Write On: 'It's a Wonderful Knife' Writer Michael Kennedy

One year after saving the town of Angel Falls from a psychotic
killer on Christmas Eve, Winnie Carruthers (Jane Widdop) can’t
let the fear and guilt of the event go. Struggling to make sense
if her life, she wishes she’d never been born – only to find
herself in a nightmare parallel universe. The film is a mash up
of the Christmas classic It’s a Wonderful Life and Scream.


On this episode, I speak to screenwriter/producer Michael Kennedy
about using a classic Christmas movie as inspiration for a
slasher horror/comedy film. We also talk about the importance of
queer representation in the horror genre.


“I wanted to give this a cornucopia of vastly different types of
representation in the movie, but I also didn’t want for that to
be what the movie is about. I wanted it to be just matter of
fact. For me, if I can make a movie where seven of the characters
are gay, then I should do that!” says Kennedy.


He went on to say that the quest for queer representation in
Hollywood has been slow, but those who want to see it need to
speak up. “It is satisfying as a producer to see that a lot of
the change and stuff in this industry can happen if you just ask
for it. Sometimes, you won’t be in the position to be able to do
that and I really bided my time with that, so I’m really
fortunate. It was great to not only ask for what I wanted but
also get it,” he says.


For a deeper dive into the screenplay, take a listen to the
podcast.