Which Harry Potter screenplay did J.K. Rowling write as her screenwriting debut?

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

The 2016 film was based on the fictional Hogwarts textbook of the same name, which Rowling had originally published as a charity companion book in 2001. The screenplay expanded that small in-universe idea into a story about magical creatures and wizarding politics.

Eddie Redmayne plays Newt Scamander, a magizoologist who arrives in 1920s New York with a case of magical creatures. The film is set decades before Harry Potter’s school years and begins a separate prequel film series.

Rowling wrote the screenplays for the later Fantastic Beasts films as well. The project therefore differs from the Harry Potter novels, which were adapted into screenplays by multiple screenwriters.