32
Speaker
And so now I want to shift a little bit from your movement work and I want to come into more of your personal. Are you ready to ask some personal questions? Answer some personal questions? I don't know. We'll see how it goes. I'm going to let Kenyan take the first question because i don't know if ready for my question just yet. But Kenyan going to start us off and we're going to personal. We're going to dig a little deeper. Right. The first question will be a little little gentle. So,
00:26:58
Speaker
When we talk about queer movement, we often talk about, you know, pride, right? Pride Month, Pride Weekend or what have you. But, you know, this podcast is called Power Beyond Pride. And so when you hear that phrase, what does that mean to you?
00:27:14
Speaker
Power Beyond Pride means... To me, it means no shame and it means thriving. Beyond, it's like a breakthrough or something like that. It's not just pride. it's It's living in in joy, thriving.
00:27:32
Speaker
Well, ain't no shame in my problem, honey, because keep stepping whether they like it or not. So I agree with you on that one. Most definitely. So now we're going to stay into it. terrified. terrified. I have no clue. I have no idea where we're going. Okay, go ahead. That's the beauty of it. love it. Look here. If y'all could actually see our faces right now, are having way too much fun here together. But we are going into our rapid fire round. And what I love about rapid fire I like catching people off guard because you can't think you have to say the first thing that pop in your head, whether it's X rated, G rated, L rated, Y rated, whatever you want to consider rating nowadays, TVMA, all of those things. So just whatever pops in your head,
00:28:15
Speaker
Let that come out your mouth, okay? and There's yeah there's no no holes far. So, Kenyon, you want to start us off with the first round? I'll start us with the first question. Okay, so first first one.
00:28:28
Speaker
What's a song that always makes you want to dance? Anything by Dua Lipa. I don't know. oh Okay. It's true. but but but Yeah, anything by Dua Lipa or any funk music. Like, I really love funk. I don't know why.
00:28:44
Speaker
Me too. Well, wait a minute. i Hold on. Cause I don't like all kinds of funk. Cause people's funk and funky and then funkadelic. That's that's the kind of a mixture of things that may not go together. That's fair. That's fair. gottad be careful the but But I will say this. So what was the stupidest dare you've ever agreed to doing?
00:29:04
Speaker
ah Probably like a bungee jumping thing when I was like in college. ah Like one of things that like swings you through. yeah i have a fear of heights, so I don't know how I did that. But yeah, I'll do I'll do anything once.
00:29:15
Speaker
Zip lining ah in Mexico. I went zip lining in Mexico and i have a massive fear of heights. Yeah. I was terrified. What's your favorite book or book series but that has come out in the 21st century? So books published in the last 25 years.
00:29:32
Speaker
Your favorite. Oh my goodness. Books published in the last 25 years? I mean, I read nonfiction. So it's okay. All right. Look, I have one right here. Okay. Here's the one. Here's the one I'm reading right now. yeah This is like an actor glossary.
00:29:46
Speaker
This is Brene Brown's Atlas of the Heart. I love this book. This book like breaks down emotion for you. It's a great book. Okay, I'll go with that. I don't know if I mean my emotions are already broken down because I may not get back up, but I will definitely dive into a good nonfiction book over here. Which filming techniques best captures your vision?
00:30:10
Speaker
Filming techniques. I'm not a director, so that's why i always hire directors who are smarter than me. ooof i'll I'll just say i i like I lean into as a writer silent scenes.
00:30:22
Speaker
I really love silence. I like taking i like taking somebody's senses away, whether it's sight or sound and amplifying the other. So that's that's a technique i like to do as a writer. Since we're talking about the fall, what's your favorite band?
00:30:36
Speaker
Oh, man, I'm so bad. I'm not good at bands. When I was young, it was like Rage Against the Machine or something like that. That's what you did, though. I'm Rage Against the Machine. You see, right.
00:30:48
Speaker
Now it's like John Batiste or something. i have no idea. So I'm more in that zone. I'm very Cynthia Erivo radio all day long on my thing. So I'm like, I'm over here now. I'm like more like pink as she gets old. Like, Christine, I like singers who can sing. So that's where I'm at.
00:31:04
Speaker
And all I like singers that can age with their age. I guess that that's the word I'm looking for. They're not still trying to do the things they first started. Like you can see their progression as they come along. I love that.
00:31:17
Speaker
So dating wise, let's get into dating. What is the worst dating experience you've ever had? I went on a date in L.A.
00:31:28
Speaker
off of like an app or something like that. And when I got there, we had been talking. We got drinks. I did a stand up about this, actually, and like an open mic about this. And as we're talking, she's she goes, yeah, let me just let me just text my wife. And I was just like, wait, wait, like you're married. And she was like, yeah, my wife's in Toronto. I'm here in L.A. use the app to make friends. And I was like, this is like the first I was hearing about it, like being friends. And I was like, then why are you on that?
00:31:55
Speaker
wait, you're married and you want friends and you're on this. And I was like, I feel like you're using it wrong or I'm a moron. And I and i just lost like $18 on a single drink. And i like I wish I had just So that was pretty...
00:32:08
Speaker
I'm like, what? what so i don't So I don't use the apps anymore. I'm off the apps. I'm not into that. I like PD. I'm old school. I like meeting people in person. I'm good one-on-one. travel a lot and I meet people a lot. So if I come across somebody, I like interacting organically and in that way.
00:32:25
Speaker
I don't know. bo What's the most irrational superstition that you have? Irrational? ah Oh, God.
00:32:36
Speaker
Irrational superstition. and that That the Buffalo Bills will finally win a Super Bowl. and if i if i wear my old if I wear my old sweatshirt from the ninety s that they're going to win one year. So that's ridiculous. But I'm a big Bills fan. I'm from New York. oh right hear I like it. I'm from New York originally. We're from upstate New York. So I'm a Buffalo Bills fan. Yeah.
00:33:05
Speaker
When you are preparing to do voiceover, how do you get into that process? Like, what's your process getting prepared for it? If it's a commercial or anything, animation, i warm up.
00:33:17
Speaker
And if it's audiobooks, I warm up. i warm I warm up. I warm up my voice. I warm up my body. I warm up. If it's a book, I prep the book by reading the whole book first and prepping it like I would a script.
00:33:29
Speaker
And last one. So if you had to say...
00:33:35
Speaker
When this is all over, you look back on your life, good what is the experience that you want to say that people had of you who came across you personally or your work?
Lisa's Legacy of Honest Storytelling
00:33:49
Speaker
That it was honest. Hmm. That it was honest and that it was from the heart and that it was, yeah that it's, that it's truth or the truth as I experienced the world, it's, that it's honest.
00:34:04
Speaker
No bullshit. No. i think probably my favorite word is integrity. So I'm just a dork for that. I just don't want to make anything that's not true. Yeah. wow it's the hard That's the hard route. That's the hard I chose was, oh man, it's gonna take me a long time to get anywhere.
00:34:23
Speaker
I think that sums it up completely right there. Integrity and was it honest? I love that. I think anyone who truly does take the hard road, that's really what we want our legacy to be, is like, was there on it honest and pure and true? I like that. Felisa, where are some places that people can connect with you now, like your social medias, where are you located? What do you Things like that.
00:34:46
Speaker
what Do I do? see It sounds like i all I do is read and write, which is true. That's pretty much what I do. I'm on Instagram. That's really the only social media I use. It's just my name at Lisa.CordLeon. So Lisa CordLeon. Our short film has like at crazy as a loon.
00:35:03
Speaker
If you do that on Instagram, it'll show up. but That's pretty much the best place to reach me, I guess. All right. Thank you so much, Lisa, for being here. But we are out of time for this podcast, but we hope that we can have you back again and, you know, that you will be able to to join us.
00:35:19
Speaker
Thank you, guys. Thank you for this. This is a great conversation. I feel like I may have let you down with some very serious answers, but because I came in and it was so it was so fun when I got here. And then I was like, no you have been a ball. I've enjoyed it. You know, our shenanigans go from highs to lows, the mediums, the east to west. but I have truly enjoyed this conversation. like I've just got a new best friend. So I can't wait to meet with you al outside the show and let's connect and get together and do some stuff.
00:35:50
Speaker
But yeah, I definitely thank you again for being here. Like you said, but ah y'all can find her and instagram is le at at Lisa.CordLeon, not the Don CordLeon, but Lisa.CordLeon. And she is always at a bookstore near you or on Audible. If you want to listen to her voice first to get to know her voice, and that way you can get to know our personality later, just look up Lisa Gordon-Leon on Audible, iTunes, Apple, all those beautiful things. And I am Maddie Bynum, your co-host with the Moses, and I am here with the beautiful Kingian. You can follow me at Maddie Simone 737 on Instagram, Maddie Bynum on Facebook. And I do not give out my ex because I try not to be on there because I'm trying to be a whopper. at this point in my life. So there you go.
00:36:35
Speaker
I'm similar. Thank you so much, Maddie. Again, I'm Kenyon Farrell, your co-host. And you can follow me on all socials at just my name at Kenyon Farrell. Again, I keep the X.
00:36:46
Speaker
only because I don't want someone to steal it and then use it to do nefarious things. But you can find me pretty much on everything else, just at Kenyon Farrell. And also, just to the audience out there, remember to subscribe and get your friends to subscribe to Power Beyond Pride on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And be sure to check out our website at powerbeyondpride.com.
00:37:11
Speaker
Empower Beyond Pride is a project from A Great Idea. queer-owned design and content agency. Learn more about them at agreatidea.com. This episode is produced by Shane Lucas. Asmita Sarkar is the project developer.
00:37:26
Speaker
Our editor is Jared Redding with support from Ian Wilson. We are both part of the podcast. Awesome hosting here at Power Beyond Pride. And we invite you to send in your questions and comments to our website, powerbeyondpride.com, so that we we can stay abreast on what is going on in the streets. All right.
00:37:43
Speaker
Yes, indeed. And check out our new episodes each week. And we look forward to queer change making with you each time next time. Thank you from all of us at Power Beyond Pride.