The Screenwriting Life with Meg LeFauve and Lorien McKenna 294 | TSL Workshops Check In w/ Danicah Waldo & Emily Roberson
Apr 16, 2026
Danicah Waldo, an award-winning NYC writer-director known for her short Sally Get the Potatoes, discusses reworking her feature Cricket by shifting the protagonist and tightening themes. She describes the pivotal workshop note that moved the story toward the mother’s agency, structural edits, and plans to produce and direct. The conversation also touches on pitching vulnerability and practical drafting strategies.
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Switching Protagonist Revealed True Story
- Shifting the protagonist from the child gymnast to the mother unlocked deeper agency and transformed the story.
- Danicah realized child protagonists often lack transformative agency, so centering the mom gave clear wants and dramatic stakes tied to poverty and gymnastics.
Trim Themes To Find The Film You Want
- Pare themes and focus on one clear pony to preserve the film you actually want to make.
- Danicah trimmed poverty, blackmail, and excess subplots to bring gymnastics and the mother's arc back to the center.
Giving Women Permission To Want
- Women writers may struggle to give female characters explicit wants because cultural conditioning privileges selflessness.
- Lorien and Danicah note that allowing a woman to want something is political and essential for agency in story.