Screenwriting

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

Liked by Maurice Vaughan

Europe

Hello friends! Hope you’re doing great.

I’m based in Belgium, and I wrote a full season of my series—not just a pilot—because the story came to me naturally from the start. The project is deeply rooted in an American world, in both setting and tone, and in the specific voice I want to bring to it.

So...

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Maurice Vaughan

Welcome to the community, Fares M. Hope you’re doing great too! Stage 32 has a blog that'll help you navigate the platform and connect with creatives and industry professionals all over the world. www...

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Liked by Ehsan Rahimpour and 16 others

Maurice Vaughan
Mixed Genres

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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Meriem Bouziani

Not yet — all of them are still in the waiting list.

This is my problem: I had a year of idea explosion, yet I’m stuck in a slow writing process.

and also my mind keeps generating new worlds Maurice V...

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Ehsan Rahimpour

Shutter Island (2010), Collateral (2004), Bourne Identity (2002) Maurice Vaughan

Maurice Vaughan

Sometimes it's better to take a lot of time on a project, Meriem Bouziani. Something I do when I keep thinking of ideas is save them in a file to work on later, and sometimes I make a short outline fo...

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Maurice Vaughan

Thanks, Ehsan Rahimpour. Shutter Island and Bourne Identity are incredible! I still need to see Collateral.

Meriem Bouziani

Yes, exactly — that’s what I do as well.

I am focusing on The Silent PFC War, while also taking notes on every new idea that comes my way.

And I also develop titles for them.

Titles are the anchors I...

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Liked by Kenneth Ellis 2 and 7 others

Maurice Vaughan
Leftovers

Sometimes after outlining or writing scripts, writers have leftovers (ideas, characters, scenes, etc.). Save them for your other scripts and future scripts.

Maurice Vaughan

Thanks, Eric McKeever. Do you save leftovers?

Eric McKeever

Maurice Vaughan It's usually a character for me. I find they don't fit into the world of one script so they end up becoming the main character in another (Haha!)...

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Maurice Vaughan

I'll have to try that, Eric McKeever. Thanks!

Priya Mistry

Yes. I do the same. It helps a lot and saves the time as well.

Maurice Vaughan

It does save time, Priya Mistry. Thanks for pointing that out. I have a feature script outline template that I use. It saves time too.

Liked by Philip Sedgwick and 13 others

Pat Alexander
WINNER ANNOUNCED: 6th Annual New Voices in Animation Screenwriting Contest

Congratulations to our Winner in this year's Animation Screenwriting Contest -- Tony Yancey II with his winning script, CAT AND CLOAK! Let's show Tony our support, and if you placed, tell us more about your scripts!

https://www.stage32.com/happy-writers/contests/6th-Annual-New-Voices-in-......

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James Tuverson

Congratulations, Tony Yancey II for your winning screenplay!

Pat Alexander

You were right up there James Tuverson ! Congrats to you as well!

Ian Milne

Congrats Tony!

Meriem Bouziani

congratulations Tony Yancey.

Daniel Danitto

Congratulations, Tony Yancey! I entered this contest too, but didn’t make it far. I’m genuinely happy for your first place and I believe your story deserves to be seen. Congrats again and cheers on the win!

Liked by Meriem Bouziani and 15 others

Maurice Vaughan
Happy Thanksgiving From Stage 32: We Are Thankful For YOU

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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Maurice Vaughan

Thanks, Meriem Bouziani. I hope you're achieving your goals too. I got a lot done during November Write Club. I plan on making a post about it this weekend or Monday....

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Meriem Bouziani

Thank you very much Maurice Vaughan

Maurice Vaughan

You're welcome, Meriem Bouziani. Have a great weekend!

Steve Dini

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone - here's to a "Creative Christmas!"

Maurice Vaughan

Happy Thanksgiving, Steve Dini! Hope you have a Creative Christmas!

Liked by David Downes and 30 others

Jon Hersh
Ask Me Anything (AMA) 11/28 to 11/29- How to Utilize Agents, Managers, and Dev. Execs. In Your Screenwriting Career

Hi, Stage 32 Community!

More about m...

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Jon Hersh

Banafsheh Esmailzadeh When you read all day long, everything kind of blends together after a while. The same kinds of stories are told over and over. By "incendiary" I mean things that stand out and a...

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Banafsheh Esmailzadeh

Jon Hersh thank you, happy Thanksgiving.

Emilia Maria

Hi Jon, I see you've answered some 'potential agent' queries, but, HOW do you approach agents? I'm aware of Query Tracker but most of them are for novelists, not screenwriters? I'm in the UK, for refe...

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David Downes

These sessions are always welcome. I missed this one but just another reason why Stage 32 is awesome.

Julie Lamont

How would one go about getting a reboot script seen by the right people?

Liked by David Taylor and one other

Ehsan Rahimpour
Once the Climax is in Hand

No. 03/ Robert McKee, a wise voice on storytelling, highlights an important point:

The Climax of the last act is your great imaginative leap. Without it, you have no story. Until you have it, your characters wait like suffering patients praying for a cure.

Once the Climax is in hand, stories are in Expand post

Maurice Vaughan

Thanks for sharing this, Ehsan Rahimpour. I love writing the Climax. It's the funnest part of a script. Sometimes I'm not 100% sure about the opening scene or ending when I start the script, but I mak...

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Ehsan Rahimpour

You're welcome, Maurice Vaughan. That’s such a great approach. The climax is where all the tension and payoff meet, it’s pure storytelling magic.

Maurice Vaughan

Thanks, Ehsan Rahimpour. Some things change in the Climax by time I write it though, like characters I didn't plan to be in the scene help the protagonist fight the monster....

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Liked by Kenneth Ellis 2 and 6 others

Ehsan Rahimpour
Active Versus Passive Protagonist

No. 02/ Robert McKee, a wise voice on storytelling, highlights an important point:

An ACTIVE PROTAGONIST, in the pursuit of desire, takes action in direct conflict with the people and the world around him.

A PASSIVE PROTAGONIST is outwardly inactive while pursuing desire inwardly, in conflict with aspects of his or her own nature.

Ehsan Rahimpour

John Fife I think McKee’s sharp insight names the conflict’s general vector — in a passive protagonist, that conflict is fundamentally turned inward, a pattern more common in modern characters, with t...

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Ehsan Rahimpour

Banafsheh Esmailzadeh Yeah, that’s true. In the end, we’re all just writing about our real lives.

Banafsheh Esmailzadeh

Pretty much Ehsan Rahimpour. I like to challenge myself but within reason. I’m primarily the kind of person who believes in playing the hand you’re dealt (whether it’s your fault or not), so my charac...

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Ehsan Rahimpour

Maybe we can Banafsheh Esmailzadeh, expand it like this: In contemporary times, this dual situation almost always prevails, and our art is a way of playing between the two....

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Debbie Croysdale

Thread reminds me too, a passive or active protagonist can be their own worst enemy & antagonist not another human, ghost, monster, society or bad environment etc. I write active protagonists who arc...

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Liked by Ramon Zapata and 8 others

John Branagan
I'm missing something about the art of Pitch

I 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

Emilia Maria

Hey John - if it's any consolation, I pitched 2 weeks ago, and still haven't heard back hah! The wait is killing me, but it is what it is!

Steven R Mitchell

For me, a win is when an executive asks to read my screenplay. Then I know the pitch really worked despite the score and I get feedback on what really counts, the screenplay itself.

Trevor Learey

So many planets need to align for a studio to take on a project. It almost needs to be no brainer with prior success, all the rights, funding, politics and most importantly, need for a project.

Ian Milne

In the meantime well done for getting your foot in the door and getting to pitch! I'm still working on that step.

Debbie Croysdale

@John It may be too expensive to make.

Liked by Meriem Bouziani and 10 others

John Fife
Has writing movies changed the way you view movies?

I'm taking a screenwriting course and as part or the curriculum we are required to watch small clips of multiple movies. The video pauses randomly and the instructor tells us to write what we see on the screen. I love that part of the course but found now as I watch movies, I'm forever talking to my...

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Jon Shallit

Movement in every shot -Kurosawa.

Look for rich backgrounds in great directing. Although I am only a beginning director, I tried in SETESH 2025 (youtube) to make each shot have so many unusual backgrou...

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Thomas Medori

Absolutely. Every time I hear bad dialogue, I think, I can do better. And every time I hear great dialogue, I think, I hope I’ll be that good someday.

Ewan Dunbar

It only gets worse but you wouldn't change it! A great way to develop your screenwriting is to explore parts of films that give you strong emotional responses, then explore how the filmmaker and scree...

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Meriem Bouziani

Actually movies inspire me when I write my own scripts.

I consciously revisit many films to analyze their structure, so I can better understand what approach might serve my own writing.

There are many d...

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Debbie Croysdale

I dissect films & TV shows constantly but don’t actually consciously plan to. It just happens. My friends stop me shouting at the screen, when I notice plot weaknesses or too many coincidences.

Liked by Ehsan Rahimpour and 9 others

Marie Hatten
Why me , why now.

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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Marie Hatten

Thank you very much Aparna Pasalkar it’s absolutely a global emergency.

Aparna Pasalkar

You're welcome Marie and if you need any help/assistance with global content for this subject do let me know

Jack Binder

Love the true spark in the middle of the night. One never knows when inspiration will hit, usually at the most unlikely, unguarded times. Congratulations on your breakthrough.

Marie Hatten

Thank you so much Aparna Pasalkar

Marie Hatten

That’s true Jack Binder . I actually dismissed it the first time but knew better the second time .

Liked by Jim Boston and one other

Sydney S
Hey, Screenwriters: Black Friday Savings: Webinars, Classes & Labs 20% Off!!

Hey everyone,

I hope you’re doing well! If you celebrated Thanksgiving, I hope it was full of love, laughter, and plenty of good food. Happy holidays to each of you!

Just a friendly reminder: our Black Friday sale is live, and everything, webinars, classes, and labs, is already 20% off until midnight...

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Sydney S

Here are some of my top education recommendations for screenwriters:

Sydney S

The Secrets to Becoming a Pitching Ace: https://www.stage32.com/education/p...

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