195 | Dustin Lance Black: Writing (And Adapting) Compelling Protagonists

The Screenwriting Life with Meg LeFauve and Lorien McKenna

Meg LeFauve & Lorien McKenna

Tv & Film

4.8 • 1K Ratings

🗓️ 30 May 2024

⏱️ 68 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

TSL WORKSHOPS EMAIL LIST: www.thescreenwritinglife.co/workshops Friend of the show Dustin Lance Black is back to talk about the central lynchpin of a great film: the protagonist. Lance is known for his complicated heroes (often real people) who draw us in and don't let go. Today, we discuss how to draw a protagonist that will hold an audience's attention, and perhaps more importantly, what to avoid so that same audience won't lose interest.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey everyone welcome back to the show I'm Meg Lafour and I'm
0:07.3	L'Orion McKenna and today we're welcoming back to the show screenwriter playwright
0:11.8	and showrunner Dustin Lance Black. Lance is an
0:15.3	Oscar-waiting writer director known for writing films like Milk, Jay Edgar in addition to
0:19.6	creating the award-winning crime miniseries under the Banner of Heaven.
0:24.4	Lance is also a passionate LGBT-plus rights advocate serving as a founding board member of the
0:30.4	American Foundation for Equal Rights,
0:32.8	as well as writing 8, a courtroom drama,
0:35.6	reenacting the overturn of Prop 8 in California.
0:38.4	Lance is also a co-writer on Rustin,
0:41.6	a film that earned Coleman Domingo his first Oscar nomination.
0:45.0	So in the wake of the film's success, we're going to be talking about writing protagonists today.
0:49.9	Hello, Lance.
0:51.1	Hey, thanks for having me back.
0:53.8	We were so excited that you would come back because we have so many questions we didn't get to,
0:57.9	and then Rustin came out and I'm such a fan fan fan of that movie.
1:02.3	I loved it so much. I voted for it for everything
1:04.4	by the way. Oh you're very kind this will be my first time talking about it because I
1:08.5	didn't really get out there we were in the midst of a move with a new baby and
1:12.1	all kinds of things.
1:13.2	So that's all your money.
1:15.2	We need to hear about it. But before we jump into that, we're going to do our
	...

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