Interview with Pitiful Smile Media Founder Frankie-Lee Allen

Frankie-Lee Allen (they/she) is a the serial dropout turned angst entrepreneur. They orchestrated their trauma and hardships as a BIPOC, queer disabled womxn into art. Spawned from the toxic wasteland of New Jersey, they set out to Colorado in hopes of finding her community of punks, queers, and misfits.

Allen uses their gift to create a quirky platform that connects people together to show they have common ground. She birthed Pitiful Smile Media with the hopes that entertainment will push past nepotism and biases in order to make great content. She splits her already short attention between cooking, DJing, and making a living as a full-time hermit conjuring up new ideas and projects.

Pitiful Smile Media is a nonprofit indie multimedia company focused on publishing queer and BIPOC stories. A team of four, including Allen, work to provide emerging artists an outlet for their creative projects in an otherwise cut-throat industry. They have multiple comics out currently, like the Hydrian Chronicles, which are available to read for free on Tapas. Also in the video game development biz, they have released Galactic Panic for Windows. They are also currently developing a video game titled Rockin’ Rose.

I spoke with Allen about Pitiful Smile Media and their desires to disrupt the entertainment industry.

How did you first start creating?

I just started drawing. In a funny way, my mom encouraged me because she said I drew stick figures better than her. I thought, “What? They’re just stick figures.” I always got that from people the older I got because I was able to get into the different spaces.

Who are your creative inspirations?

In the beginning, it was Akira Toriyama, the creator of Dragon Ball. Then there’s Patricia Cornwell. She’s a novelist, and she writes detective slash autopsy crime thrillers. Around the time of my gay awakening, I started getting into Gregg Araki, who’s a queer film director. He just has a way with visuals.

Also Joe Vasquez, the creator of Invader Zim. I was able to get some of his comics growing up. They completely changed the way I perceived comics because (growing up) I was so used to just the typical Marvel or DC comic book style.

You are a self-described drop out turn angst entrepreneur. What does this mean, to you?

I was trying to find a really professional way to describe myself because now I’m getting into more professional spaces. I realize I can’t, just to put it flatly. I’ve tried to do the whole pipeline of going to school and getting into the arts. There was one (animation) teacher in particular I followed all the way into college named Vincent Potuto. Once he retired and then passed away, I did not pursue school after that.

When it comes to the entrepreneur part, I got tired of applying for the same jobs within my industry and getting nothing. So I just said, Fuck it. I started just making my own stuff because I didn’t want to wait. I got tired of waiting.

What is the story about founding Pitiful Smile Media?

I wanted to emphasize that it wasn’t a pitiful thing for the creators who wanted to get into the industry. Why not put them in there? I wondered why businesses in my field play it safe. There’s so many things that people want to see. I talked to (people of) different walks of life. When I did, I was like, I wish there was a show that did this. I wish comics did this. I wish there was a game that had X, Y and Z. So I said, I’ll push forward. I’ll do it.

I got tired of seeing my friends, family, and people I encountered not getting into the industry and seeing their dreams die. I started the business because my partner and I, we’re both creative. When I saw her starting to give up, I was like, I can’t. And I’ve known people who tell me, “Talking with you made me actually clean my act up and get into the arts.” I had to do something with all of this.

How does being a person of color not only inform your art, but also how you run Pitiful Smile?

I’m in my second wind of my business. I wanted to make my business for everyone, but I realized my filter was too big. I’ll be unfiltered here, but I was trying not to be a scary black person. A lot of people have that bias, and I didn’t want to be pigeonholed or tokenized as the black person that does the core thing. You would get stuck in certain positions. The inequality in the entertainment industry is just horrible. I got tired of not seeing people like me in this industry.

What success and drawbacks have you seen so far in your career?

I struggled with trying to make a name for myself. I was going with people I thought had the best intentions. Then they said, Let’s do NFTs. But I was trying to do events that were about going green, so you know how backwards that would be? I butted heads with a lot of them even though I was really close with them. I had to learn a lot of lessons.

And now, with how my second wind is going, I’m learning. It sent me. It catapulted me. Now, I’m finding my community. I’m finding queer alternative people who say “I want to see more alternative black people in this scene. I want to see Indigenous characters who actually do something.” And I’m happy I can be a part of that because that’s the feeling I wanted originally.

You keep bringing up that second wind. What does that mean for you?

So the first wind was me really trying to prove myself, but I wasn’t being authentic. I thought, “Oh, we’re just a cool company, and I’m going to publish stuff, and everybody will like it,” not realizing the industry I’m in is already toxic. How am I supposed to get the people I want—the people that want change, the people that appreciate change—how am I supposed to get to know them if I’m abusing everyone while trying to be cool?

There was a lot of transformation because I had a falling out with a couple people. I had to make the ultimatum: either I cut a lot of strings and get shit together, or I just quit the business. And I saw in that limbo of me being neutral and scared of everything, people were waiting for me. So I pulled my bootstraps on, and I felt more inspired because I felt the weight of people pushing me forward.

How do you take care of yourself when making your passion your career?

I’m still learning that. It’s okay to make mistakes with it. I am really trying to make sure that I have time to enjoy my art.

I think that’s the difference with Pitiful Smile. I’ve seen the people on the team enjoy what we’re doing. It is the fact that we’re coming from the idea that we’re not trying to make this a Triple A company. We’re just doing this as a passion project, just to get things off the ground. On top of it, the people on the team just want to make sure we get this going the way we all want it. There’s not a lot of stress to hit quota or make it top notch.

There are people that want real, authentic gay stuff. We want to talk about gay joy, trans joy. We want to be authentic with it. A lot of companies in the industry dilute it. My business is about, if you have the story, you have the equipment, and you’re ready to go, we’ll help you publish it. That’s what it makes Pitiful Smile’s efforts more enjoyable. I see the person’s passion. I can be passionate with them.

What projects are in the works with Pitiful Smile Media?

Right now, we are working on a few comics and a new game, but we’re trying to get more people on the team. So if someone comes to me and says, “Hey, I don’t know about game development, but I want to try to work with you guys on a project or maybe a quarter,” I don’t mind that.