Trending Lounge Discussions

Nice to have you here Liviu Rădulescu - what types of things did you work on on cruise ships? I’m sure that influences a lot of your creativity!

I worked in the Entertainment Department, in the technical division.

Hey Jayden Hayes - great to meet you and welcome to Stage 32! Here’s a great post that will help you navigate Stage 32: https://www.stage32.com/blog/how-to-successfully-navigate-the-stage-32-p... Hope this helps and glad you're with us! Also, stop by the screenwriting lounge and get to know some of your fellow scribes: https://www.stage32.com/lounge/screenwriting

Jayden Hayes welcome to Stage 32 and our family of creatives! Happy networking!

You're in the right place, Jayden! I'd recommend emailing our success team at success@stage32.com for industry guidance. We can point you in the right direction, share resources and provide you with everything you need to succeed...hence the success team :)

Hey Jayden Hayes, Welcome to Stage 32. Sandy French Fries sounds like a fun ensemble concept — all the best with it!

Ihekuna Benedict thanks for the re-introduction. Your website resume is impressive. I love the book cover.

Thank you. I sent you a network request. Looking forward to hearing from you

Great question. Seems like it may depend on the genre? Feel like recently I've seen a big action scene, a woman crying, something creepy. But all do have that hook! I've been working on a couple scripts and testing different openings.

This is a great point, especially in today's world where audiences can be used to short gripping clips on social media.

I'm exploring ways to earn a moment of interjection from the audience in the opening scene, because it's one way for me to sense check that I'm helping them to feel something.

Feeding off of what Xochi Blymyer said, this could be from a big action scene or otherwise.

Depending on the context one layer or option for this could be by using some form of contrast, e.g. starting off at the point where a light mood starts to quickly turn into a heavy one.

Joseph Donald, completely agree; those first five pages carry so much weight. For me, a great opening scene is one that immediately grounds us in emotion, intention, and tension, even before the plot fully reveals itself. One thing I’d add, which I think is just as crucial:

the protagonist’s point of view.

Even if we don’t know their full backstory yet, I want to feel how they see the world, their lens, their energy, their internal weather. When that POV is clear from page one, the audience connects faster and the story feels more anchored. For me, the opening is a promise: this is the world, this is the tone, and this is the heartbeat of the story. If the reader feels that pulse right away, they’ll follow you anywhere.

The opening of pluribus is a great example of tension building. It's slow-paced, but you're nervous while watching. It's harder to do with drama but if you get to the heart of the conflict, it's doable.

Joseph Donald, I completely agree. For me, it’s when the opening immediately raises a question I want answered, not just what’s happening, but why. That curiosity is what pulls me in.

Congrats on the placement!

Great job, Leonardo! Here's wishing you more and more success with "18!"

Congrats!

This is great news, congrats

Congratulations Leonardo Warner! Wishing you more success ahead!

Great question Jason Green. I have a couple that are like that - big scope. And the feedback I've received is to focus on the first one as a feature and make it as complete as possible, but not long. I hear a repeated saying that 120 is too long. Personally, I miss the days of the 3-hour movie and I don't mind them one bit. But producers out there say 120 max. I'm a feature guy so I'm always going to vote for the feature unless there's too much to tell in a trilogy. You're wise not to show it to anyone until it's sharp.

Leonardo Ramirez I mean, Kingdom of Heaven, says it all.

It does Jason Green. In a colossal way.

Jason Green , as a fellow creative, I think you just hunker down and get to story on the page in what you feel is the best way possible. If that ends up being 200 pages, then you take a step back and figure out where you want to go next. As a former studio exec, Leonardo is right. It's never a good idea to submit a 140+ page feature, unless you're Christopher Nolan, Denis Villeneuve, or someone of that stature. And if you're in the process of hoping to break in, get representation, etc., then keeping it under 120 is a sound strategic choice. There is no worse feeling than opening a 120+ page script by an unknown writer when you've got 8 scripts to read over the weekend. It's a really quick way to discourage a full read and have execs bail by page 30.

My advice: finish this draft, then put it aside and write a much tighter second script as your calling card. That smaller script earns you the right to hand someone your epic. Have you written anything at a more commercial length?

This really resonated, especially “a great idea is not enough.”

As someone still early in the process, it’s been eye-opening to realize how much execution and consistency matter beyond just the concept itself.

Also the point about relationships building careers more than projects, that’s something I’m starting to understand more as I engage with the community here.

Number 6 is golden! I will add that relationships that are built over time that aren’t purely transactional are invaluable. Some projects talk several years to get off the ground, I only want to work with people I’ve built a solid relationship with. I will add kindness and humility is something I value above all else. Follow the golden rule in your personal and professional life. Next, trust your gut—my instincts have never failed me. Follow passion and not mandates or trends. I could go on and on…I love this work!!

Thank you Alexia Melocchi for taking the time to share this wisdom.

Thank you for that. I copied it and saved it to my "education" folder on the film industry. I already know that, despite my screenplays being award-winning, getting them produced is rather like winning the lottery. However, you can't win if you don't buy a ticket. So, I continue to seek options wherever I can. I'm not sure my work will ever be produced. I hope it does, but if not, at least I'm doing something I love...writing.

Alexia Melocchi, thank you for sharing this; every point resonates deeply, especially from the perspective of someone navigating filmmaking across different countries and sectors. For me, the truth that has shaped my producing journey the most is “relationships build careers more than projects do.” Working between Portugal, the UK, and broader Europe, I’ve seen how trust, consistency, and genuine human connection open doors that no pitch deck or perfect script can open alone. The right collaborators elevate the work, protect the vision, and help carry a project through the inevitable storms.

I’d also add something I’ve learned while developing my own projects and supporting others:

Clarity of intention is a producer’s superpower.

When you know why a story matters, who it’s for, and what you’re trying to build long-term, every creative and financial decision becomes more grounded. It’s what keeps a project aligned when the market shifts, when notes come in, or when the path gets messy.

Your reminder that “a great idea is not enough” is so true, but a great idea with clear intention, the right partners, and a realistic strategy can still become something extraordinary.

Thank you for sharing your decades of perspective with such generosity <3

Richard Joseph Secchiaroli sounds like you have a compelling story. Might I suggest you check out the Jobs section and perhaps post a ghostwriting position there with a bit more detail to help you find a good fit? Good luck!

Thank you! I will do that!

Yes do check out the jobs section and do post a ghostwriting position wanted there

Mom fell off stairs when I was working in the USMC base, need supports for medical and caregiving bills from compassionate people, I'm getting depressed

please

https://gofund.me/72c20fe4e

Help relief Organizers Cashapp

$FlattyMike

Shadow Dragu-Mihai true, but at the same time you have to come up with the idea for the shot in the first place. I usually do that when I'm planning the shot list and at the same time doing rudimentary storyboards or discussing the shots with my partner Leya, while she's doing the storyboards.

Vital Butinar That’s really interesting — especially that cycle of expansion during production and then reduction again in post.

It almost feels like you need to over-understand the story in order to arrive back at its simplest, most essential form. Like the added backstories and motivations aren’t necessarily meant to be seen directly, but they shape the way everything is performed and captured.

And that point about shooting more than you need really resonates. It’s almost like editing is where the film is truly discovered, but only if you’ve given yourself enough material to explore.

Do you feel like that “scaling back” process made the final film closer to your original vision, or did it become something different altogether?

Exactly Tomás Daniel. You put it well and I like it over-understanding the story and that it needed to get bigger before it became it became simpler again.

I mean I've always understood that at the beginning there's an idea and it gets developed to a screenplay, then it gets adapted to what you can shoot in pre-production, then it gets shot and finally edited together in post. I've always thought that it's a bad idea to try to get the exact same thing that was written, because even the written screenplay is not always similar to the original idea.

So I always try forget the original idea when I'm doing pre-production, then when I'm on set I try to not think about what I was imagining when I was writing but following the plan from pre-production and what is available as far as locations, actors, etc. goes. Then when I get to post I try to forget what I imagined initially and just work off the material that was shot.

Most of the time the end result looks very similar to the original idea put together in context with what was available for production.

It's actually quite fascinating and I love the entire process.

Vital Butinar That’s a great way of putting it — almost like each stage demands a kind of “creative detachment.”

What you said about letting go at every phase really stands out to me. It takes discipline to not cling to the original idea and instead respond to what the process is giving you in real time.

And it’s fascinating how, despite all that letting go, the final result still somehow echoes the original vision — just shaped by reality, constraints, and discovery.

It makes the whole process feel less like execution and more like a conversation between intention and circumstance.

That’s honestly one of the things I’m starting to appreciate more — not trying to control the film too tightly, but allowing it to become what it needs to be.

Mom fell off stairs when I was working in the USMC base, need supports for medical and caregiving bills from compassionate people, I'm getting depressed

please

https://gofund.me/72c20fe4e

Help relief Organizers Cashapp

$FlattyMike