Katie Dippold

Katie Dippold (born January 10, 1980, Freehold Township, New Jersey) is an American screenwriter, producer, and comedian. She grew up writing dark, elaborate fictional crime and disaster stories in a self-produced newspaper and majored in journalism at Rutgers University, where a discovery of an improvisational comedy troupe redirected her career. After graduation she built her professional comedy foundation at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre in New York City, also appearing as a sketch performer on Late Night with Conan O'Brien and on MTV's Boiling Points.

Dippold entered television writing with a staff position on MADtv in 2006, then joined the writers' room of Parks and Recreation in 2009, where she worked for several seasons. Her feature film breakthrough came with The Heat (2013), a buddy cop comedy starring Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy that she wrote for director Paul Feig. She co-wrote the screenplay for Ghostbusters: Answer the Call (2016) alongside Feig, marking a return to their creative collaboration. Dippold also co-wrote the companion book "Ghosts from Our Past: Both Literally and Figuratively: The Study of the Paranormal." She later wrote the Disney feature Haunted Mansion (2023). Dan Aykroyd sent her a copy of "A History of Ghosts" with a personal note of encouragement early in her work on the script.

In the film, Dippold appears on screen as the Rental Agent who shows Erin Gilbert and Abby Yates a potential office space, a brief cameo by the film's own co-writer. She was behind the monitors on set when actor Chris Hemsworth, while possessed as Kevin, lifted a stuntman into the air during filming, and her genuine startled reaction became a noted production anecdote.