Kirsten "Kiwi" Smith | |
|---|---|
 Smith in 2011 | |
| Born | August 12, 1970 |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation(s) | Screenwriter Novelist |
| Website | kiwilovesyou.com |
Kirsten M. "Kiwi" Smith (born August 12, 1970) is an American screenwriter and novelist whose credits include Legally Blonde and Ella Enchanted . She has written most of her screenplays with her screenwriter partner Karen McCullah.
Kirsten M. Smith [1] was born, 12 August 1970, in Contra Costa County, California and grew up in San Pedro, Los Angeles, on a sailboat, without TV, and spent much of her childhood writing. [2] After her family moved to Port Ludlow, Washington, she worked as a clerk at a video store before moving to Los Angeles in 1988 to attend Occidental College, [2] studying English and Film, and getting a degree in 1992, [3] then attended NYU's film program. [4]
While in college, she often submitted poems to local magazines, and after graduation, she received a scholarship to attend the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference in Vermont and was a resident writer at MacDowell, after which she realized she could only advance her poetry career by getting a MFA and going into academia. [2] She then decided to screenwrite for a living to support her poetry. [2]
While in college, Smith got an internship at CineTel Films, an independent film company; after she began working for CineTel reading scripts and writing coverage for them. [2] [5] This led to a full-time job there as a Director of Development in 1995, and then she began pursuing screenwriting in earnest.[ citation needed ] One of the scripts she happened to read and cover was written by Karen McCullah, an aspiring writer living in Denver, Colorado. The two women formed a friendship over the phone, and when McCullah came to Los Angeles, they met in person, and began writing their first script on cocktail napkins that night. [6] That script never sold, but it inspired the women to write together again, and they embarked on a teen comedy called 10 Things I Hate About You , a twist on William Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew partially inspired by the recent teen comedy Clueless. [6]
In 1997, Smith made her first sale as a screenwriter, with 10 Things I Hate About You , a speculative screenplay. Shortly thereafter, the movie was green-lit, starring the-then-unknown Heath Ledger and Julia Stiles It was shot in Tacoma, Washington, near Smith's hometown. In the writing process for 10 Things, Smith was eager to add feminism and post-feminism from her women's studies classes into the movie's context and had wanted more of a riot grrrl sound for the soundtrack. [2]
Smith went on to co-write Legally Blonde , which was nominated for two Golden Globes. Costing only $18M to produce, the movie was a surprise hit, grossing $20M in its opening weekend in July 2001, and going on to make over $140M worldwide. It also spawned a sequel and a successful Broadway musical, which was based on Smith and Lutz's screenplay.
Smith followed that with Ella Enchanted , starring Anne Hathaway, and She's the Man , a DreamWorks update of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night , starring Amanda Bynes.
In 2006, Smith published a verse novel, The Geography of Girlhood , having published more than 40 poems in various literary magazines in the 1990s. The coming-of-age story of a teenage girl growing up in the Pacific Northwest, it contains a smattering of the poems Smith wrote and published in her early twenties.
In 2008, she wrote and directed a short film, [7] The Spleenectomy, which starred Anna Faris and was financed and produced by Glamour magazine's Reel Moments. She also co-wrote and executive produced The House Bunny , starring Anna Faris, and produced by Adam Sandler’s Happy Madison Productions. It grossed almost $50M domestically. [8]
In 2009, she co-wrote The Ugly Truth , directed by Legally Blonde collaborator Robert Luketic and starring Katherine Heigl and Gerard Butler. Her first film as a non-writing producer, Whip It! , starred Elliot Page and was directed by Drew Barrymore, and she also produced American Virgin in 2009, starring Jenna Dewan and Rob Schneider.
Her 2013 novel, Trinkets, was adapted into a streaming television series in 2019. The series has received several Daytime Emmy nominations and wins. It received the award in the Outstanding Writing for a Children's or Young Adult Program category in 2020, as well as the Outstanding Young Adult Drama category in 2020 and 2021. [9] [10]
Smith has also created the graphic novel series Misfit City alongside fellow writer Kurt Lustgarten and illustrator Naomi Franquiz. The narrative follows a group of four small-town girls who set off on an adventure after they find an ancient pirate map. In October 2021, it was announced that HBO Max had started to develop an animated television series based on the comics. [11] [12]
In September 2022, it was announced that Smith and longtime screenwriting partner McCullah were writing a new romantic comedy, titled I Do... Not. The movie is being produced by Mark Vahradian and Lorenzo di Bonaventura for Amazon. [13]
The Smith-McCullah duo worked on a rewrite for K-Pop: Lost in America. The movie will focus on a K-pop band who is about to do their US debut in New York's Madison Square Garden, but accidentally end up in Waco, Texas. Charles Melton and Rebel Wilson are reported to headline the film. [13] [14]
Kirsten Caroline Dunst is an American actress. She made her acting debut in the anthology film New York Stories (1989). She gained recognition for her role as child vampire Claudia in the horror film Interview with the Vampire (1994), which earned her a Golden Globe nomination for Best Supporting Actress. She also had roles in her youth in Little Women (1994) and Jumanji (1995).
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Legally Blonde is a 2001 American romantic comedy film directed by Robert Luketic and written by Karen McCullah Lutz and Kirsten Smith, based on Amanda Brown's 2001 novel of the same name. It stars Reese Witherspoon, Luke Wilson, Selma Blair, Matthew Davis, Victor Garber, and Jennifer Coolidge. The story follows Elle Woods (Witherspoon), a sorority girl who attempts to win back her ex-boyfriend Warner Huntington III (Davis) by getting a Juris Doctor degree at Harvard Law School, and in the process, overcomes stereotypes against blondes and triumphs as a successful lawyer.
Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde is a 2003 American comedy film directed by Charles Herman-Wurmfeld and written by Kate Kondell. It is a sequel to the 2001 film Legally Blonde and the second film in the Legally Blonde series. It stars Reese Witherspoon alongside an ensemble cast featuring Sally Field, Regina King, Jennifer Coolidge, Bruce McGill, Dana Ivey, Mary Lynn Rajskub, Bob Newhart, Luke Wilson, and Bruce Thomas, with Coolidge, Wilson, and Thomas reprising their roles from the first film.
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Gail Carson Levine is an American author of young adult books. Her first novel, Ella Enchanted, received a Newbery Honor in 1998.
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Karen McCullah is an American screenwriter and novelist most known for co-writing comedies such as 10 Things I Hate About You, Legally Blonde, Ella Enchanted, The House Bunny, The Ugly Truth and She's the Man with her screenwriting partner Kirsten Smith. After graduating from James Madison University with a degree in marketing, McCullah worked various jobs before beginning to write. She is a faculty member at Syracuse University's Los Angeles Semester.
The Ugly Truth is a 2009 American romantic comedy film directed by Robert Luketic, written by Nicole Eastman, Karen McCullah Lutz and Kirsten Smith, and starring Katherine Heigl and Gerard Butler. The film was released in North America on July 24, 2009 by Columbia Pictures.
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Trinkets is an American teen drama television series, based on the 2013 novel of the same name by Kirsten Smith. The series was created by Smith, Amy Andelson, and Emily Meyer. It was released on Netflix on June 14, 2019. In July 2019, the series was renewed for a second and final season which was released on August 25, 2020.
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Stacy Amma Osei-Kuffour is an American playwright, actress, and writer known for her work on Watchmen and PEN15.
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