Screenwriting

I agree wholeheartedly. It’s why when I write, I make it a point to respect my audience’s intelligence no matter their age (kids especially I don’t believe in talking down to, they’re brilliant). I don’t believe it’s my responsibility to teach but rather communicate, and if I end up teaching that way? Cool. It’s organically done without being preachy, everyone’s happy.

Most of all, though, I want my audience to feel a little less alone in the world.

I'm with you on the second act being the main event! That's where everything gets messy and complicated and interesting. The first act can feel like homework sometimes, necessary setup, but I'm itching to get to the good stuff. Though I have to admit, there's something quietly satisfying about third acts when they work. Like watching dominoes fall that you've been setting up for ages. I think about the original Star Wars Trilogy, where 9/10 people seem to love the Empire Strikes Back, because everything falls apart! Midlife crisis! Haha.

I'm a fan of the first act because I know I have to make it matter or interest is going to be lost in this new generation.

I love the first act. My favorite to write is animation. What about as a viewer is seeing characters expressing their emotions on how they feel. My least favorite is dark comedy stories (I.e, Satirical or harsh) and stories about Time Travel, it just doesn't translate well with characters in the present time and interfering with the past event.

ACT II was a challenge for me on my script. Lot of things going on in there.

That’s a good question, honestly. The start is usually where I have the most trouble, but like everyone else I really hit my stride after it. The ending can be another trouble spot because one of the worst things to experience as a viewer is a badly written ending (second only to a great idea that’s poorly executed). So no matter what I like to at least have a slow opening that takes its time hitting its stride and a strong finish that rewards you for sticking with it.

Maurice Vaughan Thanks for the congrats on the final pass, Maurice!

That's interesting that you rewrite as you go—it definitely sounds like a great way to keep the material tight from the start. I appreciate the link to the plot twist webinar as well!

Cheers!

Sam Rivera I love this approach, it's something I'm trying to mirror within my process! That idea of not killing the creative momentum in the first draft is absolutely key.

I'm considering formalizing my process into structured passes: (not concrete, but something like):

Pass 1: Get the story out there—raw, unfiltered, and unedited.

Pass 2: Address grammar, continuity, and dialogue clean-up.

Pass 3: The dedicated pass for beats and pacing.

It definitely sounds like a lot, but I believe that reviewing with a single, clear intent on each pass will be much more effective than trying to do everything at once.

Thank you so much for sharing your insight and a bit of your personal process—I really appreciate that!

You're welcome, Ryan Wilford. Rewriting as I go helps me come up with ideas. Scene ideas, dialogue, twists, tech for my characters, etc.

John Fife Thanks for the congrats on the final pass, John!

That's really interesting—I've never heard of the "Save the Cat" storyboard program for inputting and arranging beats. It sounds like a powerful way to visually structure the pacing before you commit to the script.

It’s fascinating how, as writers, our processes are so different, and how we find such unique tools that work for our personal way of seeing a story. Thanks so much for sharing your method and taking the time! Good luck on your journey!

You're welcome Ryan. Great program and has helped me a lot with my writing. There is a great book out there called "Save the Cat, The Last Book on Screenwriting You'll Ever Need" By Blake Snyder. Short book but really lays out a template how a screenplay should be structured and organized so it flows the Hollywood way,

Hey, Billy Kwack. You're welcome. Shout-out to Ashley, Sam, Pat, RB, and Amanda. Shout-out to you too. I'm grateful for you, the things we talk about on here, and your support. Thanks.

Hi Maurice, can't wait for football tomorrow, lions are playing first

Hi Maurice, sorry, when I read your message it just said hey Billy kwack. Thanks Maurice, thanks for all the guidance

You're welcome, Billy Kwack. I might watch the game tomorrow.

It's okay. The name tagging doesn't work for me in the web browser on my phone, so I have to tag a person in the Stage 32 phone app. But I can't add anything to my comment after I tag a person in the phone app, so I have to open the web browser and add the rest of my comment.

Same here, I am grateful for all of them too. And that includes you, Maurice Vaughan. And shout out to you as well, Billy Kwack, thank you for helping me navigate Stage 32 when I was getting started.

Happy Thanksgiving, E Langley!

Happy Thanksgiving

Thanks for this reminder E. Langley. Frank Capra’s masterpiece, “It’s A Wonderful Life,” is the gift of community. Our fellow creatives are our guardian angels, here to help us grow and succeed, especially after receiving a rejection. Have a very Happy Thanksgiving.

Thankssss Maurice Vaughan :))

You're welcome, Sandra Isabel Correia. I plan on making a post in the Screenwriting Lounge Friday or this weekend about everything I got done during November Write Club.

That will be amazing and an inspiration for all of us Maurice Vaughan. I will do next week :))

Wishing you and everyone here a Thanksgiving filled with that same spirit of connection, generosity, and bold storytelling. Cheers to the stories we are all brave enough to tell!

Thank you Sandra, I like this line, “Characters become mirrors, bridges and sometimes battlegrounds.” It is an emotional cue a writer’s can use to remember the importance of “motivation” in storytelling. And, happy Thanksgiving to you.

Those are great ideas, Shirley Collier! I really like "giving my Black female protagonists options they secretly wish for. Someone to love, protect and make them feel special." It makes the characters feel more real.

50 ways to leave your lover.

Hi, Jon Hersh. Happy Thanksgiving for you and your family. Thank you for your time with us. I have two questions, if you allow me to:

- When a writer has a high‑concept, commercially driven feature, what’s the best way to involve managers and development execs early? Do you find it more effective when writers bring you in at the outline stage to help shape the market positioning, or only once the draft is polished and ready to circulate?

And

-From your perspective, what are the most compelling indicators that a writer is ‘ready’ for management beyond simply having a strong script? What materials or mindset make a writer easier to champion?

Thank you.

Happy Thanksgiving Jon. I appreciate this opportunity. I've been writing in the dark for years but successfully publishing my first book has given me more confidence and purpose as a writer. I'm finishing up my pitch deck for animated feature that's been close to my heart for years. I have zero screenwriting credits to my name but I know how to tell a story and I know I have a good one. I'm glad I found this community because I feel just being here will answer a lot of my questions, I do have a big one however. With my 5th draft complete and my pitch deck almost done, should I be putting all my focus into finding a manager before approaching studios?

After having sold.true life screenplays, Netflix aired a documentary that I was featured in

on Oct 30th. 2025.

Since I have no representation, but was integral to the Documentary, do you think I could send my newest true story to them?

Or who might wish to assist with my Netflix submission given the aired Documentary I was featured in?

Kindest regards.

Jackie Giroux

Hi Jon, thanks for doing this. What’s the best way to put together a query letter via email and is there a specific day and time you should tsend that out to producers and agents? Thank you so much. Really appreciate this.

Hi Jon, thank you so much for you time offered to everyone.

In your professional opinion, when is the best time to seek out representation? Is there a certain amount of screenplays, concepts/ideas or do you believe a screenwriter needs some credits first?

It is a pretty finicky industry to break in to.

Thanks for your time.

Mick

Novelise the pilot at the very least - novelisations usually act as a form of insurance. That way, you have some degree of control over how your work is used.

I've registered a series bible with the U.S. Copyright Office, David Miller. I've heard of writers registering a pilot script and series bible. Maybe with the "Group of Unpublished Works" option. www.copyright.gov/registration/performing-arts I suggest contacting the Copyright Office to be sure. Their contact info is at the bottom of their website.

If you register a series bible, don't put any copyrighted material in it (like pictures). The Copyright Office will reject your application. I made that mistake.

“Cut to” is not necessary because it is understood. For all other transitions, put in when you feel it is important for storytelling purposes. Don’t overthink it.

I believe CJ was indicating that slug lines and transitions are two different things.

Mike's spot on. Don't overthink it.

If you go on the likes of Reddit and Facebook, you'll see people saying you should never use a single transition - that it looks amateurish, that it makes you look like you're trying to be the director, and that you'll anger and offend the director. It's amateurs coming out with this nonsense. They'll be upvoted by other amateurs who want to believe the same.

SMASH CUT is a great example of a transition that screenwriters can use to convey impact, pace, and comic effect. FADE TO BLACK can be another.

Using transitions for every scene does look amateurish, but that's an extreme.

Absolutely nobody in the world that matters cares if you do or don't use FADE IN and FADE OUT.

No director worth their salt is getting their fee fees hurt by one too many transitions. That goes for formatting in general. If there's a good story there, they are going to take it and do what they feel is right with it.

Same goes for producers. They are digging for content.

A lot of this paranoia and subsequent dogma comes from obsessing over readers, and the lowest tier readers (competition readers, low-rent consultants, assistants, etc) are the ones that will come into communities and give away just how judgemental and superficial they are. They have got nothing better to obsess over. The crap they come out with is unbelievable and there's good reason why their entire careers are getting paid $5ph off Craigslist gigs (if they're lucky). They are the ones telling people your bold slug lines matter, that using "we see" is a criminal offence, and that more than four lines of dialogue makes your script unproduceable. They have nothing to do with the industry and next to zero insight.

I use transitions like "FADE TO BLACK" or "DISSOLVE TO" to signal a larger than expected time skip which is pretty much standard from what I've seen and read. Other than that "CUT TO" is understood to before each new slugline.

For TV spec pilots: I don't really care if you use FADE IN / FADE OUT, though it does take up precious page space. CUT TO between scenes is not needed as it's obvious, and also takes up tons of unnecessary space, making your script artificially longer. Act break indicators with page breaks are only needed for a pilot indended for broadcast. But when I'm working with a writer on any pilot we put it in (without the page break) as an internal way to keep track of where we are in the script and be sure we're hitting proper structure, which you need for streaming as well. If you do this as a tool just for yourself, remember to take them out before sending out the script! Some elegant transitions between scenes such as match cut, prelap, smash cut, or just dialogue or action transitions that make scenes flow into each other or juxtapose key scenes are the sign of a sophisticated writer, provided they're done with story intention and not too frequently. But this is a tone thing - some writers have a staccato tone with short scenes and fast pacing that doesn't lend itself to transitions, some writers prefer lingering reactions or button lines to end scenes, some prefer some sort of visual device to transition between storylines / locations / timelines - as long as all this is intentional to give the "reader" the same specific emotional experience your viewer will have. TV is a writer's medium, if you're leaving choices up to a "director," such a person does not exist, or at least often not till long after your pilot is sold.

Also, to CJ Walley 's point, I think pretty much all pros don't care about formatting so long as it's not so bad that we don't understand what you want us to see & feel. When I comment on formatting, it's because it's so bad that the script becomes difficult to read and in some places I literally don't get what the writer is trying to communicate.

That's a good idea Maurice Vaughan, I did that for a smaller story that wasn't strong enough to survive on its own, so I made it an in-universe novel in my third life's work What Separates Us.

That's also me Pat Alexander. I've found I also have to cut ideas that give so much they risk overtaking the initial main plot (ie, kudzu plot)--it's not always the weak ones that are a problem!

Banafsheh Esmailzadeh A good way I’ve managed the “too many ideas at once” problem is by figuring out what format each idea actually belongs to, whether it is a movie idea, a TV series seed, a single scene, or just a cool moment.

Anything that feels like a full movie, I immediately put into a document with a quick outline and a logline. That way, it is saved, organized, and ready for easy use later.

For action ideas, stunts, fighting beats, weapons, or utility mechanics, I separate those into images or small reference files I can pull up anytime. Categorizing them lets me drop them into new projects whenever they fit naturally.

It is the same way I used to work when songwriting. I would keep extra lyrics and plug them into the right song when the moment came. Keeping everything sorted makes creativity much smoother.

That is a great system Dwayne Williams 2, I've pretty much adopted that with the ideas that stick out to me the most. Sometimes they belong in other stories as details or one-offs.

Focus on the strongest one of them and draw inspiration from the others to make your choice even stronger.

I would network/build relationships with the IP owners, Julie Lamont. It might lead to them listening to your pitch and reading your script. And check out The Stunt List (www.officialstuntlist.com/submit-2025).

Definitely spend some time networking and letting people see you. It's the single biggest thing you can do for yourself in the beginning.

The way I've seen reboots from unknown writers work is this: go into the universe of the story and tell the events from the completely opposite angle. flip the story on its head and present a totally new perspective.

The obvious example is Wicked. The guy who wrote the novel wicked, which was later adapted into a musical, then adapted into a 2-part mega feature, realized there was a story in the Wicked Witch's villain character that hadn't been told and wrote his book. That book was read and enjoyed by the musical writers (who were fairly established at the time) and the rest is history

Another great example is Ratched. An unknown MFA grad student writer at Loyola Marymount University took his favorite movie One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, and re-imagined the story from Nurse Ratched's point of view. The pilot was sharp and had a great vision for a series. The writer Evan Romansky pitched it at a student pitch fest and a manager liked it enough to check out the script. Then after reading and liking the writing, the manager signed Evan and went to work eventually getting studios bidding against each other to make it, eventually ending up with Ryan Murphy for Netflix.

Other examples are Maleficent and Tangled, which were both reverse engineered by Disney Animation's internal teams after they saw the success of the Wicked musical.

So step 1, if you don't own the IP - first reimagine the IP as something totally new. Use the universe and world, but be original and do something totally different with it. Be wary of just writing the same story in the same world as it becomes harder to distinguish your work. Find a new angle and attack it. Villain as hero/anti-hero is a super convenient one to use.

Step 2, find a champion. For Evan Romansky (Ratched), that champion was a random manager at a random pitch fest, who didn't have to read Evan's work by any means, but the idea impressed him in a 10 minute pitch, so he did. For the Wicked writer, he just published his book and it became a word of mouth success. Two established musical writers took notice, saw it's potential, and ran with it.

If you've written your pilot already, my advice would be pitch managers on the idea. Studios likely won't hear writers out on the IP they own, but if you can find a champion in a manager, they will be able to bring it to the IP-owners on your behalf or have a realistic discussion with you about it.

thanks Pat! that’s really helpful.

I haven’t gone all out making it totally different. Although I very much put my own spin on it. The original is a tiny IP where the concept was good but the actual idea was very badly executed onscreen. And like a lot of media from that era in the genre it’s set in, the original was racist, sexist and a lot of other “ists”.

I l’ve looked at it from the view of “what if, instead of having it all about a bunch of sexist dudes, we added a couple of strong female characters, made the tone a lot darker, and explored deep themes not just superficial action and tropes”.

My favourite tv shows to watch all tend to be ones with “expanded universes”, whether it be ones like Andor (although Star Wars generally is a bit and miss), 80s/90s era Star Trek, and the “Bellisarioverse/ Lenkoverse” (eg JAG/NCIS and Hawaii 5-0/Magnum PI etc). oh and current ones like Elsbeth (spinoff) and Matlock (reboot).

I actually quite like how different the Matlock reboot is to the original (I’m probably giving away my age by saying I watched some of the original when it first aired). it really shows how you can take a concept and totally change it while keeping the spirit of the original.