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 Geri Cole and Rashidi Hendrix—speak with Black screenwriters who have each written amazing films about Black icons in history.

For the second installment in the series, Geri speaks to Suzan-Lori Parks — Pulitzer prize-winning playwright and screenwriter of the new Hulu feature film, THE UNITED STATES VS. BILLIE HOLIDAY.

Suzan-Lori Parks 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.

THE UNITED STATES VS. BILLIE HOLIDAY is adapted from Chasing the Scream: The First and Last Days of the War on Drugs by Johann Hari. It tells the story of the legendary Billie Holiday (Andra Day) as she's targeted by the federal department of narcotics with an undercover sting operation led by black federal agent Jimmy Fletcher (Trevante Rhodes), with whom she has a tumultuous love affair. The film is directed by Lee Daniels and is currently available to stream on Hulu.

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Read shownotes, transcripts, and other member interviews: www.onwriting.org/

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Follow the Guild on social media: Twitter: @OnWritingWGAE | @WGAEast Facebook: /WGAEast Instagram: @WGAEast

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 Geri Cole and Rashidi Hendrix—speak with Black screenwriters who have each written amazing films about Black icons in history.

To kick things off, we’re joined by Ruben Santiago-Hudson and the screenwriter of MA RAINEY’S BLACK BOTTOM, which is currently available to stream on Netflix.

Ruben Santiago-Hudson is a versatile talent who — in addition to his many acting credits in projects like BILLIONS and THE IMMORTAL LIFE OF HENRIETTA LACKS — wrote the award-winning stage play for LACKAWANNA BLUES as well as its Emmy and Writers Guild Award-nominated TV film adaptation.

MA RAINEY’S BLACK BOTTOM is an adaptation of the August Wilson play of the same name. The film, set in 1920s Chicago, follows a recording session where tensions rise between mother of blues Ma Rainey (Viola Davis), and her ambitious horn player named Levee (Chadwick Boseman).

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Read shownotes, transcripts, and other member interviews: www.onwriting.org/

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Geri is joined by award-winning screenwriter Lena Waithe – creator of and writer on the BET comedy series TWENTIES – about never pandering to an audience, how the series A DIFFERENT WORLD influences her work, and how success can come in small doses.

Lena Waithe is a screenwriter, producer, and actress known for her Emmy Award-winning writing on MASTER OF NONE, as well as for creating the Showtime drama series THE CHI and writing the screenplay for the 2019 film QUEEN & SLIM.

Her latest project, TWENTIES, follows a young screenwriter and her best friends as they pursue their dreams in Los Angeles. The BET series premiered in March 2020 and was renewed for a second season in June.

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Geri and Terence Nance — creator, writer, director, and co-star of the new HBO Late Night series RANDOM ACTS OF FLYNESS — talk about the trauma in - and of - making art, how his writing takes place before he opens Final Draft, and how we can find success by looking in each other's faces.

Terrence Nance is a writer, director, actor, and musician. His 2012 feature film AN OVERSIMPLIFICATION OF HER BEAUTY premiered at Sundance and received a Gotham Independent Film Award. He was the recipient of a 2014 Guggenheim fellowship for his work.

His latest project is the HBO late-night sketch comedy series RANDOM ACTS OF FLYNESS - a fluid, stream-of-consciousness response to the contemporary American mediascape. Each episode features a handful of interconnected vignettes which showcase an ensemble cast of emerging and established talent. The show is a mix of verité documentary, musical performances, surrealist melodrama and humorous animation. Nance and his collaborators weave together such themes as ancestral trauma, history, death, the singularity, romance and more.

The six-episode first season explores evergreen cultural idioms such as patriarchy, white supremacy and sensuality from a new, thought-provoking perspective, and is available to stream on HBO Max.

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Read shownotes, transcripts, and other member interviews: www.onwriting.org/

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Geri talks to writer and director Aaron Sorkin about spending 15 years writing his latest film, THE TRIAL OF THE CHICAGO 7; why intention and obstacle are the backbones of every good story; and how his career is kind of like being struck by lightning… if being struck by lightning were a good thing.

Aaron Sorkin is the Academy, Emmy, Golden Globe, and Writers Guild Award-winning writer behind myriad films, television series, and plays including THE WEST WING, THE NEWSROOM, the play A FEW GOOD MEN (and its 1992 film adaptation), MONEYBALL, MOLLY’S GAME—which he also directed, and THE SOCIAL NETWORK.

THE TRIAL OF THE CHICAGO 7, written and directed by Sorkin, is based on the infamous 1969 trial of seven defendants charged by the federal government with conspiracy and more, arising from the countercultural protests in Chicago at the 1968 Democratic National Convention. The film was released in the fall of 2020 and is available to stream on Netlfix.

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Geri speaks to Sacha Baron Cohen, Anthony Hines, and Peter Baynham—cowriters of BORAT SUBSEQUENT MOVIEFILM—about why they decided to revisit the iconic character, how intense it was to film that now infamous Rudy Giuliani scene, and the reality of filming in very dangerous situations.

Sacha Baron Cohen is best known for his portrayal of bawdy and raucous fictional satirical characters such as Ali G, Borat Sagdiyev, Brüno Gehard and Admiral General Aladeen. 

Sacha and his cowriters and frequent collaborators Anthony Hines and Peter Baynham have featured these characters in a number of films and television series, including ALI G INDAHOUSE, THE 11 O’CLOCK SHOW, BRÜNO, THE DICTATOR, and BORAT: CULTURAL LEARNINGS OF AMERICA FOR MAKE BENEFIT GLORIOUS NATION OF KAZAKHSTAN, the latter of which was nominated for the 2006 Writers Guild and Academy Awards for Best Adapted Screenplay.

Their latest collaboration, BORAT SUBSEQUENT MOVIEFILM, follows the titular Borat Sagdiyev after his release from a stint in prison for bringing shame to his country, as he risks life and limb when he returns to America with his 15-year-old daughter. The film is available to stream on Amazon Prime.

 

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Geri chats with Sofia Coppola—writer, director, and producer of ON THE ROCKS—about how her writing process has changed over the years, how family dynamics helped shape her work, and why it's so important to trust your instincts.

Sofia Coppola’s career as a writer and director began with her 1999 film THE VIRGIN SUICIDES. Since then, Sofia has written and directed films like THE BEGUILED, THE BLING RING, MARIE ANTOINETTE, and LOST IN TRANSLATION. Her script for LOST IN TRANSLATION received the 2004 Writers Guild and Academy Awards for Best Original Screenplay.

Her latest feature, ON THE ROCKS, tells story of young New York-based author and married mother-of-two, Laura, who has become suspicious that her career-driven husband may be having an affair with a coworker—a speculation encouraged by her caddish, bon vivant father. The film was released in October 2020, and is available to stream on Apple TV+.

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Read shownotes, transcripts, and other member interviews: www.onwriting.org/

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Geri Cole hosts the third installment of the OnWriting Guide to Crafting Scripted Podcasts.

In Parts One & Two, Kaitlin Fontana spoke with podcast writers and producers about the industry’s business side: what the market looks like, how to break in, and how to protect yourself once you’re there; and about the creative side of the industry: from recruiting talent, to necessary skill sets, to creative satisfactions, and beyond.

Now, in Part Three, Geri is joined by three guests—Lissette Alvarez, Matt Klinman, and Lowell Peterson—to talk about the WGA Audio Alliance a new initiative from the Writers Guild of America, East which aims to establish and improve the standards and rights for writers in the scripted podcast industry.

To learn more, visit wgaeast.org/WGAAudio or follow @WGAAudio on Twitter.

About the Guests

Lisette Alvarez is the owner of Stormfire Productions, an independent podcast production company. They are the writer, producer, and lead actor of the urban fantasy audio drama KALILA STORMFIRE'S ECONOMICAL MAGICK SERVICES.

Matt Klinman is a writer, director and performer for television, digital and scripted audio. He is currently developing a new scripted audio series with Audible and was most recently a staff writer on the Spotify series THE LAST DEGREE OF KEVIN BACON produced by Funny or Die and the Audible series 64TH MAN produced by Broadway Video. He is the co-creator and co-director of the scripted audio series SMARTR produced by Team Coco for Luminary.

Lowell Peterson is the executive director of the Writers Guild of America, East. Under his stewardship, the Guild has organized nonfiction podcast companies Gimlet, The Ringer and Parcast, which are now all owned by Spotify.

To listen to the OnWriting Guide to Crafting Scripted Podcasts, Parts One and Two, visit onwriting.org and click on “Special Projects.”

The OnWriting Guide to Scripted Podcasting, Part Three was hosted by Geri Cole with sound design, mixing, and tech production by Stock Boy Creative. Special thanks to Lisette Alvarez, Matt Klinman, Lowell Peterson, Jason Gordon, and Molly Beer.   Parts One and Two were written & produced by Molly Beer; hosted by Kaitlin Fontana; with sound design, mixing, and tech production by Stock Boy Creative. Special thanks to River Donaghey, Danielle Trussoni, Zack Akers, Skip Bronkie, Alicia Van Couvering, Lowell Peterson, Jason Gordon, and Marsha Seeman.   -- Read shownotes, transcripts, and other member interviews: www.onwriting.org/ -- Follow the Guild on social media: Twitter: @OnWritingWGAE | @WGAEast Facebook: /WGAEast Instagram: @WGAEast

Geri speaks with acclaimed screenwriter, dramatist, and director Julie Taymor—co-writer and director of the new biopic THE GLORIAS—about her approach to storytelling, how projects can be shaped by limitations, how established creators like her still have to fight to get films like THE GLORIAS made, how travel has been the best education, and much more.

Celebrated for her work on stage and screen, Julie Taymor’s writing and directing credits include the 2002 Frida Kahlo biopic, FRIDA; the Beatles jukebox musical, ACROSS THE UNIVERSE; and one of the most successful Broadway musicals of all time, THE LION KING, which received three Drama Desk and two Tony Awards in 1998.

Her latest project, THE GLORIAS, is a biography of feminist icon Gloria Steinem. Julie and co-writer Sarah Ruhl adapted the screenplay from Gloria Steinem's memoir, My Life on the Road. The film was released on September 30, 2020, and is available to stream on Amazon Prime.

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Emmy Award-winning writer Cord Jefferson joins Geri to talk about his experiences in the writers’ rooms for two of the most prestigious series currently on television, writing about race and extreme privilege, why staying in your lane is an antiquated idea, and more.

Cord Jefferson was a journalist at Gawker from 2012 until 2014, when he joined the writing staff of the Starz sitcom SURVIVOR’S REMORSE. Since then, he has gone on to write for television series like THE NIGHTLY SHOW WITH LARRY WILMORE, THE GOOD PLACE, SUCCESSION, and WATCHMEN.

At the 72nd Annual Writers Guild Awards, the writers of WATCHMEN and SUCCESSION won the awards for New Series and Dramatic Series categories, respectively. Cord also received an Emmy Award for co-writing the sixth episode of WATCHMEN, “This Extraordinary Being.”

He is currently developing a TV series about Gawker alongside the site’s former Editor-in-Chief, Max Reed.

Season 7 of OnWriting is hosted by Geri Cole, a writer and performer based in New York City. She is currently a full-time staff and interactive writer for SESAME STREET, for which she has received Writers Guild Award and two Daytime Emmys. She also performs sketch and improv at theaters and festivals around the country.

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Read shownotes, transcripts, and other member interviews: www.onwriting.org/

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Follow the Guild on social media: Twitter: @OnWritingWGAE | @WGAEast Facebook: /WGAEast Instagram: @WGAEast