2010–present: Breakthrough with Tiny Furniture and Girls Lena Dunham




1 2010–present: breakthrough tiny furniture , girls

1.1 tiny furniture
1.2 girls

1.2.1 racial controversy


1.3 not kind of girl
1.4 casual romance productions
1.5 lenny letter
1.6 other work





2010–present: breakthrough tiny furniture , girls
tiny furniture

dunham had career breakthrough semiautobiographic 2010 feature film tiny furniture; film won best narrative feature @ south southwest music , media conference, , subsequently screened @ such festivals maryland film festival. dunham plays lead role of aura. laurie simmons (lena dunham s real-life mother) plays aura s mother, , lena s real-life sister grace plays aura s on-screen sister.


for work on tiny furniture, dunham won independent spirit award best first screenplay.


girls


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.


not kind of girl

dunham signed $3.5 million deal in 2012 random house publish first book. essay collection, not kind of girl: young woman tells s learned , published in september 2014, , reached #2 on new york times best seller list on october 19.


in book, dunham wrote being sexually assaulted oberlin college classmate, resulted in controversy regarding accuracy of account , case of mistaken identity when former oberlin college student named barry (the pseudonym used dunham s alleged attacker in book) sought legal advice ensure people didn’t associate him content. in book, dunham describes “barry” guy wore cowboy boots, sported mustache, hosted radio show, worked @ campus library, , graduated oberlin in 2005. according man’s attorney, aaron minc, description warrants enough detail point finger @ client. dunham later apologized confusion , random house reprinted book clarification, releasing statement saying: random house, on our own behalf , on behalf of our author, regrets confusion.


other passages in book recounting interactions of sexual nature, starting when 7 years old, one-year-old sister grace attracted significant controversy, , prompted numerous think pieces children s sexuality , personal boundaries.


a casual romance productions

in april 2015, dunham, jennifer konner , ericka naegle launched casual romance productions, production company develop television , film projects. company has produced suited, , s me hilary: man drew eloise, additional projects in development.


lenny letter

in 2015, dunham co-founded lenny letter jenni konner. in addition regular newsletter, lenny letter published fiction issue , poetry issue during fall 2015. lenny letter developing book imprint , possible hbo short film series.


other work

in 2014, dunham hosted episode of saturday night live on march 8, 2014 musical guest national.


on february 20, 2015, reported dunham had been cast in unknown guest role in episode of abc drama series scandal, aired march 19, 2015. dunham next appeared in mother, laurie simmons film art, had world premiere @ 73rd venice international film festival. in june 2016, dunham announced writing book.


dunham has appeared on cover of magazines, including vogue, elle, marie claire, , rolling stone. after dunham posed bare legs glamour s february 2017 cover, praised magazine featuring unedited photo , leaving cellulite on thighs visible.








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