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 176 results

Murder Mystery writer keeps the comedy grounded while channeling Hemingway

After writing such great action films like Zodiac (directed by David Fincher) Independence Day: Resurgence, and The Amazing Spiderman James Vanderbilt ventures into action-comedy in his recent Netflix film, Murder Mystery, with great success.

July 10, 2019

Attn Romcom Writers: New Streaming Platform Passionflix Focuses Solely on Sweet Romance

Tosca Musk has made a career of writing, directing and producing romantic films. But when it comes to the digital frontier, she’s also as tech-savvy and forward-thinking as any tech guru in Silicon Valley. It’s no secret streaming platform Netflix has forever changed the television industry. But Netflix’s vision of aggressively creating new content to please the masses may leave many niche TV viewers, particularly fans of the romance genre, in the dark.

June 18, 2019

Booksmart writer turns high school into a hilarious war zone

Booksmart isn’t your typical high school party movie. Writer Katie Silberman and actress-turned-director Olivia Wilde intended it to be Clueless for Gen Z and embrace the risk-averse attitude of a generation raised on iPhones. While the lead characters may be snowflakes, the movie is full of so much heart and humor you’ll want to see it again -- it’s that good.

May 27, 2019

Pokémon Detective Pikachu writers share secret to cracking huge, franchise-based screenplay

The Pokémon franchise has been around for over two decades. Trading cards and videogames featuring over 800 adorable “pocket monsters” as they’re called in Japan (the birthplace of Pokémon), have enchanted both kids and adults. More recently the augmented reality game Pokémon GO, played on a smart phone, has captivated the world and continues to increase in popularity.

May 18, 2019

How I turned my screenplay into a novel (and how you can too!)

Back when I was in film school at UCLA, a friend told me about a real woman named Ada Lovelace who lived in the 1800s. She was a mathematician and worked with inventor Charles Babbage to create programs for the world’s first computer. I read several biographies about Lovelace’s life, and though I went to film school to write broad, female-centric comedies, I decided I would try my hand at a biopic.

May 13, 2019

Wine Country writer talks about her time on SNL, Amy Poehler and not taking Molly

Wine Country is a new comedy movie about a group of longtime girlfriends who go to Napa for the weekend to celebrate Rebecca’s (Rachel Dratch) 50th birthday. The film also stars female comedy legends Amy Poehler, Tina Fey, Ana Gasteyer and Maya Rudolph. Directed by Poehler, from a script written by Emily Spivey and Liz Cackowski, the film is based on a real-life wine country trip some of the actresses attended a few years ago. Co-writer Liz Cackowski opens up about the real-life trip that inspired the film, her time writing for Saturday Night Live, and of course, wine.

May 10, 2019

How one writer wrote about the fake novelist JT LeRoy in an emotional bio-pic

If you were a fan of edgy, youth-driven literature in the 1990s, you may remember books like Sarah or The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things by an author named JT LeRoy. Jeremiah Terminator LeRoy quickly became a literary sensation. But his story, like many stories that make it to film, is lovingly filled with both fantasy and fraud.

April 23, 2019

Writer/director Madeleine Olnek Explores Poet Emily Dickinson’s Secret Love Affair in Wild Nights with Emily

When you think of poet Emily Dickinson, it’s likely you think of a hysterical Victorian recluse who locked herself in her bedroom and went to the grave without sharing her trove of poetry. The new film Wild Nights with Emily, however, paints a very different portrait of America’s favorite poetess. I sat down with the film’s writer/director Madeleine Olnek to find out how history got Dickinson’s story so very wrong.

April 17, 2019

Writer/director Daniel Farrands on The Haunting of Sharon Tate

In 1993, I was invited to a party in Beverly Hills at 10050 Cielo Drive, a dead-end street roughly half way up Benedict Canyon. I knew full well it was the so-called “Sharon Tate Mansion,” where the Charles Manson “family” brutally murdered Sharon Tate and three other unfortunate souls.

April 9, 2019

ScreenwritingU Alum Adapts Stephen King and So Can You

Did you know aspiring filmmakers can option a short Stephen King story for just $1? It’s called the Stephen King Dollar Baby program and that’s exactly what writer/director Nicole Jones-Dion is doing. I spoke with Jones-Dion about her project and her challenging career goals.

March 19, 2019

For ScreenwritingU alum writer/director Linda Palmer, making movies is all about community

When you’re a creative person, it’s important to find a community that supports your efforts, especially when it comes to filmmaking. By definition, there is no more collaborative venture than making a film because it truly takes a village to act in, produce and finance. For filmmaker Linda Palmer, she’s found that supportive village right here in the ScreenwritingU community.

March 8, 2019

Our 2019 Oscar Predictions for Best Original & Best Adapted Screenplay

It’s that time of year when all film lovers are waiting with bated breath to see which of our favorite films will be awarded with Hollywood’s greatest honor, the Oscar. For screenwriters, our eyes are focused on the Best Original Screenplay and Best Adapted Screenplay awards but trying to predict the winners is never easy. Last year, the ...

February 22, 2019