Without the patience and wisdom of Steve Kloves and David Yates, there would be no Fantastic Beasts screenplay. They have my boundless gratitude for every note, every piece of encouragement, every improvement they suggested. Learning, in Steve’s immortal words, to “fit the woman to the dress” has been a fascinating, challenging, exasperating, exhilarating, infuriating, and ultimately rewarding experience that I wouldn’t have missed for the world. I couldn’t have done it without them.

David Heyman has been with me from the very first step of Harry Potter’s transition to the big screen, and Fantastic Beasts would have been immeasurably poorer without him. It’s been a very long journey since that first queasy lunch in Soho, and he is currently bringing to Newt all the knowledge, dedication, and expertise that he brought to Harry Potter.

There would never have been a Fantastic Beasts franchise without Kevin Tsujihara. Even though I’ve been carrying the germ of the idea for Fantastic Beasts since 2001, when I wrote the initial book for charity, it took Kevin to make me commit to bringing Newt’s story to the big screen. His support has been invaluable and he deserves the lion’s share of the credit for making this happen.

Last, but never least, my family have been enormously supportive of this project even though it has meant me working through a year’s worth of vacations. I don’t know where I’d be without you, except that it would be a dark and lonely place where I wouldn’t feel like inventing anything. So, to Neil, Jessica, David, and Kenzie: Thank you for being completely wonderful, funny, and loving, and for still believing that I should pursue Fantastic Beasts, however tricky and time-consuming they may sometimes be.