Lorene Scafaria

Scafaria was born and raised in Holmdel Township, New Jersey, the daughter of Gail and Joseph R. Scafaria. Her father was an Italian immigrant, from Gioia Tauro, Calabria.[1][2][3] She first became interested in writing when she would write a report on a fake book once a month to win Pizza Hut gift certificates from her school. She began to take an interest in storytelling and had written and produced her first play in Red Bank, New Jersey by the age of seventeen.[4] After graduating from Holmdel High School in 1995 she attended Lafayette College in Pennsylvania for a year before switching to New Jersey's Montclair State University when she could no longer afford Lafayette's tuition. She graduated from Montclair with a Bachelor of Arts in English with a minor in Theater.[4][5]

After moving to New York City, Scafaria wrote and put up a play at the Producer's Club Theatre called That Guy and Others Like Him, in which she also played a role. She also had a small role in the acclaimed short film, Bullet in the Brain, winner of nine festivals and produced by CJ Follini.[4] Still her writing agent had yet to find her a job, and so she took on more acting roles, appearing in many theater productions in addition to the films Big Helium Dog and A Million Miles, among others. She sent out queries to twenty different agents, seeking representation, one of whom replied and asked Scafaria to move from New York to Los Angeles. Even though she did not anticipate real success with the agent, she moved out and became roommates with screenwriter Bryan Sipe, whom she had met making a film in New Jersey earlier.[4] Neither of their work was considered "commercial" enough by studios, so they paired up to write a children's adventure film called Legend Has It. Revolution Studios bought the screenplay but asked for a re-write which Scafaria described as "far less interesting", and the project was ultimately shelved.[4]

In early 2005, Scafaria was hired by Focus Features to adapt Rachel Cohn and David Levithan's book Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist into a film of the same name.[4] The screenplay was her ninth, but her first adaptation.[6] Scafaria said to Moviemaker about the source material, "I grew up in suburban New Jersey, so I immediately identified with the characters, especially Norah. Everything from feeling uncomfortable in my own skin to having a father who’s larger than life (even if only in your mind), her plight really spoke to me and seemed like it would speak to a lot of young girls. It wasn’t hard to get inside the characters’ heads—the authors’ voices are so strong."[7]

She is good friends with fellow Nick & Nora writers Diablo Cody (Juno), Dana Fox (What Happens in Vegas), and Liz Meriwether (No Strings Attached) with whom she collaborates in their writing group they call the "Fempire".[6] In 2012, Scafaria and the "Fempire" received the Athena Film Festival Award for Creativity and Sisterhood.[8] She wrote Iraqi war docudrama Sweet Relief for Paramount Pictures and[9] The Mighty Flynn, a spec script which she set up at Warner Brothers. She has also written Man and Wife, which Gabriele Muccino is attached to direct.[9]

In 2009, Mandate Pictures picked up Scafaria's script Seeking a Friend for the End of the World,[10] a romantic comedy that focused on one man's quest for a meaningful connection amid the "end of days". The film marked the directorial debut for Scafaria, and was released in June 2012. In an interview with FF2 Media's Jan Huttner, Scafaria conveyed the depth and allure of the apocalypse concept: "Two people at the end of the world—all the chaos that's around them that they're sort of wheeling through—and obviously some people are just mowing their lawn and other people are doing heroin... But there's something to me that becomes even more romantic, and that’s what I was excited to explore and see."[11]

In 2015, she also directed a comedy-drama The Meddler based on her own script.[12] The film tells the story of a mother, Marnie (Susan Sarandon), and a daughter, Lori (Rose Byrne), trying to move on with life after the loss of their husband and father. Scafaria said to the New York Times: "There’s a reason that it’s all from Marnie’s perspective because I never wanted to get a break from her. More than anything I wanted it to inspire empathy from people who might find themselves in this situation, whether it’s through loss or some other circumstance that creates strife. Once I started showing people the script, that there was something so relatable about being the adult child of someone and trying to stay best friends."[13]

In 2019, Scafaria wrote and directed the crime comedy film Hustlers, based on a New York Magazine article from 2015, "The Hustlers at Scores," by Jessica Pressler.[14] The film was a critical and commercial success. Scafaria said to Vox, on the real story: "There are a lot of movies that I think have touched upon these themes—The Wolf of Wall Street or movies like The Big Short—which explain [financial downturns] from the bullpen. But I’m really interested in seeing the impact that the 2008 recession had on these women who worked in Wall Street’s backyard."[15]

Scafaria has been in a relationship with comedian and filmmaker Bo Burnham since around 2013. They reside together in Los Angeles.[16]

During the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike, Scafaria recorded a voice-and-piano album called Garden Party.[6] The 2009 Drew Barrymore film Whip It! features Scafaria's original song "28" in the closing credits.

Scafaria recorded a second record available April 1, 2010 on iTunes called "Laughter and Forgetting."

• Lorene Scafaria at IMDb