The Amazing (Writer) Tina Fey
Vanity Fair, January 2009
Her long run on Saturday Night Live’s Weekend Update news desk put her in the national spotlight. Her series “30 Rock” made her a critics’ darling. And her dead-eye impression of former Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin catapulted her to superstardom. (It even earned her AP’s Entertainer of the Year Award.) But it’s Fey’s movie “Mean Girls” that has cemented her, for me, as a fabulous writer.
This film is a must-see for fiction writers interested in getting the most mileage possible out of dialog. Screenwriters, because they don’t have the luxury of a sustained narrative voice, must convey virtually the entire story via dialog, and it’s a trick well worth learning. A scene that might be okay when carried by plot or voice can shine when the dialog works as hard as it does in a screenplay like Fey’s.
“Mean Girls” is the story of Cady (pronounced like “Katie”), a teen attending school for the first time after her family returns to the U.S. from Africa, where her parents did zoological research. Will she be a mathlete? Will she betray her budding friendships with Janice, Damian and Ms. Norbury to become a member of the popular “plastics”? Or will she be able to find a place in the jungles of high school and remain true to herself? You’ll get plenty of laughs as you follow Cady through her character arc.
And since it’s the holiday season, enjoy the school talent show scene, especially the Plastics’ “Jingle Bell Rock” dance number.