Interview (Written): Lena Waithe

In-depth conversation with the screenwriter of the movie Queen & Slim.

In the last few years, Lena Waithe has burst onto the scene as an actor, writer, and producer. Her credits include Master of None, The Chi, Ready Player One, Westworld, and Dear White People. The crime thriller Queen & Slim is her first feature screenplay to get produced.

IMDb plot summary: A couple’s first date takes an unexpected turn when a police officer pulls them over.

Here is an excerpt from an in-depth Script magazine interview with Waithe and Mike Sargent.

Mike: I believe that as you define your art, your art defines you. So what is the journey to getting Queen & Slim made and now the reaction and the accolades and the success and everything. What have you learned about yourself in this process? Or re-learned.

Lena: Oh wow. That’s a phenomenal question. I think, I’ve learned that I’m human, even though I knew that already. I said this before, but now I’ve learned it, that exposing art is a vulnerable thing. To bare your soul in your work and then show it to people. You’re very exposed. You’re naked almost when you, when you present your art to the world and it is there to be judged. It is to be ridiculed. It is there to be misunderstood or misinterpreted or picked apart, and that is also a part of the creative process and it’s not easy, but it’s important, and it’s necessary; because I think it can either make you a better artist to be even more bold, take even more risks, or it can make you a not-so-great artist where you only give the audience what they want and you buckle under pressure and you start to change who you are as a person because of it. And I want to be the former.

Mike: I once interviewed this big, abstract painter who did these gigantic paintings and with stuff thrown in them and what not. And I remember going to his gallery looking around and thinking, wow. And I asked him, “How do you know when you’re done?” And he said that “a painting is never finished until somebody else sees it.” So I want to know your thoughts on the relationship between the artist and the person who views the art. I interviewed Francis Ford Coppola, and I asked him what does he think the relationship between a filmmaker and a film critic is? And he said he felt that they should be helping each other get better at what they do.

Lena: Wow. I agree with that wholeheartedly. Wholeheartedly. Yeah. Wow. I think I might push this way because I think more about my relationship with the audience more so than the critic, because that’s really who I do it for. I do it for myself. I want to tell stories that I can’t get out of my spirit, and I have to get it out. So that’s a selfish thing. But then once it’s done, and I put it out, I want the audience to receive it however they choose. And it’s interesting because during the promotional tour that we were on, everyone would ask me, what I want the audience to take away from the film. “What do you want them to get out of it?” And I, every single time I said this, and I’m so glad I did because I still believe it to be true, is that ‘I can’t tell someone else what to take away from my movie. I can’t, they will take away from it what they bring to it.’

Screenwriting Takeaway: Whenever we put our creativity down onto the page, we are “exposed… naked… there to be judged.” The more we attempt to write what we think the audience will respond to, the less likely we will be able to tap into our authentic voice. It’s better to come from a place Lena Waithe does: “I can’t tell someone else what to take away from my movie. I can’t, they will take away from it what they bring to it.” Write from who YOU are and trust in the uniqueness of your own creative perspective to impact others.

A trailer for Queen & Slim:

Movie Website

For the rest of the Script magazine interview, go here.

For 100s more interviews with screenwriters and filmmakers, go here.