As screenwriters, I think it’s safe to say we’re all in need of a little bit of light in these dark times, whether you’re a member of a marginalized community or an ally of those in them. Sometimes, it just helps to hear some inspirational words from those who have fought hard to hold their space in the industry.
These talented LGBTQIA+ screenwriters in film and TV have so much wisdom to offer, so we put together a list of our favorite quotes to not only get your creative juices flowing but also inspire you to be your most authentic self when crafting stories.
So, without further ado, let’s take a look at these 11 inspirational quotes from LGBTQ+ screenwriters!
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“I’m writing my story so that others might see fragments of themselves.”
— Lena Waithe (The Chi, Master of None)
“When you change media, perception is changed and then policy is changed.”
— Tanya Saracho (Vida, How to Get Away with Murder)
“‘Write the show you want to watch!’ That’s what I was told in 2014 when completing my MFA in screenwriting. At the time we weren’t seeing very many Black and Latinx characters – that happened to also be LGBTQ+ – populating screens. And so I wrote the first draft of a pilot the ‘younger me’ deserved.”
— Steven Canals (Pose)
‘Pose’
“I take a character who in a million years would never think she’d be the main character in a movie… but here I make her front and center. I think that’s her emotional journey, as she goes from being like an afterthought in the school to being the main character — like, really owning it in her life, I think that’s probably true for a lot of us… we might think about ourselves a lot and we’re self-absorbed, but we don’t always see ourselves as the main characters in our life.”
— Alice Wu (Over the Moon)
“The backlash is happening because of the progress that we’ve made… That progress came from acts of resistance and resilience. They have it in them the same as we had it in us.”
— Our Lady J (Pose, Transparent)
“For each character, I try to understand what is driving them.”
— Dee Rees (Mudbound, Pariah)
‘Pariah’
“When I talk to young people, I always tell them the biggest lesson I learned was that you shouldn’t care about the outcome. If it fails, it fails. Every failure will groom you for your next big reward.”
— Ryan Murphy (Pose, American Horror Story)
“All my movies have an autobiographical dimension, but that is indirectly through the personages. In fact, I am behind everything that happens and that is said, but I am never talking about myself in first person singular.”
— Pedro Almodovar (Parallel Mothers, Bad Education)
“When I was growing up in the Philippines, Trans women were portrayed in a very stereotypical fashion… I think for that reason, I didn’t realize I was Trans until after I moved here to the US. On YouTube I saw different Trans individuals from various backgrounds…one was a writer, one was working in a non-profit organization, some were married and had families. And they were asking themselves the same questions that I had been asking myself.”
— Isabel Sandoval (Under the Banner of Heaven)
‘Moonlight’
“Sometimes we hear from critics that there’s a certain way to tell black stories. And that’s just not true.”
— Tarell Alvin McCraney (Moonlight, High Flying Bird)
“It was about knowing you were going to be underestimated by everyone and then punishing them for those very thoughts.”
— Carrie Brownstein (Portlandia)
I hope these quotes have inspired you as much as they’ve inspired me. Wherever you are in your writing journey, take some time today to think about what aspects of storytelling speak to you the most and what motivates you to keep creating. Use that discovery as your guide as you continue to grow as a writer.
