This is actually the last in a five-part collection profiling the panelists from GO’s digital Pride event “LGBTQ+ Representations in movie and TV.”

Robyn Levy
wants to alter the face area of television — actually.

The fresh new Jersey-based business person, mummy of two, and former “actual Housewives of brand new Jersey” individuality recently established her very own creation business, Famed Entertainment, and is seeking to throw a diverse band of LGBTQ+ ladies for any new fact tv series
“The Facts of Wife.”

Citing a need to see more lesbian families on television, Levy talks of “The Main Points of partner” as a mixture of “popular Family” and what takes place after the ”
The True L Keyword
.” The tv series will give attention to an ensemble of varied lesbian/same-sex people inside their daily physical lives, that will bond to be able to deal with bigger dilemmas experiencing the LGBTQ+ society. By broadening the
representation
of LGBTQ+ females and
families
on tv, Levy aims to change how conventional family product is actually viewed and start a multi-perspective dialogue.

“we will be covering the schedules in the cast people, the diversity that is present between us, but furthermore the parallels,” Levy informs GO. In addition to covering the home-based angle, the ensemble cast will also take a trip across country, campaigning on behalf of LGBTQ+ persons in need.

“it will likely be sort of such as the lesbian ‘Avengers,’ going around the nation producing change,” Levy states. “and that is the objective of the tv series: creating modification and getting the very best variations of ourselves.”

Levy had been empowered to produce “the important points of partner” to make sure that she could make improvement in real world as well as on the displays. The deficiency of same-sex individuals — specifically, lesbian individuals — on tv is actually a space inside our popular culture Levy really wants to fill-in. While programs like “contemporary Family” address the same-sex family members perspective, and others, like “The L Word”, element lesbian characters, couple of, or no, carry out both.

On a very private level, Levy had been determined by her own truth tv series experience. She along with her spouse Christina Flores happened to be the very first lesbian pair featured on ”
The true Housewives of New Jersey
” from inside the program’s seventh period. Levy and Flores had a tendency to stay out of the on-screen drama and were not included a lot — which, until long-simmering tensions hit a boiling point between Levy and one of her fellow Housewives. Suddenly she ended up being front and focus on screen, embroiled in a verbal conflict with a castmate.

Whilst the incident described her fictional character regarding tv show, Levy states it’s not whatsoever consultant of who this woman is. “I was very mortified from that,” she says. “its developed the whole period of me not willing to do that. Immediately after which, at long last, i simply totally exploded.”

The scene of one critic particularly considered on her behalf brain: her boy, Jake, who was simply then a couple of years old. “I was thinking to myself, ‘Oh my personal gosh, he or she is likely to see this and he will be mortified that which is their mummy,’” she states.

“that is a lot like in which ‘Facts of Wife’ began,” Levy says to GO. “i’ve, complete creative power over my tv series, and that I may also create modification. Which is more of my personal design. I want to assist our very own area. I do want to help parents within our community. And battling seriously isn’t actually exactly who I am or the thing I desire my personal kids observe.”

While battling won’t be her style, Levy really does believe respectful disagreement in the form of conversation, debate, and discussion is actually an important form of discussion that flourishes when individuals from differing backgrounds come together. “It’s going to be thus fascinating observe, with


these types of


assortment that we additionally bring to the table, what takes place naturally,” she claims of “The Main Points of partner.” She notes frustrating an individual’s very own viewpoint is actually an essential step toward impacting larger modification, and that she hopes having a diverse gang of women on her behalf tv series will highlight this kind of transformative discussion.

Unlike various other reality shows, Levy’s “focus would be on allowing individuals to end up being completely themselves,” which explains why it is necessary on her behalf to find the best cast for your ensemble. “It’s wise television; it really is academic, make-change, family TV,” she says.

Levy along with her staff are looking to throw LGBTQ+ ladies in addition to their people — both cis and transgender — various races, religions, ethnicities, opinions, and backgrounds to create the ensemble cast. Also they are seeking to hire additional cast members, known as ambassadors — show representatives from various parts of the nation whose role is always to keep track of and report local issues that impact the LGBTQ+ community.

Levy, who can participate in the ensemble cast combined with her girlfriend


,


informs GO that she is trying to work with a culturally varied cast because it’s through these representations that modification tends to be first discussed then implemented.

“Needs full representation,” she states, “thus I’m shopping for range inside my casting. What I wish is actually honesty, and I also wish, additionally, for us to get considered just like any heterosexual human being.”

“we do not need a twin of myself,” she adds. “i am casting people who find themselves distinctive from me to make changes which affect everyone of us.”

Filming associated with the pilot for “the reality of Wife” is actually underway having its present cast users: Levy, Flores, and Nicole Guest. It absolutely was initially to begin in April but was actually delayed because of the coronavirus pandemic. The casting procedure are recorded within the basic season and will be busted into the tv series in 2 unique phases. The most important phase consists of Zoom interviews between Levy and her staff and skilled candidates from the applicant share. Applicants who enable it to be through the very first round will then be asked for a face-to-face interviewing manufacturing staff to happen under socially distanced directions.

“The tv show will likely be natural; it will be genuine,” says Levy. “The casting will likely be filmed with the intention that also [for] the individuals who don’t enable it to be for reasons uknown, there’s however an opportunity for them to showcase a piece of their unique story.” Even though the woman is aspiring to complete the ensemble with cast people drawn from tri-state location, where main recording will take destination, its more important for Levy to obtain the proper cast, regardless of where a professional


prospect is inspired by.

Famed Entertainment


— and that’s possessed exclusively by Levy — is partnering with
Red Coral Casting
on an open casting call for the tv show (Red Coral Casting in a supply of Red Coral, which


Levy can also be a partner in)


. Those


thinking about


testing out for “The Details of partner”


can apply for a spot within the ensemble cast or as an ambassador on Red Coral Casting’s web site


. A subscription that will enable people the means to access the casting database — a standard rehearse for the majority of casting sites — expenses  $5


four weeks.

Levy’s generation group is also seeking to hire LGBTQ+ individuals anyway levels of team, such as as manufacturers, directors, and PR people. (Interested people can e-mail


[email protected]


for more information.)

Levy, a skilled entrepreneur, is not any stranger towards the behind-the-scenes components of the entertainment industry. For decades, she ended up being the publisher and proprietor of eating out Magazine NJ. During the woman time together with the book, she created the YouTube series, “eating out making use of Manzos,” featuring Albie and Chris Manzo. The dedicated mom normally the inventor of


Tushy Brand


, a clothes range for babies and young children.

Household is at the biggest market of everything Levy does. Her spouse in addition to their two sons, Jake (5) and Tyler (1 ½) are motivation behind the woman creative endeavors. She credits her entrepreneurial drive to her grandfather, Steve, who owns an advertising company, while the woman desire to give back originates from her mother, Ellyn, a retired class instructor.

Although the woman is acutely near the woman moms and dads, being released — after the woman aunt, Cari, had currently done this — wasn’t a simple procedure. “So my personal sis arrived initial, and my parents would not deal with that well,” she claims. Levy had her very own gf at the time but remained determined never to tell the girl moms and dads previously, if required. It was not until she was actually with Flores that she ultimately told all of them. And though the woman parents have actually since are available around and continue to be a way to obtain love and assistance, Levy says the original experience was actually “horrible.”

While things are definitely better today (she counts her parents among her biggest champions), Levy hopes that by featuring LGBTQ+ individuals and achieving truthful discussions together with her very own family members — who can engage in “the important points of Wife” — she will be able to broaden exactly how queer individuals and same-sex family members are symbolized in well-known mass media and subsequently approved inside wider tradition.

“we have been really love,” she claims of her family. “This property is therefore full of really love that that is all my kids know. I know that there are likely to be challenges that individualswill deal with as a same-sex family that I don’t honestly know if i am ready for, s


o basically can start to help make change as they’re at these types of an early age, after that my personal greatest wish in the world is that they can talk eloquently and happily in the way these people were increased. This is the important thing personally.”