Belinda King.
LA-based Aussie screenwriter Belinda King has been commissioned to write a feature for DreamWorks Animation, which will be executive produced by Guillermo del Toro.
Title and subject under wraps, the film will be directed by Emmy nominee Elaine Bogan, whose credits include Trollhunters: Tales of Arcadia, an animated fantasy series created by del Toro for Netflix, produced by DreamWorks Animation and Double Dare You Productions, and Dragons: Race to the Edge, also for Netflix.
The feature is her second collaboration with the US studio. With Alethea Jones she co-wrote the pilot and series bible for a series based on a graphic novel for DreamWorks Animated Television in 2017.
That led to a series which is still in production and will premiere next year. “Writing 10 of the 22 episodes in the first season was a boot camp in writing for TV,” King tells IF.
“Writing stories for a living is a joyful privilege,” she continues. “The hard part is all the down-time your brain has while you’re waiting to write. Waiting to see if you got the gig. Waiting for your deal to close. Waiting for notes. Waiting for notes from someone else. Waiting to get paid.
“Waiting to find out if a project is green-lit. Waiting to hear if there’s another season. Waiting to find out if you still have a job. Or if you got that other job.”
King cut her teeth making short films. Her 2006 short The Sister was a Tropfest finalist and King, who starred in the film, won the best actor prize.
The following year her short The Picnic, in which the desperate acts of a crazed woman turn a friendly picnic into a day to remember, was named best film at Tropfest@tribeca in New York.
In 2012 her original script Bernie won the silver award for best TV comedy script in the PAGE International Screenwriting Awards.
In 2013 she studied screenwriting at UCLA and four years later moved to LA. Developing a slate of projects including an action feature with Alethea Jones, she says: “I love the world of animation and I am also looking to move into live action television.”