123 | Dustin Lance Black (Milk, Under the Banner of Heaven) On Nuanced Screenwriting and Avoiding Cliches

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Dustin Lance Black is an Oscar-winning writer/director, known for writing the films like Milk and J. Edgar, in addition to creating the award-winning 2022 crime miniseries Under the Banner of Heaven, starring Andrew Garfield. Black is a fierce LGBTQ rights advocate, serving as a founding board member of the American Foundation for Equal Rights, and writing 8, a courtroom drama reenacting the overturn of Prop 8 in California. On today's show, we discuss the common pitfalls of writing biopics, how Lance uses his own life to inform his work, and the research and work it takes to avoid cliches in our writing.

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124 | Elvis Screenwriter Jeremy Doner on Writing Biopics (and Avoiding Common Pitfalls)

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122 | What Do Professional Actors Look For In Good Scripts? (ft. Allison Tolman)