What Does Leslie Do? She Does It All!
I was at a “How to Pitch to Executives” panel the other day for The Official Latino Film Festival when a female filmmaker asked the panel of production executives and movie producers a big question: “I’m a writer, producer, and director. Does being a multi-hyphenate hurt me when it comes to being in a room and pitching?”
One of the movie producers quickly shot back, “No. Be you. That’s who you are.” It was an affirmation that the filmmaker who asked that question (and I think everyone in the room) needed.
I immediately thought of Leslie Martinez, a wonderful member of the Latinx Comedy Pachanga.
Leslie is a multi-hyphenate to the letter. She writes, directs, produces, performs, and seems to be a one stop shop for all things entertainment and production.
How do I know this? Because I’ve seen it in action.
I’ve been very lucky to have a front row seat to the marvel that is Leslie Martinez. She would never call herself that because she is genuinely humble and down to Earth. But I’m her friend, so I’m going to call her that!
Honestly, I’m genuinely impressed by how talented this woman is, and how that talent channels itself in various mediums. She is a multi-hyphenate because there is so much creativity and genius inside of her that to limit it to one thing must be hard.
Also, it’s not like she’s really good at one and okay at the rest. She’s pretty amazing at all of these. I wouldn’t include all these things if I didn’t think she was great at them. So? How is she great? Keep reading to find out!
Example No.1 – Leslie Elicits Empathy From The Audience & Radiates Dignity As An Actress
Alright, so Leslie hates it when I say this, but she kind of came out of nowhere to join the Pachanga. She just showed up one day, and boom, she was part of the Pachanga. And how lucky we were to have her! Okay, to be fair, I put a casting call out there and she responded.
At first, I didn’t know how to cast her, so I put her in some serious parts as supporting roles. In Leslie’s first sketch, she had to play the doting girlfriend to a wide-eyed North Carolinian dude (played by the wonderful Xerxes David Flores) who was welcoming home his “I moved to Hollywood to make it big but I only do extra work” jerk cousin played by Efrain Colon, who also wrote the sketch.
Basically, Efrain plays a huge jerk who equates his extra work on Modern Family as the pinnacle of success. Efrain is hilarious in this – dude is great at playing self important jerks! – but it’s also because he had such grounded performers to play off of. Leslie and Xerxes respond to Efrain’s pompous character with warmth, empathy, and pity. They don’t want to burst his bubble while being victim to his blunder and bluster. There’s a lot of dignity to the characters.
I just direct sketch comedy. I’m not some great acting teacher, but I do know this: you can’t teach dignity. You either got it or you don’t. Leslie has dignity! Dripping with it! And because of that, she’s great at playing characters that feel real and who you can empathize with. And because you can empathize with her, you can also empathize with all the crazy characters and absurd situations Pachanga sketches put her in. An absurd situation is only funny if there’s a grounded person to be like, “This is crazy, and I need to call it out right now.” Leslie’s ability to be the center in the storm of comic craziness is a skill few possess. I’m very lucky to work with such a centered and emotionally open actor.
Example No.2 – Leslie Is A Boss Director Who Knows How To Run A Set
Back in February of this year, Marcelina Chavira and I put on a two person sketch show called Marlando. It was written by the Pachanga ensemble, directed by Jerry Hernandez and Maria Felix, with videos from Supervāse Video, a digital sketch team co-founded by Leslie Martinez, Ally Kloster (her partner), and some friends.
Leslie brought us a script for a newlyweds parody show starring famous Mexican artists Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera, played by Marcelina Chavira and I. The script was great, but her leadership on the shoot day revealed a whole new side of her I did not know – Leslie knows how to direct!
The shoot that day was breeze. We had limited time and resources, but Leslie made it work. It was a very guerilla shoot, but she knew what she wanted and she knew how to get it. With the help of her cinematographer Ally Kloster and production assistant Joe Felix, she got every shot she wanted while keeping the shoot on schedule. It was like watching a great quarterback move down the field to score a touchdown.
As an actor, she was great to work with. She trusted you as an actor to do your part and bring the rest of the script to life. She gave me the freedom to play with her script and add my own in-the-moment ad libs, which kept it fun and spontaneous for everyone around, and comedy is found at the intersection of those two.
I’m telling you Leslie, Ally, and Supervāse Video are a one stop shop production studio! So not only did she come up with the idea for this super funny digital sketch called “Newlyweds: Friday and Diego,” she did every other task necessary to bring this idea to life from page to picture and everything in between! And Ally helped out a lot too (thank for you for editing the videos!) Leslie is an incredible filmmaker; this fun little sketch is just one example of that. Check out the rest of the Supervāse Video library if you want more proof.
Example No.3 – Watch This Commercial Where Leslie’s Gift for Empathy Is On Full Display
So earlier I talked about Leslie’s incredible ability to empathize and have that suck people into her performance. Well, here’s proof. This is Leslie’s first commercial ever, but I imagine it’s just the first of many. Watch and have your heart opened by this special Subaru commercial starring Leslie.
Example No.4 – Leslie Has A Lot of Love In Her Heart
Okay, so for this next section, it’s not necessarily about her being an actor, director, or producer. It’s just about her being her regular old self, living her life the best she can like the rest of us. Well turns out in her regular life she fostered some very beautiful pretty kitties! And that chapter of her life was beautifully captured by the Dodo.
Don’t get me wrong, I love cats. But creating space in your life to nurture and comfort another being so that they have a shot at living a decent life, that is a deep love. Not everyone can do that. I don’t know how many people have the patience and compassion for raising another being to have a happy and healthy life.
Well, that’s exactly what Leslie and Ally did – they took these kittens in, raised as much as they can, and got them ready to live with a future family. But guess what? I believe Leslie and Ally adopted them! These are probably the luckiest little kitties in the whole world. At the very least, I know that her love for cats is reflective of her big heart.
Example No.5 – Her V/O Work on Electoral Elementary Will Get You To Root For Her Character
Finally, Leslie is the lead actor in Electoral Elementary, a kid’s podcast about 5th grader Gloria Martinez and her civic awakening, which leads to her running for student body president of her elementary school.
This six episode podcast series was created to teach children about civics, American politics, and the importance of participation in our pluralistic democracy through storytelling and songs.
The first episode does a great job painting the picture of who are lead is – a strong, civic minded, community and service oriented 5th grader named Gloria Martinez – and the world she lives in – a stagnant elementary school where people can’t be fired, ideas to make the school safer are rejected, and where a soft nepotism thrives – which seems to mirror our own political reality quite a bit.
At the end of the episode, Gloria experiences a political awakening thanks to the help of a cartoon donkey and elephant who spring forth from her textbook to reality and who serve as her political guides. She decides to run for student body president because this is the best way to initiate change.
I think what I like most of Leslie’s performance is that although we all know Gloria is the hero of the story, Leslie’s performance reveals that Gloria is not to sure she’s the hero of the story. Although Gloria has great ideas that are in the best interest of the school and wants to initiate change, she is still not aware of the fact that she is the one to lead that change.
There is doubt in Gloria. She’s the most qualified person to lead this change, but she doesn’t believe it herself initially. This doubt makes you root for Gloria. You want her to see herself the way the audience does – as a hero waiting to accept her call to action. The doubt soon transitions to acknowledgement to awakening – Gloria can do this. That journey from doubt to awakening was made possible by Leslie. She found the character and brought it to life. She kept herself in the dark about the character so that when we saw her transform, it was all that more rewarding. This is an amazing performance; you have to check out this podcast.
Well it’s easy to see that Leslie Martinez is amazing!
She can write, act, direct, produce, elicit empathy for her scene partners, get the audience to root for her, run a video shoot on time with purpose, focus, and vision, and like a million other things that one blog post will never be able to cover.
Whether on stage, behind the camera, in the voice recording booth, or wherever her many talents take her, Leslie is the ultimate package. But what is her secret? How does she do it all? I don’t know. You just have to witness Leslie’s greatness and know there is someone out there who can and does it all.
