Margot Robbie is reuniting with her “Birds of Prey” screenwriter, Christina Hodson. The pair and their respective companies, LuckyChap Entertainment and Hodson Exports, have created the Lucky Exports Pitch Program, The Hollywood Reporter confirms. Lucky Exports, which kicked off Monday, sees six women writers breaking, outlining, and developing their action feature ideas into “studio-ready pitches.” The program will conclude December 6.
Robbie and Hodson are running Lucky Exports with LuckyChap’s Josey McNamara and Tom Ackerley, and Hodson Exports’ Morgan Howell.
The participants — Sue Chung, Charmaine DeGrate, Eileen Jones, Faith Liu, Dagny Looper, and Maria Sten — will craft pitches that demonstrate their action-writing capabilities. Lucky Exports’ overall aim is to “bring the writers the exposure and experience they need in order to become go-to names for studio/franchise jobs.” LuckyChap and Hodson Exports will produce each project, “the goal being to fill a drawer with scripts that can be made for $30 million or under.”
Lucky Exports will also bring in actors, directors, writers, and producers for informal Q&As and workshops. Guests will include writers Lindsey Beer (“Sierra Burgess Is a Loser”), Geneva Robertson-Dworet (“Tomb Raider”), and Bek Smith (“Zoo”) as well as producers Sue Kroll (“Birds of Prey”) and Courtenay Valenti (“Mad Max: Fury Road”).
“It is no secret that there are more men than women getting hired to write big-budget studio movies, and yet there are a huge number of talented female voices looking to break into this space,” Hodson said. “I have been extremely fortunate to have had the opportunity to work on a number of franchise movies, alongside great male and female writers. Feature writing has traditionally been a solitary exercise but it doesn’t need to be.” She explained, “I wanted to create a program that was as much about peer-to-peer collaboration and community as it is about changing the statistics. Margot and I share a passion for championing female voices and feel that one way to do that is to connect these writers with a wide array of experts in big-budget filmmaking — men and women alike.”
Directed by Cathy Yan, “Birds of Prey: And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn” follows a post-breakup Harley Quinn (Robbie) teaming up with some other badass women (Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Rosie Perez, and Jurnee Smollett-Bell) to save a young girl from a crime boss. The Warner Bros. pic hits theaters February 7. Robbie is among the producers.
The Oscar-nominated “I, Tonya” actress’ will next appear in “Bombshell,” the story of the women who took down Roger Ailes, out December 20. “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood,” “Mary Queen of Scots,” and “Peter Rabbit” are among her more recent acting projects. She’s an executive producer on Hulu’s “Dollface,” a series about a woman who tries to revive her female friendships after splitting up with her boyfriend. It premieres November 15.
Hodson penned the screenplays for “Bumblebee,” “Unforgettable,” and “Shut In.” She’s also attached to write the long-in-the-works “Batgirl” and “The Flash” features.