This week, award-winning journalist Soledad O'Brien joins Franklin for a conversation about growing up Black, her approach to documentary filmmaking, the state of journalism in the Trump era, and so much more. (And guess what? Soledad is the host of another Luminary original, Murder on the Towpath.) Questions? Comments? Criticism? Hit us up on social media at @theblcklst.To learn more about The Black List, visit www.blcklst.com.Mentions:+New York Times, Soledad O'Brien: A Me Too Movement for Journalists of Color, www.nytimes.com/2020/07/04/opinion/soledad-obrien-racism-journalism.html+Black in America: http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/in.america/black.in.america/+Latino in America: http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2009/latino.in.america/

This week, screenwriter Steven Canals joins Kate and Franklin to talk about growing up in the Bronx, the glory of Cardi B, the origins of how his Emmy-nominated show Pose on FX came to be picked up, and so much more.Questions? Comments? Criticism? Hit us up on social media at @theblcklst.This conversation took place in 2021.To learn more about The Black List, visit www.blcklst.com.Mentions: +Pose: fxnetworks.com/shows/pose+Paris is Burning: rottentomatoes.com/m/paris_is_burning+The Color Purple: rottentomatoes.com/m/color_purple+Terminator: rottentomatoes.com/m/terminator

Screenwriters, this is the episode for you. Academy Award winner Akiva Goldsman (A Beautiful Mind, I, Robot, The Da Vinci Code screenplay, multiple Star Trek and Batman scripts, and more) joins Franklin and Kate to talk about his beginnings in Brooklyn, how his early family life influenced his writing career, and his memories of Joel Schumacher on the late 90s Batman films. Plus, the writing teachers he studied with at NYU (including Russell Banks, Margaret Atwood, E.L. Doctorow) and much more. Questions? Comments? Criticism? Hit us up on social media at @theblcklst.This conversation is from 2021. To learn more about The Black List, visit www.blcklst.com.Mentions: +A Beautiful Mind: rottentomatoes.com/m/beautiful_mind+Mr. and Mrs. Smith: rottentomatoes.com/m/mr_and_mrs_smith+Batman & Robin: rottentomatoes.com/m/1077027_batman_and_robin

This week, playwright and screenwriter Jeremy O. Harris joins Kate and Franklin to talk about eliciting polarized audience reactions to Slave Play, his co-writing process with Janicza Bravo on Zola, being the youngest well-read person at parties, accessing the fascinating intersections of high and low culture, and so much more. Questions? Comments? Criticism? Hit us up on social media at @theblcklst.This conversation took place in 2020. To learn more about The Black List, visit www.blcklst.com.Mentions: +Slave Play: http://slaveplaybroadway.com+Zola: http://rottentomatoes.com/m/zola

Understated, undersung, and overly easy to appreciate, director and actor Marielle Heller is this week's enjoyable guest. Heller talks about her beginnings in theatre, the realities of gender in filmmaking, directing the great Tom Hanks in A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, and so much more.Questions? Comments? Criticism? Hit us up on social media at @theblcklst.This conversation took place in 2020. To learn more about The Black List, visit www.blcklst.com.Mentions (Heller's films) +Diary of a Teenage Girl: http://rottentomatoes.com/m/the_diary_of_a_teenage_girl+Can You Ever Forgive Me?: http://rottentomatoes.com/m/can_you_ever_forgive_me+A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood: http://rottentomatoes.com/m/a_beautiful_day_in_the_neighborhood

You may know him as Jean-Ralphio from Parks and Rec, or the voice of Sonic the Hedgehod: Friend of The Black List family Ben Schwartz joins Kate and Franklin for an insanely funny conversation about his latest improv adventure on Middleditch and Schwartz, bringing Dewey to life in the DuckTales reboot, his new Netflix series, Space Force, and so much more. Questions? Comments? Criticism? Hit us up on social media at @theblcklst. This episode was originallyreleased in 2020To learn more about The Black List, visit www.blcklst.com.Mentions: +Middleditch and Schwartz: http://www.netflix.com/title/81122572+DuckTales: http://rottentomatoes.com/tv/ducktales+Space Force: http://netflix.com/title/81021929

Be Water filmmaker Bao Nguyen joins Kate and Franklin to talk about bringing Bruce Lee to a new generation, his Saturday Night Live documentary, depictions of the Vietnam War on screen, and so much more. Questions? Comments? Criticism? Hit us up on social media at @theblcklst.To learn more about The Black List, visit www.blcklst.com.Mentions: +Be Water: espn.com/mma/story/_/id/29249053/be-water-how-watch-stream-espn-bruce-lee-documentary +Live From New York!: rottentomatoes.com/m/live_from_new_york

What do the NBA, Chicago Bulls, and Michael Jordan have in common? Jason Hehir. This week, Franklin and Kate talk to The Last Dance director about getting Jordan to finally open up, documenting both hip-hop and the NBA’s rise to global prominence, humanizing his favorite sports icons, and so much more.Questions? Comments? Criticism? Hit us up on social media at @theblcklst.To learn more about The Black List, visit www.blcklst.com.Mentions: +The Last Dance, netflix.com/gb/title/80203144+ESPN: The Last Dance, espn.com/nba/story/_/id/29180083/the-last-dance-how-replay-stream-espn-michael-jordan-documentary

Film historian and cultural commentator Karina Longworth joins Franklin and Kate to talk about her love for Judy Garland, the imaginative world of Film Twitter, the then-current season of her podcast, You Must Remember This (all about Polly Platt!), and so much more.Questions? Comments? Criticism? Hit us up on social media at @theblcklst.This episode originally aired in 2020. To learn more about The Black List, visit www.blcklst.com.Mentions: +You Must Remember This: http://youmustrememberthispodcast.com

On the eve of Independence Day weekend, Spike Lee joined Franklin and Kate to talk about narrative filmmaking, his longtime collaborators, and the movement for Black lives. From Do the Right Thing, to Malcolm X, to Bamboozled, to his ilm for Netflix, Da 5 Bloods, the trio talks about how culture talks to movies, and how movies talk back to the culture.Questions? Comments? Criticism? Hit us up on social media at @theblcklst.This episode first aired in mid-2020. To learn more about The Black List, visit www.blcklst.com.Mentions: +Do The Right Thing: rottentomatoes.com/m/do_the_right_thing+Malcom X: rottentomatoes.com/m/1042135-malcolm_x+Bamboozled: rottentomatoes.com/m/bamboozled+Da 5 Bloods: netflix.com/title/81045635

Writer and director of The Farewell, Lulu Wang, joins Kate and Franklin to talk about navigating the indie film marketplace, drawing inspiration from her classical piano training, streaming vs. theatrical distribution, and so much more.Questions? Comments? Criticism? Hit us up on social media at @theblcklst.This episode originally aired in 2020, behind a paywall. To learn more about The Black List, visit www.blcklst.com.Mentions:+The Farewell: rottentomatoes.com/m/the_farewell_2018

This week, Kate and Franklin talk to Birds of Prey director Cathy Yan about her practical approach to visual effects and combat, the Marvel vs. DC cinematic universe, her past life as a journalist, and so much more. Questions? Comments? Criticism? Hit us up on social media at @theblcklst.This episode was originally published in 2020, behind a paywall. To learn more about The Black List, visit www.blcklst.com. Mentions:+Birds of Prey: www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/cathy_yan

This week's guest is Alice Wu. The 2018 annual Black Lister talks to Franklin and Kate about her journey back into Hollywood as an Asian queer filmmaker, how Chinese language films shaped her love of cinema, remixing the teen romantic triangle movie with her film, The Half of It, and so much more.Questions? Comments? Criticism? Hit us up on social media at @theblcklst.This episode was originally published in 2020, behind a paywall. To learn more about The Black List, visit www.blcklst.com. Mentions:+Saving Face: www.rottentomatoes.com/m/saving_face +The Half of It: www.netflix.com/title/81005150

This week is a special conversation with Franklin, Kate, and the one and only Janelle Monáe, star of season two of Amazon's Homecoming. The trio talk about how her music has informed her film career, her childhood memories of Steel Magnolias, seeing herself onscreen in Sister Act 2, and so much more.Questions? Comments? Criticism? Hit us up on social media at @theblcklst.This encore episode was originally published in 2020. To learn more about The Black List, visit www.blcklst.com. Mentions:+Homecoming: https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/detail/B085SVBCBP/ref=atv_dp_share_cu_r +Steel Magnolias: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/steel_magnolias  +Sister Act 2: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/sister_act_2_back_in_the_habit

This week, actor Jay Ellis talks to Kate and Franklin about the Top Gun sequel in which he stars, how his perspective has changed as a new father, his Insecure directorial debut and so much more. Questions? Comments? Criticism? Hit us up on social media at @theblcklst.This episode was originally published in 2020, behind a paywall. To learn more about The Black List, visit www.blcklst.com. Mentions:+Insecure: https://www.hbo.com/insecure +Top Gun: https://shadowandact.com/new-top-gun-maverick-trailer-shows-at-jay-ellis-in-tom-cruise-sequel

This week, Franklin and Kate are joined by activist, NYT bestselling author, and actor Gabrielle Union. The trio talk about 90s teen films (hello, Bring It On!), Gabrielle's love for Grease 2, depicting the evolving American family in her new children’s book, Welcome to the Party, and so much more.Questions? Comments? Criticism? Hit us up on social media at @theblcklst.To learn more about The Black List, visit www.blcklst.com. Mentions:+Welcome to the Party: https://people.com/parents/gabrielle-union-welcome-to-the-party-cover/ +LA’s Finest: https://ew.com/tv/gabrielle-union-jessica-alba-las-finest-season-2-trailer/+Grease 2: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/grease_2 +Bring It On: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/bring_it_on

Roxane Gay, NYT bestselling author and co-host of Luminary's Hear to Slay, talks to Franklin and Kate about her time writing Marvel comic books, representations of fat characters in media, her love for the Fast and Furious franchise, and so much more. Questions? Comments? Criticism? Hit us up on social media at @theblcklst.To learn more about The Black List, visit www.blcklst.com. Mentions:+Hear to Slay (on Luminary): https://luminary.link/MjGEtukE25+Roxane Gay on writing for Marvel: https://time.com/4866569/roxane-gay-marvel-lumberjanes/

Franklin and Kate talk to comedy icon Ed Helms about his start with the Upright Citizens Brigade, working on The Daily Show during the George W. Bush Administration, his latest Netflix comedy, Coffee & Kareem, and so much more. Questions? Comments? Criticism? Hit us up on social media at @theblcklst.To learn more about The Black List, visit www.blcklst.com. Mentions:+Coffee & Kareem: https://www.netflix.com/title/80220009 +Upright Citizens Brigade: https://ucbcomedy.com +The Daily Show: http://www.cc.com/shows/the-daily-show-with-trevor-noah

While Kate and Franklin remain hunkered down below the Hollywood sign, filmmaker Alan Yang joins the show to talk about his journey from Parks and Recreation to Master of None, developing a character-based approach to comedy, his latest film, Tigertail (Netflix), and so much more. Episode originally published in 2020. Questions? Comments? Criticism? Hit us up on social media at @theblcklst.To learn more about The Black List, visit www.blcklst.com. Mentions:+Tigertail: https://www.netflix.com/title/80202958+Little America: https://deadline.com/2018/06/apple-little-america-immigrant-anthology-series-the-big-sick-writers-lee-eisenberg-alan-yang-1202413632/+Master of None: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/master_of_none/s01+Parks and Recreation: https://www.nbc.com/parks-and-recreation

This week, Franklin and Kate talk to filmmakers Jordan Horowitz and Julia Hart about La La Land and that wild 2017 Oscars night mixup, bringing Black women superheroes to life in Fast Color, working together as a couple, and so much more.Questions? Comments? Criticism? Hit us up on social media at @theblcklst. To learn more about The Black List, visit ​www.blcklst.com​.Mentions:+La La Land x Oscars mixup: https://www.forbes.com/sites/natalierobehmed/2017/02/27/the-full-story-behind-the-la-la-land-an d-moonlight-oscars-mix-up/#419bc6d42298+Fast Color: https://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-front-row/fast-color-reviewed-a-superhero-movie-that-pa ys-close-attention-to-ordinary-life+Miss Stevens: ​https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/miss_stevens+The Keeping Room: https://www.fastcompany.com/3051556/the-keeping-room-star-brit-marling-and-writer-julia-hart- on-making-a-feminist-western+Stargirl: ​https://ew.com/movies/stargirl-director-julia-hart-disney-plus/ [Originally released for subscribers only in 2020]