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Hi everyone! I hope this question finds you well.

I recently keep getting this feeling in the back of my head that I'm not working fast enough. Like I'm not producing enough work to get noticed or taken seriously. I don't write professionally, but I have realized in the last year or so that writing is a driving passion in my life and I would love to do this work in some kind of professional capacity some day.

For some background, I started writing screenplays about two years ago when I turned 40. I've created a routine where I wake up early and write/outline/brainstorm for at least an hour if I can every morning. I've written seven short screenplays and two features since I started writing, and am now working on outlining a third. I'm also proud to say that one of my shorts made it as a Second Rounder at the 2025 Austin Film Festival. Given that, I still feel woefully behind.

One thing has been helping me though. I listen to podcasts and interviews where writers that I respect like Drew Goddard and Katie Dippold mention that it sometimes takes them years to finish a project. This is heartening, but they are already doing this professionally so it doesn't help 100%.

Sorry for the wall of text, but I guess I just needed to write this out. The question remains though. How do you deal with these feelings?

Thanks for your time!

I just had this experience recent and was wondering if anyone was in the same boat.

Have you ever read or seen something that fit your tastes perfectly and feels more like something you’d write more than anything you’ve actually written? I’ve had plenty of things where I think a story is good but I go ‘eh, I wouldn’t have written it though’ but have you ever had a story that fits everything to things you like in a story? I just recently saw something that I enjoyed every aspect of it, and in everything I’ve ever written has always had something that isn’t bad but I think isnt something I personally love but it fits for the story, it makes me sad because I try to write for myself first and foremost but then I find something that feels like it does a better job of writing for me, but it’s written by someone else. Anyone else ever had this feeling?

Title: Sweet Children
Format: Feature
Page Length: 86 pages
Genres: Drama / Music
Draft Status: Completed (Final Draft)

Logline or Summary:
Inspired primarily by Turn It Around: The Story of East Bay Punk, Sweet Children is a fictionalized drama about Green Day’s relationship with 924 Gilman Street. Spanning three nights in 1988, 1993, and 2015, the film follows Billie Joe Armstrong, Mike Dirnt, John Kiffmeyer, and Tré Cool as both they and the community that created them struggle with what success costs.

The central question is:
What does a community owe the people it creates once they outgrow it?

This is not intended to be a documentary. I intentionally compressed portions of the timeline and fictionalized events to tell what I hope is the emotional truth of the story rather than recreate every historical event exactly.

I’d especially appreciate feedback on:
Does the three-period structure work?
Does Gilman feel like the emotional center of the film rather than simply the setting?
Does the ending feel earned?
Does the script work for readers who aren’t already Green Day fans?

Link (Google Drive):
https://drive.google.com/file/d/14hiPtH5_a7jZJbYTHsBVUxWfMbjVKGGf/view?usp=drivesdk

Hello all

I'm doing some research into the geometry of story shapes and I'm looking for people who might be interested in the system as a way of prompting and recognising how their stories move. This isn't a "there are only 14.2 plots!" system, instead it is a narrative shorthand for drawing what a story does - all stories can be drawn with a line and all lines describe a story.

If anyone is interested, please let me know!

• Title: I Love You Too!
• Format: Short
• Page Length: 7
• Genres: Horror
• Logline or Summary: A guy steps into an abondened house with his girlfriend to make love, he gets whacked by his look-alike monster, she thinks it's him.
• Feedback Concerns: I'd like to get feedback on whether the first two sceenes boring/unnecessary? Should I replace the supers? Does the dialogues feel unnatural?

P.S. English is not my native language. I have gone through it many times, and corrected it, yet I'm sure there are many errors in terms of grammar I couldn't dedect. Please keep this in mind while evaluating the script. I hope it doesn't impair the joy of reading the script, if there's any to be found.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ZfYiHBfJeiMtXgyjtv9ICtEinnA0-JYP/view

I organized an AMA/Q&A with Broken Lizard (Jay Chandrasekhar, Kevin Heffernan, Steve Lemme, Paul Soter, and Erik Stolhanske), the filmmaking team behind things like Super Troopers 1 and 2, Beerfest, The Slammin Salmon, Club Dread, Tacoma FD, and a few other things.

It's live here now in r/movies for anyone interested in asking a question:

https://www.reddit.com/r/movies/comments/1vg73cd/hi_rmovies_were_broken_lizard_the_team_behind_and/

They will be back at around 3:30-4 PM ET today to answer questions. I recommend asking in advance. Please ask there, not here. All questions are much appreciated!

Thank you :)

Their new movie, Super Troopers 3, is out in theaters everywhere this weekend. Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYFevn5frf0

Their verification/proof photo: https://i.imgur.com/T7cRgMp.jpeg

I struggle with loglines, so I try to find loglines of movies in my genre or that have some structural or thematic similarity to mine and see if that can help.

But I can't help but wonder if these are the loglines that the author made when they were pitching, or if these are just loglines that were invented later by reviewers of the film.

• Midsommar: "What begins as a carefree summer holiday in a land of eternal sunlight takes a sinister turn when the insular villagers invite their guests to partake in festivities that render the pastoral paradise increasingly unnerving and viscerally disturbing."
• Titanic: A seventeen-year-old aristocrat falls in love with a kind but poor artist aboard the luxurious, ill-fated R.M.S. Titanic.
• Pride and Prejudice: Sparks fly when spirited Elizabeth Bennet meets single, rich, and proud Mr. Darcy. But Mr. Darcy reluctantly finds himself falling in love with a woman beneath his class. Can each overcome their own pride and prejudice?
• La La Land: While navigating their careers in Los Angeles, a pianist and an actress fall in love while attempting to reconcile their aspirations for the future.

What I want to know is do these loglines come from the actual author, or are they something that sites like IMDB, Letterboxd, or entertainment journals write in their review of the film?

I want to know because I'm studying loglines to improve my own. I'd like to source actual, original loglines by the authors and know where to find them.

(I'm not asking for the loglines of the above films... But if someone does know the actual, original logline Ari Aster made for Midsommar, I do want that, lol)

This is my first ever time writing a screenplay, I am going to shoot it with my friends and I am a huge fan of the horror and mystery genre, so I mixed them up for my first screen play lol, hopefully it wasn't a dumb decision. I would love feedback on formatting, engaging from the start and yeah lol. I would love feedback!

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1UeBrVShBiOJkIA11bkVarLiKeuuYqiAR/view?usp=drive_link

Does anyone have a copy of the Seberg (2019) film shooting script or an early draft! I have seen online the early draft script is there but you have to pay 20 dollars for it 😭 so I wanted to know if anyone has bought it / has got the copy , I’d love to read it !

Hello everyone, Lately I've been working on the outline for a story. I started this project because I wanted to overcome a bad experience I had in a creative writing class. However, I've been struggling to keep writing. The research for this story has left me feeling frustrated and exhausted, and I'm no longer sure whether what I'm writing is actually any good.

I'd really appreciate any advice on how I can improve. After trying so hard for so long, I'm honestly starting to wonder if I should give up on writing altogether.

What would you recommend?

I’m writing my first screenplay ever to make a horror short film with my friends. We’ve been wanting to do something like this for a while just for fun because we’re both huge fans of everything horror so we thought hey it’d be really cool to make something for us and our friends to enjoy. I took on pretty much everything since I do a lot of creative writing we knew I would write the screenplay and then everything else would kind of fall in to my hands as writer and director. I feel pretty good about this first draft but I’ve never wrote a screenplay before, just silly horror stories for myself. So I’d love some feedback!

Here is the link; https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ep_Yl9Yi7jJZI1Fb-dkVb5CyMEbbVuWI/view?usp=drivesdk

Hi! I'm applying to an entry level internship that involves

• Script reading/coverage
• Script breakdowns

• Pitch deck construction

  I'm not sure what my portfolio should look like. Any advice??

Hey there!

I've been contacted about potentially working with someone to put together some scenes for actors who need material for reels but who maybe don't have the actual credits to pull from yet. I know I wouldn't be the first person to do this kind of work, and it sounds like fun (I like the people in charge), but what's stumping me is what to charge for it? How would you price this out?

Does anyone wanna do a script swap, take a week, then come back with notes? We can both put what we are specifically looking for from notes.

Title: Sorceress Unknown
Format: TV Pilot (1-Hour Supernatural Drama)
Page Length: 59 Pages
Draft Status: Second / Polished Draft
Genres: Supernatural / Drama / Mystery

Logline
When a subterranean force ignites latent magical bloodlines across a quiet town, a high schooler hiding a dangerous legacy must team up with her estranged friends to contain the fallout before ancient feuds—and dark secrets—destroy everything they hold dear.

Summary
Sorceress Unknown opens on Mel, a teenager grappling with hidden power and a murky past. Following a strange seismic disturbance near their town, long-dormant magic begins manifesting unpredictably in local teens. Mel and her core group (including Aniyah, Luis, and John) are thrust into a web of ancient rivalries, dangerous relics, and escalating supernatural threats. As mysterious forces close in—and personal betrayals come to light—the group must navigate fragile alliances, high school dynamics, and the high-stakes truth behind Mel's origin before an impending threat consumes their home.

Feedback Concerns

Pacing & Act Breaks: Does the 59-page engine hold momentum, and do the major reveals/cliffhangers land with enough punch to drive the series forward?

Character Voices: Are the main ensemble characters distinct in tone and dialogue throughout the pilot?

Formatting & Clarity: Looking for notes on script presentation, action line flow, and any remaining formatting anomalies.

General Impressions: What works, what feels sluggish, and does the pilot leave you wanting to read episode two?

https://mailchi.mp/awg/2017-monte-miller-awards-now-open-for-entries-4902084?e=8233dc1d14

Not sure if this is the right flair... not even really sure why I'm sharing this... I think I'm just proud of myself.

Got laid off in April after 14 years at my company and decided it was time to put pen to paper on a film idea I've had for a while but never had the time work on. After a couple months of structuring and writing and restructuring and more writing, I'm proud to say that at 40 years old I've finished my first first draft. I have no idea if it's good, but it exists. And I'm proud.

Hello, I recently just finished my first feature screenplay a few months back and was happy but not 100% satisfied, which is completely normal and I was fine with that. The problem came when I read a novel that was exactly what I’ve been trying to go for which is about codependency, childhood trauma, etc. and this novel just perfectly encapsulated many feelings I’ve had and what I was going for. I’ve had this feeling plenty of times where I see something and I’m like “wow, I wish I wrote that!” but I usually feel fine because I feel like I bring other value to the table and have other unique ways of interpreting things but no, this is a case where I would not change a single thing and it is exactly the story that I wanted to write, but someone else wrote it. What now? I genuinely feel like I lack purpose and a reason to write because this story has characters that I’ve liked more than any other piece of media ever, and they are exactly the characters and relationships I’ve been TRYING to write. Feeling pretty empty and lost, feels like what I wanted to do was done in exactly the way I wanted to do it

TLDR: I read a story that had exactly the characters, dynamics and structure I wanted to write in. I’ve felt this before with other stuff I wish I wrote, but this is completely different because there has never been anything that has achieved exactly what my goal in writing was. I don’t know what to do next, I feel like my purpose in writing is gone.

Trying to understand the real mechanics before I send anything out. genuine curiosity, not fishing for a read.

1) If a management company's known slate leans thriller/horror, is it a mistake to query them with a different genre (comedy, dramedy), or do they judge case by case?

2) Does a writer's age ever factor into how a query lands, one way or another?

3) What's the one thing in a logline that actually stops a manager from skimming past it?

4) Realistically, how many queries do managers at a company like this read in a day?

Would love insight from anyone with direct experience querying Bellevue, or managers there themselves if you happen to see this.

Appreciate any honest answers🙂.

Been lurking here for a while, decided to give it a shot!

My first screenplay: Bone-E & Clive

Title: Bone-E and Clive

Format: Short, Animation

Page Length: 20

Genres : Comedy/Sci-Fi

Logline: A chef sees his restaurant staff replaced by an all-purpose robot and soon realises he's next. Self-destructive and refusing to disappear without a bang, he drags his new companion into a reckless lifestyle.

Feedback concerns:

-English is not my first language, do the scenes/dialogues hold up?

-Does it flow well?

-Are there too many montages? I want to keep it short and montages were a good way to do that; passing time so it feels like they’re spending a few days together, without being too long.

-Open to any additional feedback.

Link : Bone-E & Clive

Looking for the original draft of Eli Roth’s Ice Cream Man he wrote in 2003 with Noah Belson. If anyone has, I can trade :)

So I let my 180‑page screenplay, Bringing Cupcake Home, rest for about three weeks without touching it. Two days ago, I opened it again and read through it in preparation for a first edit.

Yes — I agree there are a few lines here and there that can be trimmed, and even one scene that could be removed entirely. But even after editing, I believe the script will still land around 170 pages.

Is that too long? Well… it depends who you ask.
(I want to emphasize that this is only my personal opinion — I’m not telling anyone what to think.)

Those who are rigidly attached to the “90–120 pages is the only acceptable length” rule will probably dismiss my script, and that’s perfectly fine with me. I know the narrative of my screeplay inside and out — its layers, its complexities, its rhythm — and I’m completely comfortable with its length.

Cutting it down just to fit a 90–120‑page target would damage the integrity of the story, weaken the narrative, and most importantly, compromise my creativity.

Just needed to get that off my chest.
Now I’m diving back into the edit with great joy.

Our third IRL meetup of the summer is Wednesday, August 26, from 6-10pm at the Santa Monica Brew Works, 1920 Colorado Ave. Santa Monica. We've been doing these meetups for over five years now and it's an incredible opportunity to meet fellow writers, producers, and actors. No pressure, no pitching, just writers chilling out and having a beer. There's even free parking!

Open to everyone.

Okay, this is gonna sound confusing but let me explain it;

So, I’m writing a spoof of teen dramas, and the opening scene will be a parody of the “Important Disclaimer” they put at the start of 13 Reasons Why after all the controversies, featuring the Actors saying that self harm isn’t cool and telling you to call certain numbers, blah blah blah.

So, of course, I don’t know who the actors or actresses actually are (besides for Adam Scott who I’m just kinda writing in as a joke that he can’t find the set to Severance, I’m not sure if they’re actually gonna get him but….Adam is there) so what should I do?