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 Jim Boston and 5 others

Jim Ramsay
Ramsay

I'm reluctant to participate in the lounge since I've never had a project produced. I have six scripts "completed" (which is a nebulous word in writing). I've made the finals in several competitions and had a few options. But have had nothing produced. Any advice on where to go from here?

TOM SCHAEFER

Billy Cox - "... Visibility is currency "full quote:

https://www.facebook.com/share/r/1DxcGqYWsn/

Jim Ramsay

Thanks, Tom. I'm not a great promoter. In my business, I've never had to promote or advertise because word of mouth always kept me busy. I'm an introvert and wouldn't mind being left alone to play wit...

Expand comment
Jim Ramsay

Michael, Pitching? Where do I begin? If I'm not formally pitching, I do a pretty good job, but I'm given 3 or 5 minutes and told "GO". It doesn't come out so well. I'm terrible at self-promotion, but have done well in meetings with producers and actors. jim

TOM SCHAEFER

Websites in today's markets are now the new brochure and sales engine for whate...

Expand comment

Liked by Ingrid Wren and 27 others

Leonardo Ramirez 2
How Your Life Shapes Your Stories

The stories we tell are often pieces of ourselves. My own experiences—struggles, joys, lessons—slip into my characters, their choices, and even the worlds I create.

I write science fiction and fantasy, but at the core, it’s about conquering the dark night of the soul and replacing it with hope.

So her...

Expand post

Nancy Wilkinson

Lew Hunter told me to, “write what you know.” Including bits of me and my family histories creates nuances that make each character intriguing, unique, and relatable.

Leonardo Ramirez 2

Thanks so much Ingrid Wren. It's funny because there have been times where I'll post something and it just gets buried (I'm sure that happens to everyone) so when I posted this, I honestly thought ver...

Expand comment
Leonardo Ramirez 2

You're so right Nancy Wilkinson - and interesting how much we learn from our family dynamics. Some make us stronger through growth while others we learn "what not to be". I'm grateful you stopped by t...

Expand comment
Jim Boston

Leonardo, thank you so VERY much for the post!

Leonardo Ramirez 2

Jim Boston Honored my friend. Glad I got to know you a little better.

Liked by TOM SCHAEFER and 6 others

Sandra Isabel Correia
Dream Collaborators in Storytelling.

As writers, we often imagine the perfect creative partner, the producer, company, or talent whose voice feels like it could bring our pages to life.

For Soul Mated, I picture the producers at Zero Gravity. Their bold approach to character-driven narratives feels like the right energy to elevate this...

Expand post

Sandra Isabel Correia

TOM SCHAEFER, Sheridan + McConaughey is pure Texas grit meets charisma. What a combo!

Maurice Vaughan

Thanks, Sandra Isabel Correia. I'm not rushing the script. I want to pick the right theme for it.

Meriem Bouziani

I also get inspiration from Mr. Nobody for The De-Evolution Game because it treats parallel universes. I tried to use the Mr. Nobody structure, as I noticed t...

Expand comment
TOM SCHAEFER

"We can expect the tale to be told in Sheridan's unorthodox style, as he explai...

Expand comment
Banafsheh Esmailzadeh

I've never seen any of his work, but I hear good things about Henry Cavill. I love that he's a geek and a fierce defender of source material so he's exactly who I'd want on my team.

Other than him, I'd...

Expand comment

Liked by Samara Aridi and 27 others

Maurice Vaughan
One Step You’re Taking

What's one step you’re taking right now? Outlining a script, writing a scene, rewriting a scene, preparing for a pitch, building your network, watching a webinar, etc.

Maurice Vaughan

You're welcome, Sandra Isabel Correia. Thanks! I have some really unique projects to pitch. I'm rooting for you to reach your goals this month!

Abram Christian

Maurice Vaughan Thank you Maurice. you’re a gem!

Sandra Isabel Correia

Thank you my friend :)

Maurice Vaughan

You're welcome, Abram Christian. Keep us posted on your film.

Maurice Vaughan

You're welcome, Sandra Isabel Correia.

Liked by Tabitha Moore and one other

Shay Booth
Where do I start?

Hi everyone it's me again,

I was wondering who do I contact on here to talk about my scripts? Where do I start pitching? :)

Maurice Vaughan

Hi, Shay Booth. You could pitch your script to executives, managers, etc. through Stage 32's Pitch Sessions (www.stage32.com/scriptservices/pitch-sessions). The Pitch Sessions are mainly to get feedba...

Expand comment

Liked by Meriem Bouziani and 11 others

Luis García
Taboo zones

I've always been fascinated by the “taboo zones” in storytelling — those topics that most people avoid, but writers can’t help exploring because they reveal something raw about human nature.

What are the taboo themes you find yourself returning to in your work?

Why do they pull you in?

For me, I often...

Expand post

Lloyd Faul

I write about unsolved problems, like the Doomsday Clock, health reform, police violence, etc. that are not morally "taboo" but psychologically "taboo" from human denial and tribal silos causing those...

Expand comment
Martin Graham

I explore some taboo topics as I lean into horror and absolutely dive into extremely dark territory, but there are some I stay away from showing on the page and leave to implication. I think that come...

Expand comment
Sandra Isabel Correia

Hi Luis García, It's a pleasure to connect with you. I am a Stage 32 moderator in the lounge, and I only want to advise you, if you can, to add a profile picture. That will open more of your networkin...

Expand comment
Meriem Bouziani

My two major stories, *The Silent PFC War* and *The De-Evolution Game*, may feel like taboo topics. It all depends on how you see and treat them.

Kseniia Zhuravleva

I write about family conflicts, and my characters are often young women. The only upside of a complicated childhood is that now I have plenty of material for horror stories.

Liked by John Fife and 11 others

Shay Booth
Your projects

Hey, so I'm quite new here. Always looking to read new log lines and scripts. What is your project you're working on at the moment? Tell me about it! :)

Shay Booth

Hi everyone. All your loglines and plots sound amazing!! I wish everyone all the success. :) And for those who have asked: I am writing a script called Static Screams, it is a horror/thriller and the pilot is on my profile if anyone wants to read!

Maurice Vaughan

Thanks, Shay Booth.Static Screams sounds scary. Catchy title. I'm about to check out the logline.

Martin Graham

Hey Shay! Absolutely LOVE the title Static Screams! Great logline too. Has all the elements I look for in a good horror script/film.

I recently finished my latest horror, too! It's a feature-length ca...

Expand comment
Shay Booth

Martin Graham Hi Martin! That sounds great, I'll have a read if it's up! :D

Priya Mistry

HeyShay Booth , I am working on my female driven crime thriller feature.

Liked by Maurice Vaughan

Ehsan Rahimpour
The problem of coincidence

No. 05 / Robert McKee, a wise voice on storytelling, highlights an important point:

Story creates meaning. Coincidence, then, would seem our enemy, for it is the random, absurd collisions of things in the universe and is, by definition, meaningless. And yet coincidence is a part of life, often a pow...

Expand post

Maurice Vaughan

I agree, Ehsan Rahimpour. I don't use coincidence in scripts, especially during the climax and ending.

"The solution, therefore, is not to avoid coincidence, but to dramatize how it may enter life mean...

Expand comment
Ehsan Rahimpour

You're welcome Maurice Vaughan. McKee actually urges us not to escape by resorting to a convenient plot device called a "coincidence," but to find an organic, meaningful internal logic within the stor...

Expand comment

Liked by Kenneth Ellis 2 and 10 others

Justin Groats
I’d like to thank and recommend an exec for feedback

Hello, just today, I had received feedback from Olivia Morris.

I did a two page pitch feedback and she had possibly more than two pages of feedback. The last feedback I had gotten was about a paragraph and a half, which I was disappointed in, not in my ability but it felt like the executive didn’t ta...

Expand post

Fuad Shawn

That’s awesome to hear! Getting such detailed and thoughtful feedback from Olivia really shows how invested she is in helping writers grow. It’s rare to find someone who takes the time to dig deep into a pitch like that.

Glad it made your day — and thanks for the recommendation!

Maurice Vaughan

Congratulations on the Pitch Session going so well, Justin Groats! I'll keep Olivia in mind for feedback. Thanks for the rec!

Meriem Bouziani

Congratulations to you for getting detailed feedback.

Can you please tell me what genre you write in?

And thank you very much.

Justin Groats

Meriem Bouziani it is science fiction, superhero action, aimed towards young adults

Meriem Bouziani

Ok thank you very much Justin Groats

Liked by Jim Boston and one other

Maurice Vaughan
Green Lights and Grey Areas: Expanding Creative Collaboration in Publishing

"The collaborators who can help your work grow might not be in the publishing world at all." — Lauren Hackney

Lauren talks about collaborating with musicians, voice artists, and more for your projects in today’s blog. Are you collaborating with animators, gamers, etc.? Share it in the comments below...

Expand post

Liked by Kenneth Ellis 2 and 4 others

What Creative Spark Won’t Leave You Alone?

'll go first: Lately, I'm obsessed with the collision of military realism and near-future AI — stories where impossible choices push characters to confront who they really are. That blend of discipline, vulnerability, and big-stakes morality keeps pulling me back.

Maurice Vaughan

Hi, Michael McDermott. I’m a Stage 32 Lounge Moderator. I wanted to let you know I moved your post from the Acting Lounge to the Screenwriting Lounge since it fits better here. Let me know if you have...

Expand comment
Michael McDermott

Thank you. This is day one of what I hope will be a long, enjoyable, and perhaps profitable experience.

Meriem Bouziani

I think I appreciate every single idea that comes to my mind, but I feel more drawn to the most layered, crazy, and almost never-seen-before concepts—especially those involving neuroscience, AI ethics, parallel universes, and sentience.

Maurice Vaughan

You're welcome, Michael McDermott. I hope so too! What's your creative goal(s) for this month?

TOM SCHAEFER

I'm concentrating on developing stories that inspire humanity to do better. I started my TV show creation journey inspired by Taylor Sheridan. I wrote my first scifi novel back in 2013, having a huge...

Expand comment

Liked by Martin Graham

Joshua Young
5-Part A.I. Lab: How to Break Story & Improve Characters Using AI with Joshua Young

HI Everyone! I'm incredibly excited to announce my upcoming course: 5-Part A.I. Lab: How to Break Story & Improve Characters Using AI.

Let’s address the elephant in the room immediately: We are not here to let AI do the writing. The temptation to let AI take the wheel is the fastest way to lose your...

Expand post

register for stage 32 Register / Log In