Girls Lena Dunham




dunham @ 2012 tribeca film festival


the success of tiny furniture earned dunham blind script deal @ hbo. dunham s star raised considerably when profiled david carr in new york times; later credited introducing judd apatow. network set dunham veteran show runner jennifer konner. konner told vulture s jada yuan got involved dunham because obsessive tiny furniture fan:



i got copy of tiny furniture [hbo president] sue naegle. actually, [new girl creator] liz meriwether told me , said, oh, there s great movie. girl, s 23, wrote, directed, , starred in it; s in underwear whole time. , like, don t want see that. , like, oh, trust me, s great. sue gave me because had it...i used to, like, give out copies of movie. d broken writing partner , couldn t less interested in idea of supervising anybody. like, m going find voice, , on own. , called me , like, oh, tiny furniture girl doing show, want supervise her? , like, yes! 1 million percent. sign me up. totally on board.



apatow surprised dunham had written , directed film. emailed , told thought great, apatow told hollywood reporter. turned out in middle of negotiating deal develop show hbo , partner jenni konner, whom had worked on undeclared , bunch of other projects. asked me if wanted part of it, , thrilled jump in.


dunham s television series girls greenlit hbo in 2011. 3 episodes screened positive response @ 2012 south southwest festival.


the first season premiered april 15, 2012, , has garnered dunham 4 emmy nominations roles in acting, writing, , directing series , 2 golden globe wins best comedy series girls , herself in best lead actress in comedy or musical series.


in february 2013, became first woman win directors guild of america award outstanding directing – comedy series work on girls. in january 2015, girls renewed fifth season. in september 2015, dunham stated season 6 of girls last season show. confirmed hbo on january 6, 2016.


racial controversy

the premiere of girls pilot met criticism regarding all-white main cast in otherwise culturally diverse setting of new york city (the black actors in pilot homeless man , taxi driver, , asian actress had sole trait of being @ photoshop). agreeing there lack of racial diversity on girls, comment huffington post argued issue industry whole.


lesley arfin, writer show, responded sarcastically controversy tweeted comment movie highlights african-american girl s rise incestuous sexual abuse while living in harlem: bothered me precious there no representation of me. arfin later deleted comment following criticism on social media claiming tweet racist.


dunham spoke publicly issues on several occasions. in interview indiewire, said:



i half-jew, half-wasp, , wrote 2 jews , 2 wasps. wanted avoid tokenism in casting. if had 1 of 4 girls, if, example, african-american, feel — not experience of african-american girl , white girl drastically different, there has specificity experience [that] wasn t able speak to. wrote show gut-level place, , each character piece of me or based on close me. , later did realize 4 white girls. as can accident, later criticism came out, thought, hear , want respond it. , hard issue speak because want sound sensitive , not horrify or make them feel more isolated, did write super-specific experience, , want avoid rendering experience can t speak accurately.



donald glover guest starred sandy, black republican , hannah s love interest, in first 2 episodes of season two, criticized tokenism in response initial backlash first season.








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