Michael Lipscomb
Upon graduation from Washington University in St. Louis with a BA in Psychology, Michael Lipscomb pursued jobs in fashion retail (Saks Fifth Avenue) and publishing (Conde Nast) before venturing into the arts. In 1982, he became involved in the Lower East Side theater scene, eventually directing a production of Bertolt Brecht’s “BAAL”. In 1986, he became a production assistant on Abel Ferrara’s “China Girl”, did fact-checking for Mademoiselle Magazine, and in 1987 assisted the late Andre Leon Talley at Vanity Fair. For three years, he was a consultant for the New York State Council on the Arts in the Literature and Theater Programs. In 1993, he won an ASCAP/Deems Taylor Award for his provocative interview with the rapper KRS-One, which appeared in Transition: An International Review.
In 1999, writing and film came together when Mr. Lipscomb wrote, directed and produced his first short “Reforming Charlie”. Throughout this period, he wrote ten spec feature scripts. In 2004, “The Interrogation of Jacqueline Monroe” quarterfinaled in the Scriptapalooza national competition. His versatility led to assignments by several independent producers, including the political thriller “Milosevic Must Die” (2002) and the biography “Ari And Jackie” (2003) for 21 AEON, a European outfit.
When in 2008 he moved from NYC to the Poconos to care for his aging mother, he found himself embroiled in three inner struggles: the war between big city and small town, between family obligations and professional commitment and between sanity and dying. The Oprah Myth (2009) followed, as did multiple screenplays, culminating in the groundbreaking documentary series I Love My People, But.
By probing America one ethnic group at a time, Mr. Lipscomb was able to give his new drama series Golden Living its unique ‘cultural suspense’. It also enabled him to fit his outrageous twelve year ordeal into something resembling a memoir.
