Romance and Summer Camp with Harper Dill
Rom-com-versations is an interview series with people from the entertainment industry discussing all things rom-coms
Hi Meet Cuties,
I had a blast chatting with Harper Dill. Harper is a Hollywood writer and producer, known for work on THE MINDY PROJECT, THE MICK and DOLLFACE as well as her most recent rom-com hit, MARRY ME. Harper has even acted in a few shows and shorts, giving her a breadth of knowledge and experience across entertainment. With all the buzz around MARRY ME in the media this past Valentine’s Day, I’m so pleased to have been able to chat with her about her experience from getting started in the entertainment industry to working with some of the biggest names on screen. I was introduced to Harper by Kiwi Smith, Harper’s mentor.
💕 Naomi: What is your favorite rom com and why?
💛 Harper: I have a couple of favorites. First is French Kiss. It has everything you want in a rom-com - a wonderfully sassy rapport between Meg Ryan and Kevin Klein, they're in Paris, they're in the south of France, they’re on a train, they’re always eating cool meals, Kevin Klein has this weirdly hot mustache, A+ soundtrack, and it’s pretty airtight. And no one is more darling than peak Meg Ryan. High Fidelity is my number two. I can deeply relate to John Cusack’s endless self-flagellation. I love his cataloging of romantic successes and mistakes and his inability to get out of his own way, again, I can relate. I think after that it’s Something's Gotta Give and Forgetting Sarah Marshall. Hard not to love those. I’ve seen them both easily thirty times but they still deliver. They’re like great old friends.
💕 Naomi: I love that you picked a range because it just goes to show that people like rom-coms because it gives you something different each time you turn it on. I love rom-coms that take you to different places, like you were talking about with French Kiss. It's so fun to be transported when you're folding your laundry or trying to fall asleep. It's an easy way to slip into something that doesn't require too much of you. Did you always know that you wanted to end up in entertainment and writing? What first got you into Hollywood? What do you enjoy doing the most today?
💛 Harper: I think if I wasn't writing, I would be a camp director - I’m obsessed with camp. But I guess I kind of backed into being a writer. Right after college, I got a job as Jonathan Demme's assistant on Rachel Getting Married. I was really lucky to have that as my first real job outside of working at restaurants and stores (and obviously, at my sleepaway camp). I was deeply unqualified, but he was extremely generous and really included me in his whole orbit. He was wildly knowledgeable on movies, music, Haitian art, wine, and had a real social conscience. It was an all-encompassing experience and I stayed on with him for two of his documentaries but realized that my heart wasn’t really in development or production. What I really loved was acting. I had studied at a theater conservatory for college and after I worked for Jonathan, I had a very brief, very fun run (mediocrely) acting in some independent movies. A lot of people I looked up to at the time had started writing their own material to put themselves in, so I decided to start writing with the hope of one day acting in the things I wrote. Predictably, I quickly ran out of money and moved out of New York and back into my parents house in Los Angeles. What I thought would be max six months, turned into two years. I started working at a restaurant and babysitting and was kind of back at the beginning only now I was 25, not 21. I finally finished my first script and it ended up getting on the Blacklist that year and was then optioned by a production company. It was an incredible affirmation, but I still had zero money and needed a consistent job. And then through another very lucky turn of events, a friend told me that BJ Novak needed a part-time assistant. BJ was a real guardian angel. While I was working for him he read my script and brought my name up for The Mindy Project. I remember he even wrote me this really nice email with a list of all of the things he liked in the script. It was really just the nicest thing ever, he didn’t have to do that. But he did. And he’s completely responsible for my first real writing job, which was The Mindy Project.
💕 Naomi: What was working with Mindy and writing for her show like? Is there anything from your time working on The Mindy Project that you carry with today into your other projects?
💛 Harper: To say I was green on that show is the understatement of the century. The writers were searingly funny. Beyond being funny, they were master storytellers with credits on every show I loved. Some of the stuff they would say was so shockingly hilarious, I almost couldn’t believe it. I remember the first day when we had to pitch story ideas and just immediately realizing how wildly out of my league I was. I still carry a lot of embarrassment from generally not knowing what I was doing and shitty pitches and missed opportunities, but I also think it was a really important thing for me to kind of flounder. Failure (or perceived failure) is a big way that I learn. Definitely painful in the moment, but helpful later. That job also taught me a lot about work ethic - Mindy is one of the hardest working people I’ve ever met, and when you have someone like that at the top, it really sets a tone. There was no opportunity for half-assing. Also, we got to sneak onto Universal Studios and go on rides, I loved that. I would love to work at Universal again for that reason alone.
💕 Naomi: I actually had no idea about all the experience that you had getting to The Mindy Project, so thank you for sharing that. I wanted to switch gears a little bit because just on our team, there was so much talk and anticipation for the release of Marry Me this Valentine's day. What inspired you as you were writing this story?
💛 Harper: I think we’ve all been through a couple of rough years, and any movie that’s going to bring even the slightest bit of comfort or solace, feels like a good thing right now. I think with Marry Me the goal was to make something palatable for everyone, something nostalgic and fun - a warm bath of a movie. That's built in with J-Lo because you can love her no matter how old you are; she's ageless! Owen Wilson is also such a spectacular actor. He has this idiosyncratic approach to character, but easily accessible, which is why I think everyone's so drawn to him. A lot was capitalizing on the incredible talent that was already built into the movie. Before I was with my (now) husband, I had a tough time dating. I would say I was objectively bad at it. And that’s probably why I gravitated towards romantic comedies. I found a lot of reassurance in knowing that other people struggled and failed as badly as I did. I also found a lot of hope in seeing people somehow figure it all out. Marry Me is exactly that, two people struggling to get it right, one just happens to be a massively successful famous star. As someone who runs anxious, there’s something deeply comforting about romantic comedies, they’ve always made me feel like we’re all in this together, I love that. Because we are! That's the wonderful, reliable structure of them: the characters are going to end up on their feet, everyone’s going to be okay. I need everyone to be okay.
💕 Naomi: I really like the point that you knew J-Lo and Owen Wilson's personalities and the way that they would interact. There are still all the aspirational elements of a rom-com baked into the story, but it's so relatable. Sidebar: while discussing Marry Me, someone on our team was reminded of the J-Lo and Pete Davidson sketch on SNL, where she falls for him and he just kind of responds "Okay" to all her passionate claims. It was a hilarious sketch!
I have one more question on Marry Me: what was it like to develop a movie from a graphic novel? It's a pretty unique place to start. You basically developed it and turned it into a mega piece of entertainment that was for a new audience entirely.
💛 Harper: When I came on to the project, John Rogers and Tami Sagher had already adapted a version of the script from the graphic novel. They are both so lovely and talented and did such an incredible job creating the world of Marry Me. When I started working on it I was focussed on fleshing out characters and honing in on the story and then later incorporating the actors notes to make sure they felt like their characters and arcs were in the right place.
💕 Naomi: That is such a fun story and the movie is definitely going to be one of those re-watchable movies for me. Are there any upcoming projects that you're working on that you can give us a sneak peek into?
💛 Harper: Yeah! Since the pandemic I’ve been working on Sisterhood Everlasting (the third installment of Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants). I'm about to start on another romantic comedy, which is an adaptation of a book called All Signs Point to Paris. It's set in Paris and has that late eighties/early nineties glossy but grounded energy, it kind of reminds me of Only You - another great romantic comedy. Also, I just re-developed an original feature script, the first script I wrote 12 years ago (the one that BJ read) into a TV script. It’s called Friend of Bill, and it’s an hour-long dramedy about the alcoholic family structure. It’s gone through many lives and deaths in the past 12 years, but I think it’s finally the right version with the right people. And! I’m developing something with Kiwi. She had a very funny, very tender idea that she brought me on to. I jump at any chance to work with Kiwi - she is fabulously talented and hilarious and so so generous, I’m very lucky to call her my mentor and my friend.
I hope you enjoyed this rom-com-versation! For more on Harper’s newest movie, Marry Me, check out what our friends Kendra and Mercedes have to say about it in The Rom-Com Room. And if you haven’t seen it, head over to Peacock!
Stay tuned for my next Rom-com-versation.
xx,
Naomi