15 most prolific female screenwriters

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.