Dunwoody mom channels her creativity into family-friendly screenplays.
When the movie When Harry Met Sally came out 36 years ago, Katie Kenny Phillips remembers going to the bookstore to buy a copy of the screenplay. She says it resonated with her because “it was just so funny and real.” Fast forward to today, and Phillips is writing her own screenplays.
She does this from her home in Dunwoody that she shares with her husband, five kids and two “ridiculous” Australian labradoodles. Given her living situation, it may come as no surprise that Phillips’ scripts are for family-friendly films that are “fun and funny but with a little grit to them.”
“They’re not movies you’re going to watch and think, ‘Oh, that’s so unrealistic. No families are like that,’” she says. “We give everyone plenty of flaws.”
Phillips pens her scripts with fellow screenwriter Kelly Bandas, who’s based in Nashville. “I knew of Kelly through Instagram because she’s a comedian, and I really enjoyed her content,” Phillips says. So Bandas immediately came to mind when Phillips had the idea a few years ago to start what she calls “a mastermind group of creative women who’d come together regularly and support each other in their creative businesses.”
“I reached out to Kelly, and she immediately responded and said she was interested,” Phillips says. They eventually met in person at one of the group’s retreats, where she and Bandas looked at each other and said, “Do you want to try writing a script together?”
Their first attempt, The Hatecast, is set around a popular television show romance that’s later revealed to be a hoax. “We submitted it to a writing contest, and it made it to the quarterfinals,” Phillips says. “A friend who works in entertainment out in LA also read it and thought it was good, so she was pitching it around. After that, Kelly and I were like, OK, we think we did a pretty decent job, and we have great chemistry, so we were encouraged to write a second script.”
Two of the pair’s screenplays are in development with producers. The first is Sweet Home, which centers around a burned-out YouTuber attempting to escape her high-pressure, influencer life by going off-grid in the quaint little town where Sweet Home Alabama was filmed. The other is Verified Fan, an action comedy Phillips describes as “Yes Day meets Bridesmaids” that revolves around the escapades of a mother who promises her teen-age daughter tickets to the hottest concert of the year. Their latest script, their sixth, is a Christmas rom-com titled A Christmas Rental.
But that’s not the end of Phillips’ creative endeavors. She’s also the author of a dozen children’s books, the latest of which is Today I Feel Like a Jelly Donut. “I’m currently pitching a TV show based off of it,” she says, “so we’ll see what happens with that.” Phillips also works for The Women in My World, a nonprofit aimed at developing and supporting women of faith in the entertainment industry. A recent project involved assisting with the production of a dramatic audiobook series the organization’s founder, Shari Rigby, is creating called A Lady in Defiance, set to make its debut in the next few months. “It will be like Netflix for your ears,” Phillips says.
It’s clear the Dunwoody mom has several irons in the fire. “I have a lot of creative ideas I’d like to see out in the world,” she says.
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PHOTO: Erik Meadows
