How Booksmart Writer Katie Silberman Created A Teen Classic For The Harry Potter Generation

Katie Silberman likes to describe herself as a Molly sun under a Amy moon with a Jared rising, however little elements all of these she adds.


The Booksmart screenwriter is calling me from her apartment in Santa Monica, where she is staring at a Jane Eyre poster she stole from Amy's room, just above the fictional teen feminist's desk. It right now hangs above her own desk in a homage to a film — and an experience — that she calls truly special. These teen characters are so much a piece of her that she right now talks about them like astrology, which to any Millennial is to mention that they are ingrained in her very soul.


But Booksmart is more than a modern teen classic, a tale of two precocious overachievers (played by Beanie Feldstein and Kaitlyn Dever) who try and cram four year's worth of teenage debauchery into one unforgettable night. It's a touching, frequently hilarious story of female friendship and, essentially, a breakup movie rolled into one. Although it's also what occurs any time whenever you let ladies tell the kinds of stories they hope to tell. Helmed by actor Olivia Wilde — her directorial debut — Booksmart boasts four credited writers, a handful of producers (including Silberman), a production designer, an editor, post-production supervisor, and also a sound mixer that all have one thing in common: they're ladies. "There was something special about designing a teenage females bedroom with someone who'd been a teenage girl in a bedroom," Silberman says.


Below, Silberman talks about how Booksmart honors the teen movies of the past while carving out a unique space of its own, what the actors brought to their roles, and how the film's most outrageous scene is so essential.


MTV News: I'm curious, what were you like in high school?


Katie Silberman: In so several ways this is a very autobiographical story for me. I would mention in high school I was probably closest to a Molly in that I really prioritized school and wasn't super social. I didn't really experiment or try or have the sort of wild fun that I think high schoolers should have. And I had convinced myself it's because I was focusing on school and I was focusing on the future and I was making the responsible choice. Then any time As soon as I got to college I realized that each person that I thought had chosen to have fun alternatively opposed to focusing on their future were just as smart — if not much smarter than me — and doing much better than me in all those ways. It wasn't responsibility that was stopping me from doing all those things, it was fear and insecurity.


Writer Katie Silberman, actor Austin Crute, director Olivia Wilde, and actor Noah Galvin on the set of Booksmart


MTV News: So much has been mentioned about the authenticity of the film, and that even extends to their rooms. I feel like you would learn so much about Molly just by looking at what's in their room.


Silberman: Totally. There was a shorthand about the way ladies stay in their spaces and it's so layered. I mean, there were so several elements of Molly and Amy's room that no one will ever visualize in the movie, yet that Katie Byron, our production designer, layered and created and gave such a fantastic texture to. There are all of the different posters and frames and awards between the two rooms, and notes between them. And little knickknacks! Molly loved Harry Potter. There's like a little little Snitch hiding in her room somewhere that need to visualize in the event you could find next time. It's so cool.


MTV News: This is certainly a film for the Harry Potter generation. 


Silberman: I'm 32, so I sort of grew up with the books at the best ages. As soon as Harry was 10, I was 11, and once Harry was 18, I was 20. So I got to grow up with him in a way. It's become this qualifier in terms of making young people identify those qualities about themselves. Like, am I a Hufflepuff? I'm pretty considerate, however I also like academics. Maybe I'm a Ravenclaw. There's a shorthand also that we understand, like you're being a little bit Slytherin now and I need you to take a step back. I'm also thrilled any time someone is a self proclaimed, very overjoyed Slytherin. Noah Galvin, who plays George, is like out-loud Slytherin all day. I love it. He owns it.


MTV News: I love that Molly gets turned on by the fact that Nick completely identifies her as half Slytherin, half Ravenclaw. 


Silberman: We added that right after we began shooting because Beanie and I are both such rabid fans. It was really fun any time we realized that the thing that would arouse Molly most in the world is someone perfectly identifying her residence along with that that's the thing that really for the opening time makes her take a second, rethink how she's been talking and feeling about Nick, that if Nick could recognize that he is a much different person than she thought.


MTV News: Any time Molly and Amy arrive at the party, they're nervous that no one wants them there once in reality each person is like, "We've been waiting for you! We're happy that you're here." I thought that was a really lovely way to subvert so several stereotypes. 


Silberman: That's so meaningful that you found that scene because that was sort of one of the most crucial scenes to us once Olivia and I were developing the arc of this, of how we wanted the night to take place. I was the fourth writer on this project. There were two earlier iterations, one by Emily Halpern and Sarah Haskins, and one by Susanna Fogel, who are all really talented writers. And there were contradictions between the drafts, although at the core it was about two smart best companions. And even that, focusing on smart ladies who might've been, a tertiary character, a side character in other stories and putting them at the center was such a magnificent way to reframe that way.


And As soon as I came on, that was the big thing I was so excited about was to tell a story without villain. We were very purposeful about that. I feel like, traditionally, a character like Triple A or maybe George can play one note in that they are a villain or they're an antagonist in those ways. However we were very purposeful about wanting to give each person that moment of grace at the end where you get to be able to see them for who they really are.


MTV News: And that scene in particular really captured that warmth. 


Silberman: I still think that the kindest, the most exhilarating and warm environment I've ever been in was at the end of school, as the nostalgia, that last party is each person being like, "We're best companions That's the night that all boundaries, all relationships turn into one and each person is so fond and affectionate of each other. It distills the journey that Molly and Amy go on, which is that they're very perfect naturally, although they'd had so much to learn in terms of how much they had been projecting on each person else. It's fully understandable why they think people wouldn't happy to be able to see them, yet if they had taken the time or prioritized getting to know people and things outdoor of the classroom, they could have maybe benefited from that their whole high school time.


MTV News: The characters are also so totally realized. There's not one character who's a teen stereotype. 


Silberman: In high school you're forced into a lot of boxes, and it's very easy to create someone one-dimensional because it makes more sense and it's easier and it's safer. We were excited about telling a story that revealed the several dimensions of everybody you go to high school with and attempt to crack open those archetypes and remind each person to really look at people and visualize behind that. Additionally to some more specific anecdotes from our own high school experiences that we got to put in while in and characters from our high school experiences. I think each person has a Gigi. Gigi is named right after Olivia's real Gigi who I'm waiting to hear from as soon as she sees the movie.


MTV News: Really!


Silberman: Yeah. I had a different Gigi, nevertheless she was extraordinary. Someone described Gigi as a magical party coyote, which is the exact right way to describe the girl I went to high school with as well.


MTV News: Was there a character that you were writing that you were surprised or perhaps even a little bit frightened by how easy their voice came to you?


Silberman: I would mention it probably should be frightening how easy Gigi's voice came to me. Who I love more than anything. I would mention Gigi and George were two characters that I had so much fun writing. I could have written a thousand pages for each of those even before we started.


MTV News: How much of Gigi is Billie Lourd?


Silberman: It's routinely a chemical equation. There really are some moments, like the line that she gives on the best of the boat, where she says she lost her virginity in what she thought was a park nevertheless turned out to be a graveyard. That's the sort of thing that was on the page, although any time as soon as you hear it coming from Billie, you're like, now I understand the whole character. Right now I get everything! She's 150 percent Billie Lourd. She just infuses it in each way and brings such an inconceivable energy. Also, things like her popping up and seeing Molly at the bar at Nick's party. That's something that we came up with on the day, and Billie agreed to hang out all night so that we might film that little scene, which is one of my favorites in the complete movie.


MTV News: The film also honors a lot the sort of teen movies that we've grown up with. In one of the first scenes Molly's walking with her lunch tray, although she looks like Alicia Silverstone in Clueless dressed in plaid.


Silberman: Absolutely. They were in our heads the full time. We discussed so much about the movie Clueless. If you are a young woman of a certain age, Cher is your patron saint in a lot of ways. And that movie in terms of the tone and why much it establishes the ’90s. We talked so much about Clueless, about Dazed and Confused, about Fast Times, about the movies that made us hope to create movies. And why we may honor them, not just in terms of attempting to do what they did in accurately reflecting a generation while still telling a timeless story, although actually honoring them. What's so good about Jake Ryan leaning up against the vehicle in Sixteen Candles is that each person can imagine that feeling of like, your crush, the person you like more than anything, and also you walk outdoors and they're waiting for you. Our homage to that is at the end of the film; there's a character waiting outdoor another character's house, and it's that same feeling.


MTV News: The scene between Molly and Amy at the airport reminded me of Lady Bird in a certain way. 


Silberman:  Olivia and I first realized we had cracked the version that we were so excited to tell was as soon as we realized it was a breakup story. It's about the end of a relationship as you know it for now, because even in case you stay as close to your high school best friend your whole life, which I think is sort of a miracle, it's never going to be the same as as soon as you're seeing each other for 50 hours a day, each week. You're going to move on, you're going to evolve into the person that you must be as an adult so you can't ever be as co-dependent as you are once you're in high school. There's a real heartbreak to that friendship ending, even in the event you don't think the friendship itself is ending, although that version of your friendship having to end just because you're getting older and moving on.


MTV News: One of my main go to scenes was the animated sequence because it was so unexpected. How did that come about? 


Silberman: That was in Olivia's original pitch deck any time as soon as she pitched to direct the movie. So Once I came on, it hadn't been in any previous drafts and she was like, "I have this idea. I'd like to do a stop-motion Barbie sequence, I think it should be a drug trip." It was my unbelievably fun job to try and find the ideal place to put something like that into the movie. What got us so excited about it was that this is a story about such ardent young feminists, and the worst sort of drug trip is the nightmare. And the nightmare for these girls could be to be stuck in the body of a Barbie, like the thing they're most against, this body that they think isn't only unrealistic, yet literally unlivable. Then the true nightmare is that once one of them's in it, they sort of like it, they're like, I may stick around in this body.


It's one of these things that you can't visualize it up until it's done, and thus it's a very easy thing for a studio or a producer who's looking to cut time or to cut charges to mention, "Do we really need that?" And yes it doesn't seem like it's important to the plot necessarily. Nevertheless Olivia was so adamant and fought so hard for not only its purpose in terms of the arc and what these females are learning because the night goes on although also the reason you go visualize a narrative movie is to take big swings like that.


MTV News: I'm glad she fought for that sequence. 


Silberman: Totally. And that's what made me so excited desire to be a segment of the movie. Her original pitch was that she wanted this to be Training Day for high school females, because she was like, as adults, it's so easy to sort of patronize to how passionately high schoolers and teenagers feel everything, yet any time you're in it, it is that intense. High school is war once you're in it. So this movie, if it's truly going to honor what it's like to be in high school, it has to feel that intense. It has to be bold.