Lorene Scafaria
Encyclopedia
Lorene Scafaria is an American
screenwriter
, playwright
, actor
and singer best known for her work on the 2008 film
Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist
.
, New Jersey
, where she first became interested in writing when she would write up a report on a completely fake book once a month to win Pizza Hut
gift certificates from her school. She began to take an interest in storytelling and had written and produced her first play in Red Bank, New Jersey
by the age of seventeen. She attended Lafayette College
in Pennsylvania
for a year before switching to New Jersey's Montclair State University
when she could no longer afford Lafayette's tuition.
, Scafaria wrote and put up a play at the Producer's Club Theatre called That Guy and Others Like Him, in which she also played a role. She also had a small role in the acclaimed short film - "Bullet in the Brain," winner of nine festivals and produced by CJ Follini
. Still her writing agent had yet to find her a job, and so she took on more acting roles, appearing in many theater productions in addition to the films Big Helium Dog
and A Million Miles, among others. She sent out queries to twenty different agents seeking representation, one of whom replied and asked Scafaria to move from New York to Los Angeles
. Even though she did not anticipate real success with the agent, she moved out and became roommates with screenwriter Bryan Sipe, whom she had met making a film in New Jersey earlier. Neither of their work was considered "commercial" enough by studios, so they paired up to write a children's
adventure film
called Legend Has It. Revolution Studios
bought the screenplay but asked for a re-write which Scafaria described as "far less interesting", and the project was ultimately shelved.
In early 2005, Scafaria was hired by Focus Features
to adapt Rachel Cohn
and David Levithan
's book Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist
into a film of the same name. The screenplay was her ninth, but her first adaptation. She is good friends with fellow writers Diablo Cody
(Juno
) and Dana Fox
(What Happens in Vegas
), who she collaborates with in their writing group they call the "Fempire". She wrote Iraq
i war
docudrama
Sweet Relief for Paramount Pictures
and The Mighty Flynn, a spec script which she set up at Warner Brothers. She has also written Man and Wife, which Gabriele Muccino
is attached to direct. Lorene is currently working on Sony’s musical remake of Bye Bye Birdie for Red Wagon and Offspring Entertainment
In 2009, Mandate Pictures picked up Scafaria's script Seeking A Friend for the End of the World
, a romantic comedy that focuses on one man's quest for a meaningful connection amid the "end of days". This will also mark the directorial debut for Scafaria. The movie is set to release in 2011.
, Scafaria recorded a voice-and-piano album called Garden Party. The 2009 Drew Barrymore film Whip It! features Scafaria's original song "28" in the closing credits.
Scafaria recorded a second record available April 1, 2010 on iTunes
called "Laughter and Forgetting."
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
screenwriter
Screenwriter
Screenwriters or scriptwriters or scenario writers are people who write/create the short or feature-length screenplays from which mass media such as films, television programs, Comics or video games are based.-Profession:...
, playwright
Playwright
A playwright, also called a dramatist, is a person who writes plays.The term is not a variant spelling of "playwrite", but something quite distinct: the word wright is an archaic English term for a craftsman or builder...
, actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
and singer best known for her work on the 2008 film
2008 in film
This is a list of all major films made in 2008.-Highest-grossing films:Please note that following the tradition of the English-language film industry, these are the top grossing films that were first released in the USA in 2008...
Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist
Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist
Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist is a 2008 romantic comedy film directed by Peter Sollett and starring Michael Cera and Kat Dennings. Written by Lorene Scafaria and based on the novel of the same name by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan, the story tells of teenagers Nick and Norah , who meet when...
.
Early life
Scafaria was born and raised in HolmdelHolmdel Township, New Jersey
Holmdel Township is a township in Monmouth County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the township population was 16,773. Holmdel Township was formed by an Act of the New Jersey Legislature on February 23, 1857, from portions of Raritan Township .Holmdel is a suburb of...
, New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
, where she first became interested in writing when she would write up a report on a completely fake book once a month to win Pizza Hut
Pizza Hut
Pizza Hut is an American restaurant chain and international franchise that offers different styles of pizza along with side dishes including pasta, buffalo wings, breadsticks, and garlic bread....
gift certificates from her school. She began to take an interest in storytelling and had written and produced her first play in Red Bank, New Jersey
Red Bank, New Jersey
-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 11,844 people, 5,201 households, and 2,501 families residing in the borough. The population density was 6,639.1 people per square mile . There were 5,450 housing units at an average density of 3,055.0 per square mile...
by the age of seventeen. She attended Lafayette College
Lafayette College
Lafayette College is a private coeducational liberal arts and engineering college located in Easton, Pennsylvania, USA. The school, founded in 1826 by James Madison Porter,son of General Andrew Porter of Norristown and citizens of Easton, first began holding classes in 1832...
in Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
for a year before switching to New Jersey's Montclair State University
Montclair State University
Montclair State University is a public research university located in the Upper Montclair section of Montclair, the Great Notch area of Little Falls, and Clifton, New Jersey. As of October 2009, there were 18,171 total enrolled students: 14,139 undergraduate students and 4,032 graduate students...
when she could no longer afford Lafayette's tuition.
Film
After moving to New York CityNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, Scafaria wrote and put up a play at the Producer's Club Theatre called That Guy and Others Like Him, in which she also played a role. She also had a small role in the acclaimed short film - "Bullet in the Brain," winner of nine festivals and produced by CJ Follini
CJ Follini
CJ Follini is an American digital media entrepreneur, film producer and real estate investor. A native New Yorker who built his group of companies by investing in alternative real estate types such as: digital film studios; healthcare real estate; student housing; and artist residence clubs as...
. Still her writing agent had yet to find her a job, and so she took on more acting roles, appearing in many theater productions in addition to the films Big Helium Dog
Big Helium Dog
Big Helium Dog is a 1999 comedy film. It is produced by Kevin Smith's View Askew production company and also features the Broken Lizard comedy troupe in starring and supporting roles....
and A Million Miles, among others. She sent out queries to twenty different agents seeking representation, one of whom replied and asked Scafaria to move from New York to Los Angeles
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
. Even though she did not anticipate real success with the agent, she moved out and became roommates with screenwriter Bryan Sipe, whom she had met making a film in New Jersey earlier. Neither of their work was considered "commercial" enough by studios, so they paired up to write a children's
Family film
A family film is a film genre that is designed to appeal to a variety of age groups and, thus, families.In December 2005, Steven Spielberg's 1982 film E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial came first in a poll of the 100 Greatest Family Films. The genre today generates billions of dollars per annum.Family...
adventure film
Adventure film
Adventure films are a genre of film.Unlike pure, low-budget action films they often use their action scenes preferably to display and explore exotic locations in an energetic way....
called Legend Has It. Revolution Studios
Revolution Studios
Revolution Studios is an American production company founded in 2000 by Joe Roth, a former chairman of Walt Disney Studios and 20th Century Fox. Revolution was formerly a strategic partner of Sony Pictures Entertainment, which distributed and marketed Revolution's films. The company's film division...
bought the screenplay but asked for a re-write which Scafaria described as "far less interesting", and the project was ultimately shelved.
In early 2005, Scafaria was hired by Focus Features
Focus Features
Focus Features is the art house films division of NBC Universal's Universal Pictures, and acts as both a producer and distributor for its own films and a distributor for foreign films....
to adapt Rachel Cohn
Rachel Cohn
Rachel Cohn is a young adult fiction author. Her first book, Gingerbread, was published in 2002...
and David Levithan
David Levithan
David Levithan is an American young-adult fiction editor and award-winning author. His first book, Boy Meets Boy, was published in 2003...
's book Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist
Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist
Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist is a 2008 romantic comedy film directed by Peter Sollett and starring Michael Cera and Kat Dennings. Written by Lorene Scafaria and based on the novel of the same name by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan, the story tells of teenagers Nick and Norah , who meet when...
into a film of the same name. The screenplay was her ninth, but her first adaptation. She is good friends with fellow writers Diablo Cody
Diablo Cody
Brook Busey , better known by the pen name Diablo Cody, is an American screenwriter, writer, blogger, journalist, and author. She was first known for her candid chronicling of her year as a stripper in her Pussy Ranch blog and her 2006 memoir, Candy Girl: A Year in the Life of an Unlikely Stripper...
(Juno
Juno (film)
Juno is a 2007 comedy-drama film directed by Jason Reitman and written by Diablo Cody. Ellen Page stars as the title character, an independent-minded teenager confronting an unplanned pregnancy and the subsequent events that put pressures of adult life onto her. Michael Cera, Olivia Thirlby, J. K....
) and Dana Fox
Dana Fox
Dana Fox is an American screenwriter best known as the writer of the 2005 film The Wedding Date and the 2008 film What Happens in Vegas.-Career:...
(What Happens in Vegas
What Happens in Vegas
What Happens in Vegas is a 2008 American romantic comedy film from 20th Century Fox starring Cameron Diaz and Ashton Kutcher. The title is based on the marketing catchphrase, "What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas."-Plot:...
), who she collaborates with in their writing group they call the "Fempire". She wrote Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
i war
War film
War films are a film genre concerned with warfare, usually about naval, air or land battles, sometimes focusing instead on prisoners of war, covert operations, military training or other related subjects. At times war films focus on daily military or civilian life in wartime without depicting battles...
docudrama
Docudrama
In film, television programming and staged theatre, docudrama is a documentary-style genre that features dramatized re-enactments of actual historical events. As a neologism, the term is often confused with docufiction....
Sweet Relief for Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is America's oldest existing film studio; it is also the last major film studio still...
and The Mighty Flynn, a spec script which she set up at Warner Brothers. She has also written Man and Wife, which Gabriele Muccino
Gabriele Muccino
Gabriele Muccino is an Italian film director. He is the elder brother of actor Silvio Muccino, who often appears in his brother's films....
is attached to direct. Lorene is currently working on Sony’s musical remake of Bye Bye Birdie for Red Wagon and Offspring Entertainment
Offspring Entertainment
Offspring Entertainment is a production company owned by producers Adam Shankman and his sister Jennifer Gibgot.-Filmography:*StepUp - Channing Tatum, Jenna Dewan...
In 2009, Mandate Pictures picked up Scafaria's script Seeking A Friend for the End of the World
Seeking a Friend for the End of the World
Seeking a Friend for the End of the World is an upcoming comedy with an ensemble cast. Filming began May of 2011, in Los Angeles, California.-Plot:The end of the world nears from the impending doom of an asteroid crash...
, a romantic comedy that focuses on one man's quest for a meaningful connection amid the "end of days". This will also mark the directorial debut for Scafaria. The movie is set to release in 2011.
Music
During the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike
The 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike, more commonly referred to as simply the Writers' Strike, was a strike by the Writers Guild of America, East and the Writers Guild of America, West ....
, Scafaria recorded a voice-and-piano album called Garden Party. The 2009 Drew Barrymore film Whip It! features Scafaria's original song "28" in the closing credits.
Scafaria recorded a second record available April 1, 2010 on iTunes
ITunes
iTunes is a media player computer program, used for playing, downloading, and organizing digital music and video files on desktop computers. It can also manage contents on iPod, iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad....
called "Laughter and Forgetting."