Which film was J.K. Rowling’s screenwriting debut?

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

Released in 2016, the film was based on the fictional Hogwarts textbook of the same name, which Rowling had originally published as a charity companion book in 2001. For the film, she created a new story centered on Newt Scamander, a magizoologist who arrives in 1920s New York with a suitcase full of magical creatures.

Rowling wrote the screenplay herself, making it her first credited feature-film screenplay. The movie expanded the Wizarding World beyond Harry Potter’s school years and introduced characters, institutions, and conflicts connected to the earlier history of the magical community. David Yates directed the film, while Eddie Redmayne played Newt Scamander.

A frequent source of confusion is the relationship between the title and the earlier textbook. The 2016 film is not a screen adaptation of the short textbook; it uses the book’s title and fictional author as the starting point for an original prequel-era story. Two sequels followed, forming a planned film series.