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By Kyle O'Brien | Creative Works Editor

August 16, 2017 | 3 min read

What’s the Story? is a storytelling video series dedicated to learning what truly makes a great story, told through the lens of the world’s talent and practitioners of the craft in entertainment, marketing and beyond.

Filmmaker Cheryl Dunye tells strong, narrative stories derived from events. Dunye rose to prominence as part of the ‘queer new wave’ of filmmakers in the 1990s, and her films have often featured personal stories with a domestic context, featuring powerful issues of sexuality, race and identity.

She has made over 15 films, including her award-winning debut The Watermelon Woman, as well as Mommy is Coming, The Owls, My Baby’s Daddy, and HBO’s Stranger Inside. For her, events are really the best stories, and great stories are filled with loud, strong events, which can be told from any number of angles. If those events have changed the storyteller’s life, she says, they can probably change other people’s lives.

Dunye can’t pick one story that is the best, as she thinks every story she hears is good in its own way. It could be of her life, or of women of color, queer women, gay liberation, sci-fi, future stories – the list goes on. Ultimately, the best story is one she hasn’t heard yet.

Stranger Inside, Dunye believes, is the best story she has ever told on film. She started in 1999 exploring her and her partner’s mixed-race takes on family, motherhood and mother love, but ultimately led to a story about mothers in prison and who becomes someone’s mother when the mother is not there.

Dunye has received numerous awards and honors for her work including a 2016 Guggenheim Fellowship, and she is also a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. She is currently a professor in the School of Cinema at San Francisco State University and is at work on her next feature film Black is Blue.

What's the Story? is sponsored by Branded Entertainment Network (BEN), the first global network for branded product integration in the entertainment industry, across all media, including the influencer space.

If you would like to pitch someone for “What’s the Story?“ please complete the linked form.

Creative What's the Story Branded Entertainment Network

Other episodes in the series

Episode 1

Tina Brown, author of The Diana Chronicles, on what makes a great story

What’s the Story? is a storytelling video series dedicated to learning what truly makes a great story, told through the lens of the world’s talent and practitioners of the craft in entertainment, marketing and beyond.

Episode 2

Hip-hop icon Warren G and director Karam Gill on what makes a great story

What’s the Story? is a storytelling video series dedicated to learning what truly makes a great story, told through the lens of the world’s talent and practitioners of the craft in entertainment, marketing and beyond.

Episode 3

Glenn Gainor, Sony Pictures Screen Gems exec on what makes a great story

What’s the Story? is a storytelling video series dedicated to learning what truly makes a great story, told through the lens of the world’s talent and practitioners of the craft in entertainment, marketing and beyond.

Episode 5

Sony Pictures Screen Gems exec, Glenn Gainor, on successful brand integration in film

After 25 years in the entertainment business, Glenn Gainor, head of physical production at Sony Pictures Screen Gems, knows plenty about great films and stories. He also knows what it takes to create successful integration for brands — and points to the seminal ET/Reese's Pieces hookup as the gold standard of integration.

Episode 6

Prop master Scott Bauer on how brands can drive a story

As a story unfolds in film and TV, there are plenty of those who help craft the work. Though writers, producers, directors and actors get the spotlight much of the time, the rest of crew plays invaluable roles in making it all come to life.

Episode 7

Sir John Hegarty on the best brand story he’s told

What’s the Story? is a storytelling video series dedicated to learning what truly makes a great story, told through the lens of the world’s talent and practitioners of the craft in entertainment, marketing and beyond.

Episode 8

Brand storyteller and film producer Tim Perell on great storytelling

What’s the Story? is a storytelling video series dedicated to learning what truly makes a great story, told through the lens of the world’s talent and practitioners of the craft in entertainment, marketing and beyond.

Episode 9

Amir Bar-Lev, Long Strange Trip director, on passion in storytelling

What’s the Story? is a storytelling video series dedicated to learning what truly makes a great story, told through the lens of the world’s talent and practitioners of the craft in entertainment, marketing and beyond.

Episode 10

PopSugar's co-founder, Lisa Sugar, shares what makes a great story

What’s the Story? is a storytelling video series dedicated to learning what truly makes a great story, told through the lens of the world’s talent and practitioners of the craft in entertainment, marketing and beyond.

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