Screenwriting

Hey, Alyazin Alriyami. I wait until I'm ready to pitch my script before I post the logline on Stage 32 and other platforms. A producer, director, etc. might read my logline and want to read the script right away, but if the script isn't ready, it might be a missed opportunity.

thanks Maurice Vaughan ,I'll keep that in mind!

You're welcome, Alyazin Alriyami.

thank you very much David Taylor, this means a lot to me and I'm going to do what you said, thanks!

Alyazin - Always happy to help. Other people helped me. Especially when I was young. Thank you for your kind comment.

Finish school, write a script or two, and work on your writing. You won't be able to pitch anything or find a manager if you haven't written a script yet, but it's good that you have a passion and know what you want to do. You have time, there is no need to hurry. It takes some people years to break into the industry, so it's good that you're starting young.

You'll get taken seriously in context. Nobody is going to expect great things from a sixteen year old, but they may see potential and want to stay connected. The important thing is to start writing and networking as you'll be twenty-six before you know it.

if I were you I would write my scripts now and get coverage. at least you will know the level you’re on.

I don’t think there’s a single clear answer to this. A lot of people on this platform — and in the industry in general — are struggling with the same thing. It really is a patience game, and breaking through as a first-time writer is incredibly difficult. I also believe in my own story, just like so many others do. I’ve received tons of strong, 4–5 star feedback myself, yet somehow the process still stalled.

All we can do is keep trying — not just here, but on every platform and through every opportunity we can find. One day our scripts may reach someone who sees what we see in them. And once that first breakthrough happens, everything does get a bit easier. At least that’s what I hold on to — and I think many of us here feel the same.

In my country Macedonia you can't make a living only from screenwriting. You gotta have another job. But screenwriting according to my opinion is a way to honestly express yourself creatively, getting rid of the reality burdened by every day worries. I know writing is a tough job, but with some luck and persistence primarily we can break through with the scripts, making sure that our work can be seen, appreciated and recognised by someone who will decide to make it into a final product.

For many, there is not single approach. And where you are based doesn't have a bearing on if you'll make a living or not. You need to be actively finding connections, have a positive outlook and willing to put in the time. Whatever you do, don't give up!

Hey, Ian Buchanan! Welcome back to Stage 32 and screenwriting. You could check the Job Board (www.stage32.com/find-jobs). It gets updated regularly.

I've gotten a lot of jobs on Stage 32 by networking. Stage 32 has a blog that'll help you connect with creatives and industry professionals all over the world. Producers, executives, directors, managers, writers, and more. www.stage32.com/blog/the-importance-of-community-and-collaboration-in-th...

Stage 32's November Community Open House was Tuesday. It'll help you connect with creatives and industry pros. The recording will be up soon. It's free to watch. www.stage32.com/education/products/stage-32-s-november-community-open-ho...

And it's the last week of Stage 32's November Write Club. It can help you reach a goal, it's a chance to connect with writers, directors, producers, etc., and you can get support for your goal and projects. There's three prizes this week and a grand prize drawing at the end of the month! Week 4's blog came out Monday. www.stage32.com/blog/november-write-club-week-4-the-art-of-the-pitch-wha...

It's a bit of a fantasy, to be honest.

I'm outside of the US and have had five features made now. I can live on my screenwriting income.

It's taken over a decade to get to this point, and it's a very shaky profession to be in.

To good thing is that you can segue into a career. Writing an assignment around full time work is certainly possible, and there's always the option to reduce working hours as screenwriting work comes in.

Something people need to drop though is this blockbuster/break-in fantasy. It's lottery thinking that doesn't represent how most screenwriting careers are built. Most start from the bottom. A lot of the big spec sales you hear about, that seem like overnight success stories, tend to be from writers with over ten years working experience.

I have, Chidera Emmanuel. Sometimes I write about daily life on purpose, and sometimes I don't realize I'm doing it until later.

Not in the slightest in terms of actual actions, but in emotional intent, absolutely.

Absolutely. Every time I hear bad dialogue, I think, I can do better. And every time I hear great dialogue, I think, I hope I’ll be that good someday.

It only gets worse but you wouldn't change it! A great way to develop your screenwriting is to explore parts of films that give you strong emotional responses, then explore how the filmmaker and screenwriter achieved this. Screenplayed.com has videos that show a rolling script next to the corresponding scene in the final movie so you can see how the scene translated from the page to the screen.

Actually movies inspire me when I write my own scripts.

I consciously revisit many films to analyze their structure, so I can better understand what approach might serve my own writing.

There are many different narrative paths or structural frameworks a writer can adopt, but I gravitate toward a puzzle-like structure.

I often begin with a catastrophic disruption, then let the events unfold forward while integrating strategic flashbacks that gradually reveal what led to the disaster.

I dissect films & TV shows constantly but don’t actually consciously plan to. It just happens. My friends stop me shouting at the screen, when I notice plot weaknesses or too many coincidences.

You throw some producing/set experience in there and it's like being a builder looking at a house. You can't unsee things.

It's actually made me a lot more forgiving of low-budget movies, and I have a new-found respect for "bad" movies that serve an audience and the bottom line.

I think I love them all.

Each part carries a different emotional timbre.

Even though I’m still writing the script, I can already feel the distinct emotions of every section as I develop the narrative architecture.

In my case, first act is what they wanna do in their daily lives. and later i give them surprises and twist and turns like.

Another thing is that whole story is in your head entirely, but i become paralyzed when i thought what they will do in their daily chores.

Elle Bolan when McKee said that Act I is Inspiration, Act II is Craft and Act III is Philosophy, well I concur with that and I see Act I as kind of being the most fun, I can pretty much posit whatever I want as a writer and of course I will have to suffer for it later haha to make it plausible.

I love writing Act I and outlining the story beats and getting that first 25 pages built, from there the span of 75 more pages can be daunting, and one needs to create and know the ending and the better you know yourself and your world view the more easily that Philosophy is set at the end like a cornerstone,

Act II is also fun and can be the deal-breaker if it's not going well, an uphill marathon to get scenes in movement and story logic and the journey realized.

Then again maybe my favorite part is when they ride off into the sunset page 104 or whatever, finishing a screenplay even in first complete draft is an amazing creative feeling and saying YES to the Format, the Form, the Craft and the Art.

But yes in watching films I do enjoy most the opening five minutes as long as it is all new and cinematic, I am settling into my seat for the journey and the adventure.

I am definitely the opposite haha. I love the first act. The opening scene is my favorite to figure out and one that I feel I have the most realized by the time I actually hit the page. I honestly have the first and third acts mapped in my head before I even start outlining, creating beats. For me, the tough one is Act 2. It's still fun to do, but it is the longest stretch, and it is really the test of whether your concept works or not.

I love them all, but it's that dark night of despair that gets me the most.

Let a screenwriter see it. You'll get an opinion about length and probably easily resolve your 'time issue'. Sixty pages is very likely giving you an immediate disadvantage you cannot afford at this stage of your journey.

Your page count is very light. Get yours up to 90, and let the producer and director be concerned with what to do with it.

I think the screenplay for THE ARTIST was very short, approximately 41 pages, but its running time was around 100 minutes.

I loved the style of the artist, but absolutely do not like that movie. But what do I know. To me it was a misfire. Millions of others obviously don’t agree. That’s movies for you.

A 61pp screenplay that translated into a ~90min movie sounds odd. Unless the film is almost entirely visual with next to no dialogue. Generally, our craft dictates writing pages that average around 1min of screen time per page. That makes things like scheduling easier. There are short scripts for famous films out there, but they are typically developed internally.

I'm pretty sure competitions will happily take your money.

GRAND THEFT AUTO would be an incredible movie and hit, Dan MaxXx! There's enough in the GTA universe to make sequels, a show, spin-offs, and adult animated series. I think someone will crack the first person narration game to 3rd person pov eventually.

Twitch is big!

It’s interesting to see how video game studios are stepping into the role that streamers once dominated. They’re creating worlds that don’t just tell a story but also allow full immersion, much like how online casinos keep players engaged with interactive features. In fact, platforms such as Sweet Bonanza show how gaming mechanics and storytelling can merge, offering experiences that are as gripping as watching a film or series. The blend of entertainment and interactivity is exactly why people spend hours in these spaces. If studios continue moving in this direction, they could easily rival traditional streaming services by offering not just content to watch, but experiences to live through.

Amazing webinar, thanks! I don't know if I want to connect my life with that industry, but gaming in general has always been interesting to me. So that I try to keep in touch with information. I've always been into games, but I like playing, and I have no idea whether it would be interesting and easy for me to stream. And I also think that everything depends on a game. For example, now I'm more into casino games, and here https://pokiesman1.net/no-deposit-bonus-pokies/50-dollars/ I found new pokies to try, and I've been exploring them lately. And I have no idea whether for some people it would be interesting to watch something like this, so that for now I'll continue playing for myself.

You're welcome, Austin Richards. I have an idea for a video game. I'm definitely gonna check out the webinar once I get around to working on the script.

I like the Comedy Western mix, Jim Boston. I haven't heard about a lot of them.

Quite a few feature-length Western comedies came out of Hollywood in the 1957-74 period. (Two of the most famous ones were 1965's "Cat Ballou" and 1974's "Blazing Saddles.")

I guess what happened to shut Westerns of all kinds down were three things: A dip in popularity as the Twentieth Century headed for the sunset, spaces to film oaters in the Mountain and Pacific time zones dwindling, and...1977's "Star Wars" setting a new standard.

It's a good problem to have, but my problem is Comedy - the awful temptation to put comedy gags into serious stories to amuse myself. I'm a natural gag writer so have to stop myself. Nothing ruins the high-tension moments in a thriller more than e.g. a fart gag - it is hilarious, but it's not supposed to be there. What I do to control it, is write the gags down separately. I just love writing comedy. -- Yes, I have a few, including a very recent TV thirty minuter called 'Ponzi's schemes' - which makes me fall about laughing.

I think a comic relief character is fine in serious stories, suspenseful scenes, and Horror scripts, David Taylor. Maybe avoid writing too many comedy moments though, or maybe don't make the comic relief character over-the-top funny.

Yeah. I do manage to get the balance right.

I don't know of any structure besides 3 acts. As for a perfect first 10 pages, absolutely. Try to make the whole damn thing perfect. If you want to see a perfect first page, check out the first page of FALLEN ANGEL in Lew Hunter's book "Screenwriting 434."

Hi, Alyazin Alriyami. I use the three-act structure for feature scripts. I used a three-act structure plus a cold open (at the beginning) and a tag (at the end) for a kids show pilot I wrote a while back, and I used a four-act structure plus a teaser (at the beginning) in an old Action Crime Drama pilot.

Stage 32 has a webinar called "How to Master The Story Structure Of Your TV Pilot Script" (www.stage32.com/education/products/how-to-master-the-story-structure-of-...).

And here's some free TV writing webinars: www.stage32.com/lounge/screenwriting/Stage-32-and-Netflix-Partnered-Up-o...

If it's a Series Pilot, you can have Four Acts - Literally Act One; Act Two; Act Three; Act Four. You can also add two- or three-minute TEASERS at the start - -Excerpts of what happens later - - and add two or three minutes of TAGS at the end -- adverts of what happens in the next episode. That gives you a 'Six Act' structure - which if it is fifty minutes total, gives you a traditional TV one-hour Pilot Episode. For 'The First Ten Pages' read lots of scripts first ten pages of successful movies or TV shows. The perfect first ten pages, means telling a great story beginning, which is properly formatted and doesn't have daft mistakes in it, like bad spelling, wrong scene headings, wrong character names, huge blocks of dialogue, or the author thinking out loud notes. etc

Thank you very much for this great encouragement Sandra Isabel Correia

Yes, we can make it, no matter what.

Happy NWC

Always welcoming the challenges Sandra Isabel Correia! It's what keeps us going!

That’s the truth my friend Eon C. Rambally :))

I’m really happy to share that today I finished writing the screenplay for The Misstep, a total of 97 pages!

My original plan was to complete it by November 28, but thanks to focus, resilience, and dedication, I reached this milestone one week early. Sometimes the work happens faster than we dream, and this is one of those moments.

Because of this achievement, I’m setting a new goal for next week: polish the screenplay for The Misstep. This way, I’ll be ready to move into packaging and prepare for the festival circuit in 2026.

Grateful for the motivation and support from this community. Let’s keeping pushing forward together!

Sandra Isabel Correia, it is excellent seeing this! Great anticipations for the next move!

The momentum is spectacular!

I use all three of these in scripts, Ehsan Rahimpour, especially suspense. I don't think I've used all three in one scene. I might try it.

That’s a solid idea Maurice Vaughan, but it really depends on what the scene or story organically calls for. Sometimes all three are essential, while other times one alone packs enough punch.

Ok, thanks, Ehsan Rahimpour. I'll definitely keep that in mind.