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Hey everyone,

Quick win, my feature L.A. Gold (contained heist thriller) has been selected for Stage 32’s Writers’ Room OWA submission and is being sent to an industry executive.

This came off the back of a lot of rewriting, tightening, and cutting what wasn’t working, getting the script lean, visual, and production-ready.

If you’re deep in drafts right now, keep going. It adds up.

Appreciate the support from the Stage 32 team.

Sunil

There’s a lot that goes into building a career as a writer, and I thought I’d comment on one of those things. You should always be writing.

One script does not make a career. When your reps first start taking a project of yours out, chances are it won’t sell. I know that's a drag, but that’s the way it is. That being said, if the writing is good, you’ll get general meetings, and hopefully build more and more fans. If you do this enough times, you have a huge list of execs in town who are excited to read everything you get out there. That’s when multiple options, sales, rewrites, etc start happening.

In order to get to the point that there are many irons in the fire, you have to give your reps new material to take out regularly. I’ve had clients in the past who wrote one new script every 2 years, or in a few cases, every 4, and it’s a nightmare. That makes it impossible to build momentum, and causes a career to stall. Those types of writers always want to spend time recycling the same script over and over again, and it doesn’t work.

Always be writing, but also get good notes, and make sure that you are getting your scripts in great shape before they go out. Having 10 mediocre pieces of material is also not going to do much for you. Keep showing the execs that you can be counted on to create great material. It’s a very important piece of the puzzle.

Any Questions?

Hi everyone, and today I really want to make a comeback. I've been curious about screenwriting since I was 14, and I've given it up for a year. I started to abandon it and got caught up in other things and became someone I didn't want to be. Now I want to give up all of that and go back to being the creative guy I used to be, continue writing screenplays and not give up, even if I've put all my scripts away somewhere. Thank you everyone.

Lately, I've been realizing how much of writing isn't just about getting the story down but understanding what the story actually is.

With my current feature, Pie & Coffee, the first draft helped me find the characters. The rewrites are where I'm really discovering what the film wants to say.

It's interesting how feedback, time away from the script, and even silence from the outside world all play a role in that process. Sometimes not getting immediate responses forces you to rely more on your own instincts and in a strange way, that can be valuable.

I'm currently in that phase of refining focusing on emotional clarity, character choices, and making sure every moment feels earned rather than just written.

Curious to hear from others

Have you ever had a phase where things felt quiet externally, but internally your work was evolving the most?

I shot a comedy digital series last year and just now I am finally able to do post production. I finally have a fantastic professional team in place. I am in great, capable hands at last. Last year once we finished the shoot, my producer/director at the time insisted on using her editor who had no comedy experience at all. He worked on a dramatic procedural show. I was always resistant to her ideas for post production. I am executive producer and I own the IP but she had it in her head she was the queen bee in all of this. Because I let the director hire the crew etc We had no problem when we were doing the shoot, although, some of my actors did admit to me that the director was very controlling. But when we got to do post, I was adamant about which editor I wanted for post. She fought me on every account. She wanted who she wanted. It finally caused us to part ways because of creative differences. She was a nightmare. But big lessons were learned and I am grateful for my trek through the refining fire. Does anyone relate? Good luck with your creative projects!

If you’re dialed in to creepy pasta, analog horror, and liminal horror, you know about The Backrooms. (I teach teenagers, so I get clued in regularly to internet trends.) Suffice it to say, the web series is really spooky and worth checking out on YouTube.

Today I saw the trailer for the new feature film. A pleasant surprise! First, it keeps the stylized look and sound design of the shorts, but with actual characters (the web show is mostly vibes, relying on POV camera work). Secondly, it’s from A24… a sign of quality. And thirdly, it’s directed by Backrooms creator Kane Parsons, and I think it’s great that he’s still involved.

Anyhow, I’m thrilled that this exists, and that it looks like it has potential. Also happy for the filmmaker who went from YouTube to director of an A24 film.

Check the trailer here:

https://youtu.be/0HjdiohVOik?si=9pQQaNHMseYSvphC

Hollywood is becoming international, and if you're a writer, filmmaker or tanet anywhere in the world, that's the best news you've heard in years.

For most of the twentieth century, breaking into the industry meant one thing: moving to Los Angeles. The geography was the gatekeeper. You needed to be in the room — literally — to have a shot at the room. Pitch meetings, staffing seasons, writers' rooms, networking events. All of it was physically located in one city, on one coast, in one country. If you weren't there, you weren't really in the game.

That is no longer true. And the shift happening right now is one of the most meaningful structural changes in the history of screen storytelling.

Production has gone global — not as a trend, not as a talking point, but as a permanent reconfiguration of how film and television gets made. Tax incentives, world-class infrastructure, and the streaming revolution have collectively redrawn the map. The UK has transformed into a genuine production powerhouse. Pinewood and Leavesden are booked solid. Wales has become a serious destination. Canada — Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal — has cemented its role not just as a shooting location but as a creative hub with real development activity. And South Africa has emerged as perhaps the most exciting story of all: Cape Town is now hosting major international productions year-round, building crews, building talent pipelines, building something durable.

But the really significant shift — the one that matters most for writers specifically — is what's happening in television. Because film was always somewhat porous. An independent film could always come from anywhere. Television was different. American TV, especially network and cable, was famously, almost aggressively, insular. Writers' rooms were physical, hierarchical, and almost exclusively Los Angeles-based. You had to climb that ladder in person, rung by rung, for years. The showrunner system — creatively powerful as it is — created a bottleneck that filtered out almost everyone who wasn't already embedded in the LA ecosystem.

Streaming has cracked this open. Netflix, Apple, Amazon — they don't just buy American content. They commission originals in dozens of countries, many of which go on to massive global success. They have established writers' rooms and development infrastructure in London, in Toronto, in Sydney. The model of the single centralized room is giving way to something more distributed, more genuinely international. HBO, Netflix and Apple have all made serious commitments to British productions and British talent. Canada's co-production treaties, built up over decades, now function as real creative partnerships. South Africa's writers are increasingly being brought into international projects shot in the country — creating knowledge transfer that is building actual, lasting infrastructure.

The practical result for writers is significant. A British writer no longer needs to relocate to staff on a US show — the show may come to them. A Canadian writer in Toronto now has access to productions that would have been unimaginable without an LA address ten years ago. A South African writer with a strong voice and a compelling sample is now genuinely on the radar of international buyers in a way that simply wasn't true before.

Writers everywhere who are serious about their craft now have a genuine shot. Not a consolation prize. Not a regional footnote. A real, viable path into the rooms that matter.

That's worth paying attention to.

Producing requires balancing creativity with practicality in a way few other roles do. You’re not just helping shape the story, you’re thinking about budget, packaging, scheduling, marketability, relationships, and how to actually get a project across the finish line.

After more than three decades working across international distribution, production, and now publishing, I’ve seen the entertainment industry from many different angles.

From selling films territory by territory at global markets…

to producing projects…

to helping creators develop stories.

Over time, a few patterns become impossible to ignore.

Here are some of the truths the industry eventually teaches you. Feel free to add more in the comments!

1. A great idea is not enough.

The industry runs on execution, relationships, and timing. Many brilliant ideas never make it to the screen.

2. The math always matters.

Behind every creative decision sits a financial reality: budget, recoupment, market demand.

3. Distribution determines destiny.

A beautifully made film without a distribution strategy can easily disappear.

4. Festivals are not a business model.

They can elevate a project, but they rarely guarantee financial success.

5. Casting is often a financial decision.

Recognizable actors or trending talent can unlock distribution discussions and investor confidence.

6. Relationships build careers more than projects do.

Projects come and go. The people who trust you and believe in you stay.

7. The market never stops changing.

What worked ten years ago—or even five—or even last Film Market may not work today.

8. Intellectual property has become incredibly valuable.

Books, articles, podcasts, and true stories increasingly drive development because they bring narrative depth and audience interest.

9. Ego has destroyed more projects than lack of talent.

I’ve seen films fall apart because of pride, politics, or power struggles, or just plain ignorance.

10. Reputation compounds over time.

In a relationship-driven industry, your name eventually becomes one of your most valuable assets.

Despite all of this, I still believe deeply in storytelling.

Because every once in a while, the right story finds the right collaborators at the right moment.

And when that happens, something extraordinary can still be created.

Going to Cannes this year? Let me help you refine your presentation (and mindset) in my very popular Stage 32 workshop.

Which of these truths has had the biggest impact on how you approach producing, and what experience taught you that lesson?