'8' Scribe Dustin Lance Black to Pen Gay Rights Movement Miniseries for ABC

According to The Hollywood Reporter, writer Dustin Lance Black will reteam with 'Milk' director Gus Van Sant on an eight-hour miniseries for ABC which will follow the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community's civil rights movement.

Titled WHEN WE RISE, the project has been in development for more than two years. Black, who wrote '8', a staged reenactment of the federal trial that led to a federal court's overturn of California's Proposition 8, will pen the script, while Van Sant will executive produce and direct the first installment of the series.

According to the report, the series will center on, "the personal and political struggles, setbacks and triumphs of a diverse family of LGBT men and women who helped pioneer one of the last legs of the U.S. Civil Rights movement from its turbulent infancy in the 20th century to the once unfathomable successes of today."

Black's credits also include the feature film Milk, HBO's Big Love, and J. Edgar. His 2011 play '8' was sponsored by the American Federation of Equal Rights of which Black is a founding board member. He also served as a narrator on 8: The Mormon Proposition, which followed the Church of Latter-day Saints' involvement in California's Prop. 8.

Read the article in full here

Photo credit: Walter McBride

Photo Credit: Linda Lenzi