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

<p>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.&nbsp;</p> <p><br></p> --- Support this podcast: <a href="https://anchor.fm/thescreenwritinglife/support" rel="payment">https://anchor.fm/thescreenwritinglife/support</a>