Lorene Scafaria

Early life

Scafaria was born in Holmdel, New Jersey, on May 1, 1978, the daughter of Gail (née Kiernan) and Joseph Scafaria (1939–2009). Her mother is a Canadian-American, while her father was an Italian immigrant from Gioia Tauro. She has a brother named Vincent. She became interested in writing when she began making a book report on a fake book every month in order to win Pizza Hut gift certificates from her school. By the age of 17, she had written and staged her first play in Red Bank, New Jersey. After graduating from Holmdel High School in 1995, she attended Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania. Unable to afford the tuition fees, she transferred to Montclair State University in Montclair, New Jersey, where she earned a BA in English with a minor in theater.

Career

Scafaria moved to New York City and wrote, directed, and acted in a play at the Producer's Club Theatre called That Guy and Others Like Him. She had a small role in the acclaimed short film Bullet in the Brain, which won awards at festivals. Her writing agent had still yet to find her a job, so she took on more acting roles, appearing in many theater productions in addition to films such as Big Helium Dog.

Seeking a new writing agent, Scafaria sent out queries to 20 different agencies, one of whom replied that they would represent her if she moved to Los Angeles. Although she did not anticipate real success, she moved there and became roommates with fellow screenwriter Bryan Sipe, whom she had previously met while making a film in New Jersey. 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, which was purchased by Revolution Studios; however, the project was shelved after the studio asked them to make changes to the script which Scafaria described as "far less interesting".

In 2005, Scafaria was hired by Focus Features to adapt the book Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist into a film of the same name. She told MovieMaker, "I grew up in suburban New Jersey, so I immediately identified with the characters, especially Norah. Everything from feeling uncomfortable in my own skin to having a father who's larger than life (even if only in your mind), her plight really spoke to me and seemed like it would speak to a lot of young girls. It wasn't hard to get inside the characters' heads—the authors' voices are so strong." She said the film Before Sunrise was a big inspiration for the structure of her adaptation and that she wanted to bring a nostalgic take on the teen comedy: "It was just a real challenge to kind of bring it back to those movies that I grew up on in the '80s, John Hughes movies and Cameron Crowe."

In 2012, the Fempire (a trio of writers consisting of Scafaria and her close friends Diablo Cody and Liz Meriwether) received the Athena Film Festival Award for Creativity and Sisterhood. Scafaria wrote the Iraq War docudrama Sweet Relief for Paramount Pictures and The Mighty Flynn, a spec script for Warner Brothers. She also wrote the film Man and Wife, which had Gabriele Muccino attached to direct.

During the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike, Scafaria recorded an album called Garden Party, featuring original songs she sang and played on the piano; it was not officially released until 2010. The 2009 film Whip It! features her song "28" in the closing credits. She released her second album Laughter and Forgetting in April 2010.

Scafaria wrote and directed the post-apocalyptic romantic comedy film Seeking a Friend for the End of the World (2012), making her directorial debut. She said of the film, "Two people at the end of the world—all the chaos that's around them that they're sort of wheeling through—and obviously some people are just mowing their lawn and other people are doing heroin... but there's something to me that becomes even more romantic, and that's what I was excited to explore and see. I love relationships. I love intimate stories about people; whether it's a guy and a girl or whatever it is, I like intimate stories of people and how they relate to each other."

Scafaria next wrote and directed the comedy-drama film The Meddler (2015). It follows a mother and daughter trying to move on with life after the loss of their husband and father. Scafaria told The New York Times, "There's a reason that it's all from [the daughter]'s perspective because I never wanted to get a break from her. More than anything I wanted it to inspire empathy from people who might find themselves in this situation, whether it's through loss or some other circumstance that creates strife. Once I started showing people the script [there was] something so relatable about being the adult child of someone and trying to stay best friends."

Scafaria next wrote and directed the crime drama film Hustlers (2019), which was based on a 2015 New York article by Jessica Pressler. The film was a critical and commercial success. Scafaria said of the real story, "There are a lot of movies that I think have touched upon these themes—The Wolf of Wall Street or movies like The Big Short—which explain [financial downturns] from the bullpen. But I'm really interested in seeing the impact that the 2008 recession had on these women who worked in Wall Street's backyard." When mentioning the relationship between the characters of Destiny and Ramona, she said, "It felt like there was something more in between the lines—the story of these two women who became friends and formed this business together, and then here they are being interviewed separately years later." Rosie Keo, the stripper on whom one of the characters was based, praised Scafaria and said that the film portrayed events accurately.

In 2021, Scafaria directed the Succession episode "Too Much Birthday", which earned her nominations for the Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directing – Drama Series and the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series. In 2023, she directed the episodes "Honeymoon States" and "Living+", with the latter earning her another nomination for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series.

Personal life

Scafaria lives in Los Angeles. She was in a relationship with musical comedian Bo Burnham from 2013 to 2022.

Filmography

Film

Television

Awards and nominations

References

References

1. (March 23, 2011). "Irene Kiernan Obituary".
2. (November 18, 2009). "Joseph R. Scafaria Obituary".
3. "Archived copy".
4. (May 20, 2016). "From Pizza Thieving to Sizzle Reels". [[Paste (magazine).
5. Plyer, Will. (April 27, 2005). "Interviews: Lorene Scafaria". Done Deal Professional.
6. (May 25, 2016). "Holmdel Writer Brings Her Story to Hollywood". The Two River Times.
7. Forte, Kristin. (October 6, 2008). "Lorene Scafaria Makes A Date With ''Nick & Norah''".
8. (January 11, 2012). "Athena awards for Cody, Taymor". Variety.
9. (December 6, 2013). "2012 Athena Award Winners".
10. Fleming, Michael. (March 5, 2007). "Muccino mans Universal's ''Wife''".
11. Parker, Cat. (October 6, 2008). "Lorene Scafaria to Direct ''Seeking a Friend for the End of the World''".
12. Huttner, Jan. (June 20, 2012). "Jan Chats With Writer/Director Lorene Scafaria".
13. (March 6, 2015). "Lorene Scafaria Helms ''The Meddler'' With Susan Sarandon, Rose Byrne, JK Simmons". Deadline.
14. Murphy, Mekado. (April 21, 2016). "Lorene Scafaria Narrates a Scene From ''The Meddler''". The New York Times.
15. Wiseman, Andreas. (March 19, 2019). "''Hustlers'': Cardi B, Lili Reinhart, Keke Palmer & Julia Stiles Join Constance Wu & Jennifer Lopez in Avenging Strippers Pic".
16. Wilkinson, Alissa. (September 8, 2019). "''Hustlers'' director Lorene Scafaria on making a movie about strippers "from the neck up"".
17. Schwartz, Brie. (September 13, 2019). "What Rosie Keo, the Stripper Who Inspired ''Hustlers'', Has Been up to Since Her Arrest".
18. (November 29, 2021). "'God, I'm Crying Over Kendall?' A guided tour of ''Succession''{{'}}s descent into birthday hell with director Lorene Scafaria".
19. (March 12, 2022). "DGA Awards: Jane Campion and ''The Power of the Dog'' Take Top Honor". The Hollywood Reporter.
20. (July 12, 2022). "Emmys 2022: The Complete Nominations List". Variety.
21. (April 30, 2023). "''Succession'' Director on Filming That Surprise Cameo and Tying Up Her Kendall Trilogy". The Hollywood Reporter.
22. (July 13, 2023). "Emmys 2023: The Complete Nominations List". Variety.
23. https://www.architecturaldigest.com/story/dutch-colonial-from-nightmare-on-elm-street-sells
24. Luscombe, Belinda. (July 12, 2018). "How Bo Burnham Turns Anxiety Into a Work of Art".
25. Brody, Richard. (June 9, 2021). "Bo Burnham and the Possibilities of the Cinematic Selfie".
26. Gilchrist, rebecca mitchell, Ava. (November 12, 2023). "It's Official: Phoebe Bridgers And Bo Burnham Hard Launch Their Relationship".
27. "2016 AWFJ EDA Award Nominees".
28. "The 18th Women's Image Awards".
29. (December 12, 2019). "''Once Upon A Time...In Hollywood'' Leads Chicago Film Critics Association 2019 Nominations".
30. (December 17, 2019). "The best movie of 2019, according to Irish film critics". [[The Irish Times]].
31. (October 24, 2019). "Nominees Announced for 29th Annual IFP Gotham Awards". [[Independent Filmmaker Project]].
32. (December 16, 2019). "SFBAFCC 2019 Awards".
33. "2016 AWFJ EDA Award Nominees".
34. (December 30, 2019). "2019 AFCA Award Nominations".
35. (November 21, 2019). "Spirit Award Nominations: A24 Leads For 4th Straight Year With 18 Noms As ''Uncut Gems'' & ''The Lighthouse'' Come Up Big".
36. (January 8, 2020). "Georgia Film Critics Association Announces Nominations for 2019 Year in Film".
37. (November 25, 2019). "The 3rd Annual Hollywood Critics Association Awards Nominations".
38. (December 23, 2019). "2019 Awards (23rd Annual)".