Inside Out earned screenwriter Meg LeFauve a Best Screenplay Oscar nomination en route to becoming 2015’s seventh-highest-grossing movie. In June 2024, Inside Out 2 hit the box office jackpot again - the Pixar sequel opened with US $295 million worldwide on its first weekend and has since gone on to become the highest-grossing Pixar film ever and the fourth highest grossing animated film of all time, grossing $1.25 billion worldwide.

Speaking from her Studio City home in Los Angeles, Meg, who co-wrote the sequel with Dave Holstein, will pull back the curtain on Pixar’s famously meticulous story-building process and how she found the experience as writer of Inside Out 2.

When we think about being a screenwriter, or a writer of any kind, there are so many exciting opportunities that come along with the job description. There’s the chance to travel to faraway places or different worlds, and the opportunity to create characters that could never exist in real life. With a movie like Inside Out, part fantasy and part reality, what was exciting - and challenging - about the project for LeFauve?

Meg has enjoyed significant success as a screenwriter but how does she stay grounded and sane? And how does her approach - exemplified in her massively popular podcast The Screenwriting Life with fellow screenwriter Lorien McKenna - ensure that she can successfully navigate the endless ups and downs of a fickle but fascinating industry? Meg will reveal how both the writing/artistry of screenwriting and the business of it have taught her invaluable lessons.

Join us for a timely conversation with Meg as she enjoys her latest big cinematic success - and shares invaluable insights and advice for up-and-coming screenwriters.

“You cannot learn by listening — only by DOING… The more you do anything the better you will get. Which sounds obvious but it often is not. We all want to be “great” immediately but that is not how “greatness” works.” - Meg LeFauve

Meg LeFauve’s Bio:

Meg LeFauve is an Oscar-nominated writer and Peabody award-winning producer, as well as the co-writer on Pixar’s billion dollar movie, Inside Out 2.  She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for co-writing the script for Pixar's INSIDE OUT.  She also wrote the script for Pixar’s THE GOOD DINOSAUR which was nominated for a Golden Globe. She wrote the story for Marvel’s CAPTAIN MARVEL, and wrote the script for Netflix/Cartoon Saloon film MY FATHER'S DRAGON which was nominated for two Annie Awards.

As a producer with Jodie Foster’s company, she was nominated for an Emmy, a Golden Globe and the IFP Spirit Award.  She has taught at AFI and served as the co-chair of the Graduate Producers Program at UCLA's School of Film and Television, where she taught master level story and development classes for over seven years.

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