‘I love beingable to connect with the audience’

ACTOR Sterling K Brown and screenwriter Dan Fogelman took to the Debussy Stage at Cannes Lions to discuss the power of creative collaboration and emotional storytelling, with Disney Entertainment co-chairman and president Dana Walden. Brown and Fogelman worked together on hit series This Is Us and are currently partnering again on the acclaimed event series Paradise.

Digging into their relationship, Brown said Fogelman is “an incredible writer who really enjoys people. I think you have to enjoy people to write as well as he does. He’s also a good human being. You spend a lot of time working together, so you have to enjoy each other’s company.”

Fogelman said that part of the strength of his relationship with Brown is that there were strong similarities in what was happening to the two of them career-wise when they started working together: “I also think we’re really like-minded. We operate in a similar place in our families and with our friends, and we have the same creative sensibility. We like stories about people who are flawed, but are not bad guys.”

Fogelman talked about the importance of surprising twists in his storytelling: “I did a film called Crazy, Stupid, Love and there’s a big twist in the middle of the film. The first time we showed it, there was a really strong audible reaction in the theatre. I liked that feeling and it’s something I think a lot about in my other projects.”

Walden and Fogelman discussed whether AI could replicate his work — with both doubting it would be possible. “So much of my writing is based in feelings of joy and sadness from my own life, that I don’t know how a robot can replicate that, or create something without just emulating somebody else’s experience.”

Brown is an executive producer and number one on the call sheet for Paradise. In this leadership position, he’s keen to exert a positive influence:

“We’ve all been on sets that have been wonderful and others that have been less wonderful. I try to make sure everybody feels like they’re at home when they come on set.”

With Brown also a popular podcaster, the question of privacy came up during the session. He said: “I love being able to connect with the audience, trying to give them an idea of who I am. But you also have to work very hard for normalcy. If I encounter people in the street, I’m gracious. But I let them know I’m a human with responsibilities to my wife and children. For the most part, people are incredibly respectful.”