You have probably never heard the name Susannah Grant, but chances are you are familiar with her work. Although she is Hollywood's latest sensation, Grant is virtually unknown by most of her fans. That's because she is the silent force -- the writer -- behind blockbuster hits Erin Brokovich with Julia Roberts and 28 Days with Sandra Bullock.

Having two box office successes at the same time is rare enough for any screenwriter, but even more unusual for a woman. In Hollywood, it's estimated that women wrote only 17 % of all screenplays produced in the past ten years. And many of those films were so-called "chick flicks," movies by and for women -- which do not generally float at box offices. Of the few women who do manage to see their words produced, work is not necessarily guaranteed. Remember Callie Khouri? The Oscar-winning screenwriter credited with Thelma and Louise? Since that hit in the 90s, she has virtually disappeared from the community.

Susannah Grant has yet to win an Oscar, but she has proven her staying power. Only "thirtysomething" (she will not reveal her full age), her career was launched when she won a Nicholl Fellowship in 1992. The award is given annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to unpublished screenwriters. It opened doors to television writing for Grant, who is credited with episodes of "Party of Five" for which she won a Golden Globe. Moving to the big screen, she's written feature films including Disney's Pocahontas, Ever After starring Drew Barrymore, and now, Erin Brokovich and 28 Days.

Her scripts reveal certain trends: strong, feisty women who break out of society's molds. In Ever After, Grant re-created the Cinderella role for Drew Barrymore so that the character was a tough, sword-wielding Renaissance belle. In Erin Brokovich, Julia Roberts' character is sharp-tongued and sassy. In 28 Days, Sandra Bullock's character leads her fellow re-hab patients with a confident sense of joie de vivre. Still, none of her heroines are marred with the repulsion of men that is often associated with strong female leads. Each is in her way strong yet vulnerable to romance. The heroines balance these contradictions just as Grant's movies balance serious themes with clever wit.

Grant's work is unique in another sense, in that it creates opportunities for actresses in their 30s. Hollywood is considered so weak in terms of roles for women that Meryl Streep was prompted to address this issue when she spoke at the Women in Film awards in 1998, using her acceptance speech to vent the fact that there are so few roles for older women. Grant 's scripts help to fill this dearth for actresses in their 30s like Sandra Bullock and Julia Roberts. Given the success of Erin Brokovich -- it was the first movie to reach $100 million in grosses -- she's proven that, given a good story, people will come to see a movie even if it does not involve a barely-clad, barely-adult vixen.

Although Hollywood's hit list is as capricious as the wind, it seems likely that Susannah Grant is here to stay. Hopefully she will prove there's room for other writers willing to create challenging, complex roles for female leads -- even if they are over 30.

FilmFestivals.com reporter
Kerry Shaw