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
Hello all, Happy Thanksgiving! in honor of our writing assignments, and the idea that we just keep working on our stories. I was wondering what everyone may think about my next projects. I know TV is seeing a golden age- so I was thinking of polishing some TV Pilots for the new year. Or should I foc...
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Happy Thanksgiving, Yan Ju Zeng! I say pick the project that excites you the most/the project that's most marketable instead of paying attention to what the market is looking for since things change s...
Expand commentI recently pitched a tv series concept to a rep at zero gravity management he wrote back to me giving a surprising great review on my pitch and the concept I was pitching yet the rep passed:(. can someone please explain that thought process. Why pass on me and the project when the pitch checked all the boxes.
Thank you,
JB
Hi, John Branagan. I’m a Stage 32 Lounge Moderator. I wanted to let you know I moved your post from the Acting Lounge to the Screenwriting Lounge since it's about pitching. Let me know if you have any...
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It could be that their current talent is too close to your type or have similar projects, so they personally cannot take you on? Or it could be that they’re pursuing a different genre or tone at the m...
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I've written out a very well done movie script, it's not exactly a screenplay since it doesn't have what everyone is saying minute by minute, though it's well detailed and 3 pages. I heard you can't just submit a script to a production agency/company for legal reasons and you need a manager or agent...
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You're welcome, John January Noble.
Cecile George Yes, it would be categorized as a synopsis too, thanks for the info! I thought that you had to find a manager who could help you develop it further by working with someone else turn it into a screenplay.
Jon Hersh is having a free AMA about "How to Utilize Agents, Managers, and Dev. Execs. In Your Screenwriting Career" all day Friday, Aradia Paquette. You can post questions now. www.stage32.com/lounge...
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Maurice Vaughan Thank you for your answer by the way! I will make sure to upload a proper profile picture, just wasn't sure how many people have a proper profile, but I see everyone does! And thanks for the all the links, I will check them out
You're welcome, Aradia Paquette. Ok, great. And I'm a Stage 32 Lounge Moderator. If you ever have any questions about Stage 32, let me or another Lounge Moderator know. We have badges on our pictures....
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I’ve seen that many posts invite members to share their November Write Club goal, so here’s mine. I come from the documentary world, and for many years I’ve been sitting on an unpublished and quite unique diary/memoir telling the incredible true story of a soldier of Austrian origin who enlisted in...
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Great to meet you, Davide Ludovisi. Congratulations on getting the script request! I can see the story working as a fiction TV series. I'd watch it!
Here's some free TV writing webinars: www.stage32.co...
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You're welcome, Davide Ludovisi. Stage 32 has feedback services too (www.stage32.com/scriptservices).
And you could post your script on your profile. Producers search profiles for projects. That and ne...
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Decide Ludovisi-That was Ashley Rene Smith's in OPEN HOUSE -response live yesterday, about being attentive here on the platform, interacting, writing. It didn't work out yesterday, maybe today, but to...
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Davide, my mother worked in a nursing home in Laurieton, Australia and a lot of WW2 Veterans used to lend her their war diaries. I woke up one morning and went onto the kitchen, Mum was sitting there...
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In 2010 during my first trip to Sydney a chance encounter sparked the inspiration for a feature script. It was my "too hard basket" idea, the one I'd write after I broke into the industry. Years later after writing a first draft set in the 1840's Sydney (a nonlinear convict story) I heard myself pit...
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Thanks Maurice Vaughan
Wow thanks so much Michael Thorn .
Thanks Robin Gregory but I need to rewrite it first .
You're welcome, Marie Hatten.
Thank you very much Aparna Pasalkar it’s absolutely a global emergency.
Mixed vegetables are great (and delicious), but a movie/show with different genres is better! My favorite genre mix is Horror Action. What’s your favorite genre mix to write?
And feel free to post a tip for writing a genre mix script.
Tip for writing a Horror Action script: don’t get so caught up in w...
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Haha You could make broccoli a villain in a script, Abram Christian. Maybe an Animation script.
Maurice Vaughan broccoli is definitely the villain lol
Happy Thanksgiving without broccoli, Abram Christian!
I love writing a blend of Action and Sci-Fi too, P. J Oken. What's one of your favorite Action Sci-Fi scenes you've written or one of your favorite Action Sci-Fi movies?...
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I’m thankful for a lot in my creative life, like Stage 32’s November Write Club. I got a lot done for Write Club, and I plan on getting some more done the last few days of the month.
What’s something you’re thankful for in your creative life? And what’s something you want to get done before the end...
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Happy Thanksgiving, Evelyn Von Warnitz!
Happy Thanksgiving Maurice Vaughan and all of Stage32! I am thankful for the incredible amount of services and support you provide for us screenwriters. From education to access, it's phenomenal. One...
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Happy Thanksgiving, Ramon Zapata! You're right. The services and support on here is phenomenal! Shambhala sounds interesting! I'm rooting for you to finish the rewrite by end of year!...
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Maurice Vaughan Thanks so much!
You're welcome, Ramon Zapata.
How was the life of queer people a century ago?
May be many experienced sexual assaults and also been molested by the people in their daily life- and it's happening in the very religious or developing country where still they value the society.
can you imagine a small boy in the mid of city telling...
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It's a unique idea, DJ Gautam. I haven't read a script or watched a movie/show like it. It deals with important topics. I can see a producer buying and making your script....
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It absolutely has the makings of an important, brave story that's sadly still relevant today. I say go for it.
The idea is excellent and would make a great movie. Your idea is different and touches a topic no one would talk about
Your story does touch on very key issues in the community that often go ignored. Predation on the LGBT Community has always been an easy out for serial killers and other criminals. It’s one of the rea...
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Hey Screenwriters crew!
We’re closing out Week 3 of November Write Club, and I’d love to hear from you:
• What did you achieve this past week?
• What are your goals as we head into Week 4?
My Update
I’m really happy to share that I achieved my major November Write Club goal one week early! Today I finish...
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You’re welcome, Sandra Isabel Correia, and thank you as well :D my brain hasn’t been this energized since working on Petal (which incidentally is a heptalogy of novels, among other things) and getting...
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I wrote a "one sheet" ,more like five sheet, that I was really proud of. I think I finally realized how vital a one sheet is before going to draft. I used to treat it like a vague synopsis and figure...
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Banafsheh Esmailzadeh, I love how deeply personal Finding Elpis is for you turning the fear of success into a creative meditation is such a powerful choice. It’s true that we often focus on the strugg...
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Maria Restivo Glassner, that’s fantastic! I love how you’ve reframed the one sheet as a deep dive into character and story rather than just a vague synopsis. Treating it as a blueprint for the emotion...
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Thank you Sandra Isabel Correia, yes, it's also an ode to dreaming big which I've been praised for not being afraid to do, so the adventure is appropriately grand. And arguably the story is only reall...
Expand commentI'm normally a free writer who pours his heart out whenever I write, once I start writing it just flows and I can turn a though or an idea into a whole movie. But my issue is that I feel like the construct and industry ready Screenplay format kills my passion of writing.
I get your point about the 'Construct', but it mostly works. AND... when you get very familiar with using screenplay format, it enormously reduces the time it takes to write stories, especially comple...
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In a book you could spend fifty or a hundred pages setting up your world and charm your reader into it slowly, like slipping into a warm bath. In a screenplay its probably fifteen pages max of As-Is and even then, you should already have a major hook/inciting incident/trigger.
I think I should go into writing books rather than Screenplays because I prefer the creative freedom to roam and create a world to the T with no restriction of word count.
If its not too much I posted...
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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...
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“ She's the lead singer in the Stage 32 Moderator band” love this Maurice Vaughan :)) I play drums ahahaha
Happy Thanksgiving, Ramon Zapata! That counts. Andrew Kersey did an AMA and wrote a blog a few years ago (www.stage32.com/lounge/screenwriting/Writing-for-film-and-tv-Ask-Me-Anyt...)....
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I'll play the guitar, Sandra Isabel Correia.
I can't play the guitar, Sandra Isabel Correia, but it's a fictional band, so I can play the guitar. :D
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"write something that is undeniable." I'm on it, Jon Hersh. Thanks. Happy Thanksgiving!
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Thanks Jon
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Jon Hersh Jon, nice to meet you. What would you say to a guy who has written four screenplays: two horror shorts, two feature films—one drama, one action... but three are sitting in a drawer. Last wee...
Expand commentJon Hersh Jon, nice to meet you. What would you say to a guy who has written four screenplays: two horror shorts, two feature films—one drama, one action... but three are sitting in a drawer. Last week, I pulled an incomplete horror short film I just wrote out of the drawer. Which of these genres could be a hit and quickly get me an agent?
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How do I contact reps? Phone vs. email? What information should I provide them? Are ask about them?
Hey Jon - Outside of the scope here, but you've looked at 1000+ writings. The things I've watched, the notes I've received - how much leeway is there to not nail exact beats, at exact page counts, and...
Expand commentHey Jon - Outside of the scope here, but you've looked at 1000+ writings. The things I've watched, the notes I've received - how much leeway is there to not nail exact beats, at exact page counts, and not resolve every single question a reader/viewer might have. So as to leave a bit of mystery.