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To the jealous rage of many would-be screenwriters around the world, Diablo Cody’s first screenplay managed to get filmed… and she wasn’t even trying. “I didn't ever think this film would be produced,” said Cody to Entertainment Weekly. “That gave me the freedom to write the kind of movie I wanted to see.”

Film producer Mason Novick had stumbled upon a blog called The Pussy Ranch, where a stripper was writing about her experiences (who knows what Mason was actually searching for). Describing the writing as interesting and fresh, he contacted the blogger, Diablo Cody, about putting her experiences in a book. So while Cody’s “memoir” Candy Girl: A Year in the Life of an Unlikely Stripper was in the works, Novick looked into adapting the book for screen, asking Cody to write a screenwriting sample. That sample turned out to be Juno.

Director Jason Reitman managed to get a hold of the script through a mutual friend of his and Novick’s. Talking to ComingSoon of his impression of the script, he said, “I was pretty confident that if I didn't direct this movie I would regret it for the rest of my life.”

The story concerns Juno MacGuff (Ellen Page), a 16-year-old high school teenager… and she’s pregnant. The unplanned baby comes after a night with her friend Paulie Bleeker (Michael Cera). Juno considers an abortion, but hearing that her baby already has fingernails puts her off. After consulting with her best friend Leah (Olivia Thirlby), Juno decides to give the baby up for adoption. Looking in the local Penny Saver for parents, she picks Mark and Vanessa Loring (Jason Bateman and Jennifer Garner), a couple longing to adopt their first child. However, as time goes on, she starts to notice cracks in Mark and Vanessa’s relationship.

Juno was one of those lightning in a bottle scripts. Everyone had praise for it, yet the subject matter itself turned most studios off, which seemed odd. It’s like everyone telling you, “Yeah, we love it, but it’s about a pregnant teenager and who’s going to want to watch that?” Mandate Pictures, Mr. Mudd and Fox Searchlight were the ones that stepped up to back the film, with the latter handling distribution in the US. There are conflicting reports about the production budget that was generated, but Juno is said to have cost somewhere between $6.5 million and $7.5 million.

The cast itself was perfect. Ellen Page was already drilling herself into the consciousness of moviegoers, having starred in the likes of Hard Candy and X-Men: The Last Stand. The same goes for Michael Cera, who was in Superbad. Jennifer Garner took a pay cut and backend deal for her small role.

The film secretly premiered at the Telluride Film Festival in September 2007. Its reception was the start of an immense amount of buzz as the film continued to play the festivals. It was a runner-up for the People’s Choice award at the Toronto Film Festival (losing out to Eastern Promises).

Juno opened in limited release at just seven theaters in New York and Los Angeles on Wednesday December 5, 2007. The film was originally set to open on December 14th, but the release date had been brought forward to take advantage of the strong buzz coming from the festivals and reviews. It landed at #17 with an opening weekend gross of $413,869 (it had earned $525,155 over its opening five days). The following weekend Fox Searchlight had the film playing at 40 venues. It climbed to #11 with a weekend gross of $1.4 million. Word-of-mouth was happening, and it was happening over the Christmas holidays, with families and friends getting together and saying, “Hey, have you seen Juno?”

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