Unlocking the Secrets Behind Anna Hamilton Phelan’s Scriptwriting Genius
Ever find yourself tangled up in characters so vivid they practically leap off the page, yet your plot feels like a stubborn knot you just can’t untie? You’re not alone. Anna Hamilton Phelan, a screenwriter who’s been shaping stories since the mid-80s, admits her own grappling with plotlines — calling it “the hardest part.” From crafting the emotional depths of Mask to unraveling the mystery behind Gorillas in the Mist, Phelan offers a rare glimpse into her creative process. What’s fascinating is how real-life intrigue—like a saleswoman sending evening gowns to a gorilla researcher’s camp—can spark a screenplay that’s more than just facts and research. If you’ve ever wondered how character and plot can dance together without stepping on each other’s toes, this glimpse into Phelan’s journey might just give you a new angle. Ready to peek behind the curtain of screenwriting magic? LEARN MORE.
“It’s the character that usually grabs me. My downfall always is the plot. That’s the hardest part for me, plot.”
Anna Hamilton Phelan has been a working screenwriter since 1985 with numerous writing credits including Mask (1985), Gorillas in the Mist: The Dian Fossey Story (1988), and Girl, Interrupted (1999). These excerpts are taken from a wonderful book called “The New Screenwriter Looks at the New Screenwriter,” by William Froug, who among other accomplishments founded UCLA’s Film and Television Writing Program.
ON HOW SHE BECAME INVOLVED WRITING ‘GORILLAS IN THE MIST’
“When Dian Fossey was still living, they (Universal Studios) had bought that book from her and offered the project to me. I read the book. It was mostly Dian’s research with the gorillas. Chapter after chapter on gorilla dung and things; there was no story. So I said, ‘Thank you very much, but no thank you.’ Subsequently, about a year after that, Fossey was murdered. And then I thought, ‘Well, what is this about? What is this? Now there was something more going on here than just a woman going up there and researching.’
“So I started asking around and made some phone calls, and someone told me in New York that they knew a saleswoman at Bergdorf Goodman who knew Dian Fossey and who twice a year sent evening gowns to Dian Fossey’s research camp. And I thought, ‘This is very interesting that this woman, who’s up there mucking around in the mud with the gorillas, orders these fancy ballgowns.’
“So after snooping around a little bit more and finding out this was a very interesting woman, aside from her involvement with the gorillas, I thought, ‘There may be something to this. This is something I’m interested in.”’So I called Universal and said, ‘Remember that book you offered me, that project? I’m interested now.’”
ON EXPOSITION
“It’s a difficult thing to do, an expository kind of writing — you want to stay away from getting all that information out in dialogue. And if you can find some creative ways to do it, where people see it rather than hear it, that always seems to feel better.”
ON 3-ACT STRUCTURE
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