Trending Lounge Discussions

It all depends on your goals. I have published all my feature specs as books. That's been great for all my friends who want to read them. It also means my story is out there, rather than locked away on my hard drive. There's no money in it though and promoting books is just as hard as scripts.

CJ Walley True!

@CJ Walley I'd like to have it available but what gives me pause is what if a producer or exec becomes half way interested in helping to sell a series pitch but then says "I see you published it as a novel, how many readers did it reach,?" and then if the numbers are low they could lose interest

I cant see them caring that much about poor sales on a novel that's not with a publisher or been marketed hard.

I've spoken with producers who have been presented with "best sellers" that have less than a dozen or so reviews, and I think that looks worse.

I went off publishing my books - it takes too long - and am now adapting them into features/TV series. I have eleven but had my publisher go bust and with it went my Contract for eight of the books. I've fallen in love with TV pilots too.

That's fantastic! This really shows the power of combining storytelling with compelling imagery.

Awesome news! Congrats

Happy holidays!

Thanks for all of the nice comments. The weird thing about it is that I met this guy after responding to a post he put on a neighborhood site called Nextdoor. He'd just graduated from AFI and was looking to meet people interested in film. I replied, we met, and it turned out he was interested in scripts about the Mexican immigrant experience in CA. The story shown in the poster was one from a collection of stories he had an option on that kind of dealt with the topic.

I told him I had a script about that exact issue, so I agreed to read the collection of stories, and he agreed to read the script. He liked the script more than I liked the stories and he got all hot on the idea of doing it and he asked if I would be interested in adapting this collection of stories while he tried to get his finance guy interested in my script. I said, sure.

He and another writer had put together a treatment that tried to combine elements of all the stories into one feature length script. I thought it was a really admirable effort, but didn't feel like it really added up to anything in the end, so I suggested taking three stories you could tie together in some way and doing it as a kind of Ballad of Buster Scruggs thing,

The problem was, I couldn't find three stories I liked enough to do that with, so he suggested adapting just the one. He was listed on IMDB and had made some shorts that had gotten some festival recognition as well as a found footage type horror film that has some nice reviews on YouTube, so I thought it would be worth the effort.

Once I found the hook I wanted to the story, it only took about a week to write and when I showed it to him, he got all excited about doing that, So I guess we'll see where it all goes. Hopefully, I'll have a better understanding of things if this meeting with the finance guy actually happens at which point I'll have a chance to figure out how legit any of it is.

Tim, way to GO! Here's wishing you tremendous success with "Igloo among Palms!"

I like how the visual and the concept reinforce each other here. It creates instant clarity for the reader. Thanks for putting this out there.

Yeah, I wasn't unhappy with the way it came out for an AI thing, but with a little refinement it could be quite interesting. For instance, I don't like the font, and I would have liked to see the car's grille facing to right of the image, so that the word Imperial on its grille could be seen as the word has a broader connotation in the script beyond just being the name of the car.

so SO inspiring Cynna Ael ! and also so happy for you - besides the joy of the accomplishment you've also built a lot of momentum with completing multiple scripts. No doubt 2026 will be an incredible year for you as a screenwriter. and great point about not working on different genres so closely in time - the emotional shift required could indeed be jarring.

Cynna Ael That's why we are all so called to write, because of our different view points, there are others who will be seen by our stories! So cool Cynna. I gravitate in challenging the status quo on silence and allowing things, like injustice, prejudice, fear, and "cultural baggage" expectations from certain ethnic groups. I like challenging this, mixing the proverbial pot if you will, and taking this to comedy, thriller, drama, and now holidays : )

Cynna Ael Wow, that’s some speed! How do you do it?? I write horror, and I can’t even imagine if I sat down to write a Christmas comedy on the same day, how much the vibe would get completely mixed up!

Thanks Sebastian Tudores! It's been a wild ride to be able to get this done. But I'm so thrilled to have written after so many years of not being focused or energised enough.

love to hear it Cynna Ael - and that energy is contagious in the best of ways!

This is a massive win for the UK film industry. Greenlighting Marlow Studios not only strengthens the country’s production landscape, but also opens doors for thousands of new creative jobs and training opportunities. Excited to see how this transforms the future of filmmaking in the region

This is so good, especially for us in Europe. Thank you, Amanda, for sharing.

Oh good idea thank you Ray Watters One can also reach them via X.

Good to know, Suzanne Bronson ! Any way to communicate with them is good...as long as a bunch of us communicate!

Maurice Vaughan Thanks again, — I followed your suggestion and just posted the logline on my profile. Really appreciate the help!

You're welcome, Philippe Jeanneteau.

Wonderful question, I'm doing this right now with my series Finding Elpis lol :) since there are lots of planets I'm exploring in the series, I touch up on them more than I properly deep dive into the little details, but nonetheless I like to invite the reader to embrace the vibes and their people and maybe even decide for themselves why they are the way they are. One major character is often the one explaining the world to the protagonists and the reader, since he knows it very well and we don't (and even then, there are more major characters who know more than he does). As for the character development, the larger world (or in this case, the galaxy)'s vastness means there's infinite room for character growth, as well as room to get as philosophical as I want kik. I like to be a bit controversial and not have my characters change the world so much as the world changes them, if for no other reason than the world is always bigger than the character, and it's more like the underlayer/backdrop of a painting rather than the actual subject. You can be detailed, sure, but no matter what, the characters are the subject of the painting, not the setting (unless, of course, you want to paint a setting and not characters, or have characters in the background).

I hope that made sense lol

It’s truly a good question that I also have.

In sci-fi, especially when you go very deep into scientific plausibility, the work can start feeling like a textbook instead of a story.

So you need to reinforce the emotional moments and show the characters from within —

how they react to the catastrophe?

what kind of thoughts they develop?

whether they can still fight or if they get trapped in their own psychological warfare: anxiety, tears, nightmares…

and whether there are any hopeful attempts left in them?

Your idea sounds so insane.

You’re discovering many planets at once, and it really makes me curious about them.

Keep going — let us see your planets Banafsheh Esmailzadeh

Hey, Anthony McBride. I got a lot done this year. Wrote scripts, rewrote scripts, networked, pitched projects, etc. I gave feedback to other creatives on their projects and helped out creatives this year. Congratulations on writing a record number of screenplays and everything you accomplished this year!

Maurice Vaughan Thanks a bunch for the reply. Great job on all that you've done this year too.

You're welcome, Anthony McBride. Thanks. Hope we all have an incredible December and 2026!

You're welcome, Jan Pavlov. I'm looking forward to watching LUCK IS A HARD TARGET! If you ever have any questions about Stage 32, let me or another Lounge Moderator know. We have badges on our pictures. Or you could email support@stage32.com.

how can i be in this wonderful movie

I have a perfect character for you there, FBI agent Samuel Dante... First have to find a Producer! :)

welcome to the road to fucking nowhere!

welcome to the road to fucking nowhere

Weclome to the S32 Club!

Hi Andre!

Lovely to meet you (digitally!

Frank Van Der Meijden Hee Nice to meet you as well, we only live like 2hours away from each other. But Cool to also meet someone from holland here.

Maurice Vaughan Yes I will check out the blog. I will be on here almost every single day as I can. I time i will share my self tapes of singing or acting. I Will also upload some of my presentation on camera skills.

Great, Andre Pierre. You can post your videos on your profile by moving your mouse over "Profile" on the bar near the top of Stage 32's home page and clicking "Video/Audio." You can also post your videos by moving your mouse over "Browse" on the same bar and clicking "Video."

Yes, you can transfer your old Celtx scripts into Final Draft — but you can’t open a .celtx file directly. You’ll need to export your Celtx projects as PDF, TXT, RTF, or Fountain first. After that, Final Draft can import those files without any issue.

Just keep in mind that you may need to adjust some formatting after importing.

Thanks Fuad. One more question. Would you recommend Final Draft over Celtx and why?

Just starting out or working on a small project? Go with Celtx — budget-friendly and great for collaboration.

Writing professional scripts for bigger productions? Final Draft has you covered with industry-standard formatting.

You're welcome, DJ Gautam. Stage 32 has an on-demand webinar called "How to Better Rewrite and Polish Your Feature Screenplay or Pilot" (www.stage32.com/education/products/how-to-better-rewrite-and-polish-your...). It's taught by Steve Desmond. He co-wrote M. Night Shyamalan's movie Knock at the Cabin.

A strong, active structure is more important than polish for making a good film, and this is where most writers fail, but the polish might be more important as a sales tool when getting reads and trying to market the script.

DJ Gautam That happened to me, maybe all of us, when we first started, generalized descriptions and connectors as I call them. Don't worry, your voice is still shaping it sounds like. Finish the drafts fully without judgement, and to me, focus on typos and grammar mistakes at first, to be polished in that way, and let your own voice grow and stretch as it sees and feels like it, depending on the story and emotion. Trust your imagination, and focus on proper grammar and spelling, especially in those final drafts. Execs, producers, etc.. really expect that, spelling, grammar, polish, but they want to hear and see you, your world, and your unique point of view. Hope this helps.

CJ Walley great advice and excellent analogies. Reading scripts definitely is one of the best ways to help hone your writing. I remember a writing mentor once told me, "Books are great to learn the rules and frameworks, but to truly understand how to be a great writer, read scripts and watch movies. Read good, great and bad scripts so that you can know what makes them tick or not tick."

Totally agree Juliana Philippi focus on finishing and ensuring grammar and spelling are polished first. Many reviewers have said, when the grammar, spelling or format is off, it makes it hard to read which messes up the pacing for them and almost always automatically fails the script, because they have been so pulled out of the story, that they cannot focus on what the film is trying to say.