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 162 results

The Pros and Cons of Writing Screenplays with a Partner

Parasite. The Shape of Water. Legally Blonde. Election. No Country for Old Men. What do these titles have in common? All these films were famously written by screenwriting duos who were writing partners. The writers for the above films are Bong Joon-ho and Han Jin-won, Vanessa Taylor and Guillermo del Toro, Karen McCullah and Kirsten ...

December 30, 2020

Oscar-Nominated Writer Vanessa Taylor on the Ups and Downs of Hillbilly Elegy

J.D. Vance’s memoir Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of Family and Culture in Crisis struck a cultural nerve when it was published in 2016. In the book, Vance details his personal journey from the poverty of Appalachia, to his service as a Marine, and then his achievement of graduating from Yale Law School. His story is one of grit and financial ...

December 7, 2020

Palm Springs Writer Took Inspiration from 90s Films for Biggest Sundance Sale Ever

Back in January, when movie theaters were still open and film festivals were being held IRL, the quirky, funny and occasionally exasperating film, Palm Springs, made headlines when it premiered at Sundance after Neon and Hulu paid the highest price ever for a Sundance film: $17,500,000.69. The 69 cents is meant to be a joke but it also ...

November 20, 2020

A Writer’s Viral West Wing Tweets Gets Hollywood’s Attention

One of the most difficult things to do as a screenwriter is to get noticed by Hollywood. Many of us enter screenwriting competitions, network with industry professionals and even make short films in hopes of getting some attention on our quest to finding an agent or manager. You may remember an interview I did in 2016 with Billy ...

November 2, 2020

Bill and Ted Face the Music Writers on Writing from Character, Not Structure

It’s excellent that Bill and Ted (Alex Winter and Keanu Reeves, respectively) are back in the bodacious three-quel Bill and Ted Face the Music! It’s heinous to think that it’s been 31 years since the two dudes started time traveling together, but that’s only given us all time to share the first two films with our own outstanding little ...

August 28, 2020

Oscar-winning Writer’s New Film About Police Brutality Looks a Lot Like Today

The 24th is a powerful film about a piece of American history you won’t find in most history books. Kevin Willmott, who won an Academy Award for co-writing 2018’s Blackkklansman, started the script for The 24th many years ago, but brought in actor/writer (and former student) Trai Byers (Empire) to give the script a fresh take. The result ...

August 21, 2020

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