Kenneth Lonergan | BAFTA Screenwriters’ Lecture Series

Kenneth Longeran, writer-director of Manchester by The Sea, offers insights on his process and collaboration and shares advice for aspiring screenwriters.

Kenneth Longergan’s stories are predominantly engaging character-driven dramas that explore the minutiae of the human condition and its many challenges and complexities, in such an intuitive way that they can’t fail to sympathetically connect with an audience. Often provocative, always sensitive, his films rarely offer easy answers, they simply provide a profound and poetic glimpse into the lives of everyday characters. Born in New York, Lonergan originally tasted success on the stage, writing shows that would perform both off and on Broadway. His first film script was for Analyze This (1999), before deciding to both pen and direct his next feature, You Can Count on Me (2000). It turned out to be a wise decision, with the script earning him both Oscar and Golden Globe nominations.

Margaret, about a young woman (Anna Paquin) who witnesses a bus accident and must deal with the consequences, was completed in 2007 but became mired in distribution hell. When it was eventually released in 2011, it garnered great reviews and more awards recognition. Sandwiched in between these two, he wrote The Adventures of Rocky & Bullwinkle (2000) and worked on Martin Scorsese’s Gangs of New York (2002), the latter collecting both BAFTA and Oscar nods, with fellow writers Jay Cocks and Steven Zaillian.

Sponsored by The JJ Charitable Trust.

Watch this session on YouTube: https://youtu.be/R3kbs_36eBo
Read the transcript on our website: https://www.bafta.org/media-centre/transcripts/bafta-screenwriters-lecture-series-kenneth-lonergan

The Screenwriters' Lectures are presented as originally recorded. Some of the lectures may contain outdated comments or views which some listeners may find insensitive or offensive.

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