He drew on some of those experiences as a co-producer, executive story editor and staff writer for the HBO drama "Big Love." But he has now left the show and said, "It will be interesting to see where they go now with these stories and those characters. I was the only writer on staff who was in the fold, so to speak."

Despite his relatively youthful appearance (he won't disclose his exact age), Black has been working in Hollywood for nearly a decade. He cut his teeth in regional theater and then moved into cinematic pursuits, directing the documentaries "My Life With Count Dracula" (2003) and "On the Bus" (2000).

Lately, he's preferred to concentrate on writing and producing, though. In addition to "Milk," he also wrote the script for the upcoming biographical drama "Pedro," based on the life of gay activist Pedro Zamora (MTV's "Real World: San Francisco").

But he will return to directing with "What's Wrong With Virginia," an in-development biography of Virginia Woolf that will star Jennifer Connelly.

"You'd think that I would finally take a break now that I've finished something so massive and so monumental. But that's not me. I've always got to be busy," he said, laughing.

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E-mail: jeff@desnews.com