In Misfortune Cookies, screenwriter Don Stroud delivers a twisted and darkly comedic horror tale that’s equal parts vulgar, violent, and unnervingly clever. Inspired by everything from a National Lampoon article to lunchtime rituals at a Chinese restaurant, Stroud crafts a world where no character is safe and karma has a bloody sense of humor. In this exclusive interview, the writer reflects on the long, strange path that led to his most outrageous script, shares his thoughts on ageism in the industry, and reminds us that sometimes the best horror stories come from the weirdest places.

The Origin of Misfortune Cookies

Yikes! Right out of the gate, you hit me with a question that has a long, convoluted answer. Okay, take a deep breath… here we go…

(And by the way, dear readers, we’re discussing a hard-R-rated screenplay. So there will be some bad language and some scatological references. You’ve been warned…)

In the 80s, back during my college days, I was reading an issue of National Lampoon magazine, one of their annual “True Facts” specials. I was captivated by a story about a man who was fired from his manufacturing job for leaning up against a giant belt sander in order to bring himself to… let’s say, “sexual release”. That situation was so weird, it stuck with me. It was always in the back of my mind.

Fast forward to the late 90s. My little clique of work buddies ate lunch at the local Chinese restaurant at least once a week. On one particular visit, during our ritual of reading our cookie fortunes out loud, one of our group got a fortune that read: “You will come into money”.

That prediction flipped some creative switch in my brain, a switch that retrieved—of all things—that gross belt sander story. And it amused me to think that, if the poor guy from the story got that fortune, and then actually inherited a big belt sander, and used it in his favorite manner, he would literally “come into money”. (Again, apologies.)

So that oddball idea percolated in my brain until I decided to start writing screenplays. Almost sixteen years after that initial creative spark, I eventually turned that one sick idea into a fully-formed script.

Deaths with a Double Meaning

I’m a child of the 80s. And my favorite horror movies are bloody, vulgar, politically-incorrect romps. So in order to make sure I paid appropriate homage to those films, I made damn sure that the deaths were uniquely violent and gory.

But the fortunes themselves needed to be carefully worded. They had to sound like any generic cookie fortune, but they also needed a “double entendre” element that could be twisted into a suitably shocking kill.

So those two elements—the fortunes and their interpreted premonitions—had to be rock solid, or else the script would fall apart. I walked a very delicate line between silliness and outright horror.

Catching Sparks from Everyday Life

Anything and everything can be an idea for a story. I’ve got about two dozen notebooks, each one dedicated to a single screenplay idea, in which I jot down ideas as they come to me. My most recent script, a Western titled “A Bullet For God’s Bounty”, first came to me in early 2016. It took me around eight years to crack the story and finish it.

As an example of how even a single image can jump-start an entire story, I’ll point to my psychological horror script “Morbidly”. One night my wife and I were watching the TLC show “My 600 Lb. Life”. The sight of that episode’s overweight patient stuck in bed started a firestorm of ideas in my head. Two months later, I had a complete script in my hands. A script that’s won a few awards, actually.

So to all you writers out there: Listen to those whispers in your head! And write everything down!

Age and Grit in Screenwriting

I started my screenwriting career later in life than most people do. I was a software developer for almost twenty years. Then I worked in Los Angeles as an editor/producer for a decade. When I decided I was ready to tell my own stories in 2016, I was fifty years old. Do the math, and you’ll see I’m rapidly hurtling towards sixty.

Now, I never considered myself “too old”. My brain is still nimble and full of awesome stuff. In my head, I feel like a twenty-year-old doofus. But when I participated in a virtual pitch week two years ago, it was made painfully clear that I wasn’t being taken seriously.

Every person I pitched to was in their early 30s or younger. (One young woman was propped up against puffy pillows in her bed! That’s some office!) And when these “executives” saw my face pop up on their Zoom screen, you could see the disappointment in their expressions. That sudden widening of the eyes that soundlessly screams “Whoa!”

So as I was pitching my heart out, they were already tuned out. Their eyes would wander to other windows on their computers, even as they gave me pat “Uh-huh” comments at various intervals.

It was an eye-opening experience. I hadn’t realized until that moment just how “aged out” I am in the industry.

But it didn’t break my resolve. If anything, it focused my drive. I have a ton of creativity and drive to offer the world. And I’m not going to stop until I see my name up on the silver screen.

A Taste of Karma

It’s funny you mention karma as an element, because initially I didn’t see it that way. My goal was to write a screenplay where you actively dislike every single character. I wanted every theater-goer to loathe everyone on screen so much that they would cheer as each person died. Like how all the kids in the original Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory fall victim to their vices… but in my story, you get to see them die horribly on camera. I was more interested in upending horror movie expectations than I was inserting subtext into the story.

As I developed the script, though, I realized that, despite all my efforts to make her a villain, my main character, Pansy, was a very sympathetic character. She’s mean to everyone around her because her life has been so horrible since her beloved father died. Her pain is relatable. However, she treats everyone around her like dirt. She even steals from her so-called friends. She’s hard to like.

In the end, I was able to have my screenwriting cake and eat it too. Pansy has her moment of seeing what a horrible person she’s been… but it doesn’t do her any good, because her actions were just too awful for too long. Pansy’s karma catches up with her big-time. And then she dies in what’s my favorite kill in the entire script.

Crafting Chaos with Character

There are several set pieces that I’m very fond of, particularly the one involving the boy strapped to his bed in a mobile home that’s careening down a hillside.

But I have to say, each time I read through the script again, I’m very proud of how I was able to distinctly define each character through their speech and mannerisms. There are several scenes involving a half-dozen people talking to each other. Writing a scene with two people having a conversation is one thing… writing a scene with six people bouncing thoughts and insults off each other is an entirely different beast!

And the effort I put into balancing those scenes, into having the characters interact with each other in grounded and realistic ways, resulted in what I consider a very entertaining and darkly humorous story.

What’s Next for Misfortune Cookies?

I crept into the movie industry through a side door. I didn’t go to film school. I don’t have any relatives who are high-powered muckety-mucks at a studio. So I struggle to get my work in front of agents and producers. I’m still marketing myself as best I can, but I have a file full of rejection letters that keeps me humble.

In the meantime, I will continue to enter my script in competitions, hoping that the right person will read my work at the right time.

But I’m not sitting still. I’m currently working on several new scripts. And I’m investigating how to turn a collection of columns I used to write for a defunct pop culture website into a book.

I’ve always got ideas!

Stay Connected

You can check out my professional website at donaldstroud.com. The loglines and synopses for my scripts are posted there, as well as other writing samples.

On Instagram, I’m @therealdonstroud, and on Blue Sky you can find me at @donstroud.bsky.social.

Keep at it, everyone! Always be creating!