Diablo Cody
After completion of her book, Cody was encouraged by Mason Novick to write her first screenplay. Within months she wrote "Juno", a coming-of-age story about a teenager's unplanned pregnancy. The Jason Reitman-directed comedy stars Ellen Page and Michael Cera.
Sergio Pablos
After several more years working in animation production, Pablos created the "Despicable Me" movie franchise based on his original screen story "Evil Me" and his own art design. He took the package unsolicited to Universal Pictures where he became the first of several screenwriters on the project as well as executive producer. In 2010 "Despicable Me"—starring Steve Carell, Jason Segel, Russell Brand, Kristen Wiig, Miranda Cosgrove, Will Arnett, and Julie Andrews—was a box office success, received a Golden Globe nomination, and became one of animation’s highest-grossing movies. Pablos continued work as a character designer on another animated feature, "Rio" for 20th Century Fox, which was released the following year. He received his second Annie Award nomination for "Rio". After the release of "Despicable Me 2" in 2013, theatrical markets (worldwide box office) and ancillary markets (home media, cable, merchandising, books, video games, TV series, theme parks, etc.), pushed franchise total revenues to over ten figures. He was the writer for the film Warner Animation Group's "Smallfoot".