L-R: Karen Lutz and Kirsten Smith
Like many great relationships, it all began with a cocktail napkin. The two women had initially connected when Smith read a spec script submitted by Lutz. But it wasn’t until they met for margs and started scribbling story ideas on a napkin that their creative partnership began. Setting the tone for their post-feminist, tongue-in-cheek perspective, the first script they wrote together was about a band of women who decide to start wiping out Navy Seals. “It’s a work of art. It’s in my garage somewhere,” says Lutz.
The pair then turned their attention to writing a teen movie. “We looked for a classic to adapt, much the way that Amy Heckerling adapted Jane Austen’s Emma for Clueless,” explains Smith, “So we searched high and low and finally stumbled upon Taming of the Shrew.” With Shakespeare-inspired screenplay in hand, the two scribes then faced the task of selling the thing. “We sent it out to random producers that we knew and then very lucky for us I found our manager by writing a query letter. He read it and said I can sell this right away. And he did, he sold it in three weeks,” says Lutz.
Since then Lutz and Smith have written several box office hits, movies that were perfect showcases for the likes of Anne Hathaway, Reese Witherspoon and Amanda Bynes. Their most recent success was college comedy The House Bunny, a script that was tailor-written for star Anna Faris. “We saw her in Just Friends and we just thought this woman needs to have her own movie,” enthuses Smith before Lutz continues, “So we approached her, then she brought us the idea for the character, the Bunny that gets kicked out of the mansion and then we came up with the plot.” It’s a collaborative formula that they plan to repeat. As Smith explains, “It’s an empowering thing for everybody involved because we can all walk into a studio and say here’s your leading lady, here’s your story, let’s do this.”
Lutz and Smith are not only writing partners but fast friends whose dynamic is based on balance and trust. Smith is the amiable brunette who studied English and film at Occidental College and who cites John Hughes as her hero, Lutz is the bodacious blond who majored in marketing and fashion merchandising and lists Grease and Clueless as two of her favorite movies. What they share is a witty sense of humor and a work ethic that consists of laying by the pool. Wait, what? “Yeah, we like to write outside in the sunshine, it makes it more festive,” laughs Lutz. Even their research sounds like a good time, as Lutz reveals that “We went to Stanford Law School for Legally Blonde, and all we did to research The House Bunny was watch E!”
But it’s not all fun and games at the poolside office. The pair have written over 35 scripts together and frequently have to battle it out to get their choices on the page. Smith admits that, “We’ve gotten into arguments about punctuation. We’re perfectionists. No area of the script is too small to get fired up over,” while Lutz adds that, “Whoever argues the longest and the loudest usually wins.”
So what kind of advice do they have for the many aspiring screenwriters out there? On the business side, Lutz states, “Don’t try to sell your first script. Try to sell your fifth or sixth script.” Smith offers some creative inspiration – “Read a lot of screenplays. Make sure you outline as much as you can and have all of your set pieces and your character arcs worked out before you start writing.”
Right now Lutz and Smith have their hands full with some serious multi-tasking. Their next movie The Ugly Truth, starring Katherine Heigl, releases in April and they’re currently writing a TV pilot based on their own lives. On the solo front, Smith is exec producing Drew Barrymore’s directorial debut Whip It! starring Ellen Page and Lutz is prepping her dramedy Long Time Gone starring Christina Ricci.
The heroines in Smith/Lutz movies are always undermining the system to get what they want and it’s clear that their creators are no different. Indeed, faced with a question about the difficulties of being women in Hollywood, Lutz stays true to their mandate, “I don’t consider it a male-dominated industry. I think being women has helped us. Female-driven movies get made every year and there’s always a market there so they need someone to write them.”
By Carla Thorpe
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