I am writing from the Toronto International Airport returning from TIFF, the Toronto International Film Festival, where my daughter’s first screenplay, Poetic License, premiered in a Maude Apatow directorial debut. How can I explain this out of body experience? I know I have birth to her, I know I taught her how to read, I know that took her movies all the time, and watched Girls with her every Sunday night as if it was a religion. I can also tell you that the premise of the movie is about, um, me, when I audited a screenwriting class and befriended two male students. She walked the red carpet, she fielded questions on panels, she made me hold her shoes. It was the best night of my life.
p.s. I gave it the title. 😉
Filed under: Uncategorized |
Betsy Lerner 
This is so damn cool!!!!!!
Speechless! That’s incredible. Kudos to her
Proud Mama moments are priceless. This one is extraordinary.
Bonnie Shimko
That’s fantastic! Being there when our kids succeed is a million times more exciting than when we succeed.
Congratulations to you both!
Hold this one close to your heart. It must seem unworldly to you, but congratulations it’s real!
can’t wait to see it! xo
so completely totally awesome ❤️
Fantastic! Congratulations, Mama! TIFF is a big deal.
That is so Cool! Congratulations to quite a team!
-MikeD
Wow, wow, wow. A “supremely intelligent and raucously amusing” script. So awesome. The link got cut off, so here it is for everyone to check out. https://deadline.com/2025/09/poetic-license-review-maude-apatows-comedy-directing-debut-1236510882/
How wonderful! Thanks so much for sharing this, Betsy!
Congratulations! Your news has brought a smile to my face and joy to my heart, Betsy.
John C. Krieg
Congratulations. The apple truly doesn’t fall far from the tree.
What a terrific review (and thanks to Steve Cromwell for the full link)! It even got a couple asshole comments on Deadline…which hey, to put a positive spin on it, signifies engagement, right? Anyway, can’t wait to see it, and kudos on all counts, Betsy!
Congratulations to you and John and, of course, Raffaella.
What a fabulous experience for all of you! I had wondered if that premise was somewhat based on your experience. 😉 Look very forward to seeing it!
Fabulous! Congrats to her and hugs to the proud mom!
Damhnait btw.
Just love that you had that experience. Brava!
Betsy, I so look forward to your voice in these posts. Or, maybe I’m a bit tipsy. I hope to meet you someday! Jude
My daughter is 7, and was a midlife surprise, and your description here of your experience at TIFF reminds me all over again how marvelous it is to have a daughter and how wrong and paltry that customary use of “have” is.