Trending Lounge Discussions

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!

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.

Great points and tips, Fares Moha. I rewrite as I work on the first draft, but the first draft is mainly about getting the draft done.

So keep working the way you do. Take the time to build your own certainty, to strengthen what you want to say, and to feel proud of your story. After that, convincing others almost becomes a consequence, not a battle.

Movement in every shot -Kurosawa.

Look for rich backgrounds in great directing. Although I am only a beginning director, I tried in SETESH 2025 (youtube) to make each shot have so many unusual backgrounds in depth that you could watch it 1000 times and never catch every object in each location. The new netflix on President Garfield has wonderful and deep background panoramas so you could see it 1000 times and never catch everything.

Absolutely. Every time I hear bad dialogue, I think, I can do better. And every time I hear great dialogue, I think, I hope I’ll be that good someday.

It only gets worse but you wouldn't change it! A great way to develop your screenwriting is to explore parts of films that give you strong emotional responses, then explore how the filmmaker and screenwriter achieved this. Screenplayed.com has videos that show a rolling script next to the corresponding scene in the final movie so you can see how the scene translated from the page to the screen.

Actually movies inspire me when I write my own scripts.

I consciously revisit many films to analyze their structure, so I can better understand what approach might serve my own writing.

There are many different narrative paths or structural frameworks a writer can adopt, but I gravitate toward a puzzle-like structure.

I often begin with a catastrophic disruption, then let the events unfold forward while integrating strategic flashbacks that gradually reveal what led to the disaster.

I dissect films & TV shows constantly but don’t actually consciously plan to. It just happens. My friends stop me shouting at the screen, when I notice plot weaknesses or too many coincidences.

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.

You're welcome, Meriem Bouziani. Great. There's a lot to do in the Writers' Room. I hope those pitch resources help!

If I'm doing a phone pitch I have my script ready to go. I'll rehearse it several times to make sure it's not to long and that helps me make sure I reach all the things I want to tell them.

Always finish up with "I'd be happy to answer any questions you have." It helps sounding confident and willing to to work with them.

Good luck.

Thank you very much for your help.

I wish you the best of luck as well Bill Albert

You, too. Another thing to remember is they want you to give them the best idea they've ever heard. Let that help your confidence.

yeah, originality matters. I hope my story, The Silent PFC War, stands out as something unique and layered to them Bill Albert

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."

Hi, Ashley Dreswick-Dollinger. Welcome to the community. Congratulations on having four books published!

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, 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 producers, executives, and more.

Hey Ashley Dreswick-Dollinger, the little excerpt you posted grabs my interest. I want to know the process Allie and Everett go through and the outcome. Here's to your success in finding that group of special people who will bring this story to completion on screen.

I see your book on kindle and I might pick up this story to take me through next week. you have a beautiful weekend

Thank you Rose Dupuis! That truly means a lot to me ❤️

The new year is always a good feeling...as if it's a new creative clean slate. I just finished up the music for the last film project for the year. I do have some upcoming projects but what I try to do at the end of the year is go through all of the years project files and add any mixes and edits of tracks to my production library ready to be available for licensing and then generally clean house on the drives and systems to get them cleared up and ready for the new year.

The biggest goal right now is to continue my first script, The Silent PFC War.

After a lot of questioning about my artistic endeavors, I just finished the soundtrack for a short film, I feel more confident about pursuing my ambitions as a composer. This December is mostly gonna be about socializing and networking, and hopefully opening doors for new projects.

I aim for finish this last track on my album entitled: Dismantling. I would like to be mastered and prepared for release early 2026.

Trying to put into videos the first act of my musical.

Very helpful advice Lauren Hackney!

Thank you Kat Spencer I hope you enjoyed your Thanksgiving!

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.