Octavia Bray Modernizes the Romantic Comedy Genre with “Life with LEO(h)” Podcast
The must-listen, modernistic “Life With LEO(h)” podcast provides an opportunity for romantic comedy followers to explore the genre from a fresh and exciting perspective.
Created and written by television writer Octavia Bray, “Life with LEO(h)” is a rom-com podcast which includes sci-fi elements and a futuristic Los Angeles setting. The podcast’s central character, Jeanine Bell (Octavia Bray, she/her), is living in the year 2421 as a career-focused robotics intelligence lawyer who neglects her personal and romantic relationships. Robotics designer Penelope Lane (Beth Eyre, she/her) regularly requests Jeanine’s work services, and decides to gift Jeanine with LEO(h) (Maximilian Koger, he/him), an illegal android who is made to love Jeanine, as a reward for her help in keeping her out of prison.
Bray created the character of Jeanine Bell by calling upon her own personal relationship tendencies. One of these is the idea that someone who shows you love may come into your life with ulterior motives, or in a form that’s never without its downfalls. Consequently, Jeanine often bears doubts about her love life, which fall back on the all too relatable feelings of frustration in the quest for true love.
“When I was still conceiving the podcast, most of it was borne of my own anxieties and insecurities around relationships,” Bray said. “‘Will anyone ever love me? It feels like no one's ever gonna love me. What do I need to do to make someone love me?’ Not pretty thoughts, but true ones!”
Nine out of 10 episodes from season one of the podcast have been released as of May 30. Some topics brought up in past episodes involve romantic love, the bonds of friendship, and the conversation of consent, which is discussed in relation to LEO(h)’s feelings for Jeanine. Since LEO(h) is an android with synthetic sentience who is programmed to love her, Jeanine questions the possibility of any romance with someone who may not be able to give her authentic expressions of consent.
“If Jeanine ignores the fact that LEO(h) can't consent, that makes her a sexual predator, and I'm simply not interested in giving any more ground to so-called gray areas,” Bray said. “LEO(h)'s ability to consent is more critical than the fact that he's not, as one character describes him, ‘a man in the traditional sense.’”
To bring the story to life, Bray partnered with audio fiction production team, Atypical Artists, and called upon a female-led staff. Among the contributors of the “Life with LEO(h)” crew are director Shenee Howard (she/her), sound designer Julia Schifini (she/her), and editor Lauren Shippen (she/her). Other cast members are Angelique Francis (she/her) as Ellie Bell, Phillip Jordan (he/him) as Michael Parker, Jenapher Zheng (she/her) as Aggie Wu, Caitlin Schneiderhan (she/her) as Rosemary, Lauren Shippen (she/her) as Roommate, and Felix Trench (he/him) as Floyd, Bardroid, ABE Unit, Toy.
The final episode of season one of “Life with LEO(h)” airs on Sunday, June 6. Bray has a rough outline for season two planned out, which she says “gets a little more vulnerable for everyone.” Three pivotal lessons which Bray has taken away from creating the podcast are ones that she hopes listeners can similarly experience and apply to their own lives.
“One: be vulnerable,” Bray said of what creating “Life with LEO(h)” has taught her. “People can't know what you want or how to help you if you never tell them…Two: Having your own pain does not give you an excuse to hurt others...[and] three: Be brave...Not to be all high school gym teacher, but you know how you build muscle? You create all these tears in your muscle fibers, and then as they heal, your muscles grow. Hurts like the dickens, but at the end, you're jacked. Emotionally speaking, I am on track to give a young Arnold Schwarzeneggar a run for his money.”
“Life with LEOH(h)” is available for listening on numerous podcast platforms, including Spotify, Google Podcasts, and Stitcher. To learn more about “Life with LEO(h),” visit its site here.
Devin Herenda is an award-winning multimedia journalist and emerging entertainment industry writer based in Los Angeles.
A 2020 recipient of the Society of Professional Journalists Lisa A. Davidson Memorial Scholarship and broadcast journalism major at CSU Northridge, Devin has written for various publications including myBurbank News and Rom Com Fest.
Devin is bicoastal as a native Californian with New Jersey roots and enjoys music, fashion, and all things rom-coms.
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