Screenwriting

Yes, I’ll work on making them more engaging.

They may feel boring at first since they show insights from daily routines, but they are critical to the story logic.

Later, these moments reveal the quiet, foundational forms of human intelligence — reminding us that every act of thinking, no matter how small, matters Elle Bolan

Before I broke in, I moved from writing feature specs to shorts in a bid to actually get some stuff made. It was like a boot camp. I wrote dozens of them. Usually around one a week, at least.

I was working to around five pages using my Turn & Burn five-act structure, so one act per page. That really taught me a lot about efficiency.

I don't fully prescribe to the page-one theorem. In my opinion, it's more about the opening scene. That needs to be a strong sample of voice along with the tone of the story. It's like an opening chat-up line before a date, or an appetiser before a meal. You're kinda proving yourself.

@CJ that's actually a better way to state it. The opening scene rather than the page one.

@Juliana those are all great things to ask about your opener!

@Meriem I believe you will. Your passion for the silent pfc war shows every time you talk about the project.

Thanks for sharing the article, Amanda Toney. I haven't written a biopic yet. This article will come in handy. And I might even write a biopic/narrative film mix.

I adapted a biography this year. The shoot just wrapped. The V.O to death comment is very true. They key part is finding the thematic thread within it all.

Congratulations, CJ Walley!

"Adapting real-life stories always seems like such a huge challenge. Is there any approach you recommend to stay true to the person’s essence without leaning too much into over-dramatization?"

This issue you're going to have is the subject person's own vision and demands. In the article linked, it talks about how Kristen had to convince the IP owner not to sell the story short and do something typically hokey. Not everyone is going to listen to that.

The big issues you have with anything fact based is that the facts may not be that interesting but people insist on sticking to them, and then there's another person with a different POV and a different set of facts wanting it their way. I made a Civil War last year and every expert historian seemed to disagree with one another.

The sky's the limit when it comes to dramatisation, as few viewers are going to look up what really happened. I re-watched American Made the other week. Love that film. Then I looked up the true story it's based on and to say the filmmakers were liberal would be an understatement to say the least.

Ultimately, you have to know how accuracy is going to impact sales. It might be a huge boost with those who know the details of the story already, or it might be a shot in the foot if it bores most of the marketplace. It all comes back to strategy.

Meriem Bouziani we are over the top stoked for you! It is well deserved so congratulations!!

Thank you very much for your encouragement Leonardo Ramirez 2

You are very welcome Meriem Bouziani. Hope you have a wonderful week.

Thank you Leonardo Ramirez 2

Have a great week, and a happy, successful 2026.

Thanks Meriem Bouziani !

Genius!

That’s awesome news!!

Your experience perfectly highlights one of the most underrated truths in filmmaking: a strong visual hook can open doors that a script alone often cannot. Turning a simple dry-ice delivery story into a politically resonant allegory was a brilliant creative leap. And the fact that the producer responded so quickly—after seeing your poster—proves how powerful visual communication can be in this industry.

Congratulations on getting interest for a feature adaptation!

Wishing you even more creative wins in the coming year.

That's fantastic! This really shows the power of combining storytelling with compelling imagery.

Awesome news! Congrats

Happy holidays!

Thanks for all of the nice comments. The weird thing about it is that I met this guy after responding to a post he put on a neighborhood site called Nextdoor. He'd just graduated from AFI and was looking to meet people interested in film. I replied, we met, and it turned out he was interested in scripts about the Mexican immigrant experience in CA. The story shown in the poster was one from a collection of stories he had an option on that kind of dealt with the topic.

I told him I had a script about that exact issue, so I agreed to read the collection of stories, and he agreed to read the script. He liked the script more than I liked the stories and he got all hot on the idea of doing it and he asked if I would be interested in adapting this collection of stories while he tried to get his finance guy interested in my script. I said, sure.

He and another writer had put together a treatment that tried to combine elements of all the stories into one feature length script. I thought it was a really admirable effort, but didn't feel like it really added up to anything in the end, so I suggested taking three stories you could tie together in some way and doing it as a kind of Ballad of Buster Scruggs thing,

The problem was, I couldn't find three stories I liked enough to do that with, so he suggested adapting just the one. He was listed on IMDB and had made some shorts that had gotten some festival recognition as well as a found footage type horror film that has some nice reviews on YouTube, so I thought it would be worth the effort.

Once I found the hook I wanted to the story, it only took about a week to write and when I showed it to him, he got all excited about doing that, So I guess we'll see where it all goes. Hopefully, I'll have a better understanding of things if this meeting with the finance guy actually happens at which point I'll have a chance to figure out how legit any of it is.

With screenwriting, you need to second-guess the supporting story the visualization provides.

Take Lord of the Rings. The visualization had to be done before a word could be written.

So I am not totally sold on the fortunes of selling scripts. Selling film rights to a book feels to have more gravitas.

Njabulo Shabangu If you ever need help publishing a story and getting the ISBN to protect your work, let me know, that is what we do.

I learned screenwriting by creating no-budget movies. For me the standard script format is intuitive. My advice to those who have problems with the format is to contact your local group of no-budget filmmakers. Help them to film. When you are forced to read, and understand what must be in the film, you will find it easier to understand why the standard format looks the way it does.

If you're using screenwriting software, it's probably one of the most efficient ways of presenting a story. The formatting is easy. The real issue might be with focusing. I find it very hard to write creatively and technically at the same time, so I separate those processes by pre-writing all my structure first.

CJ Walley 100% agree

Fuad Shawn I want to know more!! What logline & genere? Who would your ideal "expert" be? Thanks for sharing!

Thanks for asking! It’s a thriller about "a rookie inspector racing to catch a sadistic killer who leaves a trail of gruesome, organ-harvesting murders across the city". I’m looking for feedback from a producer or script expert who knows how to make small-budget thrillers punchy and memorable."

Any serious player in the industry whose name you might recognize. No prep needed, I'd just pitch the basic concept. If the hook is strong enough, you've got interest. If not, you're spinning your wheels. But emphasis on "serious player." Superficial so-called development execs will not be able to help you.

Thanks, Libby Wright. What pitching resource on Stage 32 do you think helped you the most?

Oh, and I forgot to say who I would pitch the script to. Zach Cregger with him as the producer and director.

Libby Wright Feliz Diciembre!!! I would pitch my television series "The Girls" to the Exec Developers for YA shows at any streamer shopping for an inspiring, action/adventure, 30 min per episode show, with three seasons in the making.

"The Girls", action/adventure tv series, episodic

It's about a motley group of seven high school girls who come together when the government shuts down all network and print news outlets, and create an underground news app, to spread articles on science, sports, art, culture, music, and politics, challenging the status quo, and forging their own futures, rather than waiting them to be handed to them.

I am learning how to actually write the tv series bible and am flushing out the character development, the world, and the why now, from the world's perspective within the show.

I like the idea, Michael Thorn! I've seen screenwriters do that.

Sure Michael Thorn!. If I might suggest, you might consider getting a credible marketing team that can help with promotion, SEO, cover, etc. Selling books takes a lot of effort, too.

It all depends on your goals. I have published all my feature specs as books. That's been great for all my friends who want to read them. It also means my story is out there, rather than locked away on my hard drive. There's no money in it though and promoting books is just as hard as scripts.

CJ Walley True!

Novelise the pilot at the very least - novelisations usually act as a form of insurance. That way, you have some degree of control over how your work is used.

I've registered a series bible with the U.S. Copyright Office, David Miller. I've heard of writers registering a pilot script and series bible. Maybe with the "Group of Unpublished Works" option. www.copyright.gov/registration/performing-arts I suggest contacting the Copyright Office to be sure. Their contact info is at the bottom of their website.

If you register a series bible, don't put any copyrighted material in it (like pictures). The Copyright Office will reject your application. I made that mistake.

Being blunt, and because I wouldn't want to see a writer wasting their time, you shouldn't be writing episodes. Those will not be wanted by a network. Some don't even want to see a pilot.

I'm not sure what's going on, but I'm hearing about writers doing this more and more, to the point it's becoming normalised. Until a year or two ago, I don't think I'd ever heard of a screenwriter putting energy into episodes. Now I'm hearing about people penning an entire season, plus more. Unless it's going to be novelised, it's a waste of time that could be better spent on new specs.

Thanks everyone. I've scripted the pilot, detailed outlined the first season, high level detailed seasons 2-5. I created a series bile and was able to load it along with the pilot screenplay to the copyright site, so all is good (I hope).

You're welcome, David Miller.

Great points and tips, Fares Mohamed. I rewrite as I work on the first draft, but the first draft is mainly about getting the draft done.

So keep working the way you do. Take the time to build your own certainty, to strengthen what you want to say, and to feel proud of your story. After that, convincing others almost becomes a consequence, not a battle.

Painters sketch their proportions out. Musicians riff. Sculptors mock up their basic form.

Writers who try to put genius on the page line by line are putting themselves through hell for no reason.

The magic in this is when we play around with it.

Yes, exactly CJ walley.

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.