Friendship writer/director Andrew DeYoung has built one of the most impressive comedy resumes in today’s film and TV world.
The Emmy-nominated creator recently had his feature debut with Friendship at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival, followed by successful screenings at this year’s SXSW. His previous directing credits include cult favorites like Pen15, Our Flag Means Death, Shrill, and The Other Two.
DeYoung’s path began at Cal State Northridge’s screenwriting program, before he found himself amid the expanding alternative comedy scene of the mid-2000s.
Between overnight editing shifts, he created music videos and short films that gained attention online, with six becoming eventual Vimeo Staff Picks. His digital series 555, co-created with Kate Berlant and John Early, earned a Gotham Award nomination, establishing him as a filmmaker who could flit between traditional and experimental approaches to story.
In Friendship, Tim Robinson plays Craig, a desperately lonely guy whose life is turned upside down when he meets Austin (Paul Rudd), an effortlessly cool meteorologist who just moved in next door. Craig, mimicking Austin as best he can, somehow manages to push everyone in his life away even further—including his new friend. His attempts to recover the relationship end up in unpredictable disaster.
It is a weird and uncomfortable but at once deeply relatable story, and Final Draft was excited to jump on Zoom to chat with DeYoung about how he wrote the screenplay.
Find your unique brainstorming process
DeYoung was interested in telling a break-up story between two older men who become enmeshed (to an unhealthy degree), and then exploring what happens when one of them tries to hold on to the other.
“There was just a moment in my personal life where I was trying to be friends with somebody and didn’t feel it was reciprocated,” DeYoung told me, “and thought it was kind of a funny yet relatable premise.”
DeYoung said he approaches screenwriting with an organic process of ideation, throwing anything that emerges from his brain into a document.
“And then I do have Final Draft open where I just start writing scenes,” DeYoung said.
Only after that creative explosion does he begin organizing the material.
“When that first wave happens, I’m like, ‘Okay, what do I have? What don’t I have?’ And then that’s when I actually start to outline.”
He recommended the book Into the Woods: A Five-Act Journey Into Story by John Yorke as a guide. Five-act structure (as opposed to three acts) has been used by writers ranging from Shakespeare to Vince Gilligan.
DeYoung holds onto his intuitive writing approach as long as he can.
“I try to write from the gut as far into the process as possible without overthinking it,” he said, explaining how it’s a fun challenge for him to figure out how to take characters from scene to scene, determine what’s missing, and pin down what conversations they need to have.
“I’m constantly going from gut to looking at a book to—it’s a mess. It’s a disaster,” said DeYoung.
But this messy stage can be where the most interesting and original material emerges.
Honor structure (but subvert expectations)
One thing that’s so compelling about DeYoung’s film is its ability to surprise, even within traditional story structure. Audiences sort of have to find their way through the story alongside Craig, the bumbling protagonist, but a rewatch will reveal those beats we expect, like the midpoint and final confrontation.
“I honor structure. Structure is necessary, and it’s fun to watch it get played with,” said DeYoung.
His goal, he said, is to create movies where viewers remain engaged while being shocked.
“I love watching something or reading something and being so invested, but literally having no idea where it’s going to go,” DeYoung said. “I think one of the big issues about a lot of the movies and TV that are created now is that you’re kind of outsmarting the writing or one step ahead of the writing in a lot of ways, and so I want to be like, ‘How can I make it feel emotionally resonant from moment to moment?’ While also being like, ‘I have no idea what’s going to happen next.’”
To counter any predictability, DeYoung focuses on emotional authenticity that grounds his subversions, rather than just going in a weird direction for the sake of it.
“I’m constantly trying to go for surprise in a way that feels emotionally correct,” he said.
His process for generating those surprises mirrors his outlining.
“I just keep a catchall doc of notes, and sometimes that’s structure stuff. Sometimes that’s lines or images, themes or just anything involving the creative process,” he said. This collection of material provides options when he’s looking to take a scene in an unexpected direction.
Learn through revision
DeYoung’s experience writing Friendship gave him some valuable lessons about revision. The screenplay underwent changes during development, particularly when Paul Rudd expressed interest in expanding his character.
“The Austin character who’s played by Paul Rudd was actually in it much less, and when Paul met on the script, he was like, ‘I would love to be in this movie more,’” DeYoung said.
Revisions, and taking reader notes, can be one of the most challenging aspects of writing a screenplay, because you often feel you’ve gotten to a spot where everything is set and makes sense. One element can suddenly become load-bearing to the foundation of your story, and you have to scramble to figure things out again.
“I had to deconstruct some stuff, and it’s the domino effect,” he said. “You pull one and all these things fall apart.”
But he was glad, in the end, for the note.
“I’m so glad he asked for that because it just made the movie much richer, made his character much richer,” DeYoung said.
I asked him if he learned anything from writing the script that he’s taking to his next project.
“I think it was a little overwritten, and there are a few big scenes that we cut in the edit,” DeYoung said after some thought. These scenes were “double beats” that he realized repeated story moments.
As he writes now, he said he’ll focus more on ensuring every element serves a purpose.
“It’s just making sure that everything absolutely needs to be there. Is there any fat that can be cut that doesn’t sacrifice tone and the overall feel of the movie?” he said.
As he’s a director, this will help him on set, saving him time to work on scenes that really matter to the story.
“I think a cool 90 pages is what I’m going to go for in the next one,” DeYoung said.
Write the movie you want to see
When asked about the advice he would give up-and-coming writers working on their first feature, he emphasized the importance of writing for yourself.
“I would just say do exactly what you want to do and ignore what you think the marketplace wants,” he said.
I commented that it can be difficult for writers to not chase what’s popular or selling.
“It’s hard. I fall victim to it all the time too, but I don’t think success comes from trying to appease a certain market,” he said. “I think it comes from creating your own market and trusting, truly trusting your gut. What do you really, really want to make or see? And I feel like if people trust their gut, that’s a collective guarantee in a certain way that other people will also enjoy it and feel the same.”
It’s inspiring advice. I followed up by asking his thoughts on commercial viability. Writers usually have to pitch their ideas to producers or financial backers who want a certain level of guaranteed success, so did he have any advice there?
“No,” he said with a laugh. A great answer.
What matters is that the writing is coming from an honest place.
“I want to entertain, and I want it to be surprising at the same time, and I want to make it feel like something I haven’t seen before,” he said. “I’ve always had these goals, and that feels authentic to me. People should do what feels authentic to them. If it’s authentic to write a Minions movie, they should 100% do exactly what they want to do. I think when it’s authentic, then there’s more chance for it to be honest and surprising and fun and for people to respond to it.”