Leigh Dunlap is the screenwriter of the hit Warner Bros. movie A Cinderella Story. A native of Los Angeles, she attended film school at the University of Southern California. She now splits time and personalities between South Carolina and South Kensington and dreams of one day giving it all up and searching for buried treasure. Until then, she writes movies and books. Including Bless Your Heart, her debut novel.
Here Dunlap dreamcasts one of the leads in an adaptation of Bless Your Heart:
I’m normally (or abnormally?) a screenwriter, and I’m used to writing things with the screen in mind. However, I usually try not to be too specific about characters. With screenwriting, you don’t have a lot a space on the page to describe a character. Maybe you just have one line. Example: Birdie marches into the room and commands it. She is 45 but expects you to think she looks younger. She is average height but wills herself to look taller. That’s all you get and that’s more than you usually get in a screenplay. I like to keep it simple and let the reader (or director, or casting director) fill in the blanks. I have to admit, though, that actresses invaded my writing process and I couldn’t help but fill in the blanks myself. The number one was Melissa McCarthy. She was, throughout the entire writing process, my Birdie. She’s one of those actresses who can do both comedy and drama, and Birdie is a mix of both. Bless Your Heart has six female leads – six! – but luckily the industry is overflowing with amazing actresses. I’d love for the novel to be adapted into a limited TV series and filled with talented women.Visit Leigh Dunlap's website.
Q&A with Leigh Dunlap.
Writers Read: Leigh Dunlap.
--Marshal Zeringue
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