Casting Director-Turned ‘May December’ Screenwriter Samy Burch Discusses How the Screenplay Changed Her Life

Casting director-turned-screenwriter Samy Burch grew up in Los Angeles and was no stranger to the film industry. Her mother was a casting director and young Samy practically called casting offices her second home, often balancing schoolwork amidst the hum of auditions.

Her journey continued with a focused pursuit of screenwriting at New York University. When her mother transitioned her work to North Carolina and later Atlanta for location casting, Burch stepped into the role of her assistant, already well-versed in the ins and outs of the industry.

For over a decade, she ascended from a local casting assistant to a casting associate, contributing her talents to franchise films like The Hunger Games and Iron Man, as well as the comedy The Nice Guys. Maturing into a full-fledged casting director, Burch led casting for films such as Above Suspicion, featuring Emilia Clarke, the drama Embattled starring Stephen Dorff and Freeland, headlined by Lily Gladstone.

While Gladstone has been generating Oscar buzz for her compelling role in Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon, Burch is also making waves, not for casting, but for her screenwriting.

Her script for the Todd Haynes film May December, starring Julianne Moore and Natalie Portman, was nominated for four Golden Globes this morning, including Best Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy and three Best Actor and Supporting Actor nods. It also received a nomination for Best Screenplay at the Gotham Independent Film Awards, with Charles Melton taking home the prize for Outstanding Supporting Performance.

Many award pundits place her firmly on their shortlists for a potential Oscar screenplay nomination. It’s an extraordinary start for a former casting director’s inaugural venture into feature-length screenwriting.

Photo Credit: May December Productions 2022 LLC

May December follows Portman as Elizabeth, an actress shadowing Gracie (played by Moore), a controversial figure she’s set to portray in a film. Two decades prior, Gracie made headlines for her relationship with a 13-year-old (portrayed by Charles Melton as an adult), later marrying him. As the couple’s twins approach high school graduation, familial tensions unravel with the arrival of this B-list celebrity.

Reflecting on her unexpected trajectory from casting director to screenwriter, Burch revealed that May December changed everything for her. “My goal in writing this screenplay was to get an agent or a manager,” she told Casting Networks, “but this freight train veered off course and led me to unexpected places!”

The May December script was written in 2019 and made its way onto the 2020 Black List, which recognized the year’s best unproduced screenplays. Natalie Portman took notice and signed on as producer and lead actress. She approached Todd Haynes to direct, who then enlisted his longtime collaborator Julianne Moore. Two years after gracing the Black List, May December found itself in production, cameras rolling.

“I think what my years in casting have cemented is that I love actors,” Burch said. “My goal as a screenwriter is to write roles that are appealing and intriguing to them.”

Looking back at her early days as a casting assistant assembling sides for day-player roles, she recalled how often there were thankless and unnecessary lines to the story.

“I can’t even tell you how many times there were sides where the line would be just ‘Hi,’ or ‘Here you go,’ for no good reason,” she said. “Someone would book it, shoot it and later, you had to make a horrible phone call telling them they got cut from the movie.”

Photo Credit: May December Productions 2022 LLC

Burch said if there’s anything she’s learned as a screenwriter from those formative years in casting, it’s that “if there’s a one-liner in my script, it’s there for a reason.”

She cites an example from May December when Gracie’s daughter runs into Elizabeth at a local restaurant and blurts out how much she loved the actress’ work in Noah’s Ark.

“I really get a laugh from that,” said Burch. “That’s one line! Those moments are just as important to me as all the others. The characters I write are there for a reason; there is nothing thankless.”

May December is currently streaming on Netflix.

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