This article appeared in The Hollywood Reporter, published in December, 2012.

Awards contenders “Martha Marcy May Marlene’s” Sean Durkin, “Bridesmaids’” Kristen Wiig, “Ides of March’s” Grant Heslov, “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy’s” Peter Straughan and “Young Adult’s” Diablo Cody reveal the thought process behind their scripts.

Kristen Wiig 
Co-writer, Bridesmaids (with Annie Mumolo)

“Bridesmaids was our first screenplay. I knew how scripts worked, but I didn’t know what should generally happen on page 30, or in three acts, so we bought one of Syd Field’s books on screenwriting. When Annie and I turned in our original draft, she was seven months pregnant — and then she was seven months pregnant again when we shot the movie. We joked that when her babies came out, their first words were going to be ‘Judd’ [Apatow, who produced the movie] and ‘rewrite.’ There are a lot of sad moments in the film, which we really wanted. In the end, the story is the most important thing. It’s story first and funny second.”