237 | Malcolm Washington & Virgil Williams (The Piano Lesson) On Adapting August Wilson's Pulitzer-Winning Masterpiece

The Screenwriting Life with Meg LeFauve and Lorien McKenna

Meg LeFauve & Lorien McKenna

Tv & Film

4.8 • 1K Ratings

🗓️ 13 February 2025

⏱️ 62 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

JOIN TSL WORKSHOPS: https://tslworkshops.circle.so It's no secret that plays and movies are entirely different mediums, so how do you give the cinematic treatment to a play as celebrated as "The Piano Lesson" by Pulitzer Prize-winning August Wilson? From the start, co-writer and director Malcom Washington came in with a very specific take on the material, and was incredibly grateful when Oscar-nominated "Mudbound" co-writer Virgil Williams came on board to help nurture that take on the page. In today's conversation, you'll hear how the two of them wrote together in the desert, creating a routinized approach to the material, while still leaving space for discovery. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Adobe Express makes it quick and easy to create everything I need for my business.
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0:14.0	Hey everyone, welcome back to the screenwriting life. I'm Meg Lopode. Lurie can't be here today,
0:24.2	but I am thrilled to be welcoming Malcolm Washington and Virgil Williams, co-writers of the
0:28.9	acclaimed adaptation of August Wilson's Pulitzer Prize winning play, The Piano Lesson. It's now streaming
0:34.5	on Netflix, I recommend, lovely, amazing movie. The film, directed by Washington
0:39.4	in his directorial debut, is the third of 10 planned adaptations from August Wilson's acclaimed
0:45.1	American Century Cycle. It was nominated for 14 NAACP Image Awards, including outstanding
0:51.2	writing for Malcolm and Virgil, in addition to outstanding directing
0:54.7	and breakthrough creative for Malcolm. Virgil began his career as a TV writer on major network hits
0:59.8	like 24, ER, Criminal Minds, and earned an Oscar nomination for co-writing Mudbound, incredible film.
1:06.8	Malcolm and Virgil, welcome to the show. Thank you. Thank you. It's an honor.
1:11.6	It's an honor to be here when Virgil calls and tells me to show up, I show up.
1:14.6	I'm happy to be here with him.
1:16.6	I love that.
1:18.6	Well, I'm such a huge fan of your film that I am so, so excited to talk about it and the craft of writing and partnership, working writer, director.
1:28.8	There's so many things we're going to jump into.
1:30.9	We usually start our show with something we call Adventures in Screenwriting,
1:35.6	or another way to think about it is, how is your week?
1:39.0	Our listeners like to hear what's a normal week in a creative's life.
1:43.8	I'll start because mine is super easy
	...

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