dustin lance black

Born 1974 (age 34–35)

Sacramento, California Occupation Screenwriter, Film Director, Producer Nationality American Alma mater UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television '96 Notable work(s) Big Love (2006 – present)

Milk (2008) Notable award(s) Academy Awards

Best Original Screenplay

2008 Milk

Dustin "Lance" Black (born 1974) is an Academy Award-winning American screenwriter, director, film and television producer, and gay activist best known for his work on the television series Big Love and the 2008 film Milk. Contents [hide] 1 Biography 1.1 Early life 1.2 Career 2 Awards 3 References 4 External links //

Biography

Early life

Black grew up in a Mormon household, [1] in San Antonio, Texas and later moving to Salinas, California when his mother remarried.[2][3] His father had been the Mormon missionary who had converted Black's mother earlier.[4] [2]

Growing up surrounded by Mormon culture and military bases, Black worried about his sexuality. He told himself "I'm going to hell. And if I ever admit it, I'll be hurt, and I'll be brought down" when he found himself attracted to a boy in his neighborhood at the age of six or seven.[2] He says that his "acute awareness" of his sexuality made him dark, shy and at times suicidal, and he only came out after leaving high school.[2]

When going to North Salinas High School, Black began to work in theater at The Western Stage in Salinas-Monterey, California,[2] and later worked on productions including Bare at Hollywood's Hudson Main Stage Theater.[5] Black graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles, School of Theater, Film, and Television (UCLA) while apprenticing with stage directors, taking acting jobs and working on theater lighting crews.[6]

Career

In 2000, he wrote and directed The Journey of Jared Price, a gay romance film, and Something Close to Heaven, a gay coming-of-age short film. In 2001, he directed and was a subject in the documentary On the Bus about a Nevada road trip taken by six gay men.[1] Raised as Mormon, he was hired as the only such writer on the HBO drama series Big Love about a polygamistic family.[4][7] He wrote for and produced the series for its first two seasons, in addition to its current third.[6]

Black had first visited San Francisco in the early 1990s and was inspired by city supervisor Harvey Milk's representation of the gay community while diagnoses of AIDS among gay people were increasing.[8] He had first viewed Rob Epstein's documentary The Times of Harvey Milk when he was in college, and thought, "I just want to do something with this, why hasn't someone done something with this?"[2] Researching Milk's life for three years,[6] Black met with Milk's former aides Cleve Jones and Anne Kronenberg, as well as former San Francisco Mayor Art Agnos,[8] and began to write a feature film screenplay encompassing the events of Milk's life.[2] The screenplay was written on spec,[9] but Black showed the