Jazz Book from Ragtime to Fusion and Bey

In July 2023, writer-director Greta Gerwig smashed box office records with her film Barbie, becoming the highest-grossing solo female director of all time. Gerwig’s genre-bending film about an iconic global brand grossed more than $1.4 billion worldwide, while her feminist, deeply personal approach to the material earned praise from critics and ignited a passionate cultural response from moviegoers of all genders, ages, and backgrounds.

But it’s not the first time Gerwig made history. In less than a decade, she turned an emerging acting career (having starred in films by acclaimed directors such as Woody Allen, Rebecca Miller, and Noah Baumbach, who later became a partner in life and work) into a blockbuster reign as a critically acclaimed writer and filmmaker. She laid claim to a number of “firsts” or “onlys,” including becoming the first woman to direct three Oscar nominees for Best Picture for her three consecutive films Lady Bird, Little Women, and Barbie. Gerwig did it all on her own terms―and she’s just getting started.

What She Was Made For: Becoming Greta Gerwig traces her fascinating journey―from her childhood in Sacramento, California, to Barnard College and New York City, where she became an indie film “mumblecore” darling (a media term she hated), to Hollywood as she climbed to the top of the global box office―through archival research and interviews with collaborators, friends, and film scholars.

Part oral history, part film criticism, this is the first in-depth biography of an icon in the making. What's the real origin story behind the Barbie phenomenon? How did Gerwig get to the top so quickly? How has she evolved as a screenwriter and filmmaker? Has she stayed true to herself―and can she keep doing so as her star continues to rise? Most importantly, what can her story so far teach the next generation of filmmakers, screenwriters, and artists about art, friendship, motherhood, life, and love?

Kristin Marguerite Doidge is the author of Nora Ephron: A Biography. An award-winning journalist, professor, and speaker, she has written for the Atlantic, Marie Claire, FORTUNE, xoJane, Bustle, KCRW/NPR, Time Out Los Angeles, LA Review of Books, CineMontage, and the Los Angeles Business Journal. She holds a master’s degree in specialized journalism from USC and teaches journalism and mass media at Fullerton College. She lives in Los Angeles.