Screenwriting

You're welcome, Elise Marenson.

Glad to hear some positive news especially this time of year. Congrats Elise.! I like the catchy title. "Faith based" almost sounds like its own genre. Can you tell us how your script qualifies in this category?

How awesome Elise Marenson

Elise, that's great news about "The Ride of My Life!" Here's wishing you more and more success!

That's awesome Elise Marenson . I just finished my own faith based script. Do you have any advice you can offer? How did you make connections? Thanks, Dave

wow i love that Maurice Vaughan what a beautifully realized world you crafted!

Thanks, Pat Alexander! I appreciate it! This is great practice for coming up with stories, characters, and loglines!

These are four alien robbers. they want to rob the gold vault, but their spaceship broke down and they are forced to drive to the target under the cover of a shop on wheels. there they are going to feed the fat guard a teleportation device and when he carries it to the gold, it will teleport him to another planet and friends will become incredibly rich.

MOST EXCELENT ROAD 'TRIP'

In this quirky, magical road trip adventure, The Dude, Snoop Dogg, and an eccentric ice cream vendor embark on a bowling tournament journey across the country in a mystical ice cream truck.

When a vengeful Hitcher transforms Snoop into a dog, they must solve the riddle of the perfect ice cream flavor to break the curse.

Their quest leads them through a secret passage into Wonderland, where they must outplay the Evil Queen in a rigged bowling tournament to rescue Alice, the only one who can solve the riddle and save Snoop from his canine form.

Time is running out—will they succeed before Snoop’s transformation becomes permanent?

LOGLINE. A divorcee tries to win back his ex, but a doggy clip stirs up jealousy, as his new dog falls in love and forces them to move in with her.

DAVIDSON. Divorced and only wants his ex back. He doesn’t want a dog, he wants his ex. And a beer. Davidson only owns a bike and can’t transport a dog. Here Davidson’s friend forces him to an animal shelter in his truck. In the animal shelter Davidson finds the perfect dog for himself. Even his name is a like a good omen. It’ll take this dog just a couple of hours to decide everything in Davidson’s life. And Davidson will be jealous.

HARLEY. On the road his two daddies watch funny doggy clips on the internet. After this Harley is still the perfect dog for Davidson, but also shows another side. An unexplainable hostile side. Here Dr. Love enlightens Davidson about why Harley insists on destroying the interior in his truck and on every other location they visit. Harley has fallen in love with one of the dogs that they watched on the internet. They have no other choice, must take Harley to see his new internet crush.

LUIGI AKA DR. AMORE. Luigi is well navigated in the world of love and doubts that his favorite customer can save his marriage. If so, it’d be by taking a dog. Luigi is so convinced about his ability as a match maker that he kidnaps Davidson in his ice cream truck. Then drives them the long way to the animal shelter. The way home takes one surprising turn after the other and Dr. Love explains how lucky Davidson is to have him there to explain. For instance what the dog is trying to say. Say what you will about Luigi’s methods, but Davidson’s new dog leads his new daddy to a house where they both find a new home.

Göran Johansson that’s awesome!

Ewan Dunbar that’s great advice, thank you. During the table read the actors said it can easily be worked into a series since there’s so much to work with so I will definitely map it out and see what goes where and figure out what I need to add. Right now the sequel is proving to be much heavier in lore so that one can definitely benefit from the stress test.

Nathan Smith thank you, yes, I think I will definitely do that for the sequel, Rondo of Pandora. The new characters have a lot of backstory that’s kind of overtaking the initial tone and story so a sort of pre-story for them is definitely in order. I was also planning an overall prequel to the story which I might work into a comic or audio play or something as well. The more I work on the main story, the more it informs the prequel and everything else lol

Go where your energy leads you. There's no harm with expanding your world, if that's what excites you to write. Try to worry about format later.

Dear Banafsheh, nice that you liked what I wrote. There is a point with writing several version. First write the version which takes least time (epistolary short story perhaps). When you know that version works, you also know that you can write what will take you longer time. And of course, if a play becomes popular, it becomes easier to sell the screenplay.

Congratulations and well done

Congratulations, Sandi!

Fantastic news, Sandi. I hope you celebrate this big win.

Congratulations! So Inspiring!

That's awesome. Thanks for sharing your story!!!

"UNFORTUNATELY (very short pauze) DELETE... I can only pay you $ 500.000 upfront for your wonderfull screenplay, what's you bank account number!"

Susan Kelejian Damn, Susan. Jotting down names? Creating a hit list? I’m really digging the whole “Murder She Wrote” vibe. YES! Solve the crime of why your AMAZING works aren’t selected.

1) See "Unfortunately"

2) Step machine for 15 minutes while punching air with 1lb weights.... THEN

3) Huge hot chocolate

... then you meet this guy in a Hollywood cafe, he spills all his coffee on your trousers and offers to buy you a new one,; you both connect and start talking about what you love, movies. He tells you that a friend told him that he deletes all his letters starting with "UNFORTUNATELY"... Laughing, you cry out "that friend must be me," and say "let's get some chocolate with our coffee."

Unfortunately, any email rely is a Pass/no income.

Pray for unexpected phonecalls & meetings.

I don't take seriously anything anyone in this industry says. With good reason. Script Shadow was somehow able to get access to this script and he's not that impressed with it. So it's not some undeniably brilliant writing. Like other scripts, it's possible to find fault with it. It would be an interesting experiment to change the title and the author's name and enter it in a bunch of screenplay contests to see how it would do.

It doesn't matter what some troll on Script Shadow thinks. It doesn't matter what some competition readers think. All that matters is what the person buying it thinks.

This happens all the time; people read what's won Nicholl or something off the top of the Black List and they lose their minds because it doesn't fit with what they believe is objectively good. If there was an objectively good, and these people knew what it was, they'd be selling scripts, working on assignments, and producing movies for millions - but they're not. They're sitting on Twitter with nothing better to do than read other people's work and throw shade at those outperforming them.

The rename a script and throw it back into the system experiment has supposedly been done before however. Some people claimed they did it with the Black List and saw legendary movie scripts get low scores. It happens. Stuff fails to align all the time. I have a whole section of my book dedicated to critics who hated popular movies when they came out.

There is no real objective good, and those who keep trying to make it the case just don't want to accept this is an art form and that they need to think and act like artists.

I'm not surprised accusations like AI are being thrown around. It generates clicks. They'll be plenty of people getting what they can off the back of this news.

Alrighty then. Let's start by getting the writer's name correct. It's Natan Dotan. Here is his IMDb page. https://www.imdb.com/name/nm6220177/

Natan has one credit for a short that came out thirteen years ago, and with little information available, this writer could've been kicking around the industry for a while. In other words, he may have seemingly appeared from nowhere, but I'll bet he's not an overnight success. Furthermore, I wouldn't trust Deadline, Hollywood Reporter, or anyone else to get the facts straight. There can be much hoopla in the industry that fizzles like a sparkler (Read the IMDb story about Barbara Streisand directing the Blacklist favorite Catherine The Great) in 2015. https://d1dlq8f5fkueth.cloudfront.net/annual-lists/2014.pdf

An aspiring screenwriter can draw warm and fuzzy inspiration from this story. I'm inspired by many things that motivate me, but very few from reading stories like this. I've pitched screenplays for a dozen years, and this Cinderella story can potentially become a Maltese Falcon for the foreseeable future; you know The stuff the dreams are made of. There are few success stories like this for a reason. According to Go Into The Story, the official blog of the Blacklist, There were eleven spec scripts sold in 2023. However, the WGA and SAG strikes affected much of last year. Personally, my action was slow, so I wrote four screenplays. According to Scott Meyers, sixteen specs were sold in 2022. Those numbers don't include spec sales to indie filmmakers.

THE ANALOGY

As legend has it, a Hollywood agent discovered Lana Turner while sitting at the soda counter at Schwab's Drugstore on Sunset Boulevard. It was a soda fountain, but it was at a joint down the road called The Top Hat. So, imagine the legions of unknown actors hanging out at Schwab's perusing movie mags for years, and it wasn't even the right location. So, Phillip, The Real Deal, what's your point? Well, I'm glad I asked that rhetorical question. You need talent, hustle, inertia, and a thick skin to sell screenplays, particularly big-budget ones. As previously stated in this thread, sometimes it all boils down to luck, timing, or both.

Earlier this year, I watched a YouTube interview with an established, working screenwriter who said it took him ten years to make a feature film. That resonated with me because it took me the same. To paraphrase Patrick Henry, I know not what others may do, but as for me, I plan to make more indie films with budgets of a million dollars or less. That includes working on another low budget film scheduled to shoot next year. I've built a relationship with the production company that shot my first feature. This relationship began nearly four years ago.

Someone on this platform might be the next big sensation, but based on my empirical knowledge, prepare and commit to the long haul; otherwise, aspiring scribes may be in for a hefty dose of frustration and disappointment.

Excellent post and summary, Uncle Phil. We need more of this.

I've seen a lot of people building their own narratives around what's happened. Narratives that just so happen to support their outlook and position. I often fall victim of doing the same.

I've read so many books about so many careers and so many movies, and it's amazing how often the real stories behind them are at complete odds with what people speculate happened. Nothing is overnight. Nothing is easy. Nothing is without uncertainty.

Indeed, if the likes of Deadline or Hollywood Reporter said there was no rain today, I'd make sure to pack an umbrella. Same goes for certain other outlets, platforms, and individuals that have a dog in the fight or just need to feel relevant.

It took me seven years to get my first assignment. Four features in now, and just about to enter year fourteen. I work within a scene that the community/industry mostly seems to consider irrelevant at best and second-rate at worst. It feels more and more like working the trenches is seen as failure than a route to success.

CJ Walley: I'm proud to know and keep working those trenches while others dream of reaching an imaginary brass ring.

Thats ma guy RB!

Hi, Darwin Reina. Always great to see you! How are you doing?

I am doing good ma guy! how you doing? lets connect in instagram Maurice Vaughan ok ma guy mine is @darwinreina

Glad to hear it, Darwin Reina! I'm doing great. I just followed you on Instagram.

Oh!! I think you have a winner as a comedy. Think about a "dark comedy" maybe? I recommend watching animations and movies like "The Incredibles" but watch it from the villain Syndrome's perspective: Syndrome's main motivation was his hatred of people with superpowers and his desire to be a hero himself. He was a former sidekick who became a superhero killer. His character traits would be a good guideline to your anti-heroine. Maurice Vaughan, yeah, I left it vague so Arthur could interject his thoughts into the rewrite. I think once he settles on what genre he wants everything will move forward for him.

DD Myles

LOGLINE:

A young model signs a contract with the NecroStar modeling agency, where zombie models work. However, not everyone likes the presence of a live girl. Someone is trying to kill the heroine and she will have to learn all the laws of the modeling business from her own experience and not die before the end of the contract, otherwise she will have to work after death for an eternity.

That's a unique idea, Arthur Charpentier! How about this: After signing with a zombie modeling agency, a live girl climbs to the top of the modeling world while fighting to stay alive against an unknown killer so she won’t have to work for eternity as a zombie.

Or this: After signing with a zombie modeling agency, a live girl who dreams of becoming a supermodel fights to stay alive against an unknown killer so she won’t have to work for eternity as a zombie.

I think you'll need to explain why she signs with a zombie modeling agency in the script.

Thanks a lot, Maurice Vaughan! The second version of the logline describes my idea better, although they are both great.

You're welcome, Arthur Charpentier.

My condolences to Marshall Brickman's family and friends, Sam Sokolow. THE ADDAMS FAMILY was one of my favorite movies growing up. Incredibly written movie! I didn't know there was a musical.

Hi Sam, sad to hear

So sorry to read this. Brickman wrote and directed one of my favorite 80s teen thrillers, THE MANHATTAN PROJECT.

RIP, Marshall Brickman.

May his soul rest in peace. :'(