Trending Lounge Discussions

"Be a people" Love that, Elle Bolan. :D You're right. Connection will go further than lists of beats. I ask the person I'm pitching to a question at the beginning so it's like I'm having a conversation with them/it grabs their attention.

@Maurice Vaughan, it's absolutely one of my favorite things she says.

Asking questions and engaging with the other person is so vital. Signals that you know it's not all about you. Makes them feel like you're understanding, considerate, thoughtful, and can potentially be worked with.

Consideration never hurts anybody. As a sales person, whether it was standard retail sales like furniture or appliances, or commercial sales distribution, I treated everyone like somebody I'd known forever. Sounds weird, right? But it works. It's disarming yes, but it sets the tone for everything that follows.

It's as simple as asking how they're doing today and chit chatting about them for a minute. It helps make things comfortable. Even for the person pitching. Show you're a people and I bet they'll show that they're a people too.

Yeah, exactly, Elle Bolan. The question I ask at the beginning of a written pitch is about the script I'm pitching. The question I ask at the start of a live pitch is about the person (like "how are you?"), then I ask a question that's about the script.

Elle Bolan Thanks for reminding us of this amazing concept Elle!!! I loves RB's post, and the insight: just be human. And connecting sales, "civilian work", "non writing-acting" people, lol, also has a lot of value here. Pitching, collaborating, meeting people, "searching" can become formulaic and "fake", but when you just tap in to your, to be a bit cliche here, heart, soul, joy of why we write, act, create, then instead of pushing and forcing relationships, we just be human, and attract/magnetize/call in those perfect people aligned with our vision. A bit...out there...but, so is being human : )

I apologize for a misunderstandment. The company had an official sundance selection earlier this year. And they have more entries at IMDb. No, they don't expect me to estimate a precise budget. But I have stated that it would be extremely cheap to film my script. So they simply want me to give more details. I wrote that I have earlier filmed a lot, including 3 TV movies.

Göran Johansson Well that makes these people sound even sketchier. If they are producers, they are the ones who can make movies, no one cares what the writer can or cannot do aside from writing. And how & why are they pitching a film without reading the whole script? Are you selling the script or asking for production funds so that you can do the film? If selling the script, then without a doubt these people should be avoided, based on what you have told us. If you are asking them for production funds, then it raises alarm bells because they aren't even assessing the whole script.

Good Luck Göran Johansson.

Hhat you’re saying hits very close to home. I’m in ongoing talks with a production company that’s been circling my project for months now. They keep asking how I calculated a ten-million-plus budget, as if I suddenly turned into their in-house line producer. Sure, I wear the executive-producer hat when needed, and I do my homework thoroughly, but let’s be honest: it’s not the writer’s job to build their budget for them. I simply do it to make everyone’s work easier, not because I owe them that level of detail.

What concerns me is that, despite all the enthusiasm they show, I still haven’t received a clear commitment that they’ll produce the film. Instead, every time the conversation gets serious, they try to steer me toward selling the script. Which, for me, is a polite way of saying “we want your gold, but without the miner.” And that’s not happening. I’m keeping my rights, not out of stubbornness, but because my stories aren’t short-term assets. They’re long-term revenue machines. Selling may be simple, but simple rarely builds an empire.

The funny thing is, they know the value. They know my project fills a massive gap, something audiences have been waiting for years: originality. A story nobody else has had the courage or imagination to bring forward. And despite their hesitation, I’m still giving them the chance to be the studio that finally backs something truly new, instead of the tenth remake in a row.

But after months of indecision, my trust in their clarity is fading. If a company can’t decide whether to produce a project with this kind of potential, it makes you wonder whether the problem is the project… or simply their vision. At some point, hesitation speaks louder than any “we love your script.”

Stay calm and persistent, every screenwriter who truly believes in their work eventually gets their film made. It’s only a matter of finding the right team, the one that’s prepared, aligned with your vision, and brave enough to follow it through. Keep your head up, keep moving forward, and I’m wishing you nothing but success in everything you’re building.

Thanks for further comments. And I honestly wish you all good luck with your projects.

Perhaps I should had posted this in financing/crowdfunding instead.

The production company asked me to write about 10 pages, to show potential investors. When it comes to telling who I am, I included the photo with me having the big camcorder on my shoulder. I wrote that I have done a lot of no-budget filming. Including creating 3 TV movies. Which makes it logical for potential investors to assume that I have some basic knowledge about estimating the cost. So I was asked to write something about how I estimate the cost.

If nobody has anything to say, then I plan to write something like the following :

"

This is a micro-budget script with only five actors and few locations. I expect a few hundred thousand Australian dollars to be enough because I wrote in such a way that everything can be filmed with a minimal crew. For editing, one hardly needs to do more than hard cuts and normalize the sound level. The few special effects are trivial. Most scenes are indoors, and can probably be filmed inside the same building. The locations for the outdoor scenes should be available nearby, for no cost.

"

But I welcome suggestions so I can write something more selling.

I think you are looking at this backwards Alexandra. "Leap, and the net will appear."

Suzanne Bronson i likes this re-frame and admire the leap you have taken

Juliana Philippi that's great. What would you says is the 'why' for your acting?

Stephen Folker that certainly seems to work for you!

Alexandra Stevens My why, in acting, is to feel what others can't... It's...expression. Feeling, embodying a person who's story is being told, is my why. A service : )

Sandra Isabel Correia / Darrell Pennington - regarding comedy ... I saw a clip of Jerry Seinfeld speaking about comedy today and how disappointed he is that there's no real comedy going on. And so I think McBride / Goggins and that crew is probably the only comedy writer(s) team that I have seen in recent years do really outrageous comedy well and comedy that's actually funny. I only saw Vice Prinicpals (2016) just a couple of years ago, and then Righteous Gemstones (2019) - both well worth the time - but you gotta like rough and tumble humor - they don't mess around. :)

TOM SCHAEFER I am very disappointed with the lack of quality R rated comedy that is not just directed to 16-25 y.o. males. I long for the days of yore, like the late 90's and early 2000's hahaha. But all the way back to the 70's as well. Politically incorrect / skewering of ALL points of view television seems pretty non existent to me. That is what I am trying to accomplish with Dixie Dynamite.

I agree with your assessment on McBride/Goggins especially. The first Season of Righteous Gemstones might be my fave McBride work. Judy Gemstone is such a well written anti-feminist feminist and the spine of the show for me. Amber is probably a close second and someone I have had in mind for the lead Dixie character I have written.

I like your way of thinking about producers and the right production company of your projects!

Darrell Pennington - McBride and crew go for the jugular - and their characters are not only cartoonish in raw emotions, they are all larger than life, and ALL IN. "Double-down ALL IN".

This I think is one of the reasons they have succeeded. Every actor in their shows is ALL IN. I have noticed this about bands. When you watch a band perform on a late night show like Letterman/Fallon/Kimmel - you will see every performer ALL IN. So that's a model for me. I keep getting Gary Vaynerchuk videos in my socials - Gary's ALL IN.

So I think in today's numb universe you will need to go ALL IN without being too sophomoric unless the CW network is what you're aiming for. I find that Mcbride and crew have really worked the dialogue and it's highly relatable, accentuating shit we all talk about they throw some gasoline on! And I have also seen the comraderie that Mcbride and Co have with each other and you can see they are literally laughing all the way to bank.

Brilliant questions, I need to think on that one.

That’s a very good question. Since I have many concepts in mind, I’ve been developing both approaches, and each story has its own perspective of storytelling. That’s exactly why I asked this question—because no matter how far I think, I always end up returning to human logic and Earth-based patterns James LO

personally I don’t think we are truly capable of original thought. I think, if we are honest with ourselves we can accept that even our most original, abstract, foreign ideas come from somewhere within our human experience.

I believe that if a seed of a truly original idea were to spring forth from our mind, we could only conclude that it got there through some form of divine intervention for how could it be otherwise?

9 What has been will be again,
what has been done will be done again;
there is nothing new under the sun.

Ecclesiastes 1:9

You could try reading some East European SF like the books of Stanisław Lem (in case you haven't already), it may help you find some different framing if not an answer to that frustrating question. In the context of writing SF for movies I think every SF movie cannot go further than being anthropomorphic and that is the limit of the genre as a whole that we have to accept or come to accept and not question it. I think SF screenwriters, and directors tried various strategies to hide that fact or motivate it, but this limit is there once you are aware of it even in great movies like Kubrick's or John Carpenter's (not Avatar which is the worst in this area). As a simple exercise why not look at how cats behave, they don't need a civilization to live and flourish ...they just went for a symbiosis where we do all the work for them and them after 7000 years of known shared history and 'evolution' can't be bothered to do anything else because they don't have to. Someone mentioned dolphins too... clearly Disney would give us a speaking friendly one on the screen, because it pays off.

Radu Popp-vinteller i do agree. but villeneuve, based on the book by chiang, did a mind boring job of creating extremely unidentifiable aliens in arrival—the body design is quite stereotypical but their simultaneous logograms (described as non linear orthography) which reflects their block universe view of spacetime is gloriously alien

In creating any world, alien, human, or otherwise and as stupid as it sounds, first figure out your specie's evacuation habits (bodily wastes) and plumbing systems. I know it sounds stupid, but once you figure this out, (and mind you, you don't have to mention it anywhere in your story) you'll start to think about their day to day activities. Are they a day species or nocturnal. Are they a clean society or one that lives in debris. Are their waterways clean and life giving or polluted and bacteria ridden All of these factors will start to fall into place building up to, but not limited to, the motivations between the more advanced of the species to the lowest form of survivor behavior. Again, you don't have to mention any of this, but it literally sets the stage for the advancement of a civilization. Try it for a few days and if it's not working for you, try something else. It helps me create worlds.

Matthew Gross - wow!! What an incredible story. What an innovative way to use AI! I’d love to have you write a blog about this process as it’s fascinating. Email Ashley, our head of community so she can work with you on your story: blogstage32.com

I think that is brilliant Matthew Gross I never would have thought of using AI to select my photos. Do you use the free version of ChatGPT or the paid? I agree with Amanda Toney -please write a blog, sharing all the ways you have use AI to help you with your career.

Suzanne Bronson I used the paid ChatGPT. We have been working together for 3-years, and that helped him to know how to best package me.

Matthew Gross this is inspiring. Congratulations!

wonderful Eve Decoeur - look forward to checking it out. and we’re excited to have you here on Stage32!

Eve Decoeur i don’t see logline or synopsis on your profile but that could be because I’m on the mobile app which strangely has fewer features than the website (Maurice Vaughan - is there a thread on this? because I’ve had issues

Hey, James LO. You can't see loglines and synopses on the phone app, but you can see them in a web browser.

Maurice Vaughan that’s what i suspected—isn’t this a missing app feature? (including inability to edit posts, etc) i might as well access only through my phone browser if the app’s incomplete

Stage 32 has updated the phone app over the years, James LO. Maybe the ability to edit posts, add loglines, etc. will be added to the app one day. The app doesn't have as many features as the web browser version, but the app is convenient for members on the go.

Congratulations again, Lauren Hackney! Family and friends who aren't writers, producers, directors have given me unsuspected feedback.

I suspect everyone's gonna want to improve on my work, the loudest being the ones who ignore my offerings. I'd almost rather get a "This sucks" to let me know they're paying attention.

Now the positive feedback is the vast majority of spoken feedback and I have a whole document of these comments which I've already sent to the ignorers (who still keep on ignoring) so therefore nothing that comes my way is unsuspected, although the request for a pilot and synopsis was the first of its kind but still not unsuspected nor unexpected because I've put in the work and have learned long ago that democracy and freedom comes with the price of ignorance, the wish and willingness to not seek out truth or dialogue with others. It's their right to be scroogelike hermits. The Constitution allows it.

Meriem that's both hilarious and chilling at the same time. Whether it's true or not depends on the imagination of the producer. Are they a Ron Howard (Avatar, Avatar Brave New World--I forgot the name of the sequel) or do they have a binary, linear imagination (the same thing that scares so many cisgenders when gender dissolution enters their world). But at the same time, if you're going to imagine a parallel or skewed universe that's very unlike our own, your imagination needs to still be able to create something coherent enough for viewers to get and the production team to make real. I don't think they'll ever make a movie from Finnegan's Wake for that reason but it's a great book if you can get through Joyce's impossible to follow prose.

Thank you very much Marc Ginsburg

The De-Evolution Game was originally inspired by Mr. Nobody, and since my story also deals with parallel universes, I tried using a similar structure. I noticed how the psychologist in the film guides the narrative—each new question creates a new branch of Nemo’s reality. But that structure didn’t work for my story.

I need to invent another way to present the parallel universes while keeping the whole narrative coherent.

Here are some insights from the story. I’d like to know your point of view.

https://www.stage32.com/lounge/promotion/The-De-Evolution-Game-Paradoxes...

Sounds like you had an illustrator think deeply about your message, especially since you approved of the suggestion. My unexpected feedback came from an editor who suggested a different head for my sci fi books. He was right.

My condolences to Dan's family and friends. I was a big Simpsons fan growing up, Kevin Jackson. I like the movie too!

Maurice Vaughan I heard a new movie is in the works. https://screenrant.com/the-simpsons-movie-2-release-date-change-2027-hom...

So young. I'm so sorry for his family's loss. Thanks for sharing this Kevin Jackson.

I can't wait, Kevin Jackson. I need to catch up on The Simpsons show. I remember playing a Simpsons game growing up.