The Insiders
Episode 34
Creating Strong Women Characters with LEGALLY BLONDE Screenwriter Karen McCullah
LEGALLY BLONDE, 10 THINGS I HATE ABOUT YOU, ELLA ENCHANTED, and THE EXPENDABELLES writer Karen McCullah. Getting a start in Hollywood, the writing process, and what happens when the rubber meets the road in Hollywood, and screenplays get produced into films is discussed, and we get a preview at her new all-women update on THE EXPENDABLES. McCullah also sheds light on the secret to writing strong female characters, how casting works, and her own book, The Bachelorette Party, in this uncensored interview on The Insiders with Sebastian Twardosz.
Episode Breakdown
00:10 Welcome to The Insiders.
00:20 Introducing Karen McCullah, screenwriter and author.
00:50 How McCullah broke into the industry.
01:45 The first script McCullah wrote.
04:50 McCullah’s writing process.
08:05 Do the movies turn out the way she envisioned them when she wrote them?
09:35 The helpful writing aid Save The Cat.
10:40 Writing strong female characters and how McCullah is similar to John Hughes.
12:25 Writing the Romantic-Comedy.
15:25 What has changed from when McCullah began writing and the writer she is now?
16:55 Expendabelles, McCullah’s newest action movie with a female cast.
18:15 Advice to new writers trying to break into the industry.
23:45 McCullah’s impression of the actors who were cast in her films.
24:45 McCullah on her book, The Bachelorette Party.
29:15 Do life experiences play a major role in a writer’s life?
33:25 Thank you and goodbye.
Guest Bio
Karen McCullah has co-written the movies LEGALLY BLONDE starring Reese Witherspoon, 10 THINGS I HATE ABOUT YOU starring Julia Stiles and Heath Ledger, ELLA ENCHANTED starring Anne Hathaway, SHE’S THE MAN starring Amanda Bynes and Channing Tatum, THE HOUSE BUNNY starring Anna Faris, and THE UGLY TRUTH starring Katherine Heigl and Gerard Butler.
The Bachelorette Party (St. Martin’s Press), is her first novel and will soon be a film.
Karen is a graduate of James Madison University in Virginia. Before becoming a screenwriter and novelist, her careers included marketing for an investment firm, public relations for environmental non-profits, painting furniture that she sold in galleries in New Mexico, travel writing, and teaching creative workshops to teen gang members.
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