Juno (film)
Diablo Cody was first approached to write a screenplay by film producer Mason Novick, who had previously landed her a book deal for her memoir, "", after discovering her blog about stripping. He persuaded her to adapt the book for the screen, but suggested that she first write a screenwriting sample to show studios; that sample became "Juno". After deciding on an adoption storyline, Cody collected the stories of adoptees, birth parents and adoptive parents, including that of her then-husband, an adoptee who reunited with his birth parents after she wrote the film. She also found inspiration in the story of a close friend who had become pregnant in high school and used some details from her friend's experience in the film, such as mistreatment from an ultrasound technician. Much of "Juno", however, was based on Cody's own high school experiences: She dated a tic-tac-loving boy similar to Paulie, she was best friends with a cheerleader like Leah, and she used a hamburger phone identical to the one that appears in the film. After writing the screenplay over seven weeks in the Starbucks section of a Target store in Crystal, Minnesota, Cody compared writing to breathing, seeing Juno as an extension of herself.
José María Cabral (director)
Cabral started making films when he was 16 years old, making private screenings of short films to family and friends in local movie theaters, one of them "Excexos" got national distribution in 2008. His first feature film, "Jaque Mate" (2011), was screened at a high number of film festivals and selected as the Dominican entry for the Best Foreign Language Oscar at the 85th Academy Awards, but it did not make the final shortlist. "Arrobá" and "Despertar" followed in 2013 and 2014, also making it into the festival circuits. In 2015 he released "Detective Willy" a comedy adventure film. Cabral premiered his last film, Carpinteros, in January at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival, a story about the realities and relationships of prisoners in Dominican jails.Screened in the World Cinema Dramatic Competition section of the 2017 Sundance Film Festival, Woodpeckers was the first Dominican feature film selected by Sundance.