Fans of Jasmin Savoy Brown and Liv Hewson's on-screen chemistry in the buzzy Showtime series Yellowjackets need look no further than The Homo Schedule podcast to experience the queer actors' real-life friendship. The first-ever podcast from Netflix, The Homo Schedule is a heartfelt and comedic dive into the lives of queer luminaries like director and actor Natalie Morales and The L Word: Generation Q's Leo Sheng. Produced by Netflix's Most and Multitude, Hewson (Let It Snow, Bombshell) and Brown (Scream, The Leftovers) proved early on that the first rule of great storytelling, especially about LGBTQ+ identity, is to know how to listen.
The Homo Schedule launched in January with guest Bex Taylor-Klaus of The Killing, Arrow, and the Scream series. At the time, the podcast was called The Gay Agenda, but listeners wrote in to say that the name or part of the name was already the title of a few other podcasts, asking that the duo change the name. So Hewson and Brown pivoted, and voila, The Homo Schedule was born, based on a suggestion from Taylor-Klaus in their pilot episode.
Jasmin Savoy Brown and Liv Hewson
Tune in to the podcast and Brown, a lesbian, and Hewson, who is nonbinary, take listeners on a journey to revel in queer joy and the accomplishments of LGBTQ+ artists.
"I'm a queer person. And I have a lot of queer people in my life. I've noticed that we're pretty much always having a good time," Brown says. "Yet a lot of the media that we see when we turn on the TV, if it involves queer storytelling, it often has a darkness to it. Sure, darkness is a part of life, but it doesn't need to be a part of all of our stories."
Brown and Hewson, whose on-screen romance as Taissa and Vanessa (respectively) in Yellowjackets became one of the most beloved ships in recent memory, cover queer life on the podcast with equal parts silliness and sincerity. In an early episode, Brown reads a piece of Morales's coming-out letter, sharing that she was moved at an early age by the Parks and Recreation star and Plan B director's relatable sentiments of being queer in a religious family. In another episode, Brown offers dating advice to Hewson, who's decided to give dating apps the college try. Each time they introduce themselves, they find playful ways to identify, both shining a light on the power to call oneself by whatever one wants while also not taking themselves too seriously.
"I'm Jasmin. My pronouns are she/her, and I identify as the one that got away," Brown jokes in one episode. In the same breath, Hewson says they identify as "the executive in charge of the filing cabinet where everybody's nightclub wristbands are kept."
Part of a new era of LGBTQ+ Hollywood, Hewson and Brown have been out in their careers since early on, playing a swath of characters both queer and straight, and in Hewson's case, sometimes cisgender. On the podcast, they cover important ground that's not often openly discussed, even in queer spaces. In one episode, Hewson shares about clothes shopping and their journey with curating a wardrobe that makes them happy and empowered. For the Australian native, who is also a playwright, they're putting something out into the world that they couldn't fathom existing as a kid -- two young queer folks happily amplifying LGBTQ+ joy.
"It's so hard for me to imagine [seeing myself fully represented]. When I was younger it just wouldn't have occurred to me as a possibility. The snatches of visibility and representation and things that I responded to that [I knew about], I clung to with all my life," Hewson says. "I don't know what that would have meant to me. I can't even imagine it. Isn't that nuts?"
This story is part of The Advocate's 2022 Entertainment Issue, which is out on newsstands April 2, 2022. To get your own copy directly, support queer media and subscribe -- or download yours for Amazon, Kindle, Nook, or Apple News.
