We recently connected with Luke Millington-Drake and Victoria Male and have shared our conversation below.

Luke and Victoria, appreciate you joining us today. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?

Luke Millington-Drake: I would probably say I would say our first script that we wrote together, because it was the beginning. It was a daydream idea that I had which we turned into creative exploration of our craft, our humor, and our friendship. The exact type of collaboration one would wish for.

Victoria Male: Yeah, I agree. Our first script felt quite meaningful because we were trying to see if we could even work together, and what this collaboration would look like. I felt like it was very smooth and–

LMD: –seamless–

VM: Yeah! And so we were like, “Okay, let’s keep doing this.”

Luke and Victoria, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

VM: Starting at the very beginning, we met through a general. I met with Luke when I was working in development at The Montecito Picture Company. I was really impressed by not only by how funny Luke was, but how thoughtful he was and all the ideas he had for projects that went beyond comedy. From there, we developed a professional relationship that became a friendship, and then Luke came to me with this idea that you want to write that became our first script that we wrote together.

LMD: Yeah, and that was that. I had these ideas, but I needed help filling in the gaps, and you know, Victoria knows everything so –

VM: [laughs] I don’t know if I would say that! As writers and producers, we write across several genres, but we love high concept ideas, and finding the human within it, without sacrificing any of the spectacle and the fun. We love taking these really big ideas, whether they be a book about female thieves in 1920s London, crazy things that have happened to our family, or a beloved rom com, and finding a way to not only contemporize them, but ground them. So that even if we’re writing a queer story or a feminist story, it’s accessible to everyone.

LMD: Absolutely. We don’t want people to be isolated because our material focuses on women or queer people. We’re not doing our jobs if we’re not making it accessible for everyone.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

LMD: I want to tell stories that I would have loved to have seen when I was growing up. It always seems to be where my ideas come from.

VM: It’s what I love about your ideas! We’re driven creatively by the desire to tell stories about people who haven’t had their stories told before, like the project we’re working on now. I can’t believe no one’s done it, and it feels kind of magical that we get to be first one to take this type of story to the market.

In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?

VM: The first thing that comes to mind is the solidarity we artists got this summer during the strikes from folks outside the industry. That was huge. Continuing to advocate for art being made by actual creatives and people who are passionate about it. That can almost be thought of as “soft support” – that you support people when they strike, but also there’s the “hard support” when you speak with your dollar. Going to see art and using your power as a consumer I think speaks the most clearly to the people making the decisions in this industry. We need people to go put their butts in seats and be emphatic about things they enjoy.

LMD: We as a society love the storyline of seeing someone come from nothing to achieving their dreams. I would like for us to trust that storyline more thereby giving a platform to those who don’t have a traditional path into the industry. That’s where the gems can always be found.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @lukemillingtondrake @victoriamale1
• Twitter: @lukemdrake @victoriamale

Image Credits
Photos by Jackie Male @sh00tyoursh0t