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 165 results

Oscar-Nominated Kristen Wiig & Annie Mumolo on Going from Sketch to Screenplay

Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar, written by and starring Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo, is one of the silliest movies you’ll ever see. It’s also one of the most joyful. With bright colors and a sexy Jamie Dornan, watching the movie is like devouring a giant spoonful of marshmallow fluff – and it’s exactly what we all need right ...

March 2, 2021

Bliss Writer/Director Mike Cahill Takes Inspiration From an Ancient Philosopher

If you’ve seen any of writer/director Mike Cahill’s previous films (Another Earth, co-written by actress Brit Marling, 2011; I Origins, 2014), you know he’s obsessed with exploring mind-tripping alternate realities by crashing science into spirituality. His latest film, Bliss, stars Owen Wilson as Greg, a man reeling from a recent ...

February 11, 2021

The Poetic, Visual Rhythm of Viggo Mortensen’s Film Falling

Falling is a beautiful film about a son’s experience growing up with an overbearing, often cruel, sometimes amiable father who is now aging and starting to fall into dementia. Anyone who’s ever cared for a parent suffering a similar fate will recognize the painful look on John (Viggo Mortensen) and Sarah’s (Laura Linney) faces when their ...

February 2, 2021

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