Linda Woolverton

Linda Woolverton (born December 19, 1952) is an American screenwriter, playwright, and novelist, whose most prominent works include the screenplays and books of several acclaimed Disney films and stage musicals. She is the first woman to have written an animated feature for Disney, Beauty and the Beast, which is also the first animated film ever to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture. She also co-wrote the screenplay of The Lion King (1994), provided additional story material for Mulan (1998), and adapted her own Beauty and the Beast screenplay into the book of the Broadway adaptation of the film, for which she received a Tony Award nomination and won an Olivier Award.

Her recent work includes the screenplays for Alice in Wonderland (2010) and Maleficent (2014), both of which were significant box office successes. The former made her the first female screenwriter with a sole writing credit on a film that grossed $1 billion. She subsequently wrote the screenplays of the sequels for both of those films—Alice Through the Looking Glass (2016) and Maleficent: Mistress of Evil (2019).

Early life and education Woolverton was born in 1952 in Long Beach, California. As a child, she began acting in the local children's theater as an escape from what she has described as a "traumatic childhood."

Career First works Upon the completion of her master's degree, Woolverton formed her own children's theater company. She wrote, directed and performed all over California in churches, malls, schools, and local theaters. She also began to work as a creative drama instructor in 1979. Released in 1986 and 1987, respectively, both were published by Houghton Mifflin.

During this time, Woolverton began penning scripts for children's television shows. From 1986 to 1989, she wrote episodes for animated series as Star Wars: Ewoks, Dennis the Menace, The Real Ghostbusters, The Berenstain Bears, My Little Pony and Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers.

Works for Disney Woolverton was hired to write the script for Disney Feature Animation's Beauty and the Beast, thus becoming the first woman to write an animated feature for the studio. Released in 2010, Alice in Wonderland earned more than $1 billion at the worldwide box office, making Woolverton the first female screenwriter with a sole writing credit on a film that grossed $1 billion. Maleficent was released in 2014.

She subsequently wrote the screenplays of the sequels for both of those films—Alice Through the Looking Glass (2016) and Maleficent: Mistress of Evil (2019).

Other works Woolverton wrote the book of the Broadway musical Lestat, an adaptation of The Vampire Chronicles by Anne Rice, which pre-debuted in 2005 in San Francisco to become the highest-earning pre-Broadway play in the city's history. The musical opened on Broadway in 2006. She co-wrote the narration script of the National Geographic theatrical documentary film Arctic Tale, released in 2007. In 2014, she announced that she was pitching a pilot for a television series.

It was later announced that Lifetime had decided to adapt the novel The Clan of the Cave Bear with Woolverton as executive-producer of the series and writer of the pilot episode. However, Lifetime decided to pass on the series when the network and the producers of Fox 21 could not agreed on an episode count.

Themes "Strong female characters" "[A strong female character] means somebody who is proactive in their world, who affects their world, isn't a victim, even victimized by it — or if they are victimized by it, they take action to change that for themselves. They look at the world in interesting ways, maybe another way than the culture does. That makes a strong woman if she's vocal about it, or even goes about trying to make change without being vocal about it. There are so many interesting ways to describe women besides just strong, even this pure difficult strength. It's strong-willed." — Woolverton on the "strong female character" trope. Woolverton's works are known for their "strong female characters." She is recognized for having paved the way inside Disney for the creation of strong female protagonists, mainly due to her writing of Belle, the protagonist of Beauty and the Beast. Belle is an intelligent and strong young woman, a Disney heroine who does "something other than wait for her prince to come." Woolverton herself said that Belle "moved us forward a few inches. She was a reader. She didn't rely on her beauty to get herself through the world. She wasn't a victim waiting for her prince to come. She was a proactive character."

In Alice in Wonderland, she gave the protagonist Alice Kingsleigh an adventurous, inquisitive, nonconforming personality, which leads the character to question the values of the Victorian society, and ultimately dismantle an engagement to become a world explorer. For this, Elle said: "In her version of Wonderland, she [Woolverton] gave audiences a female character that was not dependent on a man for happiness or commercial success."

Personal life Woolverton is divorced from producer Lee Flicker, with whom she has a daughter, named Keaton, She lives in Hancock Park, Los Angeles,

Filmography Film writer Year Title Director Notes 1991 Beauty and the Beast Gary TrousdaleKirk Wise 1993 Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey Duwayne Dunham 1994 The Lion King Roger AllersRob Minkoff 2007 Arctic Tale Adam RavetchSarah Robertson Narration script 2010 Alice in Wonderland Tim Burton 2014 Maleficent Robert Stromberg 2016 Alice Through the Looking Glass James Bobin 2019 Maleficent: Mistress of Evil Joachim Rønning Also executive producer

Theatrical productions Year Title Notes 1994 Beauty and the Beast Book by 1997 The Lion King Adapted from the screenplay by 2000 Aida Book by 2005 Lestat Book by

Novels Year Title Publisher ISBN Pages 1986 Star Wind Houghton Mifflin Harcourt 978-0-3-9541454-5 192 1987 Running Before the Wind 978-0-3-9542116-1 168

TV writer Year Title Notes 1986 Wildfire 2 episodes Star Wars: Ewoks 2 episodes My Little Pony 'n Friends 2 episodes Dennis the Menace 65 episodes Popples 1986–1987 The Berenstain Bears 3 episodes Teen Wolf 8 episodes 1987 Garbage Pail Kids 2 episodes 1988 CBS Storybreak 1 episode The Adventures of Raggedy Ann and Andy 1989 Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers 1 episode

Awards and nominations Tony Award Nomination for Best Book of a Musical for Beauty and the Beast (1994)