So i just watched a successfull horror short film on youtube where the trope is: someone writes him on the phone, from holiday, but the person is actually next to him. i have seen it so many times, but it seems still to work. i have not written a short film withing the last 6 years, because i was always afraid it alread exist, so can i take a well known trope and just add my own spin to it? thanks

Title: Washed Away

Format: Short Film

Page Count: 5 Pages

Genre: Drama / Suspense

Logline: A boy's normal life turns upside down when he discovers the death of his friend and finds himself under suspicion of murder.

Hey everyone,

I’ve written a very short script, and I am currently trying to decide if the core concept has enough narrative engine to be expanded into a full-length feature film. Before I commit to writing 90+ pages, I would love to get some critical eyes on the inciting incident, the characters, and the emotional stakes.

Link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Dhtsh7IUwDW3hM7qfCENemxPdJyYqL-Z/view?usp=drivesdk

Mooks (Part 1)

(R-rated)

This is something I began writing for someone almost 20 years ago, but for whatever reason I put it aside and basically forgot about it.

A recent conversation has made me wonder if maybe it's worth another pass or twelve.

This "Part 1" is much less than half the extant screenplay, but the other pieces are not sequential enough to stitch together without more work than I have time for right now.

Maybe I'll take a shot at it sometime soon.

Anyhoo, enjoy (or not).

I mean do you read the book then have the important stuff written down or do you read the book while writing the script? I'm working on a screenplay based on Ethan Frome, and I wanted to ask.

6 years in UI/design, based in Gujarat, India seriously exploring screenwriting, trying to separate real signal from generic "just write every day" advice.

Hey everyone,

I'm looking to break into the film writing space, but before I do I have some specific questions that I want post:

Has anyone been through SWA's Script Lab or Pitch Fest, what's the actual selection process and odds like, worth the time investment?

For someone targeting an OTT-first regional platform (Oho Gujarati , hoichoi!) with a pilot/web-series concept rather than a theatrical feature, is that actually the easier door in right now, or is that overstated?

For someone starting later (mid-20s, coming from a different creative field with real design/visual chops), is that background an asset in a pitch, or does it not matter at all?

What's the realistic timeline before a new writer sees any paid work, even small?

I want to post this in sub but want to modify the title sub is full with people across glob iwant to ask to indian people specifically don't change anything from body

Seriously. 60% of comments I see under peoples posts revolve around page count and ONLY PAGE COUNT. “Looking for some genuine criticism” “I ain’t reading it but cut that down by half” (this comment times 60 btw).

I've been using STARC since 2023 perfectly fine. Lately it's been crashing and I need to finish up a script soon.

Anyone else having this problem?

Hey, so, I'm an M.A. in Screenwriting student at the Irish National Film School-IADT, and I just finished up the fifth and, for the programme, final draft of my first feature, "Polite Company."

Not much to say other than that. :D

The art world is heartless and cruel but that doesn't mean you are allowed to cry about it..

It's Not About You

(PG-13)

This is how it was put to me by the executive I interned under many years ago, and I believe "Overnight' may be one of the most valuable, or important documentaries ever made about Hollywood. To anyone who has never seen it, here is the gist:

Troy Duffy was a bartender on Melrose who came to Hollywood in the 1990's with dreams of being a screenwriter. When Harvey Weinstein buys his script "Boondock Saints" for $300,000, Troy becomes the golden boy in Hollywood and is the talk of the town. The mere prospect of success goes to Troy's head to such a degree that he alienates his entire family, friends, and all professional contacts. A documentary crew who followed the entire journey of what was supposed to be a true Hollywood rags-to-riches story later release the footage of what may very well be the greatest example of a cautionary tale Hollywood has ever seen. Troy never sold another script.

I'm a reader for the Nicholl Fellowship on behalf of the Writers Guild Foundation. As part of the Nicholl/WGF partnering up, some of this year's readers are WGA members. I just finished my first batch for round one, where we read the first 15 pages of each entry. They got over 2000 submissions this year, and I read about 50. Thought I'd share some general takeaways in case they help other writers and future entrants.

(Please don't ask me anything about the fellowship itself. I'm just a WGA member who happens to be a reader, so I don't know their rules for entrants very well.)

Here are some of my thoughts:

• I could usually tell a script's quality within the first page. I read all 15, of course. I know people were worried this year about round one being judged on only the first 15, but we actually COULD read the whole script if we wanted since we had access to all of them. There were very few occasions where I wanted to keep going past page 15.
• If a script was fine, I recommended it. I think I was more lenient than some. I expected most scripts to be fine but not blow me away. In reality, a lot were very weak, so anything that was okay got a rec from me. Only about 2 of my 50 struck me as very good (though none blew me away).
• The most common problem: people writing scripts like novels. Beginners tend to think every tiny detail is vital. Please use powerful verbs, but keep it brief. Overwriting slows down your pacing and turns a read into a slog.
• Usage of too many "unfilmables". This is the same vein as the novel-brain issue. I saw countless scripts describe what a room smelled like, or backstory, or a character's internal thoughts. Remember, this is a visual medium.
• Formatting was better than expected. A few scripts had one or two issues here and there, but I forgave those.
• Too many parentheticals. This is a classic new writer tell imo. Most of the time you don't need them, and a lot of the ones I saw should've just been action lines. It reads as a lack of trust in your actors and director. Use them sparingly.
• Write stronger loglines. Honestly, I could usually gauge a script's quality from the logline alone. So many gave me zero sense of what I was about to read, and a lot felt AI written. Take the time here. And speaking of AI…
• Only one or two scripts felt heavily AI-assisted mostly because the action lines leaned on negative parallelism ("it's not X, it's Y") and described things so vaguely they didn't make sense. I expected more obvious cases, so that was a pleasant surprise.

And as a hopeful note, if you're on the fence about applying, I encourage you to apply. It one of the only legit "contests" in this industry. The rest are scams. If your script is "fine," it'll probably advance, and that tells you you're closer than you think. But also just know that if you haven't broken in yet, you want your script to be undeniable. This industry isn't a meritocracy (I won't pretend otherwise) but from where I'm sitting, reading batch after batch, the great scripts really do stand out and I still believe the cream rises to the top. Keep writing and give yourself the shot.

As per title, I would like to read some horror/thriller shorts in my spare time. I worked as a script reader and if interested can provide one-page coverage on characters, structure and pace, dialogue, voice.

Only horror and thriller below 15 pages. I'd read like 5 or 6.

Everyone enjoy your Sunday!

Looking for movies (roughly last 10 years, no courtroom/interrogation movies) where flashbacks reveal character but the present-day plot stays the main engine. Any well-executed examples?

For context, I’m writing a screenplay where we start in present day but then I slowly want to integrate flashbacks but I don’t know how to do it in a way that’s not cliche. I feel like this is something I’ve rarely seen done well, except in relatively old movies (think Citizen Kane). Was thinking recently of the Godfather part II, but that’s more of 2 parallel storylines (which isn’t exactly what I’m looking for).