Video interview: Shauna Cross (Whip It)

The movie Whip It is currently in its 2nd week in theaters. Directed by Drew Barrymore and starring Ellen Page of Juno fame, the movie’s screenplay was written by Shauna Cross, who also wrote the novel upon which the story is based.

In this 6+ minute interview excerpt, Cross talks about adapting her book into a screenplay, how she “overwrote” the script to give characters “a lot to do” so Barrymore and the editors would have a lot of material to play around with in post. A graduate of film school at the University of Texas, Cross talks about the saying “how it takes 10 years to become an overnight success.” But perhaps the best takeaway from her comments is about the business of screenwriting: The need to learn how to juggle the many and varied aspects of what it takes to have a screenwriting career.

And here’s the trailer for the movie Whip It:

The interview can be found on the excellent movie website MakingOf, which I pimped here last April when the site went live.

UPDATE: Go here for a written interview with Cross.

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