Trending Lounge Discussions

Hi, Suzanne Bronson. I try to learn from rejection, and I move on and keep pitching/applying for jobs.

Can you tell me more Maurice Vaughan How do you learn from rejection?

Sure, Suzanne Bronson. Say I send an email query letter and hear back from the producer saying they want to read my script. If the producer reads the script and tells me why they passed on it, I'll keep those things in mind when I outline and write my next scripts.

In acting, you don't have the luxury of knowing why you weren't cast, or even why you aren't allowed to audition.

Hi, Bou Her. Welcome to the community. Happy Thanksgiving! I’m a Stage 32 Lounge Moderator. I wanted to let you know that I moved your post from the Screenwriting Lounge to the Introduce Yourself Lounge since you're introducing yourself and promoting your script. 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. Producers, directors, executives, managers, writers, and more. www.stage32.com/blog/how-to-successfully-navigate-the-stage-32-platform-...

Stage 32's November Community Open House was Tuesday. It'll help you navigate Stage 32 and connect with creatives and industry pros. The recording is up now. It's free to watch. www.stage32.com/education/products/stage-32-s-november-community-open-ho...

Reach out to the Success Team at success@stage32.com. Geoff and his team can help you connect with reps, producers, executives, and more.

And it's the last week of Stage 32's November Write Club. Today's the last day to do the challenges in the blog for a chance to win three prizes! And there's a grand prize drawing at the end of the month! www.stage32.com/blog/november-write-club-week-4-the-art-of-the-pitch-wha...

Thank you Maurice, sorry and appreciate it!

You're welcome, Bou Her. Unique Rom-Com! You could post your script on your profile. Producers search profiles for projects. That and networking are how I sold four short scripts to a producer. Click the gear symbol in the top right-hand corner and select “Edit profile” in the drop-down menu. Scroll down to “Loglines” and click “Add/edit loglines” to the right of “Loglines.” You can also post your script on your profile this way: www.stage32.com/loglines (near the top where it says “Add a Logline”)

Hi @Bou Her and welcome to Stage 32! It's great to have you here. Look forward to seeing you around the lounges!

Hi, Volodimir Skorokhod. Welcome to the community. I’m a Stage 32 Lounge Moderator. Stage 32 is an English platform. Do you mind translating your post to English?

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's November Community Open House was Tuesday. It'll help you navigate Stage 32 and connect with creatives and industry pros. The recording is up now. It's free to watch. www.stage32.com/education/products/stage-32-s-november-community-open-ho...

Thank you, I will definitely watch everything and get used to your site, in English...

You're welcome, Volodimir Skorokhod. Ok, great. And I suggest using a photo of yourself as your profile picture. People will feel more comfortable networking and collaborating with you if they know what you look like. You can upload a picture by clicking the gear symbol in the top right-hand corner and selecting “Edit profile” in the drop-down menu, then clicking the red button underneath your location and choosing "Update profile picture."

I'm glad to hear it, Shadow Dragu-Mihai, Esq., Ipg! I hope George R.R. Martin wins! Producers, studios, etc. are big on copyright. I don't see them using generative AI/buying generative AI material and risking having to pay thousands, millions, or billions down the line if copyright issues come up.

My opinion: I hope they get sued into complete non-existence. Generative ai is one of the worst things humans have created.

I believe there are several distinct creative states.

Some creators generate both ideas and language themselves — the fully human pipeline with linguistic command and conceptual expertise.

Others use AI for ideation but write and edit the final English independently.

Another group develops the ideas personally but uses AI to generate and expand text.

A more reliable fourth pathway is where humans originate the concepts and language, and AI serves only in refinement — improving clarity, grammar, and structure without altering ownership or creative direction.

I think ideas outweigh language in creative importance. AI-generated concepts alone are often rejected because they can resemble recombinations of existing narratives rather than genuine novelty. AI does not create ex nihilo — meaning from nothing — but from patterns it has already learned. The truly original spark still comes from the human mind.

However, AI is powerful for language refinement. In my case, I generate the ideas and basic text, and then use AI only for correction and refinement. There is always the risk that AI, while refining prose, could echo the style of well-known authors. To mitigate that, creators should apply plagiarism-detection tools, similar to academic integrity checks in scientific research.

A logical next step would be developing AI-assisted plagiarism-scanning pipelines — embedding originality verification directly into the writing process, much like research software does today.

Thanks, Meriem Bouziani. I hope you're achieving your goals too. I got a lot done during November Write Club. I plan on making a post about it this weekend or Monday.

Thank you very much Maurice Vaughan

You're welcome, Meriem Bouziani. Have a great weekend!

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone - here's to a "Creative Christmas!"

Happy Thanksgiving, Steve Dini! Hope you have a Creative Christmas!

Hey, Brandon Keeton. Hope you enjoyed Thanksgiving! I plan on working on projects (finish rewriting a feature script, finish outlining a feature script, etc.) this month, but I might take extra days off. I'm looking forward to hearing more about your feature script and short film! Hope the meeting goes great!

The feature is based on a short film we did entitled "Calls", and the short we just finished will be out shortly.

Good to hear about your stuff as well! Keep at it!

Thanks, Brandon Keeton. I got a lot done during Stage 32's November Write Club. I'm gonna make a post about it this weekend or Monday.

Awesome sauce Brandon Keeton ! I just wrapped on what I think will be my final two films of the year, a Christmas Horror that I'm the lead in (it's a gas lighting story called, Forever Yours, a script winner at Darwins last fest, he was a Producer on it) followed by my very first ever Silent Film ON FILM Old school Hollywood style where I play Stefan's wife (that was in our Cannes group) I can't wait to see the finished products for both, they looked really bizarre and artistic WHICH I LOVE of course, the weirder the better ;)

Congratulations on wrapping your final two films of the year, Brittany Christine! I'm looking forward to seeing them!

John Fife I think McKee’s sharp insight names the conflict’s general vector — in a passive protagonist, that conflict is fundamentally turned inward, a pattern more common in modern characters, with the inner conflict running from beginning to end.

Banafsheh Esmailzadeh Yeah, that’s true. In the end, we’re all just writing about our real lives.

Pretty much Ehsan Rahimpour. I like to challenge myself but within reason. I’m primarily the kind of person who believes in playing the hand you’re dealt (whether it’s your fault or not), so my characters tend to deal with things that happen to them alongside making things happen. Both are important to me so I can’t always relate to pure external conflict.

Maybe we can Banafsheh Esmailzadeh, expand it like this: In contemporary times, this dual situation almost always prevails, and our art is a way of playing between the two.

Thread reminds me too, a passive or active protagonist can be their own worst enemy & antagonist not another human, ghost, monster, society or bad environment etc. I write active protagonists who arc to become Pro active by being forced into a crucible during set up or midway. Even if they don’t “physically” act, their “psychological” choices determine their outcomes. Films with totally passive protagonists, often have an element of tragedy. Comedies however, often have a protagonist who refuses to change, completely unaware of their flaws or does not challenge the status quo of world around them.

Hi, Salisu Abdullahi. I’m a Stage 32 Lounge Moderator. I wanted to let you know I moved your post from the Introduce Yourself Lounge to the Screenwriting Lounge since it's about screenwriting. You can talk about this in your introduction post, but you need to introduce/reintroduce yourself to the community. You could check out other posts in the Introduce Yourself Lounge to get ideas for your introduction post. Let me know if you have any questions.

Phone Booth is one of my favorite Contained Thrillers. It's a unique Contained Thriller because it's in a phone booth and everyone's watching the protagonist.

"At what point does a limited setting stop serving the story and start feeling repetitive or claustrophobic for the audience?" A Contained Thriller can start feeling repetitive and bore the reader/audience. I like to add exterior shots of the location and add exterior scenes so the story doesn't feel repetitive. I also like to have the protagonist/characters leave the house, building, etc. to go outside sometimes, like at the midpoint of the script.

"What's the smallest space you've successfully used for a full feature-length script, and how did you keep the visual variety and tension high?" I've set a script in a room (can't remember if it was a bedroom or living room). I keep the visual variety high by using objects and giving the monster/antagonist an unique appearance and outfit. I keep the tension high by adding conflict, dilemmas, stakes, a ticking clock, and twists.

Good question. Just watched 'The Long Walk' which translated into 'The Long Watch'. At some point - the walking and talking go to be too much for me. Perhaps aim for 75 pages and find a few side locations to mix it up!

"Hi Stephen,

That is a great point about The Long Watch (or The Long Walk). You nailed it—that feeling of the setting becoming repetitive is exactly what I'm trying to avoid with The Venice Glass House.

I absolutely agree that the solution is to aim for a tighter page count and find those strategic side locations to maintain variety. I'm taking your advice to heart!

I noticed you have fantastic credits, especially on thrillers like October Burn and your production work on A&E and PBS. As a writer/producer with a discerning eye for story and production, I'd love to hear your thoughts on my specific logline for The Venice Glass House—it's a contained thriller that I've designed for the micro-budget space, keeping production logistics in mind.

Would you be open to a quick Direct Message exchange or an email to see if there's any creative synergy between what I'm writing and the kind of high-impact, independent work you produce?"

I know this is a little off-topic, but ep. 5 of All Her Fault, which I saw last night, is an example of how a screenwriter can use the midpoint of a series to really confine the action and concentrate on character dynamics - has anyone seen it? - it's intense! - and the screenwriting (Megan Gallagher?)—in this episode especially—is top class...

"Hi Michael,

That's a fantastic, insightful point! I haven't seen All Her Fault yet, but your comment on using the midpoint of a series to confine the action and concentrate on character dynamics is brilliant. It perfectly summarizes how a contained space must serve the internal drama, not just the external plot.

In writing The Venice Glass House, my goal is to let the tight setting crank up the pressure on the protagonist's emotional and psychological state.

As a fellow novelist and writer, I'd truly value your perspective on story structure. Would you be open to a quick Direct Message exchange or an email to talk more about how a contained thriller can best maximize character stakes?

Best,

Salisu"

Hey John - if it's any consolation, I pitched 2 weeks ago, and still haven't heard back hah! The wait is killing me, but it is what it is!

For me, a win is when an executive asks to read my screenplay. Then I know the pitch really worked despite the score and I get feedback on what really counts, the screenplay itself.

So many planets need to align for a studio to take on a project. It almost needs to be no brainer with prior success, all the rights, funding, politics and most importantly, need for a project.

In the meantime well done for getting your foot in the door and getting to pitch! I'm still working on that step.

@John It may be too expensive to make.

My girlfriend probably wishes I would take a break, but unfortunately, November is one of my busiest months for inspiration.

I’m taking a break, but I’m still working in my mind

I took a break for the last two weeks of November and plan to start writing again on Monday.

I write when I get a creative burst of an idea which usually happens when I am distance swimming in a 50 meter pool, since swimming laps is so monotonous that I think through scenes in the novel which I am struggling to write, makes the time go faster. Can’t do it in the ocean, since if I’m not paying attention, I could get run over by a kayak or swim into a coral reef.

I do not take breaks except for when I get to spend time with my son. Doesn`t matter which time of year then.