What was the name of J.K. Rowling’s first published screenplay for a feature film?
Answer
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
J.K. Rowling’s first published screenplay for a feature film was Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.
The 2016 film was written by Rowling and directed by David Yates. It is set in 1926, several decades before the Harry Potter story, and follows magizoologist Newt Scamander after magical creatures escape in New York City. Eddie Redmayne plays Newt, with Katherine Waterston, Dan Fogler, and Alison Sudol in major roles.
The title comes from a fictional Hogwarts textbook attributed to Newt Scamander. Rowling had originally published a charity companion book with that title in 2001, presented as a Hogwarts school text. The film expands that small in-universe idea into a new series of screen stories.
The later films are The Crimes of Grindelwald, The Secrets of Dumbledore, and another planned installment. Those titles are not the answer because Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them was the first film in the series and Rowling’s first produced feature-film screenplay.