logo
episode-header-image
Jul 2023
30m 20s

Write On: 'Joy Ride' Screenwriters Teres...

FINAL DRAFT
About this episode

When one woman's business trip turns into a quest to find her family, things get super funny in the new comedy Joy Ride, a raunchy road trip movie with a global spin. The film stars Oscar-nominee Stephanie Hsu, Ashley Park, Sherry Cola and Sabrina Wu. 

Screenwriters Teresa Hsiao and Cherry Chevapravatdumrong, who wrote the movie with writer/director Adele Lim, sat down with Final Draft to talk about writing a passion project they never thought would get made. “We were just going to write this dumb thing together and it's going to be just for us and then all of a sudden people are like, oh, we like it we want to make it, we're like, right now?” Hsiao said.

The writers were thrilled, and they had worked together years before on the animated show Family Guy. “We were well versed in being collaborative and working together so when we started writing the spec it was very natural,” says Chevapravatdumrong.

Listen to Final Draft's Write On podcast to hear about the writing process, the laughs and making a movie they never thought would get made.

Joy Ride is out in theaters July 7.

Up next
Jun 30
Write On: 'Countdown' Creator/Writer Derek Haas
“One thing I’ve found in the crime genre is that homicides are always interesting. When somebody’s killed, whatever that case may be, it’s usually compelling drama. So then it’s up to you as the writer to surprise the audience and do things that they didn’t think were coming. I’v ... Show More
37m 54s
Jun 16
Write On: 'Apple Cider Vinegar' Creator and Showrunner Samantha Strauss
“In my mind, Belle is going through life, at least our version of Belle – I've never met the real Belle – she’s going through life with this hole inside, this overwhelming need for approval, that social media absolutely capitalizes on and she just keeps trying to feed the beast. ... Show More
40m 3s
Jun 9
Write On: 'Matlock' Creator & Showrunner Jennie Snyder Urman
“The most important thing that I've learned as a storyteller is that I have to treat every character in the show as though they're the lead in the show, and they are never doing anything so that I can prompt a move from another character. They are doing things that are true to wh ... Show More
37m 59s
Recommended Episodes
Aug 2023
Joy Ride with Cherry Chevapravatdumrong and Teresa Hsiao
Our guests this week are Cherry Chevapravatdumrong and Teresa Hsiao – writers of Joy Ride, 2023’s rowdiest comedy. The film tells the incredibly explicit tale of four friends on a wild journey of self-discovery following a business trip gone awry. Each character has a different r ... Show More
1h 5m
Nov 2020
10 Things I Hate About You with Karen McCullah and Kirsten ‘Kiwi’ Smith
Kirsten ‘Kiwi’ Smith and Karen McCullah are the writers behind the timeless high school comedy 10 Things I Hate About You. Released in 1999, their Gil Junger-directed teen reworking of Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew had it all: big laughs, blossoming romance, coming-of-age emo ... Show More
51m 56s
Dec 2021
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang with Shane Black
As the writer of movies like Lethal Weapon, The Nice Guys, The Long Kiss Goodnight and Iron Man 3, Shane Black is a true screenwriting auteur, known for his scripts' pulse-racing action, quippy dialogue and genre-skewing surprises. At the heart of his stories are usually two odd- ... Show More
1h 18m
Dec 2020
Carol with Phyllis Nagy
Carol is a modern Christmas classic. American director, screenwriter and playwright Phyllis Nagy fought for decades to bring this heart-wrenching tale to the screen. The film is a story of forbidden love between two women: Therese, an aspiring female photographer played by Rooney ... Show More
1h 1m
Mar 2020
2 | Turning Ideas Into Screenplays
We all hear it: "I've got this great idea for a movie," or, "they should totally make that into a movie," but why do so few people take the next step and actually write the script? Well, today, Pixar alum Meg LeFauve and Lorien McKenna answer that question, getting into all the n ... Show More
38m 54s
Feb 2024
‘The Florida Project’ Producer Francesca Silvestri & ‘Suncoast’ Director Laura Chinn on Unlocking the Director-Producer Relationship
Every year at Sundance, we aim to speak with indie filmmaking teams who have collaborated on some of our favorite movies. Learning from these successful collaborations can help us in our own future projects. Let’s take a look at the collaboration between filmmakers Francesca Silv ... Show More
25m 46s
Aug 2022
Hacks with Jen Statsky
We owe one of the most moving comedy-dramas in recent TV history to a monster truck rally. Jen Statsky was en route to Portland, Oregon to film a comedy sketch at the Monster Jam rally back in 2015 when she got chatting with her road trip accomplices, fellow comedy writers Lucia ... Show More
57m 29s
Apr 2023
133 | Turning Red Writers Domee Shi and Julia Cho Discuss Personal Storytelling Techniques
Jump behind the scenes with us to experience the highs and lows of producing one of Pixar's most celebrated and subversive films: Turning Red from the minds of Domee Shi and Julia Cho, who wrote it.Domee Shi began as a story intern at Pixar Animation Studios in June 2011, and was ... Show More
55m 32s