Screenwriting

Looking forward to this lab beginning this weekend!

I'm thrilled to be teaching this course. Over the last few years, I’ve consulted with over 100 producers at American Public Television and countless studios to demonstrate how to use AI as an assistant, not a replacement. Or as I like to say: "Tools, not Terminators."

To celebrate the upcoming class, I wanted to share a teaser. The biggest challenge I see right now is "option burnout." Where do you start? Which AIs do you use? And yes, the answer is: if you already have a subscription to ChatGPT or Claude, don't worry about changing over to this month's favorite, Gemini Pro. The landscape changes quickly.

Attached are 3 of the 44 slides from the course as a gift to those registered and those who are about to sign up to the course.

Finally, there is a saying in Hollywood that a great movie isn't made in production; it's made in pre-production. Just as AI can help you focus on telling stories from your unique point of view, the best way to ensure a successful 2026 is to start preparing now, in 2025.

I can't wait to see you all this Sunday!

Slide 2

Slide 3

Looking forward to learning from everyone!

Jon Hersh Well, I'm hoping for the latter, hah! Thanks so much, it's definitely more difficult here for any sort of representation. But will keep my eyes peeled, thanks again.

Jon Hersh thanks for the reply about reboots. I was more interested though about what if a writer has the script and pitch for a reboot the relevant network hasn’t considered yet?

Suggestions in finding a manager to represent my feature film or series screenplay will be much appreciated. Just starting on this path. Thanks!

Jon Hersh question do you see younger audiences engaging in 1980s movies the classics. What would be a good way to bring those classics to 2026 without ruining the originals and establish the younger audience. Demographic from a manager, producer perspective thank you

Jon, thank you so much.

I think it's a great title for a movie, James LO! It got my attention. I'm guessing it's a movie about dogs or people with accelerated evolutionary traits from the title and description.

hey how does this work? i wanted to reply directly to Maurice Vaughan but it seems like I’m just putting up a comment to my main post?

anyway—since I’m typing—Maurice, i hadn’t tried to imagine a story around that title but now that you’ve prompted me…

it wouldn’t literally be about dogs or any other survivors altered by Chernobyl radiation. i would make the actual article be referenced as a metaphor. so let’s say a disaster happens to a family, like everyone’s killed except for a kid.

the uncle and aunt who live in the same apartment complex takes custody of the kid but they’re all traumatised and changed fundamentally by the disaster. so the uncle and aunt aren’t direct casualties of their own private Chernobyl, but they’re like the dogs from that region who underwent accelerated evolution (or in the case of our story, psychological devolution) as a side effect of the catastrophic incident.

what do you think?

There is a film in development listed on IMDB.

Jim Cushinery you mean with this title the dogs of Chernobyl? cool—it’s not the most unique name, i guess. so evocative. if my rough plot idea were to be called something else like fallout, it wouldn’t land the same. and to call it the (some other creature) of Chernobyl would be unacceptably derivative. oh well, hahaha—that was quickly doused!

You replied directly to me, James LO. That sounds interesting! Keep building on the idea.

Congratulations on the Pitch Session going so well, Justin Groats! I'll keep Olivia in mind for feedback. Thanks for the rec!

Congratulations to you for getting detailed feedback.

Can you please tell me what genre you write in?

And thank you very much.

Meriem Bouziani it is science fiction, superhero action, aimed towards young adults

Ok thank you very much Justin Groats

useful to know and duly noted - thanks Justin Groats

Martin Graham Hi Martin! That sounds great, I'll have a read if it's up! :D

HeyShay Booth , I am working on my female driven crime thriller feature.

I write comedy primarily. The longlines for both projects are on my profile. My current project is an R rated (adult language, situations) Drama/Comedy: A burned-out nurse trains a hopelessly unprepared new nurse, battles a broken hospital system, and ends up saving the doctor she can’t stand-remembering why she became a nurse in the first place.

It’s called Shift Happens: Code Sarcasm

A lot of the humor comes from the real situations healthcare workers deal with everyday, unrealistic expectations from administration, patients who do the most absurd things, but nurses just go about their day like it’s normal, and then a twist at the end where the doctor she’s been butting heads with has a medical emergency and she steps up and saves him.

I'm currently resting my brain, but the next project I want to work on is part 5 of Finding Elpis, Sonata in Retrograde (or SiR for short). I'm returning to the adventure and tripartite plot structure that I love in the series and gradually working towards the end of the series :)

Shay Booth oooo I love this question.

My Show is called ACTING OK.

Logline:

At a struggling progressive drama academy in Seoul, students push through identity anxiety and imposter syndrome with radical acting exercises—forcing them to confront raw personal truths and ask why they’re only “ACTING OK.”

I do, Geoffroy Faugerolas! I'm excited about this contest!

Yes!

Excited for this!!

I submitted my dark comedy-horror script The Bridges to the Stage 32 + Mammoth Pictures “Search for New Blood” Screenwriting Contest!

Logline: A sarcastic suburban couple must figure out what’s turning their teenage daughter into a cold-blooded killer before her rebellion wipes out the whole neighborhood.

Tagline: Parenting is purgatory. Teenage rebellion is hell.

Fingers crossed—and good luck to everyone who submitted!

Submitted!

I entered the competition with my supernatural horror feature THE SHADOW VERSE, inspired by true events drawn from childhood experiences and generational folklore.

Recent highlights:

• Winner – Best Foreign Screenplay, New York Script Awards

• Finalist – 13Horror Screenplay Competition

• Official Selection, Best Hollywood Day Short Film Festival

Logline:

When a woman haunted by childhood possession reads her family’s cursed grimoire backwards to rebuild her life, she awakens an inherited evil determined to claim her daughter’s soul.

It’s a dark, emotional, and deeply spiritual horror about faith, loss, and the danger of temptation.

This project means a lot to me, and I’m so happy to share it here.

Wishing the best of luck to everyone who submitted!

Congratulations Anna!

good luck to everyone!

I submitted Kiss! Southern Gothic Horror!

I had a script in which I collaborated with a theater actor . I even went on stage as an actress to take the corners and feel at the moment of the event, but unfortunately the series was not made until now, but it was a very wonderful experience for me

That's great, Asia Burgudy! Congratulations! Who made the series?

Hey, Gregory Barone. I think you did a great job on the scenes! Garerit is one of the cleverest characters I’ve ever read about/seen in a movie.

Also, I suggest changing the format from comic book to screenplay format before you pitch the screenplay.

ok, nothing to fix on these pages?

I think they're fine, Gregory Barone.

Billy Cox - "... Visibility is currency "full quote:

https://www.facebook.com/share/r/1DxcGqYWsn/

Thanks, Tom. I'm not a great promoter. In my business, I've never had to promote or advertise because word of mouth always kept me busy. I'm an introvert and wouldn't mind being left alone to play with my horses, dogs, and cars. But I love to write and would like to make films (and maybe TV), so I need to become (as you say) visible. I need a plan to create visibility. Any thoughts? jim

Michael, Pitching? Where do I begin? If I'm not formally pitching, I do a pretty good job, but I'm given 3 or 5 minutes and told "GO". It doesn't come out so well. I'm terrible at self-promotion, but have done well in meetings with producers and actors. jim

Hi, Jim Ramsay. Check out my comment on this post: www.stage32.com/lounge/screenwriting/Where-do-I-start-4

Being a semi-retired web marketing guy, I always recommend getting your project a Facebook Page, and a separate website.

Websites in today's markets are now the new brochure and sales engine for whatever you're selling.

Websites have a different value now than they did before AI.Before AI, "search engine" traffic was what drove people to a site. While that still has some merit, the search engines are now all AI.

Now, the meatier you make that website, with very dense information - the more you can be found. No need to trim everything down, now you can pump up the volume (great movie) and be found in ways not previous possible.

I started searching for my projects within AI, and it exposed a huge number of weak spots - and instead of waiting weeks for search engines to figure out my updates - within a day AI had already revised its findings on my project. It's not just dumping quoted information - it's summarizing what it finds.

It actually had attributed another author to my work because of me not formatting the text properly. Fixed it and now it's correct - all within a day.

THEN -

BONUS ROUND - I stumbled into the amazing reach of Podcasts. (WTF?)

A lot of people think I'm nuts until they see the numbers. ("they laughed when I sat down to play").

Yep RSS feeds of your audio episodes automatically siphoned up by Apple and YT and Amazon - all automatically siphoning your latest episodes, and folks find them on Amazon, YT, and Apple Podcasts.

What was once a dead means of internet radio broadcasting has made this GIGANTIC RESURGENCE. Those of us in the web business thought podcasting was dead around 2003.

YouTube just this year launched a podcast section to all YT channels. Amazon Music has a huge Podcasts section ... you have 3 GIANT platforms that will come and get your content automatically.

Why the resurgence? I think it's headphones and treadmills. Folks are retreating into their headphones.So what do you podcast about? Well you can use your own voice, radio style and begin to talk about your work, or perhaps you create episodes using AI audio podcasting tools which are fantastic, and I have I setup some test sites with some sampler podcasts generated by NotebookLM. (https://notebooklm.google.com). I have the NotebookLM AI people "review my work", or they will debate the topic.

Here's the punchline ... of the test sites that have a few as 3 or 4 episodes, the ORGANIC search engine value of the websites that have podcasts is dramatic.

Screenshot of my project Mayorga website, and its podcast download numbers ...

https://mayorga.pro/page.php?p=podcasts

Hi, Shay Booth. You could pitch your script to executives, managers, etc. through Stage 32's Pitch Sessions (www.stage32.com/scriptservices/pitch-sessions). The Pitch Sessions are mainly to get feedback on pitches, but members have gotten managers, signed shopping agreements, etc. through the sessions (www.stage32.com/scriptservices/success-stories).

Reach out to the Success Team at success@stage32.com. Geoff and his team can help you connect with producers, executives, and more.

And I suggest networking on Stage 32, on other platforms, and in person. It could lead to you connecting with producers, script requests, meeting requests, etc. Here's some blogs on networking: www.stage32.com/blog/tags/networking-41

Stage 32 has free in-person Meetups that are great for networking (www.stage32.com/meetups). If you don't see a Meetup in your area, keep an eye on that page for new Meetups. And you're welcome to start your own Meetup.

I agree, Ehsan Rahimpour. I don't use coincidence in scripts, especially during the climax and ending.

"The solution, therefore, is not to avoid coincidence, but to dramatize how it may enter life meaninglessly, but in time gain meaning, how the anti logic of randomness becomes the logic of life-as-lived." I've never tried that. Thanks for the idea.

You're welcome Maurice Vaughan. McKee actually urges us not to escape by resorting to a convenient plot device called a "coincidence," but to find an organic, meaningful internal logic within the story to resolve the conflict.