Shanee Edwards

Shanee Edwards graduated from UCLA Film School with an MFA in Screenwriting and is currently the film critic for SheKnows.com. She recently won the Next MacGyver television writing competition to create a TV show about a female engineer. Her pilot, Ada and the Machine, is currently in development with America Ferrera's Take Fountain Productions. You can follow her on Twitter: @ShaneeEdwards

Posts by Shanee Edwards 156 results

Women of Color Fight for Representation in Hollywood with Twitter Movement

In a report from the New York Times earlier this year, the number of female movie directors has increased (12 of the 113 directors on 2019’s 100 top films were women – double the number from 2018). Things are changing, albeit slowly. But when you look at women working behind the scenes in film and TV, the numbers remain stagnant. When you ...

July 29, 2020

How a $0 Budget Film Topped the Box Office Thanks to the Pandemic

As screenwriters, many of us have fantasized about having a movie that hits number one at the box office. But considering our country is in the grip of a pandemic, it doesn’t seem possible to even get a film made, let alone soar to the top of the charts. But one filmmaker saw this strange time as an opportunity, not a setback. A few weeks ...

July 6, 2020

Arkansas Filmmaker Clark Duke Explores His Depraved Southern Roots

Clark Duke is best known for his comedic acting roles like Jacob in Hot Tub Time Machine, Clark on TV’s The Office, Marty in Kick-Ass and the voice of Thunk in The Croods. But he admits he’s wanted to direct a feature film since he was 12. An Arkansas native, Duke optioned the novel Arkansas by John Brandon a decade ago, and ...

May 8, 2020

6 Secrets to Writing Binge-Worthy TV Shows

With the future of the film industry in question, as writers, now is the time to start working on that binge-worthy TV show. The assignment is more than writing a TV pilot; it’s creating an experience that connect viewers to your characters using empathy and conflict as your story twists, turns and unfolds in ways that compel viewers to keep watching. You want them to stay on your emotional rollercoaster as long as possible, so that requires character highs, lows and surprises. Let’s look at some helpful ways to build your TV roller coaster.

April 28, 2020

A Lesson on Writing Less from The Invisible Man Writer/Director

The H. G. Wells novel, The Invisible Man, was published way back in 1897. Since then, it’s been made into numerous films, both scary and comedic: each a reflection of the time and culture in which it was made. Writer/director Leigh Whannell’s The Invisible Man is no different, taking inspiration from our current collective fears. We ...

February 28, 2020

Writer/Producer Chris Henchy Shares his Surprising Path to Directing Impractical Jokers: The Movie

While Chris Henchy isn’t a household name, his comedy films, TV shows and website Funny or Die are substantial comedy touchstones. Entourage, Eastbound and Down, Spin City, Between Two Ferns with Zack Galifianakis, and Life with Bonnie are all shows he either created, wrote, produced or all three. His sitcom I’m with Her was inspired by ...

February 21, 2020

‘Jumangi: The Next Level’ Writers Find Soul of the Sequel

For those of us who grew up watching the original Jumanji (1995), it's hard not to feel nostalgia around the reboot that trades in a magical board game for a video game. In the original film, Robin Williams is at his peak as an actor, bringing epic humanity and humor to his work. Now the torch has lovingly been passed to Dwayne Johnson, Jack ...

December 20, 2019

Oscar-winner Charles Randolph on Writing Complex Characters in ‘Bombshell’

The amazing ripped-from-the-headlines film Bombshell tells the story of the women of took down Fox News CEO Roger Ailes (John Lithgow), specifically Gretchen Carlson (Nicole Kidman) and Megyn Kelly (Charlize Theron), after gross accusations of sexual harassment and assault. Margot Robbie plays Kayla, a fictional character that’s an amalgam ...

December 12, 2019

‘Playing with Fire’ writer shares his crazy 14-year journey from idea to screen

The new movie Playing with Fire is an adorable family comedy that stars John Cena, John Leguizamo and Keegan-Michael Key as a crew of rugged firefighters who meet their match when attempting to rescue three rambunctious kids. The movie is funny, heartfelt and features some of the best comedic talents around. I sat down with writer Dan Ewen ...

November 7, 2019

‘Greener Grass’ writers create a surreal comedy from painful identity

Greener Grass is a surreal comedy of manners, set in a pastel-tinted suburbia where best friends Jill (Jocelyn DeBoer) and Lisa (Dawn Luebbe) do social acrobatics to passive-aggressively impress each other. When Jill notices that Lisa likes her baby Madison, Jill gifts the baby to Lisa who renames her Paige. Later, Lisa becomes ...

October 25, 2019

Lucy in the Sky writers compare writing to surfing and talk about the missing diaper

You might remember a news story back in 2007 where NASA astronaut Lisa Nowak drove from Houston to Orlando, wearing a diaper, with the alleged intent of kidnapping an Air Force Captain involved in a love triangle. This bizarre story was the launching pad for the new film Lucy in the Sky. In the film, Lucy (Natalie Portman) plays a NASA ...

October 4, 2019

7 Insider Tips for Getting Into the Sundance Screenwriters Lab

The adorable new indie comedy Before You Know It stars Hannah Pearl Utt and Jen Tullock as sisters who find out their mother, played by Judith Light, isn’t dead, but alive and acting on a popular soap opera. The two women must overcome their biggest flaws and fears to rebuild their fractured family. Utt directs with a script by Utt and ...

September 2, 2019