Screenwriting

I think the newest season suffered for a lot of reasons. Particularly I felt the actor chemistry felt lacking. Which is understandable considering the transition the show made.

I think the biggest problem is the writing. I'm wondering if it was written during the writer's guild strike by a scab or it's AI. It's truly dreadful, like I didn't even want to finish watching it. The replacement of Geralt was fine and the addition of Lawrence Fishburn was a nice surprise. Everyone that signed off on the scripts should be banned from tv production forever...

Hi! I can't say anything about the script. I haven't watched the third season of the series yet. I'll just note that TV series are created for the sake of making money, not for the sake of art.

Congratulations, Semifinalists!

Great news to wake up to.

My feature film screenplay, MORGAN’S WAKE, is a semifinalist in the Action/Thriller Competition.

Congratulations to all the other semi finalists!

Logline: A retiring hitman is tasked with breaking in his young replacement, only to find that the target of this final job is more than they seem, leading to a violent double cross in which the hitman himself becomes the target.

This is an invaluable post, Phoenix Black. Surprised it's not getting a bigger response. Maybe people find this too daunting? I hope not, because this is the kind of planning, effort and discipline that it takes.

Great share.

Hey , Phoenix Black . Great job. Sorting out what will work for you will provide more clarity and possibility. Good luck !!!!!!

I'm incredibly jealous of how organized this is. I mean that to be complimentary.

I'm about to start this kind of research and would love to know how you use chat gpt to help with your research, what prompts you use etc. I mostly use it like an organization tool because that's not my strong suit.

I wish you good luck. Last year I went through various lists on the internet, lists with production companies. Most refuse to accept scripts from us who have no agent. Or the companies have no email address on their web site. But I found about 100 to write to.

Goran, I'm in exactly the same spot. Can't find contacts to email them. The vast majority won't read queries if not from a manager. The few I do find (IMDb Pro used to be better with contact) I get no reply. But still, we trudge on!

That's wonderful news! Congratulations!

Great news Justin! Always good to hear about writers getting recognized.

Making the quarter-finals absolutely means something. Congratulations!

congrats, that means you got something the readers liked. those list are usually in alphabetical order

Nice, Justin Groats. It's always a great feeling. Congrats and best going forward!

Michael T Gregory so very sorry to hear this. I can see why it feels even more bitter because your work is worthy of an agent. I can see also then how that could have made you more open to this fraudster. I know there was a post a few months ago about an actor who almost got ripped off by an agent.

Thanks for the feedback. Hindsight being 20-20, I would’ve done lots different. Do you notice there aren’t any agents on this platform?! Hmmm

Hey Michael, this is Suzanne from the Stage 32 team. I just wanted to let you know I moved your post from Acting to Screenwriting, as it fits much better there. Let me know if you have any questions, and all the best to you!

Hi Michael, a few times with financers

Hello Michael T Gregory, a bit of advice that I've heard in shortlisting potential contacts: "There's no humility in showbiz." If they're being shady about their credits, they don't have them. So if you don't see it beyond an email mention, it ain't real.

a ***widowed***

I’ve submitted Painted Face- an American Dad got possessed by a Chinese opera ghost when he purchased a colonial house in San Francisco.

Painted Face is a supernatural horror thriller about the Dubliner family, who move into a remote colonial house where pregnant mother Shannon feels an unsettling sense of déjà vu. Soon, eerie visions and ghostly encounters reveal the presence of Fong Zhi Yun, a depressed and disillusioned Chinese mistress and her ex lover, Chan Mong Sang, a vengeful Chinese opera singer. Shannon uncovers a chilling link between herself and Zhi Yun, who once murdered her lover, the bi-sexual opera star Chan Mong Sang. Mong Sang’s tormented spirit possesses Shannon’s husband, John, turning him violent—he begins to abuse their children and slip into frightening trances that mirror the ghost’s past.

Desperate to protect her family, Shannon seeks help from priests and spiritual healers, but conventional exorcism fails. Guided by a Chinese spiritual expert, she learns that the only way to end the haunting is to relive Zhi Yun’s final act. In a haunting ritual performance, Shannon confronts Mong Sang’s spirit, freeing John from possession. Though the family survives, they are left deeply scarred, haunted by the knowledge that the past can return in terrifying ways.

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!

How can I find this video? There is no search feature under the Webcasts portal (I do have a Writer's Room membership)

Congratulations on finishing! That's awesome and that synopsis sounds like a Hallmark movie commercial already.

Elle Bolan Heart emoji : ) Thank you!!!

Ahoy, Juliana Philippi! Congratulations on being a Spotlight Member, finishing your goal way sooner than expected, and submitting A Texas Carol to its first OWA! I like title and twist on A Christmas Carol!

Maurice Vaughan Thank you Maurice!

You're welcome, Juliana Philippi. Hope your script moves forward in the OWA! Have a great weekend!

Hey, Sebastian Tudores! Knowing how to edit could help screenwriters with pacing.

agree 100% Maurice Vaughan ! thx

You're welcome, Sebastian Tudores. I can't make the webinar today (wish I could!), but I plan on watching it later.

I learned screenwriting by directing and editing the scripts I wrote myself. So learning editing is a good idea. But there are cheaper programs which are easier to learn and almost as powerful. I have used Adobe Premiere Elements a lot. But I did use Premiere Pro from 2003 to 2005, when I learnded filmmaking at a public access television station.

couldn't agree more Göran Johansson - there's so much to discover about where we start if we're more aware of where it's gonna finish.

Banafsheh Esmailzadeh Um..story of my creative life. I feel as I write, and it's just amazing when the connection is that strong.

Indeed we are not, Sandra Isabel Correia :) <3

Agreed Juliana Philippi. I of course get swept up in whatever I’m working on at the time but it was special this time with BoFS. I love my characters and this world I created for them to play in, that’s really the world I wish I lived in myself. Finishing the draft definitely changed my brain chemistry and unlocked something deep in me because you wouldn’t believe how fired up I am right now lol even with all the alarming amounts of bad sleep I’m running on since tackling it xD

Banafsheh Esmailzadeh That's how I feel too, and I'm so happy you are experiencing this magical moment. It's just another door, I think, opening you up more and more to bigger and larger creative processes.

Thank you Juliana Philippi, I think so, too. Lol and I really do wonder about potentially expanding the series into a heptalogy after all… but of course I’ll have to see how SiR at least turns out. Truth be told BoFS was such an emotional experience that the thought of the series ending at six entries seems a bit too soon xD

"Somebody's got to lead, might as well be me"

Challenge accepted. I’ll respond with the mindset of one of my sci-fi worlds.

“Innocent? You misunderstand, hero. They are offerings. The god I have awakened demands a worthy sacrifice for immortality — and I intend to live forever.”

I turn to you, offering a knowing smirk.

“I see you are not only self-righteous, but foolish and blind as well,” I state, pointing my finger at you in an authoritative manner. “Those ‘innocents’ you are so worked up over are an advance scouting party from an alternate dimension. They are — my mistake, were — here to provide a point of attack on our world. By neutralizing them, I did what you were never able to do.”

I fold my arms smugly, smirking at you. “I just saved the world. And if you stop me, you will be the villain.”

I offer you my hands, challenging you to put me into custody. “Go ahead, ‘hero’…do what’s right.”

I got a new one from another sci-fi world.

I didn’t respond — I just left with a monologue:

“I survived them. You’re the real villain.”

Thank you very much for asking — you’re actually guiding me toward new twists in my story.

You pass the buck, was your own pious vengeful justice, that turned a society into marked witnesses.

Thanks, Elle Bolan. I might write more one-page scripts. They're fun, they're practice, and some producers want them.

Hmm. Interesting to know.

Elle Bolan thank you, and honestly, I agree. I think it’s because screenplays are inherently meant to be acted out by at least one person while novels are primarily meant to be read, at your own pace.

And yeah, this series honestly made me more than I made it, so that’s why I’m so hellbent and stubborn to do it my way lol

Elle Bolan Congrats!!!!! We're twinsies, I just finished my final draft of my screenplay I had noted to to in November, so yey!!!!!!

Congratulations @Juliana! I know that's a great feeling.