J.K. Rowling’s first screenplay, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, reached cinemas in 2016.
The film was released in November 2016 and marked Rowling’s screenwriting debut. It expanded the wizarding world beyond Harry Potter by moving the action to New York in 1926 and focusing on magizoologist Newt Scamander, played by Eddie Redmayne.
The title comes from the fictional Hogwarts textbook Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, attributed in the Harry Potter books to Newt Scamander. Rowling wrote the screenplay for the film rather than adapting one of her previously published full-length novels. The movie began a planned series of Fantastic Beasts films.
David Yates directed the film, and the screenplay was produced through the Harry Potter film-production network. Because Rowling had already received film credits as a producer and story contributor in the Harry Potter era, “first screenplay” specifically refers to her credited feature-film screenwriting debut.