Written by Melissa McCarthy and her husband Ben Falcone, Life of the Party is really a love story between mother and daughter. We sat down with Falcone, who also directed the film, to find out the inspiration behind the story and what the married couple’s writing process is like.
Falcone and McCarthy behind the scenes. Photo courtesy: Warner Bros.
After dropping off their daughter Maddy (Molly Gordon) for her senior year of college, Dan (Matt Walsh) tells his wife Deanna (Melissa McCarthy) he wants a divorce. This is the start of the new comedy Life of the Party. Instead of falling apart, Deanna makes the radical decision to go back to school herself – at the same college as her daughter. While Maddie isn’t exactly sold on the idea of having her mom as her classmate, her sorority sisters completely embrace Deanna, giving her the nickname of D-Rock. With nothing to lose, Deanna plunges into college life, even catching the attention of a hot young frat boy, Jack (Luck Benward).
Join us for a sit down with writer/director Ben Falcone to see what it’s like to create story with his hilarious wife.
4 Replies to "Video: For Melissa McCarthy and husband Ben Falcone, writing screenplays is a family affair"
Kevin Patrick Goulet May 7, 2018 (11:52 am)
Their approach (and a married couple in Hollywood -working together too); What a wonderful ‘breath of fresh air’ in this day & age.
Tom May 7, 2018 (1:20 pm)
His words of advice on just doing it, and getting something on paper, so you have something you can look at objectively was, so very helpful!Procrastination is a downfall for me at times, trying to figure it out in my head first, and then writing it was way off. Outline the best I can at the time, but putting it on paper is what I need to be doing!
“Thanks” for this video!
Robin Brantley May 8, 2018 (8:17 am)
Great interview, Shanee! Dave & I continue to work on our screenplay and it is so great to hear how Ben and Melissa go about it. We are all about the structure, too (interesting how they tried to write without it at first) and as we have commented on one of your previous posts, we feel that being a team really gives us an advantage. Two-for-one! And all for one! (well, usually ;). We are similar in process to these Hollywood moguls in that Dave is very much about story and I am really able to get the script down. All the years we spent studying the process really armed us with what we need to bring our screenplay to life- after much outlining we are nearing the end of the script and it has been so exciting to do it together. We, like them, are not about the raunch- ours is a PG-13 style sci-fi drama about true connection (with many comedic moments ;). Vagoogle: my new favorite word! ha…! Good luck with Ada and the Machine- we appreciate your talent!!
shanee May 8, 2018 (9:15 pm)
Thanks for the comment, Robin! You lifted my spirits 🙂