Kat Barber ‘23 | Bridget Murphy ‘25
Jen D’Angelo ‘06, EA alumna and emerging screenwriter, wrote the sequel to the iconic Halloween movie, Hocus Pocus, and returned to EA via Zoom to discuss her background, writing process, and give advice to students.
D’Angelo’s love for writing began in Lower School at Episcopal. She remarks, “I mean, the book project [where she wrote her first book]that they do in Lower School in Second Grade. I remember my younger self being like, ‘I am a novelist. I have written a book,’ and I loved it so much. So [writing] was definitely something that I really discovered very early on.”
As her studies progressed at EA, D’Angelo discovered that she could continue exploring her writing talents in Chapel. She explains that “I just always wanted to be a writer. I was always finding ways to sort of explore that at EA and Chapel. Skits and Chapel speeches were really a big part of that.”
D’Angelo reflects on times after Chapel, reminiscing on seeing faculty who congratulated and supported her. “I remember coming to Coach Doc’s class after Chapel skits, and he would be very supportive of the fact that I just wrote them. It made me think ‘Oh, wow, I’m funny, like, in an adult’s eyes as well.’” In addition, D’Angelo remembers one of her high school advisors, Kris Aldridge, Upper School history teacher, “who was always just so supportive and so great. In general, people were just very encouraging.”
D’Angelo explains the necessary series of steps in developing and creating Hocus Pocus 2. First she had to devise a pitch for the movie. She describes, “It was an open writing assignment, which is the studio saying, ‘Hey, we want to do a sequel to Hocus Pocus,’ and a bunch of people come in and pitch to them what you would want that to be.” This assignment led D’Angelo to create her unique version of a Hocus Pocus sequel as, “[she] came up the whole outline and pitched the entire story,” changing how main characters will “learn, grow, and change.”
After six to seven months of working in the studio, Lynn Harris, a film producer, was hired but had to depart from the film, as she was directing another Disney film, Disenchanted. Anne Fletcher then became the Hocus Pocus 2’s director, and the film went into production of fall 2021.
In September of 2021, D’Angelo moved to Rhode Island to shoot the film. The production of Hocus Pocus 2 occurred through January of 2022 and the crew put the finishing touches on the movie during this past summer. The sequel was finally released in September.
D’Angelo’s acknowledges in her message to Episcopal students that are interested in a career in the movie and writing industry that the career is not a straightforward path. She believes that “it’s something where you control your time and you control what you’re doing. Just write, and explore the things you want to write, the things that you enjoy, whether it is journalism, screenwriting, writing a play, or sketch. That time when you don’t have to necessarily worry about providing for yourself, definitely makes it a lot easier. So if you’re still in school, and finding time to explore your passions, that’s so important.”
Photo courtesy of Gianna Trala ’23