BUCKiT® #66-Sarah Haskins and Emily Halpern: Comedy Writers. The Incredible Story of How Vision and Tenacity Can Lead to Hollywood Success

BUCKiT with Phil Keoghan

Writer’s block had set in when two female comedy writers in LA put down their pens and declared they’d run out of material. But then a light bulb lit up and an idea was hatched – Sarah Haskins would marry her next-door neighbor, a man 20 years her senior with ex wives and a lot of children. It was just too good to pass up. They got back to work and at that moment “A Trophy Wife” came into existence.

Sarah Haskins and Emily Halpern are writers and producers on CBS’s Carol’s Second Act starring Patricia Heaton. They also co-created ABC sitcom Trophy Wife based on Sarah’s marriage to her older husband.

Their first project together, the funny, edgy coming of age movie, Booksmart, was written in 2009, about two overachieving girls who realize that the only thing they haven’t accomplished is getting boyfriends. It has a lot of twists and turns just like their journey it took to get the film made in the first place.

For 10 years the script was shopped around, and turned down, and reworked, and then shopped around again until finally Olivia Wilde agreed to direct it in 2019, Booksmart opened to critical acclaim.

I met up with Sarah Haskins and Emily Halpern during a break from writing Carol’s Second Act, to hear about their incredible story of how tenacity, vision and a great producing partner can turn big dreams into reality.