When Kit Williamson’s “EastSiders” premiered on YouTube in December 2012, Netflix had not yet debuted its first original series. A dozen years later, streaming has overtaken traditional television in the market — and Williamson is back with another LGBTQ+ slice of life show, this time in the form of “Unconventional” on Revry.
“I don’t know that anybody really predicted it becoming what it’s become,” the actor/creator/writer/director told TheWrap of the streaming boom. “I hope that there is an increasing demand for independently created television when we live in such a, let’s be honest, metric-driven world where algorithms are deciding whether or not stories get told or continued.”
“Will we have the same four-quadrant appeal as ‘7th Heaven’? No, we won’t. But that’s OK,” Williamson explained. “We need specific stories that cater to our communities authentically and don’t pull their punches or try to gloss over some of the challenges and realities that LGBTQ people face in relationships, trying to start a family and trying to chart a course in life.”
“Unconventional” stars Williamson, James Bland, Aubrey Shea and Briana Venskus as the titular core family unit splitting their time between Palm Springs and Joshua Tree. Kathy Griffin, Beau Bridges, Tuc Watkins, Jenna Ushkowitz, Dana Wheeler-Nicholson, James Urbaniak, Laith Ashley, Miranda Bailey, Willam and Constantine Rousouli also star.
“It’s a dark comedy about two eccentric queer siblings and their significant others trying to start an unconventional family in the California desert, where the brother, played by me, will be the sperm donor to his sister’s girlfriend,” Williamson teased. “So in some ways, it’s a queer unplanned pregnancy, which is unusual, but it’s really about the unconventional paths that queer people have to chart in their lives and relationships when the traditional roads are closed off to them.”
The series also marks streaming service Revry’s first foray into original programming.
“There’s a real hole in the marketplace for this right now that I’m excited to be a part of offering something to a queer audience, maybe not necessarily getting it on traditional television,” the actor said. “If you’ve seen the GLAAD Media report for the last two years, we’ve seen a nosedive of queer representation across traditional networks, cable and streaming networks, with even fewer characters slated to return in 2025 — and that’s to say nothing of whether or not that representation is substantive.”
“So often, if we present these kind of idealized role model characters that are LGBTQ, you don’t move past them announcing their identity before they depart from the story,” Williamson added. “So these characters, like the characters in ‘EastSiders,’ are messy and flawed and f–ked up and afforded the right to blow up their lives in relationships, just like straight characters are afforded the right to do in relationship dramas.”
He further noted, “I’m just trying to tell a story about being a mess and in love in your 30s. In many ways, it’s a spiritual successor to ‘EastSiders,’ which is about being a gay mess in your 20s.”
However, the fact that said story could even be considered unique a decade later is not lost on Williamson. “It’s almost disheartening that we’ve circled all the way back from 2012 when we started doing ‘EastSiders,’ on YouTube in our living room in Silver Lake, with a budget of $2,000 and a stick of gum to hold the whole thing together.”
“It was really in response to the fact that there was a dearth of programming and characters that centered the queer experience, and we’ve seen tremendous strides in the last few years, but we’re starting to see the pendulum swing back,” he elaborated. “A lot of the conversations that were being had at that time have sadly become relevant again, and I think that that’s going to be the journey of a lifetime for our community: constantly demanding a seat at the table and a place in our collective storytelling, because we are a part of the American story; we are a part of The American Dream; and our families are American families. That’s something that we really tried to grapple with in the show.”
Still, it’s that independent nature that makes Williamson’s shows such critical darlings — especially to his queer fans.
“I’m so grateful that we have independent films and television, and I’m grateful to the filmmakers that create them, because I know what goes into it and how much time and energy and passion has to go into it,” he shared. “We’re not on a conveyor belt at a factory churning out palatable television, and that gives it an edge and an authenticity that I think, unfortunately, a lot of television lacks.”
Another aspect of which independent filmmakers are quite familiar is the amount of time it takes to create quality content without assistance from studios. But these stories need to be told, regardless — even if they take four years to air.
“We were actually the first show to cast Kathy after her cancellation, and that’s how long it takes to make an independent television show by the way,” Williamson revealed. “The blacklisting that she faced — not just as an actor with an incredibly storied career on screen, but also just as a performer who was blacklisted from touring and venues — it’s obviously very well-documented, and she’s talked about it a lot, but I think that we’re going to see, in response to this administration, similar things happening. My spidey senses are tingling. The canary in the coal mine is already passed out, legs up … and not in the fun way.”
“Kathy and I actually bonded over, let’s say, our mutual ire for a closeted conservative politician on the Internet, and then I wrote this part for her. She’s such a pioneer and a survivor in so many ways, and somebody who I think is almost like a bioindicator of our society at this point,” he gushed. “When Kathy was canceled — the un-cancelable Kathy Griffin, the unsinkable Kathy G. — but when Kathy was briefly canceled [in 2017], I think it was a marker of something really scary happening in American politics. We’re seeing a mirror to that right now in terms of this tendency to maybe go into hiding or go into the shadows about not just our identities but our beliefs. Religious people aren’t the only people with beliefs. I believe that people should have equal rights and be treated fairly under the law and kindly by other human beings. I think that’s fair to say that that’s a belief.”
Revry celebrated the series’ debut with a three-episode premiere event at the Renberg Theatre in Hollywood on Monday night, complete with a charcuterie station, themed drinks, a Q&A and even baby rattles.
“Unconventional” premieres Tuesday night on Revry.
