Teaching Mrs. Tingle is a 1999 American black comedy film written and directed by Kevin Williamson, in his directorial debut, and starring Helen Mirren, Katie Holmes, Marisa Coughlan, Barry Watson, and Jeffrey Tambor. It follows a trio of high school seniors who must prove their innocence to their vindictive history teacher, who accuses them of cheating on their exams. Williamson originally shelved the script, before the success of his later projects, including "Dawson's Creek", "Scream", and its first sequel. Following this, the script was eventually picked up.