Screenwriting

I'm looking forward to these, Leonardo Ramirez 2!

These are always a blast Maurice Vaughan!

No screenwriter fee would look very amateurish to me, and I'd expect to see some sort of participation deal for the writer there - effectively making them a producer.

There should normally be an assignment downpayment or script purchase fee and then a schedule that sets the remaining payment due on the first day of shooting. Perhaps broken down further to another payment free on wrap up.

It's messy out there though. Lots of scrappy stuff.

With respect I say, if you are given co-director credits but without pay, you are an intern. You need to get paid both as a writer/creator and co-director. Back-end points are good if you get to that point, but pay yourself first.

I am a dedicated screenwriter I love my craft, pay me first or my work will not get produced.

Screenwriters have to eat, too.

You should be a line item in the budget (ATL). So everyone gets a little pay except you? Unacceptable that you're taking the hit. Pay could be $5K.

I'm excited for another Community Open House, Leonardo Ramirez 2!

Thanks CJ Walley. That's what I mean though- if you google or read many scriptwriting books- people quote the one page= one minute. They don't explain the reasoning, they don't tell you how the exceptions work-- they just leave it like that.

Being neurodivergent- the tendency is to take things literally because everyone seems to say it, so it's what is. When reality doesn't hit that-- there's this disconnect. It makes you wonder what you did wrong. It makes you wonder if your writing isn't good enough if you're too far over or too far under. It honestly makes it harder for me to tell the story I need to tell if I'm keeping that thought in mind. Yes, my stories are roughly between 80-120 minutes in scene minutes, but script pages are much less. For people coming in from other mediums- that concept is like the "250 words per page" guideline you hear. They don't tell you it depends on formatting, on font, etc. You just hear the quote, not full truth behind it.

Starting out-- things like this can really be misleading because you don't know dialogue tends to run quicker, action can be long or short depending on the type of action it is. It's a learning process- one I believe would be easier learned if the standard answer everyone seems to quote was a bit more open- "Production avg is one page is one minute. But action can be longer, dialogue can be shorter- spec scripts are different than a production scripts." It's not pithy, but for someone like me- it's a lifeline to help me learn the process, to get better at it- to find my voice and writing style in scriptwriting, just like I have my voice and style in writing books.

I apologise if I seem all over the place with generalisations- but by sharing this-- I think many of us who are new or who have stumbled over this issue-- can relate. We move forward when others, like yourself, step forward and give answers to help us understand the actual reasoning behind the phrase and to show us how action and dialogue differ on the printed page.

https://johnaugust.com/2020/how-accurate-is-the-page-per-minute-rule-2

https://stephenfollows.com/p/is-the-page-per-minute-rule-correct

https://nofilmschool.com/one-page-equals-one-minute

https://screencraft.org/blog/this-is-why-your-screenplays-page-count-mat...

https://nofilmschool.com/how-many-minutes-per-page-of-script

You know, I ignore it. I don't pay it a damn bit of mind. I just write. Being a bit more minimalist certainly helps, but I don't bother paying attention to the one page = one minute thing. I worry about the story, the emotional journey, the character arcs.

Funnily enough, it usually seems to work out about right anyway.

By the way, I've just discovered, that Slamdance Screenplay Competition recognise feature from 41 to 140 pages https://slamdance.com/screenplay-submit/

You're overthinking it. One page = One minute, it is an average, not a unbreakable physical law. As a sci-fi writer I can say with absolute certainty that the multiverse will not collapse, the world will not come to an end, and you will not self-destruct, if your write a page, film it and that scene NOT be equal to exactly one minute of action. Trust me.

I honestly don’t pay it too much mind, I know it’s a guideline more than a hard and fast rule. That being said though I’m definitely still trying to nail “come late, leave early” ^^;

Finally an animation lab, so excited about this lab coming in November!

Any questions for me or Evan, shoot me an email at edu@stage32.com! Happy Monday!

I am so excited to have everyone joining us this weekend! Make sure you get your questionnaire sent in before the lab :)

Hi Everyone we are at the 1/2 way mark of the class and the students are literally amazing!

This makes my day to hear Evan!!

Maria Restivo Glassner, thank you! Sometimes the best answers come after a little reflection! I’d love to hear what dream collaborators come to mind once you’ve had a chance to think it through :) You are welcome to share with us.

Sandra Isabel Correia My voice is ready, haha!!!

My ideal collaborator would be Steven Spielberg because his body of work taps into Sci-fi (E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial and Drama (The Color Purple). A mix I would like to incorporate in the script I am writing about single Black women who secretly desire Prince Charming but can't find him on earth.

Ah ah ah Darrell Pennington :))

Shirley Collier, I love that vision. Spielberg’s mix of sci‑fi wonder and grounded drama feels like such a natural fit for your story. The premise you’re exploring is bold and imaginative, yet deeply human. Thanks for sharing.

Yes, you can transfer your old Celtx scripts into Final Draft — but you can’t open a .celtx file directly. You’ll need to export your Celtx projects as PDF, TXT, RTF, or Fountain first. After that, Final Draft can import those files without any issue.

Just keep in mind that you may need to adjust some formatting after importing.

Thanks Fuad. One more question. Would you recommend Final Draft over Celtx and why?

Just starting out or working on a small project? Go with Celtx — budget-friendly and great for collaboration.

Writing professional scripts for bigger productions? Final Draft has you covered with industry-standard formatting.

Thanks - got the Final Draft update version. This

Nicolas Lavoie You could show the theme through your characters (their personalities, habits, actions, and dialogue) and the scenes (like a scene where the athlete gets into a big argument with someone who sees being wealthy as negative).

Allow theme to derive from story, character and their words. As posted, there's difficulty writing to theme, and story suffers. Trust that theme will emerge.

My theme comes organically from the plot storyline itself. Sometimes the base theme isn't one I'm aware of until I finish writing. And the thing is-- it's OKAY to be like that. What I normally focus on is-- is the story I'm telling, does it make sense, does it move forward even when I'm at resting moments, and do the characters' actions move the plot forward through the end. Once you've got that-- you can sit back and decide what your theme is. CJ Walley is right in how Aaron Sorkin works his theme. Let me be honest- your logline should be reflecting your theme. If you've got your logline- you can see the trailer in your head for how your movie shows up for the first time on people's screens-- then you can see your theme in action.

Mind you, this is 23+ years of novel writing, comic book writing, editing coming into play here. I've only been scriptwriting for 6 months. But the core of how your theme comes through is the actions the characters take and sometimes-- what you THINK is the initial theme isn't when you're done. But your plot-- that's the key. Oftentimes my rewrites are based on keeping the theme I discovered active and moving in the direction it needs to go.

There's an article I read some time ago which helped me. Maybe it might give you a bit of support. https://www.helpingwritersbecomeauthors.com/storys-theme/

Not sure what tone you are going for, but I like to use satire whenever I can to drop thematic clues into my stories. Doesn't work for some genres, but these "weird" little scenes or plot points will tie in to a greater idea that the audience might not realize at first, but hopefully figure out by the end. "Oh, that's what that scene was about!" Gets your message across without slapping the audience in the face with it.

Thanks everyone for your advices.

Elle Bolan Thanks for reminding us of this amazing concept Elle!!! I loves RB's post, and the insight: just be human. And connecting sales, "civilian work", "non writing-acting" people, lol, also has a lot of value here. Pitching, collaborating, meeting people, "searching" can become formulaic and "fake", but when you just tap in to your, to be a bit cliche here, heart, soul, joy of why we write, act, create, then instead of pushing and forcing relationships, we just be human, and attract/magnetize/call in those perfect people aligned with our vision. A bit...out there...but, so is being human : )

Wise words from RB always.

I've often said simply not being a complete weirdo in this game is a huge advantage. So many people act strangely. As ever, authenticity is a superpower well within every writer's reach.

@CJ oh I'm so screwed then. I am a complete weirdo. Haha. But in good ways, I swear!

Elle Bolan, yeah, there's certainly good types of weird and bad types of weird. There's a lot of creepy, passive-aggressive, pretentious, boastful, defensive, and neurotic behaviour out there that's best avoided. A lot of it seems to stem from the perception people have of industry members combined with personal insecurities. Realising that producers and execs are just people, and typically very kind people, changes everything.

I've seen more writers lead with ego than other industry folks for sure, limited as my experience is. @CJ Walley

And I've already had a dose or two of the creepy and inappropriate. Seems like those folks find their way into all spaces. I try to only give my energy to those I feel alignment with. Don't feed what doesn't serve me.

Really nice and interesting tips :) Grinch is absolutely awesome Christmas movie. :))

Thanks, Petra Jurasova. You're right. I want to see Jim Carrey play another Grinch type character.

i thought you were talking about hamlet for a minute but then i remembered that, no, the danish prince didn’t have a redemption arc, lol

Hamlet mixed with How the Grinch Stole Christmas. That's a unique script idea, James LO!

Thank you again everyone! Very useful!

It's on of those things that's highly contextual to a whole bunch of variables.

Giving a first-time producer a $1 option when you are an industry nobody might be a wise move. Doing the same when there's some buzz around your scripts would be foolish.

Options are strange beasts in today's age too. Supply and demand isn't what it was in the 90s. There's small producers out there having to pitch a lot of projects to get anything moving, and a writer with a dozen credits in the indie scene can still be a complete unknown outside of their regular collaborators.

Be very careful the production company produces with decent production values and isn't just some idiot filming on his iPhone. Ask for reels of their previous work.

I've had 6 scripts optioned and one film produced as a result. I would strongly suggest vetting the production company thoroughly. It's probably wise to have an entertainment lawyer look the option over, but it's not necessary. In my case, I had worked as an actor on a film that the production was producing, so I got to know the principals very well. The language of the option is pretty simple, but I would look for hidden clauses. Make sure you have your script writing fee clearly laid out (mine was 2.5% of the total production budget) and the companies I am working with were nice enough to include a clause saying that if the movie was a huge financial success, I'd get a piece of the action. My first option was for 36 months. Way too long. That expired with nothing happening so during those 3 years I couldn't shop the script around. This last option is for 18 months. There is a clause in all my options where the production company can bring in a "script doctor" or another writer to help with re-writes. I balked at that a bit, but the writer they assigned was easy to work with and really entertained my ideas. Very important: register all your scripts with the US Copyright office and/or the WGA. Protect your work! All the best with your screenplays....

Yeah, certainly do your due diligence on the prodco/producer's capabilities and be aware that a couple of credits on IMDb as a co-producer, executive producer, associate producer, or assistant producer isn't proof they can put a film together. You're looking for people with "produced by" credits ideally. Same goes for prodco, they should be the main production company on a project, not someone's personal LLC they use to make their taxes more efficient.