First Woman to Write a Marvel Film by Brianna Hope Beaton.
Some companies stick to a certain group of people such as having all men or all female workers, or a certain age group that works best, or even a specific ethnicity that the company works best with. These confinements needed to be broken. Marvel, a company that shows the world’s superheroes on the big screen, has broken the tradition of having all male writers for their films. Nicole Perlman became the first woman to write a Marvel movie, when she was credited as one of the few writers of the film Guardians of the Galaxy.
We all have role models and people who inspire us. Nicole Perlman, raised in Boulder, Colorado in the 90s, said that her hero was Ray Bradbury. Surprisingly, she got to meet him as a surprise for her 12th birthday and he autographed her copy of Dandelion Wine. Around that time she got the courage to enter and win sci-fi writing contests, with the support of her father. Fast forward a few years, Perlman received her film and dramatic writing degree from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts in 2003. In the summer of 2013, Perlman got the opportunity of a lifetime when she stepped foot on the set of Marvel Studios’ Guardians of the Galaxy. Nicole Perlman spent about two and a half years working and trying to figure out how to assemble the comic that has changed a little bit over the years onto the big screen. Some of the situations and awards that Nicole Perlman has experienced before Guardians of the Galaxy was winning Tribeca Film Festival’s Sloan Grant for science in film for her screenplay “Challenger.” She was also named one of Variety Magazine’s Top Ten Writers to watch and, to add to her accomplishments, she was
listed in The Playlist’s Ten Screenwriters on the Rise in 2013. Some of the other companies that Nicole Perlman has written for are Fox 2000, Universal Studios, National Geographic Films, Disney Studios, Cirque Du Soleil Films and 20th Century Fox. She’s preparing herself for other opportunities that might present themself to her. This stems from her outstanding Job in Guardians of the Galaxy.
“I think it goes a long way to show that you can do something like this,” she said. “Because there aren’t many female Marvel superhero movie screenwriters out there.” Being the first in a male-dominated craft inspires young actresses and writers like me to succeed. Thank you for paving the way for many more female Marvel writers. I commend you for a job well done and I wish you much success.
