Screenwriting

Some executives turn down scripts because of a lot of typos, Roberto Micheletti. I don't know about commas, uppercase issues, and small grammatical mistakes. Those things have to do with writing style in my opinion.

If a script has a lot of typos, an executive, producer, or director might feel like the writer doesn't take screenwriting seriously, think the writer is lazy, and question the quality of the script.

What an executive, producer, or director is looking for is an incredible script with a unique concept, a script that has potential to win an Oscar/etc., a script that can be made for a certain amount, or a script that has a certain theme. And maybe other reasons. They might not care about a lot of typos.

Roberto Micheletti Hi Roberto, I have heard not just a few, but many agents, producers, and executives says that the one thing they really find amateurish, and lowers the level of the script right away, are typos, spelling errors, grammatical errors, and a sloppy presentation. Think of the script as a presentation as well, not just the story and the structure. Always triple check, pass through a spelling corrector program if you have it, and make sure it is a polished and professional as it can be. Remember, it's also your calling card.

Both.

Screenwriting is craft. When a reader makes a pass the least that's expected is respect for it. If sloppy, typo-ridden text is encountered, many times the reader immediately discounts the script, and will not get to the core. A generality: when the writing is incorrect as described the story is most likely not sound.

Is it really an issue to assure the mechanical aspect is spot on.

You're welcome, Stephen Marinaccio. The Your Stage Lounge is really busy. A lot of members see the posts in it. And when someone likes or comments on your posts, the people in their networks will see your posts.

The more you grow your network, more members will see your posts. Here's a blog that'll help you connect with creatives and industry professionals: www.stage32.com/blog/the-importance-of-community-and-collaboration-in-th...

And Stage 32's next free Community Open House is Dec 29th (http://www.stage32.com/education/products/stage-32-s-december-community-...). It'll also help you make connections.

OK, so to reach the most people.. the recommendation would be to post on my "Your Lounge" area. Can do. Thank you.

You're welcome, Stephen Marinaccio. Yeah, the Your Stage Lounge. Happy Holidays!

I would suggest asking for permission from the Stage 32 CEO RB first.

is this the actual call for submissions?

Hi, Sanja Zivic. What draws me to antagonist characters who evolve into reluctant allies is I'm always trying to guess if they have secret agendas or not, until they do something that proves they're really allies.

"How do you approach the balance between villainy and humanity in complex roles?" I make my villain character feel human. I give them a personality, strengths, flaws, fears, history, goals, etc.

EVERYTHING WE DO IN FILM IS A CONTRIVANCE. It's lighted artificially most of the time, the angle of capture is not random, the sound pickup is not random, the foley art is not random and "totally authentic", the painted murals for backgrounds, LED screens.

Somehow using new creative tools with the art of screenwriting is being implied that it makes our work less authentic. Bullshit. My photography equipment evolved over time, to the collective shrieks of pixel peeping fanatics who cared more about technicals than about the art, and now they are using the very tech they decried when it first arrived. It's a balance of adapting to new changes and new tools.

But Hollywood and the film business is not a totally academic environment, it's obviously inextricably tied to investment capital to get it all done.

Seems to me if I can analyze my work and find ways to mitigate risk for the people who write the checks - that SHOULD be a huge gold star for the way I am approaching the entire scenario.

Forget about all the academics, can my shit sell?

Before I fully understood and had my jaw dropping code moment, I was equally as willfully ignorant and fearful about AI as many of you still are - until last August 2024. I had heard the collective shriek from LA. "You'll never work in this town agin if'n we catch you ridge runners usin' that dang AI".

I had heard all of the "contamination" talk. That somehow analyzing my work with AI would somehow taint its authenticity.

Really, you can easily shred me with academics, "he's too new to the game", etc.

But what if that misses the point - that now we - all players - can seriously game the business to the success of everyone involved. Unknowns like me become a huge new pool of available projects and material not based upon reputation alone but supported with great analytical tools. we can all win.

Isn't that what I keep hearing from "the streamers' - they need shows? "Yeah but - " becomes "Well now let's just see here what we got ..."

Correct me if I am wrong please.

The saying in the AI world is that it's not AI that will replace people's jobs, it's someone who knows AI. As a screenwriter and AI consultant for ethical integration, I'd refine that to: "It's the experienced artist who uses AI." But experienced means skilled in both prompting and the craft itself.

One challenge is that many prompts are too simple to produce useful results. I agree AI isn't the best storyteller, but there's a world of difference between a few-sentence prompt and a detailed one. There's also a big difference between AIs. ChatGPT and Gemini are solid, but Claude remains the favorite among writers I've worked with. The results I've demonstrated in class are night and day.

To be clear, I don't use AI to write stories. I use it as a first-round reviewer and error-catcher. More of a writing assistant. But if you haven't tried Claude, it's worth exploring.

Here's an example of the difference prompting makes:

Too simple: Act as a screenwriter with 30 years experience. Write a story about a man who came back from war and is trying to be a detective. He's been given a big case but has to fight the demons of his past while solving it. Give me a three-act story.

More effective: Act as a screenwriter and story editor for drama features with a budget up to $3M. Follow the Save the Cat structure. The story is about a man returning from Afghanistan, suffering from PTSD he tries to hide while building his detective agency. He takes on a major case. Give me five case options that are compelling and subtly mirror his emotional journey. He should end broken but changed. This case is his rebirth. Don't give me the full story; give me three options for each beat so I can choose and develop further.

Even worse that following Save the Cat, is telling your AI to follow the Save the Cat structure!

Joshua Young - Re: first-round reviewer and error-catcher. More of a writing assistant." That's my take.

Re: writing a full story from one prompt - I've never even tried the "Act as a screenwriter" context.

But I did goto Claude with a brain fart one afternoon and told him an idea called DRACONIS and we built it out. Had a great back and forth. However, before I got too far with it - I did the same thing I did with that PRAETOR idea, I ran the numbers as best one can to see where its potential in monetization was.While PRAETOR failed DRACONIS is amazing. It's far from complete, but it is a great story that once it's filled out with nuance and dialogue it has some great potentiality. The best part was not just scribbling down an idea, but taking it right to execution and building out the foundations and stage for the marionettes to dance and speak for the story. So the dialog will be all human built.

As to dialogue - Still not comfortable with the current results, and so all I've done with Claude was to build out a scene based upon the story writ large. Wasn't satisfied, close but not "me".

I did "Please produce some dialogue samples" and he did, but they were "meh". So I have refrained from having AI doing dialogue. Once I do my own dialogue - then I can "Final draft" it and convert it to HSWC.

as i've said, i don't use AI to write scenes or dialog for me--that's an absolute line i won't cross--not just for ethical reasons but because they're so transparently robotic and often hallucinatory. but i will ask AI for pros and cons in moving a scene from act 2 to act 3 in terms of story scaffolding, for example.

i'm gonna be specific now: i'm working on GUNPOWDER, which features two parallel narratives that take place in the same world--on the same day--but don't intersect, until 50 years later, when they briefly touch. spoiler alert one of my main themes is humanity vs post-humanity. when i ran my structural framework past GPT for comments, it responded:

Homo continuus co-exist with Homo sapiens the way we did with Neanderthals:

- briefly

- asymmetrically

- without understanding what was happening

understand: this is the story i was telling, 100%, but i had never framed the effect of my long interlude in those terms--not explicitly in the script, nor even to myself while laying out the plot. in 2.5 seconds, GPT read my underlying intent and wrapped it in a neat package--for me to dive deeper, or use in pitch/ explanatory materials. "to be honest?" i couldn't have put it better myself.

DÉJÀ VU sounds intriguing and thrilling, Sanja Zivic! I don't have a lot of experience with Psychological Thrillers, and I haven't written that kind of role, but I'm looking forward to the discussion!

I'll give you my example of what I did. My protagonist has had her eye on this guy through like episode 7. She's into him, but nothing ever happens, and he keeps trying to help her out with her situation... and she keeps rejecting his help (for reasons important to the plot)... so finally, one day he comes over to her place and reiterates his desire to help her, and she's like "No, you can't do that." Why? "Because you can't do that if you're f*cking me." She kisses him, and the scene ends. The producers and directors are going to take your script and change it all kinds of ways, so that kinda lets them decide what happens, even though you've laid (hah - laid) out what's about to happen.

So... you don't have to write it, but you're giving creative license to the director to figure out what they want to do with the scene. I think it's a good compromise.

(Note, I've just started writing and have no experience with this, but I feel comfortable leaving it open-ended like that so I can focus on the storylines I really care about.)

Just my two cents!

But yeah, I'd love to hear how other people deal with this kind of thing.

@Bana that's... Touching as heck. Seriously.

Martin Graham Patrick Bateman flexing in the mirror is the complete opposite of sex, lol. But holy crap, what a great scene. Chilling.

Matt Dycus Absolutely the opposite haha.

Excellent, inspiring article, Pink Matzke! It's a must-read!

"There’s a quiet audacity in deciding to pursue screenwriting later in life, especially if you’re a woman from Utah. It means you’ve already been told, directly or indirectly, that your moment has passed. That your geography worked against you. That the industry prefers its storytellers young, unencumbered, and easy to brand." I'm glad you chose to ignore that!

Hope you have an incredible career!

Thank you so much!

You're welcome, Pink Matzke. I followed you on Medium. Looking forward to reading more of your articles!

The more I've been reading about the Netflix/Warner Brothers deal, I don't like it, Anthony McBride. I think Paramount Skydance buying WBD is better than Netflix buying WBD. One reason is the possibility of more theatrical release movies, and hopefully longer release windows. And I think Netflix is trying to become a monopoly.

Maurice - a big issue is that it could be said that Paramount is not ‘Paramount’, it’s a billionaire called Larry Ellison. Having said that, you are correct in the assumption it should lead to theatrical releases - but would it?

I think that any deal with an eye toward original IP is a good thing. No one wants 67 Marvel movies in development.

Wait until the future becomes the present - then you'll know.

Anthony McBride David Taylor This is becoming a highly sensitive and emotional topic.

On paper, Paramount seems to be the best offer for shareholders (though I don't advise saying this openly is you intend to sell any content to Netflix). It does not appear that WBD’s board wants to sell to Paramoun despite what is nest for shareholders as it would deprive them about $3 per share; unless of couse Netflix matches Paramount’s offer, which might then trigger a counter from Paramount and drive the WBD stock price to $40 per share or higher.

As it stands, there may be several complications with this deal. WBD executives are walking away with almost $1.5 billion in combined exit-related compensation, while shareholders (some who are already disgruntled) are being asked to sell their shares for less. Not to mention, Netflix’s streaming business could become too large. The same could be said for Paramount’s studio business, and it appears Paramount wants the entire “pizza,” not just two slices (studio and streaming).

If Paramount presses the issue, I don’t see how WBD can convince a court or regulators that an all-cash deal is inferior to a lower-value cash-plus-equity deal.

Looking forward to the lab today!

Hi...I don't think I copied Colleen's email addy down correctly when she put it in chat. Can someone message me with the correct email? Thanks!

Hey, Gregory Barone. I like the pages! It feels like Garerit could get caught at any time.

Ch6 Pg1 Panel 4: Maybe combine Garerit's Thought Bubble so it says something like "More giants... I must avoid getting caught. Time to use my wits."

You might want to change the format from comic book to screenplay now. It'll be easier to give screenwriting advice if the script is in screenplay format.