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"Somebody's got to lead, might as well be me"

Challenge accepted. I’ll respond with the mindset of one of my sci-fi worlds.

“Innocent? You misunderstand, hero. They are offerings. The god I have awakened demands a worthy sacrifice for immortality — and I intend to live forever.”

I turn to you, offering a knowing smirk.

“I see you are not only self-righteous, but foolish and blind as well,” I state, pointing my finger at you in an authoritative manner. “Those ‘innocents’ you are so worked up over are an advance scouting party from an alternate dimension. They are — my mistake, were — here to provide a point of attack on our world. By neutralizing them, I did what you were never able to do.”

I fold my arms smugly, smirking at you. “I just saved the world. And if you stop me, you will be the villain.”

I offer you my hands, challenging you to put me into custody. “Go ahead, ‘hero’…do what’s right.”

I got a new one from another sci-fi world.

I didn’t respond — I just left with a monologue:

“I survived them. You’re the real villain.”

Thank you very much for asking — you’re actually guiding me toward new twists in my story.

You pass the buck, was your own pious vengeful justice, that turned a society into marked witnesses.

Great breakdown of what's needed beyond the surface to create a film.

very insightful. thanks Peter D. Marshall

Thank you very much for this excellent article — it’s truly inspiring and informative.

This is very good Peter, Thank you so much

This is an exceptionally well-structured and vital breakdown. Framing critical thinking as the "thinking about thinking" that underpins every creative and logistical decision is spot on.

Thank you all so much for your helpful guidance — I really appreciate the time you took to respond.

Without going into story details, the project explores the connection between the inner world and the outer world, and how inner awakening and intuition can shape a person’s life. It’s universal, not tied to any specific religion, and some elements are inspired by my own intuitive experiences, which is why the project is very meaningful to me.

I do have a logline and the main characters already developed, as well as about 20 pages describing the concept. What I need now is guidance on the next practical step — whether that’s finding a screenwriter to collaborate with, refining the outline, or preparing the material for pitching.

Any advice on which direction to take from here would be truly appreciated. Thank you again for your support.

You're welcome, Marziyeh Gholampour. I suggest refining the outline. It's easier to write a script if I do the heavy lifting in the outline. If you want to collaborate with a writer, you could make a post on the Job Board (www.stage32.com/find-jobs).

Faith based films tend to follow certain formulas. Here’s a webinar I found useful.

https://www.stage32.com/education/products/how-to-write-and-direct-your-faith-based-feature-film

Next step is difficult to discern without more information... as in, intuitively pick someone to consult with, execute an NDA, and see what gets recommended with what you have.

Hello Marziyeh Gholampour Congratulations on developing your film idea. Next step: create a treatment and outline. I detailed these types of documents in a recent post: https://filmbudget.com/screenwriting-treatment-synopsis-outline/ or access via the main page: www.FilmBudget.com

Best of luck in your endeavors! Jack

I came to ask a similar question to Lee. Do we submit our actual books? Is it possible to submit two, each in completely different genre's?

Debra Holland I have learned that it is acceptable to submit a novel manuscript that fits the description. Good luck!

I submitted a pdf copy of my novel "American Jihad Rising" published in 2011. I've often thought of turning it into a screenplay....but....I got so much blowback from the novel, a lot of bookstores wouldn't stock it. It did pretty online thankfully.

Michael Elliott 2 I can still remember when bookstores were everywhere and stocked everything (Walden, B. Dalton, Borders, Barnes & Noble). Now, you walk into a Barnes store and they stock mere samples of categories, and the other merch is almost more numerous! Thank, God for Half Price Books!

The other thing is how polarized the stores still around are, including the independents. If you don't fit the profile, get lost. And they are heavily biased against self-published stuff because they say they are all poorly edited and full of typos. That's true of some, but it's a stereotype, too. And if you accuse them of it, they look at you in horror because you hit them with the truth.

Good luck with your book!

Good luck everyone - let's see more success stories and set the bench mark for 2026!

I think the newest season suffered for a lot of reasons. Particularly I felt the actor chemistry felt lacking. Which is understandable considering the transition the show made.

I think the biggest problem is the writing. I'm wondering if it was written during the writer's guild strike by a scab or it's AI. It's truly dreadful, like I didn't even want to finish watching it. The replacement of Geralt was fine and the addition of Lawrence Fishburn was a nice surprise. Everyone that signed off on the scripts should be banned from tv production forever...

Hi! I can't say anything about the script. I haven't watched the third season of the series yet. I'll just note that TV series are created for the sake of making money, not for the sake of art.

i just couldn't go past the fact that Henry cavil is not playing the lead. so didn't watch it

Hey , Phoenix Black . Great job. Sorting out what will work for you will provide more clarity and possibility. Good luck !!!!!!

I'm incredibly jealous of how organized this is. I mean that to be complimentary.

I'm about to start this kind of research and would love to know how you use chat gpt to help with your research, what prompts you use etc. I mostly use it like an organization tool because that's not my strong suit.

I wish you good luck. Last year I went through various lists on the internet, lists with production companies. Most refuse to accept scripts from us who have no agent. Or the companies have no email address on their web site. But I found about 100 to write to.

Goran, I'm in exactly the same spot. Can't find contacts to email them. The vast majority won't read queries if not from a manager. The few I do find (IMDb Pro used to be better with contact) I get no reply. But still, we trudge on!

Nice that you liked what I wrote, The first list I used was wikipedia's list with production companies in USA. In many cases Wikipedia included links to the individual companies. In other cases wikipedia doesn't include any link, so I googled, and found the same company on some other list. In this way I found more lists to go through. In this way I went through a few thousand companies, to find 100 I could actually write to,

Hello Andy, it’s very nice to meet you!

Hi, Andy Alston! Welcome to the community. I’m a Stage 32 Lounge Moderator. I wanted to let you know that I moved your post from the Composing Lounge to the Introduce Yourself Lounge since you're introducing yourself and promoting your project.

The ways to connect with other members in the discipline Lounges (Composing Lounge, Producing Lounge, Filmmaking/Directing Lounge, etc.) are making helpful/educational posts and commenting on other people’s posts.

Let me know if you have any questions.

Stage 32 has a blog that'll help you navigate the platform and connect with creatives and industry professionals all over the world. www.stage32.com/blog/how-to-successfully-navigate-the-stage-32-platform-...

Stage 32 is having a free Community Open House on November 25th. It'll also help you navigate Stage 32 and connect with creatives and industry pros. It's a fully interactive event where the community gets to guide the discussion. You can sign up here: www.stage32.com/education/products/stage-32-s-november-community-open-ho...

And it's Stage 32's November Write Club. It can help you reach a goal(s), it's a chance to connect with writers, directors, producers, etc., and you can get support for your goal and projects. Write Club isn't just for writers. Week 4's blog comes out Monday.

Hey @Andy, it's nice to meet you! Welcome to Stage 32! I love that you're working on a project involved with those in the prison system. That's incredible. Inspiration comes from everywhere. I can't wait to hear

Stage 32 has a blog at https://www.stage32.com/blog that can help you find your way around the site.

We also have an FAQ section that might answer any questions you might have in the beginning. You can find that here: https://www.stage32.com/help

This month is November Write Club and creators all over the platform are taking part. We make goals, meet challenges, keep each other motivated and accountable. New challenges are posted on the Blog every week.

https://www.stage32.com/blog/november-write-club-week-3-how-to-make-a-st...

We also have the open house coming up here soon. You can find info for that here: https://www.stage32.com/blog/the-stage-32-community-open-house-returns-t...

I'm so glad you've joined us! I can't wait to see what you create!

That is weird advice for sure. The weirdest one I got was to write less Japanese characters and stories influenced by Japan, because I'm not Japanese. Because I'm Iranian, I ought to write characters who also are. Heard "advice" in that vein pretty often when I was a teenager and first getting into writing, and I thought it was weird and reductive then, and I still feel that way now.

Firstly, I am curious who gave you that advice? And how many publishing professionals did you secure time with? I am sorry those words of 'advice' tainted you slightly. I work in publishing and I'm heard some doozies as far as reasons not to go ahead. That sounds like that was what was on their personal radar - not the industries radar.

My advice moving forward - go global! Research as many traditional publishers first. Be careful of hybrid publishers - do your research. Join a writing group, and these can take time because you need to find your 'tribe'. But most of all - remember your voice and story is uniquely yours. Over time you will find someone who appreciates your work. Good luck!

Well, those weren’t really “advice” — they were attempts to silence curiosity and creativity.

You don’t have to be Japanese to write about Japan. You can write because you love their culture, values, or nature... What’s the problem with that?

It was the same for me. He told me not to write such topics, and even said that as a Moroccan I shouldn’t write stories set in the USA.

But I chose the USA because the experiment in my book required VR, sophisticated devices, and a strong neuroscience background.

That’s why I stopped sharing my ideas with people around me — I don’t want to receive more hurtful thoughts Banafsheh Esmailzadeh

Thank you very much for your support and advice Lauren Hackney

He was my high school teacher.

I’ve moved on many negative comments about my work, and I’ve learned that I need to share my ideas only with people who appreciate my vision and imagination.

I was working in silence and developed many new concepts over the last two years.

Now that I’ve found this creative space, I’ve started sharing again — and I’m so happy for the encouragement I’ve received so far.

As for professional sessions, I’ve had one pitch session here on Stage 32 for my story The Silent PFC War.

She really liked the concept, but I had many issues with the pitching itself and with the screenwriting basics, because at that time I was still writing in a novel style.

I learned so much from her feedback, and I’ll try to do much better next time.

Nice, Justin Groats. It's always a great feeling. Congrats and best going forward!

Yay Justin Groats !

Congratulations Justin Groats! Winning or placing in any competition is a great achievement and worth celebrating!

DAMN RIGHT it means a lot, Justin! Great job...and here's to more and more success!

Congratulations! That’s still a major achievement!

Hi, Kat Spencer. I develop my characters in my outline, so they're fully formed when I start writing the script, but sometimes they change as I write and rewrite the script.

They come to me fully formed and the story makes them evolve and reveal bits of themselves that only come out in special situations.

Some of them come fully developed, and some don’t.

I usually struggle with finding strong, focused characters in the story, which makes it harder to follow.

Well one is based on my mother-in-law. Enough said. hahaha Then there's one based on my husband.... then I've made stories up with my kids and we have created those characters together... thanks for asking Kat Spencer