MakingOf: I read in the production notes that you said that this was the hardest of the three to write. Talk to us a little bit about that.

(Melissa Rosenberg): Yeah, I thought it was going to be the easiest, as I read through all of the books I thought: Well this has got the big action sequence, and surely that’s going to be easier than the first two. But then when I actually got into breaking the story I realized: Oh yeah all that action stuff happens in the third act. So, yeah, it became very challenging to keep the tension alive for the first two acts and that involved pulling some of the threat forward and introducing some of the antagonists in the beginning. So it was a big challenge but it ended up being I think maybe my favorite.

MO: So tell us about the writing process for you and who collaborated most closely with and what that looked like.

(MR): The writing process for me… I outline in a great deal of detail. I’ll do 25 page, single-spaced outline. It’s a habit form TV, but I do it so that all the producers are on the same page, so that we can all agree on what is the movie we want to make. And so, that’s the first process, and because I do like working collaboratively, I count on these producers, who I’m very fortunate I have some really talented, creative people who I work with. And they’re my sounding board, they’re where I’m trying out my ideas, and Stephanie [Meyers] included by the way in that group of producers. And so, I get their feedback off the outline and then I’ll go to script and then I’ll get they’re feed back. So there’s a lot of back and forth. There’s my kind of disappearing for a bit and then coming back out, so that’s sort of my process.

MO: I’m really curious as to your mindset when you go from one movie to the next. So ‘Eclipse,’ its done, is that just put aside completely and you start to right ‘Breaking Dawn’? Or what’s the transition look like for you?

(MR): It’s a little muddier than that because as I began going into ‘Breaking Dawn’ I was still doing some post-work, doing some voiceover and stuff, so there’s a little bit of bleeding in one to the other. But then it is just I’m off and running onto the next thing and the continuing story lines, its like working in television really, in a serialized show. So that’s something I’m fairly used to. But yeah, so it was a process

MO: Where there any big surprises for you?

(MR): The whole thing is always a surprise for me because of course I’ve seen the movie entirely in my mind. As I’m writing it I see every frame of it and of course there’s no ways that’s going to be on screen… it cant be. But its always a surprise to me what the directors and the actors and all the elements bring to whats on screen. It’s a really wonderful sort of eye opener when I get on screen: ‘Oh so that’s how you saw that sequence.’ I was really pleased by what I ended up seeing on screen.

MO: Is there a particular character that’s the most challenging to write?

(MR): Um, Edward is very challenging to write because he’s very serious, and he’s also, as portrayed by Rob [Pattinson], not verbose so you have to get across in as few words as possible his intention. And he’s a very romantic character too so he’s always riding the line, you could really go toward the maudlin if you go too far in the direction of earnestness. So it’s kind of keeping him dark and moody and spare and not falling over the line into the other side. So he is a challenge.