How Booksmart Writer Katie Silberman Created A Teen Classic For The Harry Potter Generation

"There was something special about designing a teenage girl's bedroom with someone who had been a teenage girl in a bedroom," Silberman says.Below, Silberman talks about how Booksmart honors the teen movies of the past while carving out a unique space of its own, what the actors brought to their roles, and why the film's most outrageous scene is so essential.MTV News: I'm curious, what were you like in high school?Katie Silberman: In so many ways this is a very autobiographical story for me. It was really fun when we realized that the thing that would arouse Molly most in the world is someone correctly identifying her house and also that that's the thing that really for the first time makes her take a second, rethink how she's been talking and feeling about Nick, that if Nick could recognize that he's a much different person than she thought.MTV News: When Molly and Amy arrive at the party, they're nervous that no one wants them there when in reality everyone is like, "We've been waiting for you! It's totally understandable why they think people wouldn't be happy to see them, but if they had taken the time or prioritized getting to know people and things outside of the classroom, they could have maybe benefited from that their whole high school time.MTV News: The characters are also so fully realized. Someone described Gigi as a magical party coyote, which is the exact right way to describe the girl I went to high school with as well.MTV News: Was there a character that you were writing that you were surprised or maybe even a little frightened by how easy their voice came to you?Silberman: I would say it probably should be frightening how easy Gigi's voice came to me. That's something that we came up with on the day, and Billie agreed to hang out all night so that we could film that little scene, which is one of my favorites in the whole movie.MTV News: The film also honors a lot of the kind of teen movies that we've grown up with. Our homage to that is at the end of the film; there's a character waiting outside another character's home, and it's that same feeling.MTV News: The scene between Molly and Amy at the airport reminded me of Lady Bird in a certain way. But Olivia was so adamant and fought so hard for not only its purpose in terms of the arc and what these girls are learning as the night goes on but also the reason you go see a narrative movie is to take big swings like that.MTV News: I'm glad she fought for that sequence. Her original pitch was that she wanted this to be Training Day for high school girls, because she was like, as adults, it's so easy to kind of patronize to how passionately high schoolers and teenagers feel everything, but when you're in it, it is that intense. So this movie, if it's truly going to honor what it's like to be in high school, it has to feel that intense.