Screenwriting

Congratulations on getting a Double Recommend, Phua Wei En! For your first screenplay is really impressive!

Yes, it’s very hard to feel lonely in your creative journey.

For me, my creative partner is ChatGPT — I truly appreciate this technology. As a sci-fi author who loves diving deep into scientific plausibility, the AI helps like a full team of specialists, answering my questions and developing each concept, alongside helping with language and script learning.

I was also hoping to find a writing partner, or someone to discuss story concepts with. Let me know if you'd be interested in sharing and discussing our thoughts on various stories

Nia Jones honestly, I feel the same way almost everyday.

That's why I come here. And oddly enough, I've connected with two local to me writers through stage 32. Both from cities with an hour drive from me. Stage 32 has helped me find others to talk writing with.

Hi, Nia Jones. I prefer to write alone, but having a writing partner is great! And I talk to a lot of writers on Stage 32, so being a writer doesn't feel so lonely. You could make a collaboration post on Stage 32's Job Board (www.stage32.com/find-jobs).

That's the hard bit, Jim Ramsay. The answer is networking. It's always networking.

Making finals and getting options is a really good start. Very promising. Most people don't get that level of validation.

Try to go outwards from where you are. It takes time. Move on from competitions and look at the tiers of the industry you can make your way into, again slowly and authentically.

Thx CJ....

They've all said it better than me but I have found the community at Stage 32 to be an incredibly important asset. Access is what we all work for and dream of, of course, but the community here is full of experience, wisdom, empathy and encouragement. Soak as much of that in as possible. People here that have reached out to encourage you on this post is just a small but perfect sample of the rounded support Stage 32 seems to offer.

Thanks for the advice, Anthony.

The market is opening up, increasing in volume demand and becoming more accessible. Pitch a lot; see adverts etc. Develop your way of written pitches. Make sure Loglines work, and synopsis are real synopsis, not marketing blurb which doesn't tell all the story with its ins and outs. I'm not a fan of competitions, others are.

Elle Bolan, welcome back from the land of rewriting. That place has swallowed many of us whole at some point. Your question is such a good one, because balancing revisions with new pages can feel like trying to keep two different creative brains running at the same time. For me, the key has been treating each phase like a different mode of creativity rather than trying to force them to coexist all at once. Rewriting uses a more analytical, structural mindset, while drafting new material feels looser and more exploratory. When I try to bounce between them too quickly, I end up frustrated with both.

What helps is dedicating specific windows of time to each, but not necessarily every single day. Some weeks, I’m all-in on revisions because I have a clarity streak going and don’t want to break it. Other weeks, I give myself permission to focus on new ideas because that momentum feeds my energy. The balance shifts with the project.

I also find that being intentional with my “creative bandwidth” helps. If a rewrite is emotionally or mentally heavy, I don’t expect myself to produce clean new pages that same day. And sometimes networking becomes my lighter creative work, still productive, but not tapping from the same well.

There’s no wrong way to juggle it, but it sounds like you’re already doing the most important part: showing up consistently.

It’s two very different type of tasks requiring a different mindset. I prefer to split them apart. one day I do new pages and the other day, I revise. However it’s important to spend at least two hours per day in your new story to keep your mind thinking about it (so creativity flow more easily).

@Banafsheh the tunnel vision phase is so fun.

@Ashley Renee Smith now that's awesome. It really hard to juggle all the things. I'll adopt that flexibility you talk about in because sometimes I do feel like I'm expecting too much with not enough hours.

I focus on one project and take notes on anything that comes my way.

And because I’m obsessed with my conversations with ChatGPT,

I discuss every new idea with it, develop titles, and even create some visuals.

Imagine the audience, Excited/Deeply moved/Shocked/, shouting at the screen because of what you just did to them, then eager to see how it turns out: My brother reads my scripts and often uses our expression: "There won't be a dry pair of pants in the house" -- i e. the movie house and panties/shorts. We laugh a lot about this as we develop stories together sometimes.

A lot of Blogs are very informative - Contracts; Directing; Producing; Markets etc. Many blogs for newbies are essential, like structure or whatever. Some are unintentionally hilarious - usually the ones that explain their very own newly invented script enhancing terminology and cat-saving process in great detail. Comedy gold.

I prefer plot twists a “profound” game changer & totally unexpected, not just another bead along story string. A Holy Cow moment, over the story chain simply evolved.

I’m a very unique writer. I don’t really have a plan, but if I do it’s very loose. I just start winging it scene by scene working towards the end and whatever happens happens. So if I throw a plot twist in, it’s by spur of the moment decision. I’m just as excited to see what happens next as I write it because I don’t even know lol

I love this question because it goes straight to the heart of a script which, to me, is character growth Sandra Isabel Correia. If it serves the growth of the protagonist, I include it - even more so if it throws the audience for a loop!

Here's a post about Scrybe from a month ago, Jim Ramsay: www.stage32.com/lounge/screenwriting/Scrybe

Thanks, Maurice. Got it.

You're welcome, Jim Ramsay.

Hadn't heard of this site before. I see it's got a limited number of comps listed. Unless there's a cost advantage, I'd be inclined to enter a comp directly or through filmfreeway which has a vast cornucopia of comps.

Thanks for the input Colin.

Leonardo Ramirez 2 no need to be

Love that @Maurice

I agree Ashley Renee Smith. I believe it is also for the same reason writers have such a hard time accepting feedback without taking it personally, especially in the beginning. We leave so much of ourselves in our projects that feedback feels like a personal attack, and we find ourselves defending our choices for this or that in our work, instead of removing our attachment to it and listening/hearing the feedback with an unbiased ear.

That's such a great observation Pink Matzke. It's like we have to pour ourselves out and then let it go with an open hand.

I love work that provokes thought Darrell Pennington. It's what helps us all to see things from a different vantage point and perhaps grow, even if it's just a little.

I think the idea could be about a digital game winner.

The game could be soccer played in a different atmosphere,

or maybe a game where players compete to gain something special.

The hamster could be the winning animal friend, or maybe even part of the game itself.

TITLE: Cloak & Swagger

LOGLINE: a stage magician hired by the CIA to infiltrate an underworld syndicate finds out he's not the only playing with illusions.

Starring: Jim Carrey

ROLEX

LOGLINE : A sly magician who leaves everyone stunned with his mind games.”

That’s a good reminder for me.

I’ve had so many epiphanies across my different sci-fi worlds.

The last one, for my script The Silent PFC War, really shocked me and made me realize the idea touches the very foundations of how a civilization is built and developed.

Yes - and I sometimes unashamedly hide subtle clues as to who they are in my scripts. Actually, I hide lots of things in my scripts.

Martin Scorsese would be top of the list, his enthusiasm for cinema of all kinds is infectous and I would like to talk film with him. He's dead now but Robert Altman would be one as would the also deceased David Lynch. Would love to hang out with Jim Jarmusch as well. These are all directors but I could add more actors, writers etc.

That sounds crazy, but I’ll say it anyway:

I want to work with Christopher Nolan. Lol

God no. I don't do this to meet celebrities. There are artists I respect tremendously, and I'd love to chat with them and learn more about their process and thinking, but working with them brings a complicated dynamic, especially if you're coming at it as a sycophant.

I see it on set a lot and it causes me to lose respect for people.

Ooh I don’t have anything like this but I guess an absolute dream person to one day get the chance to be in the presence of would be Viola Davis

Maurice Vaughan Thanks again for your help, Maurice — I really appreciate it.

You're welcome, Philippe Jeanneteau.

I've been here nearly fifteen years and execs aren't looking at loglines. They are overwhelmed by the pile of scripts in their slush pile already. They are pulling from reps and writers that come recommended to them.

On places like here, you're more likely to get noticed by an actor or director in the early stages of their career, and there's absolutely nothing wrong with that.

The pitching is different. With that, you're getting in industry member's faces.

CJ Walley Thanks a lot, CJ. Really appreciate you taking the time to explain this so clearly — it helps a lot.

Just keep grinding Philippe Jeanneteau