The stats on the number of women working in the film industry are always depressing. Female directors, in particular, are thin on the ground but since the 90s, the number of female screenwriters and directors has, somehow, gone down. So thats bad news.
Whats the good news? Well, at least the women on this list are kicking ass. Here are fifteen of the most prolific female screenwriters working today
Lucinda Coxon
The writer: Lucinda Coxon is more of a playwright than a screenwriter, with more than 11 produced plays under her belt. But shes written for the screen on and off since 1997, and shes got a couple of particularly exciting projects coming up: Guillermo del Toro brought her on board to work up the script of Crimson Peak, and she also adapted David Ebershoffs novel The Danish Girl for the big screen.
Biggest hit to date: Wild Target
Look out for: The Danish Girl.
Irene Mecchi
The writer: Irene Mecchis filmography is made up almost entirely of animated films: she started out at Disney by writing a short about an environmentally conscious dinosaur called Recycle Rex in 1992, and has since racked up writing credits on The Lion King, The Hunchback Of Notre Dame, Hercules, Brave and more.
Biggest hit to date: The Lion King
Look out for: Strange Magic.
Diablo Cody
The writer: The controversial stripper-turned-blogger-turned-screenwriter might only have five movie credits to her name right now, but since those all date from 2007 and afterwards, and she also wrote 27 episodes of a TV show along the way, it seems like Diablo Cody belongs here.
Biggest hit to date: Juno
Look out for: Ricki And The Flash.
Leslye Headland
The writer: Another one with only a few credits (but ones shes racked up fast), Leslye Headland started her career as a staff writer on Terriers then moved onto movies: she wrote and directed Bachelorette, and squeezed in two more movies before this years Sleeping With Other People, which she also directed. Phew.
Biggest hit to date: Bachelorette
Look out for: Sleeping With Other People.
Aline Brosh McKenna
The writer: Harvard grad Aline Brosh McKenna nabbed herself an agent off the back of a six-week screenwriting course, and never looked back. Her movies tend to be women-centric comedies, including 27 Dresses and Morning Glory.
Biggest hit to date: The Devil Wears Prada.
Look out for: Shes attached to a live action take on the backstory of 101 Dalmatians villain Cruella de Vil, though details are currently sketchy.
Katie Dippold
The writer: Another up-and-comer, Katie Dippold currently only has one produced film on her CV but she also has 54 episodes of MADtv and seven episodes of Parks and Recreation to her name. And since her first movie only came out in 2013 and shes already getting stuck into two more, wed say shes a name worth knowing.
Biggest hit to date: The Heat
Look out for: Ghostbusters.
Kirsten Smith and Karen McCullah
The writers: Writing partners Kirsten Smith and Karen McCullah started a script together the first night they met, and though that one mightve been a dud, theyve been responsible for tons of comedies ever since 10 Things I Hate About You was their first produced script, but theyre also behind Legally Blonde, Shes The Man and The House Bunny.
Biggest hit to date: Legally Blonde
Look out for: Theyre writing Expendabelles, the all-female take on The Expendables franchise.
Linda Woolverton
The writer: Linda Woolvertons notched up a lot of firsts in her career. After starting out writing for childrens TV shows in the 80s, she became the first woman ever to write an animated film for Disney when she penned Beauty And The Beast which was, itself, the first animated movie to be nominated for the Best Picture Oscar. More recently, with Alice In Wonderland she became the first woman to write a billion dollar movie alone.
Biggest hit to date: Alice In Wonderland
Look out for: Alice In Wonderland: Through The Looking Glass.
Leslie Dixon
The writer: Leslie Dixon earned a name for herself writing comedies, from Outrageous Fortune to Look Whos Talking Now and Mrs Doubtfire. But after writing so many comedy movies in a row, she worried that shed run out of humour and moved into thrillers, starting with The Thomas Crown Affair. Shes vacillated between the two genres ever since.
Biggest hit to date: Mrs Doubtfire
Look out for: She's attached to a TV series based on her script for Limitless.
Susannah Grant
The writer: Susannah Grant had a fairytale start to her writing career she was one of three writers for Disneys Pocahontas and went on to co-write Ever After: A Cinderella Story. Shes written extensively for television, but her best-known work was Erin Brockovich, which earned her an Oscar nom.
Biggest hit to date: Erin Brockovich
Look out for: The 5th Wave.
Melissa Rosenberg
The writer: Okay, if you only look at movie writing credits, Melissa Rosenberg might not qualify for this list: she wrote dance movie Step Up and then the Twilight movies, and that's about it.
But alongside those, shes also written shedloads of TV. She started out in the '90s, writing for Dr Quinn, Medicine Woman and genre shows like The Outer Limits and Dark Skies before moving onto soapier stuff like Party Of Five, Ally McBeal and The O.C. More recently, she wrote 11 episodes of Dexter and is now showrunning A.K.A. Jessica Jones for Netflix.
Biggest hit to date: Twilight
Look out for: Shes set to write the new Highlander movie.
Jane Goldman
The writer: Former journalist Jane Goldman has adapted many much-loved properties to the big screen, starting with Stardust, which was adapted from a Neil Gaiman novel, through to X-Men: First Class and Days Of Future Past both from the Marvel comics.
It was her adaptation of Susan Hills The Woman In Black that really proved her mettle, though it became the highest grossing British horror film in two decades. Cant argue with that.
Biggest hit to date: The Woman In Black
Look out for: Peregrines Home For Peculiars.
Patricia Resnick
The writer: Resnicks been working in Hollywood since the late '70s, and has notched up a number of writing credits on both the big and small screens. She started working for director Robert Altman straight out of film school, and ended up writing A Wedding for him. Shes best known for Nine To Five, which she also adapted into a Broadway musical. More recently, shes been writing for the kids TV show Olivia and working as a producer on Mad Men.
Biggest hit to date: Nine To Five
Look out for: A Perfect Wedding.
Philippa Boyens and Fran Walsh
The writers: Fran Walsh started out writing for TV before meeting director Peter Jackson and moving into film. Working alongside Jackson, she co-wrote Meet The Feebles, Braindead, Heavenly Creatures, and The Frighteners. Philippa Boyens came on board when Jackson started work on his Lord Of The Rings adaptations, and together the three of them won an Oscar for the screenplay of Lord Of The Rings: Return Of The King.
Biggest hit to date: All the Lord Of The Rings movies.
Look out for: After finishing all the Hobbit movies, there's nothing officially in the pipeline at the moment, sadly.
Nancy Meyers
The writer: Lots of Hollywood hopefuls support themselves by working in the food industry, but not many of them take it as far as Nancy Meyers, who launched her own cheesecake business to put herself through film school. Abandoning the baking was probably a good idea, though; she was nominated for an Oscar for co-writing Private Benjamin, and went on to become a successful writer and director.
Biggest hit to date: What Women Want
Look out for: The Intern.