Interview: Ava DuVernay

My in-depth conversation with the talented writer-director-producer.

This week, I am digging into the Go Into The Story archives to spotlight interviews I’ve conducted with some of the most talented screenwriters in the business.

Today a June 2013 interview with Ava DuVernay whose credits include two movies she wrote and directed (I Will Follow, Middle of Nowhere), the award-winning movie Selma which she directed, the TV series “Queen Sugar” which she created and exec produced, the documentary 13th which she wrote and directed, and the A Wrinkle in Time, due out in 2018, a major motion picture she directed.

Here are links to the six installments of the entire interview:

Part 1: “I was a double major — English and African-American Studies at UCLA — and never even ventured into the film school while there. I had no idea that this would be what I would be doing. I knew I loved film. That was all.”

Part 2: “When I write a screenplay… I’m writing for myself. I’m the director and I need to create an emotional map. Not just plot, but a map of where these characters are, where they’re going and where they’ve been. A map from which I can direct the actor, direct the action, direct the production designer, direct the cinematographer.”

Part 3: “It was self‑financed from my bank account. I had $50,000 and I had to make it all in for that amount. The first rule of low‑budget filmmaking is, don’t move. I had to think of something that was all in one location.”

Part 4: “To me, it’s a beautiful ending and a happy one. It’s a woman who’s stepping into herself and being in a relationship with herself for the first time in a long time.”

Part 5: “We definitely benefited from the Sundance light that was shown on the film. It helped us get to the finish line and get it out there.”

Part 6: “Really, my lesson was — and it’s helped me in a lot of other ways — that to do something, to be something, you don’t have to be all in right away.”

Ava is repped by CAA.

Twitter: @AVA.

Comment Archive