Missouri Stories Spotlight with Sarah Peele

Sarah Peele won the fellowship in 2023 for her script “Pure Intentions,” which tells the story of a conservative teenage girl who has a sexual awakening in the days leading up to her church’s purity ball and goes on a quest with her best friend and the class bad girl to buy vibrators. Sarah is an accomplished actress and comedian, and she has been featured in several national commercials and comedy festivals in New York, Chicago, and Boston. Most of her writing has been for sketch comedy shows in and around NYC, where she has lived since graduating from Stephen’s College in Columbia, Missouri. Pure Intentions is the first feature screenplay she has ever written!

Where do you get inspiration for your work?
SP: Most great stories come from moments of transition, which is why there are so many movies about graduations and breakups and bachelorette parties and weddings and funerals. So, I usually start with times in my life where there was a lot of upheaval, either emotionally or physically or whatever (puberty, becoming a parent, that time I got a very bad haircut in a stranger’s living room) and go from there.

Tell us about a screenwriter who inspires you and why.
SP: Nora Ephron. She was so incredibly funny, and her writing seemed effortless. 

Tell us about your writing process.
SP: Have an idea. Mull it over for a bit (a couple days, a month, 11 years). Really try to talk myself out of it. Finally give in because it’s either Write A Screenplay or Talk About An Idea I Have For A Screenplay For The Rest of My Wild & Precious Life. Then sign up for a class.

How do you connect with other writers?
SP: Classes and writing groups are really important to me. They’re a great way to meet other writers, you can get some super insightful feedback, and you have a weekly deadline, which is important for someone like me, who is otherwise very unmotivated to do… anything. 

How has being a Missouri Stories Fellow affected you?
SP: The encouragement and support that I have received from the Missouri Stories Fellowship has been so crucial for me this year. It was the first time I ever received recognition for something I wrote and that, combined with the mentorship and feedback I’ve received, has helped develop my confidence in innumerable ways. 

What are you up to now?
SP: I just signed up for another writing class and am hoping to start outlining my second feature in the next few weeks. I’ve also been working with a production team who is very enthusiastic about my first script; we’re currently in the process of securing a director. 

To learn more about Missouri Stories and submit your own script, go to MoFilm.org/MoStories.