Episode 60: Danny Strong, "Dopesick"

Host Geri Cole speaks with Danny Strong—creator and showrunner of the new Hulu series DOPESICK—about how he wove four stories across three timelines, writing stories that spark national conversations, and how falling into YouTube holes can be a part of the writing process.

Danny Strong is a writer, director, and actor. Though he was initially best known for his roles in TV shows like BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER and GILMORE GIRLS, he quickly made a name for himself as a screenwriter. He earned a Writers Guild Award for his debut feature screenplay, the 2008 HBO political drama RECOUNT, as well as for the 2012 HBO film GAME CHANGE. His credits since then have included co-creating the hit series EMPIRE, and writing the screenplays for THE HUNGER GAMES: MOCKINGJAY – PART 1 and PART 2, LEE DANIELS' THE BUTLER; and the 2017 biopic REBEL IN THE RYE.

His latest project is DOPESICK. The drama series, which Danny created is showrunner for, examines how one company triggered the worst drug epidemic in American history. The eight-episode series, viewers to the epicenter of America’s struggle with opioid addiction, from the boardrooms of Big Pharma, to a distressed Virginia mining community, to the hallways of the DEA. Defying all the odds, heroes will emerge in an intense and thrilling ride to take down the craven corporate forces behind this national crisis and their allies.

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