Interview (Part 4): Julia Yorks

My interview with the 2024 Black List writer for his script The Seven Guys You Date Before Marriage.

Julia Yorks wrote the screenplay The Seven Guys You Date Before Marriage which landed on the 2024 Black List. Recently, I had the opportunity to do a deep dive with Julia into her filmmaking background, writing her Black List script, and her approach to the craft of screenwriting.

Today in Part 4 of a 6-part series to run each day this week, Julia talks about two key characters who are friends with the Protagonist and the Rule of Three in relation to writing.

Scott: Let’s talk about Meghan and Ellis, these best‑friend, mentor‑type figures.

Julia: Yeah. I just had a lot of fun with them. Meghan has always been the same character since the inception, very strong, confident, and I kind of love the difference between she and Avery as best friends because they are very different characters.

Then Ellis has really taken turns over the years in trying to find his voice. It’s just two characters that I feel like are not just comic reliefs, but they’re just actually full characters in and of themselves, which I love.

Scott: Yeah. Well, Meghan has a very substantial subplot of her own or this relationship that she has with Skyler. You could argue it heightens the frustration Avery’s having because while Avery’s struggling to find her feet romantically, Meghan is finding her feet romantically with Skyler.

Julia: I think that’s so hard. Right? Like, “All of a sudden, we’re both single, and now you’re not.” I think also too what’s so interesting, they get into a big fight, and Meghan has a point where it’s like once Avery and Noah split, Meghan has a moment where she’s like, “I’m really glad that I get my friend back. I know you’re hurting, but I get my friend back.”

Avery is someone who keeps losing herself in these men, and Meghan kind of calls her out on that. I think that can be really true of women. I think we have this biological clock that is telling us that we have to go find somebody, and so you end up becoming kind of consumed by these different relationships. A lot of times, if you don’t have a strong enough vision of yourself, you end up really molding and changing for other people.

Scott: It’s interesting that you have Avery as an accountant. That’s her gig. I think science has disproved this idea of left brain, right brain, but from a writer’s standpoint or to understand a character, someone as an accountant has got a very strong left brain — logic, sequential, rational — and so it makes sense in a way that this idea of going down these seven people would kind of connect logically along with just whatever association she has with her mom.

Julia: No. It’s true. That’s so funny that you mentioned that because I think, as I’m sure you know as well, the hardest thing for a writer to write is a job. It’s like, “What job is this person?” I don’t know. You know? I’ve never had a real one. Avery has been so many jobs. For a while, she ends up working for Central Park, but there was a moment where she was working on the grounds of Central Park.

Truly, this girl has run the gamut of jobs that I’ve had her do. This one felt like it was a thing where it felt very safe and secure, and she was going to now take a real risk and a real leap even though she’s still doing the same job, but just somewhere that means something to her.

Scott: I think it does fit psychologically why she would be attracted to this idea of the seven dating things. Let’s talk about it, when your producer presents this thing to you, you go, “Oh, I know what that is,” and so you’re thinking, “Meghan and Ellis helping her formulate all this. The guy from work, the guy who’s a total asshole, the guy for sex, the guy who’s not a guy.” That was funny.

Julia: Thank you.

Scott: The Older Guy. I mean, they all were funny, but there’s some lines at the end of that…

Julia: It was one of my favorite parts. I think it’s really funny.

Scott: Even the bit where the girl, Hannah, I think it was, is at the window, “These straight people.”

Julia: Well, I’m sure it’s very frustrating.

Scott: The younger guy and the guy you thought was “the one.” So, you’re in this producer’s meeting. They present this title to you. You go, “I see this immediately.” There’s a two or three that come to mind right away. How did you come up with the entire list?

Julia: It’s a really good question. I went through, and I, honestly, I thought about all the people that I had dated in the past. I polled my friends because, truly, anytime I’ve just mentioned this concept to any one of my friends, they’re like, “I need this movie immediately,” and so I’ve had so many friends who’ve, like, “Here’s a story for you.” “Here’s a story for you. I went out with this guy and this happened. I went out with this guy and this happened.”

So it’s been so fun to kind of collect stories along the way, dating anecdotes, but one of them actually for a long time ‑‑ the scene got cut, it was replaced with the coworker, ‑‑ but it was the starving artist, and that was one where at the end of the date, she’s like, “I had a really fun time,” and he’s like, “Great. Can I come up?” She’s like, “No. I don’t think so.”

He’s like, “No, can I use your shower?” She’s like, “No.” He’s like, “Oh, was there a common space in your building? Do you have a gym? Can I use that?” She’s like, “I’m sorry. Why can’t you use your shower at home?” He had just gotten off the bus. This was his first day in the big city, and throughout the movie, you would see him busking from time to time.

There was something about it that just felt a little too silly, and the coworker really felt like it was something that that happens. Coworker feels like a much more kind of relevant person, but all of the rest of them, I think, had been there since its inception. Older guy, younger guy to me were the easiest ones, of course.

Scott: Older guy and younger guy?

Julia: Younger. I was just like, “Oh, OK. Yeah. That makes sense.” The one who’s not a guy, I thought that was really fun. I think the one for sex was always there. The total asshole was always there. Then, of course, the one you think is “the one” is Noah, and so that felt really positive to me.

I do love…She has a moment at the end where she’s like, “You’re the total asshole or maybe you’re this. I don’t know. I’m starting to realize that people contain multitudes.” You know? Like, I just need to realize that people are more than one thing. And so that’s…

Scott: That’s where I think the accounting thing comes in again because she can slot them into these little spreadsheet categories, but then by the end, no, people, they bust out of those little cubicles. You know?

Julia: No. It’s true.

Scott: If people are telling you to change her job, I’m advocating for her keeping it.

Julia: The job, actually, we are set on, but it took us many, many iterations. I think her job has changed as many years as I’ve been working on this project. It’s been a lot of changes.

Tomorrow in Part 5, Julia reflects on working with rom-com tropes and what she felt when she discovered her script had made the Black List.

For Part 1 of the interview, go here.

Part 2, go here.

Part 3, go here.

Julia is repped by CAA.

For my interviews with dozens of other Black List writers, go here.