Lorene Scafaria

Lorene Scafaria
Scafaria in September 2019
Born	(1978-05-01) May 1, 1978 (age 45) Holmdel, New Jersey, U.S.
Occupation	Filmmaker playwright musician actress
Years active	1999–present

Lorene Scafaria (born May 1, 1978) is an American filmmaker, playwright, musician, and actress. She wrote and directed the films Seeking a Friend for the End of the World (2012), The Meddler (2015), and Hustlers (2019), as well as writing the film Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist (2008).

Scafaria directed the Succession (2018–2023) episodes "Too Much Birthday", "Living+", and "Honeymoon States". She earned nominations for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series for "Too Much Birthday" and "Living+", in addition to a nomination for the Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directing – Drama Series for "Too Much Birthday".

Early life

Scafaria was born in Holmdel, New Jersey, on May 1, 1978, the daughter of Gail (née Kiernan) ^[1] and Joseph Scafaria (1939–2009). ^[2] Her mother is a Canadian-American, while her father was an Italian immigrant from Gioia Tauro. ^{[2] [3]} She has a brother named Vincent. ^[2] She became interested in writing when she began making a book report on a fake book every month in order to win Pizza Hut gift certificates from her school. ^[4] By the age of 17, she had written and staged her first play in Red Bank, New Jersey. ^[5] After graduating from Holmdel High School in 1995, she attended Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania. Unable to afford the tuition fees, she soon transferred to Montclair State University in Montclair, New Jersey, where she earned a BA in English with a minor in theater. ^{[5] [6]}

Career

After moving to New York City, Scafaria wrote and directed a play at the Producer's Club Theatre called That Guy and Others Like Him, in which she also acted. She had a small role in the acclaimed short film Bullet in the Brain, which won awards at festivals and was produced by CJ Follini. ^[5] Her writing agent had still yet to find her a job, so she took on more acting roles, appearing in many theater productions in addition to films such as Big Helium Dog and A Million Miles.

Seeking new representation for her writing career, she sent out queries to 20 different agents; one of the agents who replied said that they required her to move to Los Angeles. Although she did not anticipate real success with the agent, she moved there and became roommates with screenwriter Bryan Sipe, whom she had previously met while making a film in her native New Jersey. ^[5] Neither of their work was considered "commercial" enough by studios, so they paired up to write a children's adventure film called Legend Has It. The screenplay was purchased by Revolution Studios; however, after the studio asked the pair to make changes to the script which Scafaria described as "far less interesting", the project was shelved. ^[5]

In 2005, Scafaria was hired by Focus Features to adapt the book Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist into a film of the same name. ^[5] It was her ninth screenplay but her first adaptation. ^[7] She told MovieMaker , "I grew up in suburban New Jersey, so I immediately identified with the characters, especially Norah. Everything from feeling uncomfortable in my own skin to having a father who's larger than life (even if only in your mind), her plight really spoke to me and seemed like it would speak to a lot of young girls. It wasn't hard to get inside the characters' heads—the authors' voices are so strong." She said the film Before Sunrise was a big inspiration for the structure of her adaptation and said that she wanted to bring a nostalgic take on the teen comedy: "It was just a real challenge to kind of bring it back to those movies that I grew up on in the '80s, John Hughes movies and Cameron Crowe." ^[8]

In 2012, the "Fempire" (a trio of writers consisting of Scafaria and her close friends Diablo Cody and Liz Meriwether) ^[7] received the Athena Film Festival Award for Creativity and Sisterhood. ^{[9] [10]} Scafaria wrote the Iraq War docudrama Sweet Relief for Paramount Pictures and The Mighty Flynn, a spec script which she set up at Warner Brothers. ^[11] She also wrote the film Man and Wife, which had Gabriele Muccino attached to direct. ^[11]

During the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike, Scafaria recorded an album called Garden Party, featuring original songs she sang and played on the piano. ^[7] The 2009 film Whip It! features her song "28" in the closing credits. She released her second album, Laughter and Forgetting, in April 2010.

In 2009, Mandate Pictures bought Scafaria's script Seeking a Friend for the End of the World , ^[12] a romantic comedy focusing on a man's quest for a meaningful connection during the apocalypse. It was the first film Scafaria also directed, and was released in June 2012. In an interview, she said, "Two people at the end of the world—all the chaos that's around them that they're sort of wheeling through—and obviously some people are just mowing their lawn and other people are doing heroin... but there's something to me that becomes even more romantic, and that's what I was excited to explore and see. I love relationships. I love intimate stories about people; whether it's a guy and a girl or whatever it is, I like intimate stories of people and how they relate to each other." ^[13]

In 2015, Scafaria wrote and directed the comedy-drama film The Meddler . ^[14] The film tells the story of a mother and daughter trying to move on with life after the loss of their husband and father. Scafaria told The New York Times , "There's a reason that it's all from [the daughter] Marnie's perspective because I never wanted to get a break from her. More than anything I wanted it to inspire empathy from people who might find themselves in this situation, whether it's through loss or some other circumstance that creates strife. Once I started showing people the script, that there was something so relatable about being the adult child of someone and trying to stay best friends." ^[15]

In 2019, Scafaria wrote and directed the crime drama film Hustlers , which was based on a 2015 New York magazine article by Jessica Pressler. ^[16] The film was a critical and commercial success. Scafaria said to Vox on the real story, "There are a lot of movies that I think have touched upon these themes— The Wolf of Wall Street or movies like The Big Short —which explain [financial downturns] from the bullpen. But I'm really interested in seeing the impact that the 2008 recession had on these women who worked in Wall Street's backyard." When mentioning the relationship between Destiny and Ramona, she said, "It felt like there was something more in between the lines—the story of these two women who became friends and formed this business together, and then here they are being interviewed separately years later." ^[17] In a 2019 interview, the real-life stripper who went through the events of the film told her side of the story and discussed how accurate it was while praising Scafaria. ^[18]

Between 2021 and 2023, Scafaria directed three episodes of the HBO series Succession . For its third season, she directed the episode "Too Much Birthday", ^[19] for which she received a Directors Guild of America Award nomination for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Dramatic Series ^[20] as well as a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series. ^[21] For the fourth and final season of the series, Scafaria directed the episodes "Honeymoon States" and "Living+", ^[22] with the latter earning her another nomination for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series. ^[23]

Personal life

Scafaria lives in Los Angeles. She dated comedian Bo Burnham from 2013 until 2022, when he left her for musician Phoebe Bridgers. ^{[24] [25] [26]}

Filmography

Films

Year	Title	Actress	Writer	Director	Producer	Composer	Role	Notes
1999	Big Helium Dog	Yes	No	No	No	No	Chastity
2001	A Million Miles	Yes	No	No	No	No	Jodi
	Mayhem Motel	Yes	No	No	No	No	Abby
	Bullet in the Brain	Yes	No	No	No	No	Eager Student	Short film
2004	Unbound	Yes	No	No	No	No	Girl	Short film
2007	The Nines	Yes	No	No	No	No	Game Night Guest
2008	Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes	Drunk Girl in Yugo	Soundtrack credit: "12 Gays of Christmas"
2009	Whip It	No	No	No	No	Yes		Soundtrack: "28"
	1045 Mercy Street	No	Yes	No	No	No		Short film
2012	Seeking a Friend for the End of the World	No	Yes	Yes	No	No
2013	Coherence	Yes	No	No	No	No	Lee
2015	Ricki and the Flash	No	No	No	Yes	No		Executive producer
	The Meddler	No	Yes	Yes	No	No
2019	Hustlers	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No		Co-producer
2022	Jennifer Lopez: Halftime	Yes	No	No	No	No	Herself	Documentary
2023	Under the Boardwalk	No	Yes	No	Yes	No		Executive producer

Television

Year	Title	Writer	Director	Producer	Role	Notes
2010	Childrens Hospital	Yes	No	No		Episode: "Show Me on Montana"
2012	Made in Hollywood	No	No	No	Herself	Episode #7.30
	Ben and Kate	Yes	No	Yes		Writer ("Career Day") Consulting producer (3 episodes) Soundtrack writer (2 songs)
2013–2014	New Girl	No	Yes	No		3 episodes
2021–2023	Succession	No	Yes	No		3 episodes

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Nominated work	Result	Ref.
2012	Athena Film Festival	Athena Award (shared with Diablo Cody, Dana Fox and Elizabeth Meriwether)	—	Won	[9] [10]
2016	Alliance of Women Film Journalists	Best Woman Screenwriter	The Meddler	Nominated	[27]
	Women's Image Network Awards	Film Written by a Woman		Nominated	[28]
2019	Chicago Film Critics Association	Best Adapted Screenplay	Hustlers	Nominated	[29]
	Dublin Film Critics' Circle	Best Director		Nominated	[30]
		Best Screenplay		Nominated
	Gotham Awards	Best Feature		Nominated	[31]
	San Francisco Bay Area Film Critics Circle	Best Adapted Screenplay		Nominated	[32]
2020	Alliance of Women Film Journalists	Best Adapted Screenplay		Nominated	[33]
		Best Woman Screenwriter		Nominated
	Austin Film Critics Association	Best Adapted Screenplay		Nominated	[34]
	Independent Spirit Awards	Best Director		Nominated	[35]
	Georgia Film Critics Association	Best Adapted Screenplay		Nominated	[36]
	Hollywood Critics Association	Best Female Director		Nominated	[37]
		Best Adapted Screenplay		Nominated
	Online Film Critics Society	Best Adapted Screenplay		Nominated	[38]
2022	Directors Guild of America Awards	Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Dramatic Series (for "Too Much Birthday")	Succession	Nominated	[20]
	Primetime Emmy Awards	Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series (for "Too Much Birthday")		Nominated	[21]
2023	Primetime Emmy Awards	Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series (for "Living+")		Nominated	[23]

References

1. "Irene Kiernan Obituary". Asbury Park Press. March 23, 2011. Archived from the original on October 14, 2017. Retrieved October 13, 2017.
2. "Joseph R. Scafaria Obituary". Asbury Park Press. November 18, 2009. Archived from the original on October 14, 2017. Retrieved October 13, 2017.
3. "Archived copy" (PDF). Entertainment One . Archived from the original (PDF) on May 11, 2020. Retrieved May 15, 2013.^{[ permanent dead link ]}
4. Strauss, Gerry (May 20, 2016). "From Pizza Thieving to Sizzle Reels". Paste . Archived from the original on June 28, 2022. Retrieved June 28, 2022.
5. Plyer, Will (April 27, 2005). "Interviews: Lorene Scafaria". Done Deal Professional. Archived from the original on October 11, 2018. Retrieved October 6, 2008.
6. Bourbeau, Mary Ann (May 25, 2016). "Holmdel Writer Brings Her Story to Hollywood". The Two River Times. Archived from the original on February 6, 2018. Retrieved February 5, 2018. After graduating from Holmdel High School in 1995, Scafaria studied English with a writing concentration and a theater minor at Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania, and later transferred to Montclair State University, where she earned her degree.
7. Kelly, Kevin (September 2008). "Lorene Scafaria Interview, Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, Toronto 2008". Spout.com. Archived from the original on November 26, 2009. Retrieved October 6, 2008.
8. Forte, Kristin (October 6, 2008). "Lorene Scafaria Makes A Date With Nick & Norah". MovieMaker Magazine. Archived from the original on August 3, 2020. Retrieved April 20, 2020.
9. Cox, Gordon (January 11, 2012). "Athena awards for Cody, Taymor". Variety. Archived from the original on June 9, 2022. Retrieved June 9, 2022.
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External links

• Lorene Scafaria at IMDb