J.K. Rowling is credited as the screenwriter of the film Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.
Released in 2016, the film was Rowling’s screenwriting debut. It is set in the wizarding world decades before the Harry Potter story and follows Newt Scamander, a magizoologist whose magical creatures escape in New York City. Eddie Redmayne plays Newt in the film.
The movie was inspired by the fictional textbook title Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, which appeared in the Harry Potter books. Rowling expanded that short companion-book concept into an original screenplay and a new film storyline.
David Yates directed the film, but he was not its credited screenwriter. Steve Kloves, who adapted most of the Harry Potter novels for film, also did not write this first Fantastic Beasts screenplay. The distinction between director, screenwriter, and source-author credit is important here.