Preserving Queer History: Brian J. Smith on His New Film "A House Is Not a Disco"

This week, I sit down with actor and filmmaker Brian J. Smith (Sense8, Stargate Universe, Tony‑nominated for The Glass Menagerie) — but this conversation is really about something deeply personal and culturally urgent: his Fire Island documentary, A House Is Not a Disco.

And honestly? This film feels like a time capsule.

Brian and I talk about why Fire Island — a place so central to queer history, identity, and freedom — deserved a documentary that captured it not just as a party destination, but as a living, evolving community.

He shares how the film was shot across the 2022 season, with extraordinary access to residents, performers, and longtime community members. We get into what it takes to document a queer space from the inside — the trust, the archival material, the emotional responsibility — and why this moment in LGBTQ culture felt important to preserve on camera.

We also talk about:

• Why he moved from acting into directing and producing
• Capturing Fire Island as both sanctuary and spectacle
• The balance between nostalgia and forward momentum
• Why queer spaces must be documented before they disappear
• Self‑distribution in today’s indie film world

Of course, we also touch on Brian’s career — from moving to New York in 2002 to study acting, to navigating a “don’t ask, don’t tell” industry climate after graduating in 2006, to how Sense8 built a passionate global fanbase during the early days of streaming before algorithms began steering creative decisions.

But at its heart, this episode is about his extraordinary film A House Is Not a Disco — It’s about a chosen family, queer legacy, and what it means to document a culture while you’re still living in it.

If you care about:

✅ Fire Island history and LGBTQ culture
 ✅ Queer documentary filmmaking
 ✅ Independent film distribution
 ✅ Sense8 and LGBTQ representation in media
 ✅ Preserving queer spaces
 ✅ The evolution of LGBTQ storytelling

This one’s for you.

A House is Not a Disco is available for pre-order on July 2nd here Gathr.com.

It will be availblre for download July 9th.

For more information about the film go to ahouseisnotadisco.com

And be sure to follow at @ahouseisnotadisco

You can write to us at: Questions@DukesDownload.com

And follow us onInstagram: 

• @jamesdukemason
• @PrideHouseMedia

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:03

Welcome to Duke's Download, my new weekly podcast. I'm Duke Basin here. And each week I'll bring you candid, thought-provoking conversations with incredible guests from the worlds of politics and pop culture. Together we'll explore the stories, ideas, and moments that shape our lives and drive change. I'm so glad you're here. Now let's get started. Hello, everybody. Welcome to this episode of Duke's Download. I'm your host, James Duke Mason, and I am beyond thrilled to have an acclaimed actor, one of my personal favorite actors, uh, who was I in it, who was in, I think, uh probably one of the best shows in the history of the gold, this golden age of television since eight, which uh I still so wish was on TV. Uh, but I think will go down as one of the great shows in the history of modern television. Um, Brian J. Smith, who is with us today, so grateful to you for being here. Um in addition to that, though, I mean, Stargate Universe, you won your nominated for the Tony for the Glass Menagerie in 2013. So, stage and screen, you're an incredibly acclaimed actor, one of the most uh, you know, I would say visible members of our community, uh, who an openly LGBTQ uh actor and filmmaker. Uh, but anyway, I wanted to say thank you for being here. Uh, it is such a thrill.

SPEAKER_01 1:30

And recently married too. I just uh uh yeah, married my husband, Matt, who I've been with for gosh, I mean four, four years now, I think. We just we got married in March.

SPEAKER_00 1:45

Fantastic. Congratulations. Checking off all the boxes. Where did you guys get married? City Hall.

SPEAKER_01 1:52

So we haven't had we yeah, we haven't had a um we haven't had like a a wedding party yet. We're we're gonna we're gonna do that soon. But uh I I I was in Toronto pretty much like the whole last half of last year up until March of this year. And uh when I got home in March, I was like, honey, what are we waiting for? Like let's let's do this, let's go get married, and uh we'll we'll figure out the wedding later. So we literally put on some nice pants and uh took our dog Pippa down to City Hall and got married.

SPEAKER_00 2:28

What kind of dog is Pippa?

SPEAKER_01 2:31

Uh she's a multi-poo and uh she's she's a very she's just the best little thing. She's just asleep on the couch right now.

SPEAKER_00 2:39

Have you all I mean I know you're from Texas originally, right? But is is have you always been a New York, New York gay or a New York New Yorker, or New York's always been your your place?

SPEAKER_01 2:52

Yeah, I've always I've always been in the I've been based in New York. I'm I moved here in 2002 to go to uh to start drama school and just trying to you know put down roots and I I guess I'm officially even though I grew up in Texas, like I I feel like I've been here, what is that, 20? I can't add 20, how many years is that 20?

SPEAKER_00 3:12

24?

SPEAKER_01 3:13

I've been here for 24 years. Unbelievable. I think I'm officially I'm officially part of this project.

SPEAKER_00 3:21

Was that was that because stage was always something that you like when you first got interested in the arts and in acting, was that a purposeful decision like you wanted to come to go to New York versus like LA because of the Broadway and stage component? Totally, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 3:38

I mean, uh, it was so funny at school we were always like, oh, you know, we're not gonna do TV or film, you know, when we graduate. We know we were we're gonna tour tour the regionals and do Shakespeare and Chekhov and uh Ionesco our whole lives. You know, you never think you're gonna like do anything, you know, commercial when you're uh school. Um, you know, and here I am like you know, doing sci-fi and uh cop sh and all that stuff. True. But yeah, it is it it is the thing about New York that I've always loved is that you have you do have access to theater here. You can, you know, they're they're always doing play readings, and um it's uh it's it's it's definitely been the major draw to be here, you know.

SPEAKER_00 4:26

Was you know, not to not to focus too much on uh on your on your your orientation, but uh, but I mean, but you know, look, I, you know, I I've I'm 34, I've been out in LA for like 16 years now. And you know, I I remember early on um, you know, being in an advocacy and all that here in LA, like, you know, there were there was always that question of, you know, I mean, I personally knew a few different cases of actors who, you know, some of whom have come out since then, but you know, who at the time were still very cagey about whether or not to to be out in the industry. And I mean, was that something that was ever, I know you started in New York, so maybe it wasn't quite as much of a consideration of, oh, you know, do I want to be super private about my my personal life? Or but was that ever something that crossed your mind, or were you just did you decide not just on this, but on in general, like I'm going to be authentic and true to myself from the get-go in every sense? Or no, I was a coward.

SPEAKER_01 5:29

I I was I was a I was a kg, a kg queer coward in the closet uh for years. I mean, I it was a different time, and I can't believe I'm saying this, and it's making me feel so very old. But like when I when I graduate I graduated school in 2006, and you know, it was it just was it was a very, very, very different time. It was not it not that it was like uh you know uh um like setting off a nuclear bomb or something if you if you came out, uh it wasn't necessarily that. It was just more like there was a a don't ask, don't tell policy that felt uh safe. And it didn't quite feel safe to to come out. Um and you know, looking back on it, I mean, gosh, do I wish I was like a trailblazer? Do I wish I was someone who was like, you know, like just waving the rainbow flag like right when I got out and was just kind of out and proud from day one? Gosh, yeah. But you know, that's easy to say, you know, from you know, hindsight and when I was in my 20s and just trying to like, you know, I was working at a bar, I was, I was doing off, off, off, off, off Broadway theater, you know, I I couldn't pay rent. You know, you're you're worried about those kinds of things and whether or not anybody cares about your sexuality just doesn't even come into the mix, right? Really.

SPEAKER_00 6:59

Um, so it's crazy though how we how we did see kind of not to interrupt my apologies. No, no, no, but just like it is I sometimes think how crazy it is that it seems like there was like this massive jump where we went from like, you know, very, very few examples of actors who were, you know, booking gigs outside of, you know, I don't mean this in a in a derogatory way, but uh gig uh roles that were either very outwardly gay, or you know, and like either that was what you were doing, or potentially nothing at all, or uh and then and then now we live in a world where it just seems like there's openly LGBTQ plus actors and roles everywhere. Like we kind of went, it's almost like we skipped the middle, the middle ground and went straight for like just representation all over the place, which is it's almost like you have to be.

SPEAKER_01 7:52

It's almost like it's almost like you're you're you're a little it's a little suspect if you're not if you're not gay or bi or something. You're kind of like, oh, really?

SPEAKER_00 8:02

That's true, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:03

Yeah, yeah. You kind of have to come out of the closet as straight if you're if you're if you're uh an actor. I mean, I don't really mean that. I'm I'm kidding.

SPEAKER_00 8:12

Kind of. I mean, it is crazy how like you know, like I I've one thing I wanted to talk to you about as part of the conversation about your new film is um, you know, I I was on the board of Outfest for a few years, which is you know a big uh LGBTQ film festival in LA. It's sort of uh defunct now. I mean, they still have like virtual screenings and stuff, but it's just crazy how you like as much as I love you know, LG independent film and LGBTQ independent film still matters a lot. But it is crazy how like even 10 years ago, we lived in a totally different world where you know, right before like Netflix became like with shows like yours became as massive as it is now, but like 10-15 years ago, you still really needed like film festival, like gay film festivals, you know, for a lot of it gay content to even see the light of day. That was really the only the only platform that that we had. But now we have so many different options. We have streaming, we have I mean, festivals still play a critical role, but Outfest existed in a very different world than what we have now. Totally.

SPEAKER_01 9:24

I mean, well, it's what's been interesting is like working on this film, and we're kind of going through the whole self-distribution process right now. I mean, we it's been four years. I started work on this film four years ago. We finished filming it two years ago, and we've been in a sort of distribution process for for two years. And um, you know, there's a lot of reasons for that. Um, but uh it's it it it is definitely interesting how how the the game has changed in in terms of like queer content and um uh you know I'm I'm still trying to figure it out. I I I still don't know. Um because you know, like on one hand it is there's there is all of this, you know, kind of a hunger for for for this kind of stuff. Um, but at the same time too, like I I can definitely say like from the inside out, you know, it's not if if I made if I if we had gone out and made a a documentary about a community of um nudists uh in a in a s that were all sort of like straight, you know, like this thing would be on HBO like years ago, right? It's just something weird about there is still a sort of fear, even from queer uh gay let whatever uh producers and like uh content uh platforms, they're they're still very, very, very scared of anything that isn't like a franchise, anything that isn't trite and true, and anything that's like too gay.

SPEAKER_00 11:06

Uh no.

SPEAKER_01 11:07

It's we I think in the surface a lot of a lot has changed, but like the bones, the structure of it it hasn't.

SPEAKER_00 11:16

Well, I wanted to ask you a lot about that. First of all, House is on a disco great fantastic documentary about Fire Island, which I watched last night and I I want to dive into that for sure. Um, but I mean it is to your to your point, it's interesting how you've kind of experienced both both um ends, so to speak, of the uh of the of the industry, because you were on, even though it had a lot of sort of queer subtext and queer content, you were on Sensei, which was, yes, kind of, it was definitely artistic. It wasn't just purely commercial, but it did have a lot of sort of mainstream, like sci-fi action kind of elements to it. Um but like when that when that became a massive success and you were part of that, was that was that what was that experience like for you as being part of that? Because I know you've done some big roles before, but that was kind of like a massive cultural, internationally cultural event.

SPEAKER_01 12:16

That show the funny thing, the funny thing about Sensei is even like while we were doing it, we were always considered to be like super, super weird and like niche. And it was also happening at this time when Netflix was, I mean, it was was somewhat early in Netflix, and maybe we were we showed up in a bit of a transitionary period, like uh if if if if Sensei had started maybe two years earlier, we probably would have gone like four or seasons or or longer. But I think that uh right when we started at Netflix was like right when they really went whole hog on the the the math, right? Uh the the algorithm aspect of trapping and looking at pure, pure, pure, pure, pure numbers, right? Um they for a while there was this place where you could go and people were were doing weird stuff on that on that platform, and we were like the perfect example of this where you could go and like like it was experimental. It was it was like doing experimental theater. I mean, what what Lana and Lily and what they made was was so out of the box and so strange in a beautiful way, it could never get made today, not not a chance. Um, because it just the the algorithm would like take one look at it and like throw up and and reject it out of hand, right? But the people who found it, the people who came to the show, like really got very, very, very passionate about it. So we never had like a big numbers, you know, game behind us, but the people that love the show connected to it on such a very on a level I have never seen on anything, certainly I've ever worked on, but um, there's a kind of passion and an ownership people feel about it that that is that it is really what makes Sensei so uh special.

SPEAKER_00 14:20

It still has a ton of cultural resonance. I mean, not and not just within not to not just because of its LGBTQ sort of queer, you know, sensibilities, but I just I would say, I mean, it's it's one of those shows that I mean uh you know, sincerely, like the Sopranos, and one of those shows that, you know, I'm 20 years even from now, I'm sure will still be considered one of those shows that just like is a touchstone, you know. And uh, and so I can, you know, what an incredible uh achievement on on your on your part. But I would what how did how did you even decide to to go into the filmmaking realm? Because I mean acting at both stage and screen has been from what I from what I've uh can ascertain, that has been your your your focus for a while. But did you make a conscious decision that you wanted to go into the uh the behind the camera part of the the industry?

SPEAKER_01 15:14

Yes. Yes. I in a lot of ways, like I am the most like unlikely actor that has ever existed. Um I I sometimes wonder what the hell I'm doing and how I got so lucky to have the opportunities that I've had. Um uh I in a lot of ways it's like not a very natural thing for me. Um I I am much more someone who is I want to know when we're on set. I'm like, whoa, what kind of camera are we using? Like what what kind of whoa, what what kind of lenses are these? Um can I go sit in the editing bay and watch you guys put this together? Um you know, I that that's I just was always a lot more curious about like the technical aspect of filmmaking. Um you know, acting is such a strange thing because you show up and like you're the last piece of the puzzle in a way. Like everybody on set in theory knows more about the project than you do, and they have been with it longer than you have. Every single person there, from hair and makeup to sound to production design, the directors certainly. I mean, you you are there to kind of fill in this final, very important piece, but like the technical aspect of things are is really where like the magic I think happens with with film because I've seen and I've given very bad performances that have been that have been made not so bad. Um, because really great, really great camera work and like really great lighting. I mean, I know I've been hung over before uh at work. I mean, back in you know, like my early days, yeah. Uh cinematographers.

SPEAKER_00 17:13

No, well it's true. There are elements to filmmaking that people probably never, you know, moviegoers or audience, audience, you know, folk don't even think about, you know, that's that it's and it's so true that those elements can make or break uh make her break a performance or a film. But how did you decide that that uh which by the way I totally concur with, I think it turned out brilliantly. But how did you decide making a film about Fire Island was was something that you I assume it took a lot of work to put to put this film together. I mean it's it had to be a bit of very conscious, like, this is something I'm going to devote myself to.

SPEAKER_01 17:52

It was it was there was a lot of like Kismet involved. Um there um a really good friend of mine is Adam Klesh, who is in the documentary. He's sort of like our lead character when we're following around the Pines Party section of the film. Um, and uh, you know, I I I know he's an old friend of mine from Berlin, and um I'd always talk to him about, oh, you know, I'd love to make something one day, but I just don't know what. And I don't know if anyone's gonna take me seriously. I'm that actor, you know, on some show. And like, who's gonna like ever let me get behind the wheel and drive? And and one day he was like, because you know, because he was working on the Pines party, he was like, hey, you want to make something? Let's do it. Let's make a documentary about the Pines Party. Let's do a documentary about, let's make a film about how what it's like to put this thing up. Let's we'll just do it on our iPhones. We'll do it, or or we'll rent black magic cameras, or we'll we'll do, you know, what we'll figure it out. We'll we'll and I started, I was like, okay, great. I'm gonna commit to this. I started asking around and got you know really great people involved, like our like Eric Schleicher, our our cinematographer on this film, who is like the MVP star of this whole thing. I mean, the look and the feel totally color uh of it is like not a documentary, and that's what he wanted. He's he was like, I will do this, but I do not want to make a documentary that looks like a documentary. Oh and if you're gonna do a documentary about Fire Island Pines, I do not want it to look or feel like the kind of movie people expect to see about Fire Island Pines. I wanted to.

SPEAKER_00 19:34

No, it's gorgeous. I mean, like that one sequence with at the house party when the drag queen is performing, and uh and and and um I don't know if it was Adam or if it was but one of the guys uh dives in the pool. And uh, I mean you felt like you really felt like you were you were there and like it really captured the you know, I I mentioned before we started recording, I only had never I had only had one night on Fire Island, and I feel like considering I only had one day and one night, I packed as much as I could into one uh one experience, and it really was like one of the most memorable, memorable nights of my life. Um, but I but it is such a special place, and it's really hard to convey that. Um, even with all the movies I'd seen, like Normal Heart, you know, which shot uh you know, like it you're I think your documentary is really the only thing I've ever seen that really makes can can like you without having without having ever even been there, I feel like someone could really understand what it's like.

SPEAKER_01 20:36

Well the only reason that that might be you know possible is because we had an incredible sense of support from the community. I think that they saw what we were doing and were like, you know, the place has like a reputation. And and I think that they're very wary, like they're very aware of that reputation and kind of like, ah, like why why does the world see us this way? You know, like there's so much more to us than just this like you know, super exclusive, racist, right, um, classist, you know, place, right? They they really wanted to kind of uh set the the the um the story straight, but at the same time, they still had critiques of the place, they still had very honest things to say about their own experiences there, and I think because they got a sense that me and the team that we were coming in and we were not trying to exploit them, we were for whatever reason they trusted us. And you go there a lot?

SPEAKER_00 21:37

Was that a big part of your your coming of age?

SPEAKER_01 21:39

And uh I had yeah, I I mean I started going oh gosh. When did I first go? I mean, it was it was actually it was around the time that Sense 8 came out. Um and uh and that was strange to to sort of be out there when that happened. I can imagine, especially someone who was like is intensely agoraphobic as I know. Unsettling, I can imagine, in some ways. Yeah. But but so the reason why you know I think we really got that you are here feeling is because people invited us in. They were okay being filmed. They were okay and so eloquent in talking about the place. We had a great um uh like a community producer we call him our community liaison uh Joe Conforti who'd been going out there for like 35 years and knew everybody out there and was like we have to talk to this person we gotta go see we gotta go to this house we got to see the architecture of this place. This is this really crazy place in the uh the meat rack where people go for orange whatever I mean like we he knew everything and took us everywhere and sort of was he was like the key to the city and uh really a huge part of his contribution to this film was allowing us that kind of access um which we were very very very fortunate to have what so when did you shoe what's was it 2022 or 2023 I believe we started in March we went out for our first sort of exploratory shoot in March of 2022 a lot of that footage is in the film um and then I had to go away and I did I was doing a mini series in Canada I was gone for maybe like three or four months and then came back immediately we went right back out there um and we would go out there in these like you know one maybe one and a half sometimes maybe did we go for two week shooting trips um you know it throughout the course of a whole year so that we got a taste of what it's like out there in the spring what it's like out there like in the dead of hot humid crazy summer and then in the fall and then in the winter um and it it we it we we shot for over a year.

SPEAKER_00 24:06

There were so many moments that like little things little tiny details that that like resonated with me like uh not to I don't want to give it away for those who haven't seen it yet but like that one sequence when you were interviewing the uh yoga teacher you know the 22 year old and you know like the guy that was sitting there with him and the way they were like looking at each other and talking and like you just felt this like this vibe and this palpable like you know knowing what like and then the feeling of knowing it's summer and like and it's just it it like you can you know there are certain documentaries and films where you just feel the vibes you know coming through the and it was just and little tiny things. And I think that just goes to show what a what an impeccably crafted film it is because you know when you when you can just feel the vibes coming through the screen it it uh and and and the sense of you know I guess he had just arrived there and like was you know decided hey I'm just gonna stay here for the whole summer and uh wake up early and teach yoga lessons on the beach and like with just little things like that. You know I feel like I feel like not only is it uh entertaining for and and and then a great a visual you know an experience for those watching but I feel like you're also doing a service of capturing a moment in time I feel like you know going back to Outfest and you have Outfest one of their big things was you know preserving LGBTQ history. I feel like you really captured a snapshot in time for future you know the 10 or 20 30 40 years from now you know it's kind it's kind of a it's a it's a time capsule too.

SPEAKER_01 25:43

That's a perfect way of putting it in the in a in a way I think that is sort of like our listen we want people to watch the film now. But right of course right to worry about future generations uh play later but I like you know like like 20 30 years from now you know isn't gonna help me you know pay pay pay the bills I know what you mean no but the it is this sort of thing about the movie that we when we were researching it we went back and found a lot of like uh archival stuff out there and there was I love the beach 79 stuff it was so cool and uh yeah it was amazing we also used actual footage from there's a a pornography that a porn that was shot out there that was uh very famous called Boys in the Sand that was like the first sort of like gorgeously filmed cinematic um gay porn and uh we were able to license some of that material because they it it was this pristine time capsule of what that place looked like back in the 1970s before eats hit and um so in a way you know like it's a time capsule inside of a time capsule inside of a time capsule and right I do hope that one day like in you know 2050 60 whatever people are gonna like look back on this and go man that's what that's what it was like not just to be a fire island but like wow right that's what they were worried about when they that's what that's what that's what the gays were worried about you know back in 20 in the 2020s right this is it was the summer of monkeypox it was the summer of um uh um I forget the name of the Supreme Court decision but were they um uh Dobbs yes yeah the Dobbs decision the abortion abortion decision yes and everyone out there was like the the topic of conversation which we got in the film was like oh my god like are they coming for gay marriage next like is this what's going on and like now here we are four years later and like there are people in the right wing that are that are openly saying yeah we don't think gays should be able to get married we're gonna see what we can do about it they have a supreme court that would be open to it and you know here we are I mean so things could be very different for people 20 years from now and and um yeah it's it it is definitely a time capsule I thought it was really cool that South by Southwest too that that's where you had your premiere right that the that a you know that um probably one of the probably the most mainstream uh film festival in the United States I mean south by southwest arguably I think is you know no no no offense to Sundance or whatever but I feel like South by Southwest isn't like the cultural center of the country right now. It's kind of funky yeah like South by Southwest it's got this sort of you know it's Austin so it yeah it does have this it's not so it is very corporate. I mean like you're there when you're in it you're kind of like oh my god I mean the sponsorships and the shape exactly why you know like um but it it but it it it it felt more like a party you know than like we were out there pitching the film to get bought or anything like that. Like you could really go and have a good time and lay your hair down and and uh connect with audiences.

SPEAKER_00 29:08

So what is the do you have the exact details yet on the release date or when or when it's gonna be released?

SPEAKER_01 29:14

Yeah so uh the official release date is going to be uh July the second um which hopefully I think when this comes out is going to be like the next day or however uh I I do believe starting on July the first um you'll be the we're gonna have our site up on gather and you can go and you can pre-order the film uh for rent and you know we're gonna do that for a while and um you know see see how that goes and um this whole summer we're just gonna do a ton of screenings uh gather is great like that be great for that kind of stuff because they they let you do uh ticket sales so we're gonna just get the word out about this thing you know it's um the thing we we learned is that the industry is not going to uh it's just not gonna be there for this for this movie right we have to do this ourselves um and it's you know uh sort of incumbent on us to make sure that the word gets out there so I just please like anyone watching this you know go download it uh rent it and tell your friends about it um because that's that's how this thing is gonna fly. I am going out to LA in August at the end of August I believe for a Tory Amos concert so uh you know we have a little bit of time to prepare maybe you know uh when when I'm out there we might we might do some see if we can you know work out some kind of a screening or something so I'll I'll definitely uh keep you keep you in the mix thank you so much thank you everybody so much for joining me for my interview with Brian J.

SPEAKER_00 30:49

Smith he's a great guy a talented actor great filmmaker I hope you'll all go check out his new documentary A House is not a disco um and please like share subscribe if you have any questions feel free to email us at questions at dukesdownload.com see you next week thank you for joining me today on Duke's Download this podcast is part of Pridehouse Media hosted by me Duke Mason and produced and edited by Josh Rosen's Wick. Original music composed by Nell Balaban if you enjoyed this episode please subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts. And while you're there leave us a rating and review. It really helps others to discover the show. I'd love to stay connected with you so join the conversation by following me at James Duke Mason on Instagram and X or by emailing me at questions at dukesdownload.com