Episode 45: OnWriting Live - Suzan-Lori Parks, "The United States vs Billie Holiday"

<p>OnWriting presents three live-taped episodes of OnWriting celebrating Black History Month, presented by the WGAE Black Writers Salon. In each installment, two co-chairs of the WGAE Black Writers Salon—OnWriting’s own <strong>Geri Cole</strong> and <strong>Rashidi Hendrix</strong>—speak with Black screenwriters who have each written amazing films about Black icons in history.</p> <p>For the second installment in the series, Geri speaks to <strong>Suzan-Lori Parks</strong> — Pulitzer prize-winning playwright and screenwriter of the new Hulu feature film, THE UNITED STATES VS. BILLIE HOLIDAY.</p> <p><strong>Suzan-Lori Parks</strong> was encouraged to take up playwriting by her then-college professor, James Baldwin. In 2002, she became the first African-American woman to receive the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for her play Topdog/Underdog. She also wrote the screenplays for the Spike Lee-directed 1996 film GIRL 6, the 2004 adaptation of Zora Neale Hurston’s THEIR EYES WERE WATCHING GOD, and the 2019 film adaptation of Richard Wright’s NATIVE SON. She is also a recipient of the MacArthur Foundation Genius Grant.</p> <p>THE UNITED STATES VS. BILLIE HOLIDAY is adapted from <em>Chasing the Scream: The First and Last Days of the War on Drugs</em> by <strong>Johann Hari</strong>. It tells the story of the legendary Billie Holiday (<strong>Andra Day</strong>) as she's targeted by the federal department of narcotics with an undercover sting operation led by black federal agent Jimmy Fletcher (<strong>Trevante Rhodes</strong>), with whom she has a tumultuous love affair. The film is directed by <strong>Lee Daniels</strong> and is currently available to stream on Hulu.</p> <p>--</p> <p><strong>Read shownotes, transcripts, and other member interviews:</strong><br /> <a href="http://www.onwriting.org/">www.onwriting.org/</a></p> <p>--</p> <p><strong>Follow the Guild on social media:</strong><br /> Twitter: @OnWritingWGAE | @WGAEast<br /> Facebook: /WGAEast<br /> Instagram: @WGAEast</p>