Akela Cooper’s childhood revolved around her family’s love of horror films and sci-fi television. “I grew up watching the Twilight Zone and Star Trek, the X-Files, Earth 2, Andromeda, Stargate, SG1,” she says. “That was family viewing in my home. And in lieu of a babysitter my parents would take us to whatever movies they were seeing, as long as they felt it was appropriate, which was most of them. I remember seeing Aliens in theatres. I saw Predator in theatres. Pumpkinhead, I saw that in theaters. It just built my love of genre films.”

Cooper is still reveling in both passions. Since graduating from the MFA program in Writing for Screen & Television in 2006, she has worked on hit sci-fi shows Luke Cage, Jupiter’s Legacy, and Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, and was the showrunner of Netflix’s supernatural show Chambers. Cooper is also one of the most sought-after writers of horror features, having teamed up with director/producer James Wan for the hit 2021 film Malignant, and two of this year’s buzziest blockbusters, M3gan and The Nun II. M3gan, in particular, was a phenomenon, blowing past its opening weekend box office estimates, its popularity driven by ubiquitous conversations about the dangers of AI, as well as a following among teenagers. “We had absolutely no idea it was going to do what it did,” says Cooper. “The trailer came out in October of 2022 and that took off and that was an indication there is definitely an audience here.” That trailer inspired numerous memes and TikTok dances. There was so much buzz among teenagers (and the young at heart) that Universal Pictures made sure the film had a PG-13 rating. “For the premiere we had a lot of influencers who were at the screening,” recounts Cooper. “I remember sitting next to my friend and there was this group of young influencers sitting in front of us, and they were talking about when they were going to make their exit, and they said ‘halfway through we’ll take off.’ And then they stayed for the whole film.” Still, Cooper says, she thought the film would only be a cult hit. “I am ok with a cult hit. I live in the world of cult hits, they have longevity,” she says, adding that it was a great surprise to realize the film would be a mainstream hit. “I was floored by that feeling,” she says. “No one had anticipated the movie would get the response that it did.”