We’ve already talked about female directors that are paving their ways through the movie industry and encouraging other women that want to be a part of this to join in. This time, we’re bringing you a list of female screenwriters, whose movies you probably have already heard of, or watched.
- Robin Swicord
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When asked, during an interview, if she thought literary adaptations had become a part of her brand in Hollywood, Robin Swicord’s answer was very honest. “I think that’s how people think of me. But the thing is, it’s a lot easier to get an adaptation made than to get an original story made, unless you’re making it yourself.”
Swicord started her career writing plays, due to her theater major. Then, she realized there was a way to merge her want to be a writer, and her love for movies, she could become the screenwriter. And now, she is credited as the writer of films you’ve probably heard before, such as “Little Women”, “Matilda”, “Memoirs of a Geisha” and “The Jane Austen Book Club”.
- Liz Hannah
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With a nomination for a Golden Globe for Best Screenplay for her first feature film, “The Post”, under her belt, Liz Hannah is still quite new to the world of screenwriting. She started as a producer at Charlize Theron’s production company (Denver & Delilah), and wrote her first script in 2012, a short film about “a 70th-birthday party gone awry.” After receiving encouraging feedback from her boss at the time, Liz Hannah decided to pursue writing as a full-time job.
She read Katharine Graham’s memoir, Personal History, and decided to make it into a movie. The script focuses on the decision of The Washington Post publisher and president, Graham, to publish the Pentagon Papers, “the leaked government documents about secret escalations during the Vietnam War”, and it was only finalized in 2016.
- Kay Cannon
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Kay Cannon started on the industry as an actress, training at The Second City, an improvisational comedy enterprise in Chicago. There, she met Tina Fey, who, after creating “30 Rock”, brought her to the writing staff of the show, Cannon’s first job as a screenwriter.
Best known for her work on the “Pitch Perfect” franchise, as screenwriter of all of them, and as producer on the last two, Kay Cannon is also credited as the screenwriter of famous TV shows, such as “New Girl” and “Girlboss”. She has written the earlier screenplay for “Let It Snow”, a new Netflix movie based on the book of the same name, and the screenplay for a modern musical version of “Cinderella”.
- Diablo Cody
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Brook Busey-Maurio had the sort of career we can definitely call unconventional. The producer and screenwriter started out as blogger, journalist, then she became a stripper, wrote a book about it and only later became involved with Hollywood. Her memoir “Candy Girl: A Year in the Life of an Unlikely Stripper” caught so much attention she was approached by a film producer, who encouraged her to write a screenplay. And that’s how the movie “Juno”, staring Ellen Page and Michael Cera, came to be.
She was nominated for many awards for “Juno”, including an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay, which she won. She also wrote movies like “Ricki and the Flash”, “Jennifer’s Body”, “Tully”, “Young Adult” and “Paradise”.
- Callie Khouri
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The screenwriter, director, producer and author began her movie writing career with Ridley Scott’s “Thelma & Louise”, which awarded her awards for Best Original Screenplay in 1991 from both the Academy and the Golden Globes. The idea came to her initially as “two women going on a crime spree” and beca this great movie that puts women in the protagonist’s shoes while men are the supporting characters.
She later wrote movies like “Something to Talk About”, “Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood” and others. Her stories usually explore themes of female friendships and subverting male-dominant paradigms.
- Karen McCullah/Kirsten Smith
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Kirsten Smith, after majoring in English and Film, started working at a independent film company, where she read scripts and wrote coverage for them. One of those scripts was written by Karen McCullah and that’s how they became friends and started writing together.
When she was younger, Karen kept a diary titled “10 Things I Hate About Anthony”, her boyfriend at the time. And, yes, that’s where the idea to write “10 Things I Hate About You”, the 1999 movie, came from. It was their first script turned into a movie.
Besides “10 Things I Hate About You”, these two also wrote together “She’s The Man”, “The House Bunny” and, get ready… “Legally Blonde”. So, basically, some of our most beloved romantic comedies. Their work usually depicts the girl power movement, which gained popularity in the late 90’s and early 2000’s.