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Talkhouse

Robert Townsend is often referred to as one of the &#8220;Godfathers of Independent Film.” In 1987, Townsend wrote, directed, produced, and starred in his feature debut, the critically acclaimed, Hollywood Shuffle, a satire depicting the trials and tribulations of black actors in Hollywood, which is newly released on Blu-ray through the Criterion Collection. Townsend next directed the highest-grossing stand-up comedy concert film of all time, Eddie Murphy Raw, followed by The Meteor Man, which is heralded as Hollywood’s first Black superhero film, and the popular soul musical, The Five Heartbeats. Other films include B*A*P*S, The Holiday Heart, Carmen: A Hip Hopera, In the Hive and th3 documentary Making The Five Heartbeats. In television, Townsend created, starred in, and executive produced The Parent ‘Hood, which successfully ran for five seasons on the WB, after which he became President and CEO of Production for The Black Family Channel (BFC). Recently, Townsend has directed episodes of The Last O.G., Colin in Black &amp; White and The Wonder Years.

Robert Townsend

Film

Three Great Things: Robert Townsend

Noah Hawley is one of the most accomplished auteurs and versatile storytellers working in television, film and literature. Lucy in the Sky, his feature film directorial debut starring Natalie Portman, Jon Hamm, Zazie Beetz, Dan Stevens, Pearl Amanda Dickson and Ellen Burstyn, is in theaters through Fox Searchlight from October 4. Over the course of his more than 20-year career, Hawley’s work as a novelist, screenwriter, series creator, showrunner and director has garnered acclaim – winning an Emmy®, Golden Globe®, PEN, Critics’ Choice, and Peabody Award – and passionate response from audiences. Also a best-selling author, Hawley has published five novels: A Conspiracy of Tall Men, Other People’s Weddings, The Punch, The Good Father and most recently the bestseller Before the Fall. He currently serves as executive producer, writer, director and showrunner on the award-winning anthology series, Fargo, and also the creator and executive producer on Legion, which just concluded its third and final season. Production on the fourth installment of Fargo, starring Chris Rock, begins this fall. Fargo: This is a True Story, a companion book to the first three seasons of the series and authored by Hawley, which will be released by Grand Central Publishing in October.

Noah Hawley

Three Great Things: Noah Hawley

Loren DiBlasi is a writer and musician from New York. She is the bassist of post-punk band <a href="https://patio-bandcamp.bandcamp.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://patio-bandcamp.bandcamp.com/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1558011684779000&amp;usg=AFQjCNFJ9loT6K1Ygxmofcf9l1xKipQRiQ">Patio</a>. Her writing has appeared in MTV News, Vulture, and NPR Music.

water

Three Great Things: Robert Townsend

Three Great Things: Noah Hawley

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