Actresses, Web stars, groundbreaking entrepreneurs and a lesbian couple in real life Jill Bennett and Cathy DeBuono recently spoke with our friend Lesley Goldberg for Backstage.
When roles for out lesbians became more and more sparse Jill and Cathy -- who’d already carved out a place in the annals of lesbian web history on AfterEllen and SheWired with Cathy’s advice show What’s Your Problem? Jill cohosting We’re Getting Nowhere and later hosting The Violet Underground and their live call-in Skype topics’ show The Gloves are OFF-- took matters into their own hands and produced and starred in We Have to Stop Now (WHTSN).
WHTSN features Cathy and Jill as married therapists navigating their relationship while still managing to see patients. The show, which finished its second season earlier this year, costars the hilarious Suzanne Westenhoefer as their therapist and features cameos by Family Ties star Meredith Baxter.
Backstage chatted with the web stars about the ups and downs of self-producing and what’s next for the pair.
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While fans adore Jill in front of the camera she expressed a desire to try her hand behind the scenes:
This has been our world for the last two years, and we obviously have learned a lot, and both of us at this point, especially when it comes to anything that's LGBT-related or for the LGBT audience, I don't want to just be an actor on anything anymore. Now that I've done it, I want to be behind the scenes; I want to be a producer on it because I have very strong opinions on what works and what doesn't, and it's going to be really difficult for me—especially if I continue to do stuff for this community, which I hope to do—to just be an actor on it.
The couple also chatted about a few projects they have in the pike including a reality show:
We have a lot of projects in the works right now: We have a TV reality show, we have film—just about every genre in development right now that we're trying to get made. Getting a distribution deal from Wolfe legitimized the project. Given that it was literally a $2,500 budget, to get a distribution offer and to be playing in film festivals overwhelmed by $250,000 to $1 million films definitely legitimizes the series. It's been really good for us. It's my hope to continue to do stuff behind the scenes as well as acting in front of the camera.
The seasoned duo of actresses also offered a bit of advice to aspiring out starlets.
Back Stage: What advice do you have for other out actors who may be struggling to find roles?
Bennett: Make your own. Especially if you're a woman, you have to make your own. I really hope things change, but by and large, any mainstream representation that the LGBT community has is men. You don't see a lot of lesbian characters on TV. We're watching the "Rizzoli & Isles" effect right now: These women aren't even lesbians. But because there's undertones of lesbians flirting, women are losing their minds. That goes to show you that we are desperate for our stories or some sort of representation. Unless there's something going on that I'm not aware of, I don't see anything coming our way in that direction. So make your own content. The Internet is there for you.
DeBuono: And send Jill and I your résumé and headshot. Because if there is a Season 3, we want to talk to you.
Read Lesley's full interview with Cathy and Jill here.
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