What is the name of J.K. Rowling's screenwriting series set before the Harry Potter story?

J.K. Rowling's screenwriting series set before the Harry Potter story is Fantastic Beasts.

The series began with Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, a 2016 film based on an original screenplay by Rowling. Its central character is Newt Scamander, a magizoologist whose travels take him through the wizarding world decades before Harry attends Hogwarts.

The films expand the setting beyond Britain, especially through stories involving New York and the wider history of Gellert Grindelwald. They also connect to Albus Dumbledore's earlier life and to the magical textbook later known to Hogwarts students.

Fantastic Beasts is sometimes confused with a single fictional textbook. In the books, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is a school textbook attributed to Newt Scamander; in the films, it is the name of a prequel film series.