Rebecca Belfield-Kennedy
Rebecca Belfield-Kennedy is an American screenwriter with an extensive background working in the US film industry, writing projects for Warner Bros, Walt Disney Pictures, DreamWorks, DreamWorks Animation and Lionsgate, as well as actors Scarlett Johansson, Julia Roberts, Dustin Hoffman and the acclaimed writer/director Lawrence Kasdan.
Rebecca graduated from the University of Southern California’s School of Cinematic Arts with a Bachelor of Arts in Film Production, and got her first job working in the film industry as a Development Assistant for the iconic Batman and A Star is Born producer Jon Peters. Her first screenplay Wings On My Feet, a coming-of-age story set in the 1970s about a 12-year old girl’s relationship with a mother struggling with depression, was developed by producers Albert Berger and Ron Yerxa (Little Miss Sunshine) and later became a finalist for the Sundance Writers Lab.
Known for her quirky, character driven stories, Rebecca would later adapt Staton Rabin’s young adult novel Betsy and the Emperor about Napoleon’s final days in exile on the island of St. Helena, which attracted actors Al Pacino and Scarlett Johansson, who were both attached to the project. Rebecca then received a two-picture script deal with Warner Bros, where she wrote an original screenplay about a community recovering from a mass shooting, with Denise Di Novi (Little Women) attached to produce. Star Wars writer/producer Lawrence Kasdan (The Force Awakens and Solo) hired Rebecca to write the Esther Nisenthal Krinitz Holocaust survivor story Hersh’s Daughters, which was set up at Walt Disney Pictures with Lawrence Kasdan attached to direct. Rebecca’s original screenplay Pet Therapy, a romantic comedy about an eccentric couple who meet in a pet bereavement therapy group, was developed at Castle Rock Entertainment also with Lawrence Kasdan attached to direct.
Rebecca is passionate about teaching screenwriting and film. After relocating from Los Angeles to Australia with her family, Rebecca received a Graduate Diploma in Education at the University of the Sunshine Coast (awarded a University Commendation for Academic Excellence) and taught Film, TV & New Media at high schools on the Sunshine Coast for five years, (receiving an Outstanding Assessment Ranking for teaching from Queensland’s Department of Education & Training.) During this time, Rebecca created and taught a popular screenwriting course The Art of Visual Storytelling at the University of the Sunshine Coast, in addition to working with Honours students in their final year writing pilot scripts and treatments for the Australian television industry.
