Screenwriting

From structure to content to representation to industry trends, this is the place to discuss, share content and offer tips and advice on the craft and business of screenwriting

Paul Rivers
Maurice Vaughan

Yes! Glad to hear it, Paul Rivers! I hope the ruling leads to more wins for copyright holders!

Pat Alexander

Love to see it -- “One thing is clear, merely using copyrighted material as training data to an AI cannot be said to be fair use per se.”

Mike Childress

All for more of this.

John Snell
Kinolime

Hi everyone. Has anyone heard of the kinolime screenplay competition at kinolime.com? It sounds interesting, but I don't know. Entry is free.

Maurice Vaughan

Hi, John Snell. I've heard of kinolime. I haven't entered it yet though.

Caliann Lum

Not heard of it.

John Snell

Ah, okay Maurice Vaughan. Like I say, it sounds interesting where they let an audience pick the winning script, I haven't heard that angle until now, but as I say that intrigues me a bit.

Mike Childress

John Snell Competition adverts pop up all the time. It's one of those winning script-to-production contests so I imagine it will be somewhat popular barring any issues. Interesting the runners use the...

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John Snell

Thanks for the explanation Mike Childress.

Jennifer Strome
Period Piece Contest

Submitting a limited series TV Pilot but not sure how much supplemental material to include with it. Not thinking a bible but how about a single sheet summary of remaining episodes?

Maurice Vaughan

Hi, Jennifer Strome. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think you need a single sheet summary when you submit a script to a Stage 32 contest.

Pat Alexander

Hey Jennifer Strome just the screenplay is all you need. Contest submissions are judged solely on the scripts.

Nick Phillips
TODAY at 4pm PT | Producer Ian Phillips Joins The Pitch Tank!

Hey Screenwriting Lounge! Come on in and join us in The Pitch Tank today at 4pm PT! We have a recently onboarded exec coming on for the first time, a great producer named Ian Phillips! Ian, John and I cannot wait to hear your pitches, bring 'em on!

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81241961886?pwd=8IUAHWfKin...

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James Timothy Lagrimas
Final Deadline Today: 2nd Annual Period Piece Screenwriting Contest

Hey friends, today is the Final Deadline for the 2nd Annual Period Piece Screenwriting Contest. So now is the time to flash back to the past and immerse us in history with your scripts! This year's judges feature execs from CAA and producers on films such as THE TRIAL OF THE CHICAGO 7, LADY MACBETH,...

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Maurice Vaughan
Ask Me Anything with Deborah Gilels

Deborah Gilels (Award-Winning Publicist & Marketing Consultant and President of LA Media Consultants) is having an Ask Me Anything today, focused on “Crafting the Perfect Film Festival Promotion Plan”!

The AMA Is free, and it’s all day in the Filmmaking/Directing Lounge.

Feel free to ask Deborah any...

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Delrey Pearson

What is the best way to get a foreign screen writing partner. I am writing a script that would be good for the Korean market but I need parts of the script translated to Korean. So I need to the format Korean producers expect the script that be in.

Maurice Vaughan

Hi, Delrey Pearson. Welcome to the community. Great question. I suggest putting it on the AMA post so Deborah can see it. www.stage32.com/lounge/directing/Ask-Me-Anything-AMA-Wednesday-2-12-to-T......

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Mike Boas
An experiment with point of view

I’m a big proponent of point of view in screenplays. Which character has storytelling ability? I say stay with your main character as much as possible. Keep the story through their eyes.

CinemaStix just posted a video essay about The Bourne Identity, which just might be a better film if we cut out a...

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Maurice Vaughan

I'm a big proponent of point of view in screenplays too, Mike Boas. And POV in scenes. I agree. Keep the story through the main character’s eyes, unlike the story calls for something different.

And I t...

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Mike Boas

The case for Bourne Identity is that if we never leave the character, we are more involved in the mystery, learning as he learns.

In the actual movie, we're ahead of the character, so the tension come...

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Pat Alexander

The best movies in my opinion are deft at shifting the points of view around to capture the story from different angles. A great hyper-focused one track POV can be cool if done well, but most of the t...

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Dan MaxXx

I remember reading that o...

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Mike Boas

I agree that most films have cutaways to multiple points of view. I had never considered that there would be downward pressure on the writer to give the lead actor fewer shoot days.

Star Wars is an in...

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Kim Feeney
Title Card

Is "Title Card" still an acceptable way of portraying a title over a black screen? For example:

Title Card: September 2023.

Thank you.

Mike Childress

Kim Feeney In scripts I see in 2025 people still use them to emulate Guy Ritchie-esque character name introductions, definitions of obscure terms, etc.

Kim Feeney

Hey Mike, I am neurodivergent and visual, can you give me a tangible example of what you are speaking of? It would be so helpful, thank you!

Mike Childress

Hi Kim Feeney. Ritchie will do a lot of character title cards like the one in the picture I am attaching, but will also do them for asides to the viewers. Would your "September 2023" example in your p...

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E Langley

TEXT/BLACK: "Blah, blah"

Richard "RB" Botto

Perfectly fine, Kim Feeney

Megan Reneau
Descriptive

Hey, I was wondering if any writers could answer a question for me. I am new at scriptwriting. While between character convo. I like to break down the scene descriptively on what's going on in the scene. Someone pointed out that I am writing too much description/blocking and that it could stall the...

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Megan Reneau

Thank you to everyone’s advice, i appreciate all of your time for getting back to me on it. I had only 1-2 lines with each new scene. And maybe 1-4 lines in non dialogue scenes. So I didn’t think it w...

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Francisco Castro

Agree with Mike Childress. LESS IS MORE. Also, try doing a script reading. Do not participate. Just listen to your script out loud and you'll see where the read bumps and the flow gets disrupted....

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Andreas Miliaressis

Hi Meagan. I completed a course in screenwriting, what I learnt is what Marc and Francisco mentioned. Less is best. And what Marc mentioned in his comment "Don’t direct the director and don’t coach th...

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Zahra Mazhari

Every element in a film should serve the story. If something contributes to a new layer of narrative discovery, it must be explicitly stated. Otherwise, we leave room for the director’s vision. Even t...

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Omair Saidi

I agree with Zahra's vision!!

Maurice Vaughan
Tagline vs Logline

Fight, fight, fight! Haha I see some writers use taglines as their loglines, so I wanted to make a post to clear up any confusion.

A tagline is a short, catchy phrase like you would see on a poster, in a pitch deck, etc. Something like, “This vacation is gonna be wild.” That could be the tagline for...

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Mike Childress

Trottier advocates for Loglines as an initial step in cranking up the Ideation Machine, but I don't write them until after completing scripts. Loglines started as a marketing device rather than an ide...

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Maurice Vaughan

Cool, Mike Childress. If it works for you, it works for you. The logline is one of the first things I write when I come up with a script idea. I wrote a feature script once and after finishing the rew...

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Mike Childress

Maurice Vaughan I have told you previously I don't like them haha. As a writer I get the general purpose, but it's the idea of dumbing-down an expansive story into something so succinct that gets my g...

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Maurice Vaughan

I remember, Mike Childress. I didn't like loglines before, but I think I'm in love now. Haha I can write a logline quickly and easily (sometimes). It took A LOT of practice though. Ultimately, I think...

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Caliann Lum

Ran after a pro and screamed out the worst elevator pitch possible. He stopped in his tracks, wheeled around, stared deep into my terrified eyes, and uttered , "Chinese Moana." Ding-a-ling-a-ling!!!!

Greg Zawaski
I bit the bullet and paid for 2 written pitches. How long does it take for them to be reviewed?

I paid for two $35 written pitches. They will be reviewed today. I assume that if the producer really likes what they see, they'll get back to you ASAP, right?

I was hoping for a video pitch but had issues installing Skype. I'm not in the US so a phone call wasn't an option.

I still included a link...

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Christine Capone

Great info Ashley!

Mike Childress

Greg Zawaski "I believe they ought to focus on the sale of scripts and earning potential commissions." Look at the number of spec sales from now to back twenty or so years ago. If anyone could magical...

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Greg Zawaski

Yes Mike, I know it's somewhat of a crapshoot.. I would have written something else if I had the inspiration.. I like what I have.

Mike Childress

Greg Zawaski You hit the nail on the head with "I like what I have." I mean we all tend to like our own stuff! As a spec writer you are writing unsolicited scripts for a potential multitude of mostly...

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Caliann Lum

For me, written pitch reviews have taken about 2 weeks after the live pitch date to get to me. After two weeks feel free to drop an email to the administrators and they'll be happy to check on the review status.

Maurice Vaughan
FREE Awards Season Script Giveaway!

Stage 32 is giving away scripts to all of this year's Awards nominated movies for you to read and study! 55 scripts! Download them here: https://mailchi.mp/stage32/oscarscripts

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