Today we’d like to introduce you to Lawrence Whitener.
Hi Lawrence, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
My screenplay titled “I had, HAVE…a Dream.” My Uncle was a fairly well-known character actor during the 70s-80s so he would call to tell me what TV shows, films, and commercials I could see him in. He wanted me to come to L.A. where he was going to get me a job as a stuntman. My father died when I was 18, so I had to stay in Washington D.C. and help support the family. When my uncle died in 1998, I decided to be in “one” film to honor his memory. But on the set of “Gods & General” in 1999, I was hooked and have now been in 86 Productions with ten of them currently playing on Amazon Prime. I have 10 Best Actor Awards. On the set of “Wish You Well” in 2012, its Producer and Screenwriter David Baldacci (we graduated from and wrestled at the same university) convinced me to follow my dream of becoming a writer. I then spent five years under the tutelage of Yale screenwriting professor Marc Lapadula who said I had to go to Hollywood, “You are that good.” I shot my 10th SAG-Aftra short film last month on Crenshaw Blvd. My 25 feature screenplays and 13 short scripts have now earned 367 Awards on IMDb. I moved to L.A. in 2020 and have had so many Pitch Meetings and been to so many screenings the time here has blurred. My dream of working on the Disney Studio lot came true after I had been living here for two months when I played “Wheels, homeless in a wheelchair” on “Grownish.”
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
The woman I married for 35 years “died” six years before we divorced in 2020. During the last six years, which included the Pandemic, she would constantly chide my writing and directing with “No one’s ever going to read or watch one of those, you’re just wasting your time and money.” She knew I wanted to come to L.A., even if just for one year to pitch my stories. In September of 2020, she walked up to me writing at my computer as I did all day every day and said, “What you do, does not interest me. If you go to L.A. even for one week, I will divorce you.” I turned to her and replied, “Oh, you know that’s going in a script” and “Why wait.” One month later, we were Divorced because I gave her e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g leaving her a millionaire. I literally moved here as “The Pauper of Bel Air.”
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I adopted one of my “illegal” failing homeless athletes when I was a high school coach and later wrote his amazing success story into the screenplay “A Good Example” which now has 9 Awards on IMDb.
Alright, so to wrap up, is there anything else you’d like to share with us?
That all of my 377 IMDb awards have been earned in only in the past seven years.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.LawrenceWhitener.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawrencewhitener/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawrence.whitener
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lawrence-whitener-5a453238/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/LawrencWhitener
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@klahdkfhlkshdfjkhd/videos
- Other: www.TheHandlerMovie.com
Image Credits
Author David Baldacci, Yale Professor Marc Lapadula, Actor Roger Kabler, Actor Ed Harris, Actor Ethan Hawke, screen captures from ” Badge of Faith” and “Day of the Gun” and “10,000 Saints. Directing my 10th film with Marissa Lanuza.
