ABC Orders Gay Rights Miniseries From ‘Milk’ Writer, Director

Dustin Lance Black reteams with Gus Van Sant on eight-hour miniseries ‘When We Rise’

ABC has ordered the gay-rights miniseries “When We Rise” from “Milk” screenwriter Dustin Lance Black, TheWrap has learned.

Gus Van Sant will also serve as executive producer and will direct the first two-hour episode of the eight-hour miniseries, reuniting him with Black after previously directing the 2008 Harvey Milk biopic.

Produced by ABC Studios, “When We Rise” chronicles the personal and political struggles, setbacks and triumphs of a diverse family of LGBT men and women who helped pioneer one of the last legs of the U.S. Civil Rights movement from its turbulent infancy in the 20th century to the once unfathomable successes of today.

The series will tell the history of the gay rights movement, beginning with the Stonewall Riots of 1969. It was originally put into development at ABC in 2013.

Laurence Mark and Bruce Cohen will also serve as executive producers on the miniseries.

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