Sophie Henderson: blurring the line between comedy and drama

Interview – 2021

Screenwriter Sophie Henderson does not believe in the strong female character — as evidenced by her complex and flawed anti-heroines in Fantail (2013), Baby Done (2020), and The Justice of Bunny King (2021). With a background in acting, Henderson's on-screen credits include Outrageous Fortune (2010) and movie Human Traces (2017). She was first drawn to writing as a way to gain more creative freedom, and loves "being the boss of the world as a writer ... as an actor, you're such a tiny part of the storytelling". Henderson gives ScreenTalk insights into the writer's process, and talks about embracing autobiography, blurring comedy and drama, juggling parenthood, and getting something on the page "even if it kills you".

This video was first uploaded on 24 September 2021, and is available under this Creative Commons licence. This licence is limited to use of ScreenTalk interview footage only and does not apply to any video content and photographs from films, television, music videos, web series and commercials used in the interview.

Interview by Rosie Howells, Camera by Chris Terpstra, Directed and Edited by Morgan Hopkins

I just love being the boss of the world as a writer. You know as an actor, you're such a tiny part of the storytelling, and there's things I wanted to say. There's characters that were missing, and things that people have never seen before that I wanted to put on-screen.
– Sophie Henderson on writing for the screen

Sophie's Full Profile