Which 2016 film was J.K. Rowling’s first screenwriting credit?

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them was J.K. Rowling’s first screenwriting credit.

Released in 2016, the film was written by Rowling and directed by David Yates. It expands the wizarding world beyond Harry Potter by following magizoologist Newt Scamander in 1920s New York. Eddie Redmayne plays Newt, while the story introduces characters and conflicts that lead into a wider film series.

The title comes from the fictional Hogwarts textbook Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, attributed to Newt Scamander inside the Harry Potter universe. Rowling had previously written prose novels and provided story material for adaptations, but the 2016 film was her first credited screenplay.

The film should not be confused with the later sequel Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, released in 2018. Nor should it be treated as a direct adaptation of a full Rowling novel: the screenplay is an original prequel-era story built around the textbook’s fictional author and the history of the wizarding world.