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Pride Month: 10 LGBTQIA+ Screenwriters to Watch

By June 1, 2023No Comments

10 LGBTQIA+ Screenwriters to WatchHappy pride month! In recent years the representation of LGBTQIA+ community in the media has increased. There’s still a long way to go. GLAAD, an organization devoted to countering discrimination against LGBTQ individuals in the media, have done studies around representation on screen. According to their findings, “Of the 118 films GLAAD counted from the major studios in 2019, 22 (18.6 percent) contained characters identified as LGBTQ. This is a slight improvement of 0.4 percent, an increase of two films from the previous year’s 18.2 percent (20 of 110 films).”

To help move the needle and get better representation for the LGBTQIA+ community and to celebrate pride, let’s watch some content written by LGBTQIA+. This list compiled of different writers from the LGBTQIA+ is only a small look into all the identities that make up the community. They are infinite, complex and ever-evolving. Because of that, the stories these writers choose to tell are just as unique, complex and different from each other. Get to know them by diving into their work. 

Dee Rees

Writer and director Dee Rees is known for her feature films Pariah (2011), a gut wrenching portrayal of a young lesbian navigating her conservative family and being her true self, Bessie (2015), the television movie about the life of legendary Blues performer Bessie Smith, Mudbound (2017), the story of two men struggling in rural Mississippi after World War II, and The Last Thing He Wanted (2020), the adaptation of Joan Didion’s novel by the same name. Rees has also written and directed episodes for television series includin Empire, and Philip K. Dick’s Electric Dreams.

Steven Canals

Writer and producer Steven Canals is best known for co-creating the executive producing the FX television series Pose. The series about the New York ball culture of the gay and trans community in the 80s tackled many subjects including AIDS, homophobia and violence against the LGBTQIA+ community while portraying these characters as real, multi-dimensional people. 

Read More: 11 Inspirational Quotes From LGBTQIA+ Screenwriters

Moisés Zamora

Mexican-American writer, director and producer Moisés Zamora is best known as the creator of Netflix’s Selena: The Series (2020-2021). He was a staff writer for American Crime (2015-2017) and Star (2016-2019). 

Lucrecia Martel

Argentine director, screenwriter and producer Lucrecia Martel has over two decades of experience in film. Her feature films have screened at Cannes, Venice, Berlin, Toronto, and many other international film festivals.

She is known for her debut feature film La Ciénaga (2001) (The Swamp). The film is about a bourgeois family spending their summer in an old vacation home and it was critically acclaimed. Martel’s La Mujer Sin Cabeza (2008) (The Headless Woman) received many accolades including a nomination for Cannes Palm d’Or. 

Isabel Sandoval

Filipina filmmaker and actress Isabel Sandoval is known for the acclaimed feature film Lingua Franca (2019). The film is about an undocumented Filipina transwoman who falls in love while living in Brooklyn. Sandoval also wrote and directed the films Señorita (2019), Apparition (2012) and Lingua Franca. She also wrote and directed a short film called Shangri-La (2021) as part of the Miu Miu’s Women’s Tales series of female-directed short films commissioned by the fashion brand.

Jerrod Carmichael

Stand-up comedian, actor, writer, and producer Jerrod Carmichael is known for the semi-autobiographical NBC sitcom The Carmichael Show (2015-2017). He has released three stand-up specials on HBO: Love at the Store (2014), directed by Spike Lee, 8 (2017), and Rothaniel (2022). In his latest special Rothaniel, Carmichael spoke publicly about his sexuality for the first time and opened up about the fraught relationship with some of his family members. 

Mae Martin

Canadian comedian, actor, and screenwriter, Mae Martin is known for the Netflix comedy series Feel Good (2020-2021), which they co-created and play the starring role. Martin also wrote for the female-centric sketch comedy series Baroness Von Sketch Show (2016-2021) and won two Canadian Comedy Awards as part of the comedy troupe The Young and the Useless. Martin acted on season two of the acclaimed television show The Flight Attendant

Read More: 4 LGBTQIA+ TV Shows You Should Check Out This Pride Month

Cheryl Dunye

Liberian-American film director, producer, screenwriter, editor and actress, Cheryl Dunye is known for her groundbreaking film The Watermelon Woman (1996). The film is about a young black lesbian filmmaker (played by Dunye) who probes into the life of The Watermelon Woman, a 1930s black actress who played ‘mammy’ archetypes. Dunye’s work often concerns themes of race, sexuality, and gender, particularly issues relating to black lesbians.

Joel Kim Booster

South Korean-born American actor, comedian, producer, and writer Joel Kim Booster co-produced and wrote for the Netflix animated series about the horrors of puberty, Big Mouth (2017-) and the HBO series The Other Two (2019-). As an actor, Booster has appeared on Shrill (2019-2021), Search Party (2016-2022), and Sunnyside (2019).

In 2022, he wrote, produced, and starred in the Hulu romantic comedy Fire Island, a modern adaptation of Pride and Prejudice with a main cast of Asian American actors.

Silas Howard 

Director, writer and actor Silas Howard is known for his first feature film By Hook or by Crook (2001) with Harry Dodge. The film follows two unlikely friends as they commit petty crimes and figure out their places in the world. By Hook or by Crook screened at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival and it won multiple awards on the film festival circuit, including the Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature at the 2002 SXSW Film Festival.

Howard began directing episodes during the second season of Transparent (2014-2019), making him the show’s first trans director.

Read More: Top 10 Filsm About Queer Love


Julia Camara is an award-winning Brazilian screenwriter/filmmaker. Julia won a Telly Award for the sci-fi found footage feature Occupants. Julia’s feature directorial debut In Transit, won Best Experimental Film at four different festivals. Julia’s other writing credits include Area Q and Open Road.