Black List Interview: Britta Lundin

Kate Hagen, director of community at @theblcklst, recently interviewed Britta Lundin. Last autumn, I worked with Britta at the Athena Film Festival / Black List Screenwriter Lab in New York City and am happy to see how her career has blossomed as she has landed an agent and got staffed on The CW series “Riverdale”.

How do you find ideas and how do you choose which ones to work on?

Ohmygod so many ideas folders. I have an ideas folder in my email for writing emails to myself, an evernote for clipping online articles, a folder on my desktop for images and screenshots, and a physical folder for magazine and newspaper clippings. I usually have a list of things to write that’s six scripts deep, so while I’m waiting for notes back on the second draft of a feature, I’m diving into the outline for my next pilot, while organizing my thoughts on the idea after that. There are always too many ideas and not enough time to write them all.

Upon a lot of reflection about what types of stories make it into my ideas folder, there are some common threads. I love stories about smart, driven people going up against obstacles that are bigger than them. I also love the “girl does something only boys are supposed to do” genre, and stories that feature a lot of women and/or LGBT characters are interesting to me. Knowing what I’m interested in helps me weed out the kinds of stories that would make a good script for someone, but probably aren’t right for me personally.

Since using The Black List, how has your career been impacted?

I put my script SHIP IT on The Black List, and after it received high ratings, I was accepted into the Athena Film Festival Mini-Lab for three days of intensive workshops and discussion with my peers and screenwriting mentors. It was a hugely rewarding weekend that leveled up my writing in a way that I wouldn’t have been able to do on my own. I highly recommend writers apply to these workshops through The Black List.

Oh, also since using The Black List, I got an agent and got staffed on a TV show.

Another Black List screenwriter lab success story and I’m glad to have shared a small part of Britta’s creative journey with her.

For the rest of the interview, go here.

Twitter: @brittashipsit, @thathagengrrl.