Screenwriting

It is self serving to say this but I wonder why long term committed relationship stories that demonstrate how people can stand the test of time aren't considered 'rom-com'. Although the premise of my project Dixie Dynamite is predicated on an out there premise it ultimately is a love story of 2 mid 50's that have been together 30+ years, weathered the storm of life, personal mistakes and failings and kids and are still in love decades later. I've actually had near universal acclaim and applause from pitches that the main characters are actually 'in-love' with one another rather than 'putting up' with one another but these types of stories don't see a lot of screen time in my experience.

Great news and great work Geoffroy Faugerolas @Stage32. Epic!

I really need to cook up more romcom ideas lol

Darrell Pennington,

Because romantic comedy is a genre in which a simple, sweet young girl seduces a confirmed bachelor, a handsome successful man, to start a serious relationship.

Haha Arthur Charpentier it's not always easy to tell but I am sensing a bit of well placed sarcasm in your reply but it is a well made point I suppose. Perhaps it is a well defined toolbox that must be drawn from in order to qulify as a 'romcom'....I need to create a snappy phrase that defines the romance and comedy stylings of a mature and complex relationship. Silver Shenanigans perhaps.......

My mind's blown! Congratulations, fellow semifinalists!!

Congrats to all of you!!!

Congrats to everyone! This is so exciting!!!

Still in shock, but congrats to my fellow semifinalists!

Let's hear it for all the Color Farm Diversity Contest semifinalists!

Hi, Dawn Ireland. This blog has some Sci-Fi TV series bibles you can download: www.stage32.com/blog/tv-series-bibles-that-every-television-writer-shoul...

Thank you so very much! This is exactly what I have been looking for.

You're welcome, Dawn Ireland. Okay, great!

Thanks for translating your post in the comment, Kevin Haquelle. You can edit your post by clicking the downward arrow to the right of your name and selecting "Edit Post."

I focus on the story first, the world, characters, then the episodes. Sometimes the order changes. I do that with any genre.

Merci beaucoup pour votre retour, c'est très clair.

C'est exactement l'approche que j'essaie d'adopter sur ce projet : à partir de l'histoire, de l'univers et des personnages avant d'affiner la structure des épisodes.

Votre message me conforte dans l'ordre de travail que je suis en train de poser. Merci encore pour le partage d'expérience.

Good morning, Kevin Haquelle. Can you translate your comment to English?

Thank you very much for your feedback, it is very clear.

This is exactly the approach I am trying to take with this project: starting from the story, the universe, and the characters before refining the episode structure.

Your message reassures me that the workflow I am putting in place is the right one.

Thank you again for sharing your experience.

You're welcome, Kevin Haquelle. Thanks for translating your comment. Once your pilot script is ready, you could post it on your profile. Producers search profiles for projects. That and networking are how I sold four short scripts to a producer. Click the gear symbol in the top right-hand corner and select “Edit profile” in the drop-down menu. Scroll down to “Loglines” and click “Add/edit loglines” to the right of “Loglines.” You can also post your script on your profile this way: www.stage32.com/loglines (near the top where it says “Add a Logline”)

Yikes - I got some fierce competition here.... wishing everyone luck for their projects. I hope there's success for everyone from this competition opportunity. I submitted my script 'In The House That Elle Built' - a dedication to the foster people in my family who grew up in horrible circumstances but learnt to thrive against the odds.

So many movies about Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) are about male lead characters who want to hurt people or disrupt. My story is about a female lead who learns to overcome her inner battles and finds acceptance and love for herself. I owe it to my female family members who grew up in the system to tell this story. You can come out the other side.

Lauren Hackney I love this story Lauren, I want to see this : )

Thank you Juliana Philippi I appreciate the support!

Nope. But I'm writing a Family, Action, Crime, Drama set in the Philippines at the moment. - - Well, you did ask.

I come here with a project my partner and my wife of 20 years, Sari Armington, worked on over the years. Eilley, Queen of the Comstock, is a rags to riches to rags story. Sari started researching and writing this while with Miramax as script analyst and over the years she would revisit the project. When she passed suddenly in 2025, I picked up the script and completed it, which in itself was a challenge to match her voice. Five re-writes and I think it is there. Log line sums up the film, She struck the Mother lode,built an empire, lived like a queen, then her husband died and then the men took everything.

Feature film set in the Comstock, Virginia City Nevada in the 1870s. Eilley didn't inherit it. She didn't marry into it. She earned it washing miners' filthy clothes and accepting a ten-foot claim for unpaid rent. She built the mansion. She ran the operation. The young Scot survived polygamy, the Mormon Trail, and frontier poverty, revisiting her homeland wealthy. Eilley came back to Nevada and when her husband died, the men who ran Nevada took it all. Because in 1870s America, a woman, divorced, a second marriage and then a widow, could strike silver-but not keep it.

This is Sari's opus and I certainly hope it finds an audience that embrace it and enjoy it.

I like to reveal a character's core nature little by little, but it depends on the story, Parker Anderson. I introduce a new character in a way that feels natural to what's going on in the scene.

I'm with Maurice Vaughan the gradual revelation of a character's nature is often fascinating. It works best when you can lead the audience one way, while dropping contrary hints, then volte face at some point for a big twist, reveal. Some characters you can probably reveal most of up front. Like Samwise Gamgee in the LotR - you pretty much know who he is from the beginning, but even then along the way, he decides to eventually act courageously and that's a beautiful evolution for his character. The key to all great character arcs is change/evolution and it happens on 3 levels. The first level you focus on should be internal - i.e. a characters thinking and motivations should change. The second level should be interpersonal - how their relationships change (i.e. Frodo and Sam). Frodo naively starts as the courageous adventurer and loses his confidence along the journey / while Sam is reluctant to join but grows into a hero via the same experiences along the journey and their relationship evolves to the point they are absolute equals by the end, who understand each other in a new light because of the experiences they had. The third level of change is external. The basic plot start to finish - where they come from to where they go.

Maurice Vaughan would you say these folks could possibly refer you to an agent or studio who might purchase the script? That's assuming that they like the script and it's ready for the market.

It's possible, T.A. Uner. Check out this blog that came out the other day. "Land Your First Win: What You Can Learn From Other Stage 32 Success Stories" www.stage32.com/blog/land-your-first-win-what-you-can-learn-from-other-s...

Maurice Vaughan you’re always a great help.

Glad to help, T.A. Uner.

Hey T.A., on average per month, we see over 100 script/manuscript requests from the execs to check out writers/authors full material. and on average per month, the pitch sessions generate around 50 meeting requests where the execs get with writers after reading their work to continue the conversation further. then we see frequent signings and shopping agreements come from our pitch sessions after those meetings.

we also do have a handful of execs/literary agents who are focused on book-to-film adaptations and are IP/Media Rights specialists. drop me a dime at success@stage32.com and I can spotlight them for you.

Maurice Vaughan, that’s an incredible win, and such a perfect example of what happens when you show up and connect here. Meeting a producer during Introduce Yourself Weekend and landing a shopping agreement is exactly the kind of winning so many writers and creators hope for. Thank you for sharing it; it really shows what’s possible in this community.

You're welcome, Sandra Isabel Correia. Thanks. Exactly. Talent, timing, concept, etc. pay roles in getting wins, but it's also about showing up and connecting on here. A lot of my wins on here came from showing up and connecting.

Maurice Vaughan YES MAURICE!! OMG that's amazing, congratulations!!! Sandra Isabel Correia I got my first script request for my comedy "Hotel Puerto Rico" at the beginning of the week! And just happily flowing with the light, love and focus: an artist's life : ) My first, first win was last summer, late summer, when I started to pitch my drama "A House for the Flowers", and I got my first script request, then another, and then another...then meetings. Beyond grateful for this platform, Stage 32 has truly changed my life. Also, working on prep for a film in the works, getting into the character's life since she is a dancer...and also saying yes and thank you for all the things that are leaving my life, making room for the new agents, new contracts and new films to write and act in.

First win this year is finishing a Hallmark Christmas script with my writing partner. We just started sending out queries and already have two requests to read the script. Hopefully we have a second win on the horizon!

My very first win here on Stage 32 was the November Write Club Award. It wasn’t just a win—it made me realize that my ideas truly have value. It pushed me to take this path seriously, not as a hobby anymore, but as a career in the making. This is the real Meriem finally speaking up.

Thanks Maurice Vaughan, my Mum always says she loves my titles and they are the first things I come up with before starting any story. And indeed my intended slate is a lot and it's not even all the stuff I wanna get done (since trip is booked for October I decided to challenge myself to ramp my productivity up in the next ~9 months), but I want to build my portfolio up and not have my active/on hiatus projects haunting me.

You're welcome, Banafsheh Esmailzadeh. A title is big for a script. I like one-word titles and catchy titles the most. I don't want to have my open projects haunting me either. One of my goals this year is finish unfinished projects. We got this!

Nice Maurice Vaughan, and thanks yes, we do! My favourite titles to cook up are for my social satires that blend adjective-noun (Metal Garden, Lunar Window, Glass Waltz, etc), but Finding Elpis's were also pretty fun incorporating different musical terms. Petal's titles, particularly the comic series', were trickier but just as satisfying being single words with multiple meanings (Conviction, Induction, Contact, etc.). It's why I know I won't take any suggestion to change titles laying down lol

You're welcome, Banafsheh Esmailzadeh. I'll have to try adjective-nouns and musical terms for titles. Thanks for the idea.

You're welcome, Maurice Vaughan~

Hey, Billy Kwack. What's one thing that stood out to you?

Hey Maurice, all the details in writing a sci-fi, it makes me feel like to add more detail and understanding of other worlds

That's great, Billy Kwack. I'm outlining a Sci-Fi Drama TV series, and I'm going to make maps to help me develop the world.

This is an incredible blog. I completely love it. Thanks so much for sharing, Maurice!

You're welcome, Sydney S. I've built a lot of worlds for scripts, but Cynna talks about some things I never thought of when building worlds. If you're a writer building a world, definitely check out this blog.

I like WaterWalkers, Libby Wright! "Were there beings that we couldn't see, couldn't hear, couldn't recognize until there was enough moisture in the air?" That's creepy and scary.

Ok, everyone-- any guesses on the book author, genere, or storyline of the excerpt before I reveal?

Sorry- I was locked out of Stage 32 for a week or so with the new authentication system. Here's the book (which was made into films and a TV series too in the 1990's) Christy by Catherine Marshall. It's based on her mother's real life experience and the scene I shared is her in the early 1900's on a train into the Apapachian Mountains to teach in a one room schoolhouse. Is that what you thought it would be?

Sorry to hear that happened, Libby Wright. Glad you're back and hope you're doing great! Thanks for sharing what the book is. I thought it was from a Sci-Fi book.

Maurice Vaughan yes- when I read that passage I just thought- this could be just about anything- it's so foreboding!