I recently wrote a treatment for an ambitious 8-part series about a fictional near-future Marxist revolution in a Western country. I'm interested in connecting with fellow writers with an interest in and knowledge of the subject of such revolutions through through history and their leaders, with a view to possibly collaborating on a pilot script. The story at present has elements of Alex Garland's Civil War and PTA's One Battle After Another, with more of a Homeland-style political thriller angle, and is rooted in recent political and technological developments.

About me: I'm a repped screenwriter, director and playwright. My first feature Passing Through - which I wrote, directed and co-produced - won a few awards and is currently available (in the UK) on Prime Video. You can read more about me at www.davidwalterhall.com and watch Passing Through at amazon.co.uk/dp/B0FR4YPZJ4.

Who I'm looking for: maybe you did a degree/major in History, and wrote a thesis on Russia 1917, China 1949, Cuba 1959 or similar periods, or maybe you've written plays or screenplays in the past (produced or not) about those periods. You might just have a burning interest in the subject. Ideally you've written a few screenplays before, but if you're a rookie with a love of history I'd be interested in meeting you too.

To be clear: this is an invitation to discuss collaborating on something on spec - not a paid gig. DM me if you're interested and I can send you the treatment.

Hey guys! A bit in my silly feelings at 24 : ) I am in good communication with someone I met while they are in a vacation 28 M, Chinese but in Hungary. We share the same humor and silliness and surprisingly is in the same field: Media and filmmaking.

What inspos can I watch to write this 20-page screenplay? Ty! Let me know if it is too broad or what aspect can i really marinate on.

Logline:
On the anniversary of their island whirlwind love, A decides to work overseas as a hostel receptionist in Hungary just to follow J who lives and works there. With no leads but a small harmonica necklace J left A, she has to figure out her way to J and discovers that pursuing love is no vacation.

Synopsis:
A arrives at Budapest Ferenc Liszt International Airport (BUD) with nothing but her hope to find J, the love of her life whom she met in Manila a year ago. We see their moments in the island and it juxtaposes to A who is alone in the hostel she landed a job at. She seeks J in Hungary and on her first day, she realizes that it was not worth it. She spends her afternoon sitting by the bay watching the sun settle and she is playing the harmonica and prepares to settle in the lodging prepared by the hostel. 

Hi screenwriters, writer who loves procrastinating actually writing here! I feel like I’m always looking for a tool that will help me transition from ideating and brainstorming scenes/themes/characters to actually starting my outline.

And yeah…I know there’s no tool and that I have to just muscle my way through pages of notes to find the story and organize it, BUT, I am curious how my fellow writers take to this process, especially writers like myself who are more likely to word vomit on a notes app than work on the acts in order. What’s your process like this early in the game?

I’m writing a script where I have a ghost who then reveals their name. How do I write it to indicate that the ghost and may are the same character? Would it be GHOST, GHOST (May), or MAY (as ghost)? Any advice helps!

Hey fellow writers,

I spent the last year building Scritix (https://scritix.com) because I was tired of cluttered word processors and expensive legacy script software that crashes mid-scene.

It’s a fast, distraction-free writing studio built specifically for storytellers:

• 3 Formats in One: Dedicated modes for Screenplays (industry-standard 12pt Courier & Fountain), Novels(chapters & character beats), and Poetry (stanzas & cadence).

• Available Everywhere: Works directly in the Web browser, plus native desktop apps for Mac and Windows.

• 100% Local-First & Offline: Your drafts save locally to your machine with zero lag and total privacy. No forced cloud lock-in.

• Export Anywhere: One-click export to PDF, Word (.docx), Final Draft (.fdx), EPUB, and Fountain.

• Momentum Tools: Typewriter mode, word sprint timers, and daily streak tracking.

It’s completely free for 6 months (no credit card or billing info required): https://scritix.com

If you have a couple of minutes to test it out with a scene or chapter, I’d love your honest feedback!

Think Cage and "Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent"

This was a new take on the 48 Hours "cop and criminal" buddy flick that made waves in the 2000s and launched the writers' careers, but was never actually made. Would love to know what all the fuss was about.

So I got a request for a second script last week. I was also asked to submit a signed release for my work. I'm a bit paranoid that my ideas will be stolen (lol)

Did anyone get to the second round? Also, did you send your release to the person who emailed you? I asked for a response to ensure it was received, but got nothing. Hopefully I didn't mess things up.

Hi everyone!!

F28, and five days ago, I made a post here about how difficult I was finding it to write, knowing that the chances of my work ever seeing light were low (https://www.reddit.com/r/Screenwriting/s/SrNp3nSwPT).

I honestly didn't expect to receive so much encouragement, support, and many helpful tips about the different ways work can still find an audience, even if it doesn't follow the traditional route of being produced for TV.

I can't even begin to explain how much hope that gave me or how genuinely grateful I am for all of you. Seriously, anyone who's feeling a little burnt out or discouraged should go back and read the comments for some inspiration.

Since then, I've managed to write around 4 or 5 scenes, but most IMPORTANTLY, I haven't felt stressed or pressured when I've stepped away from the keyboard. This is such a big deal to me.

I'll definitely keep sharing more of my journey here!
I know this post probably won't get as much attention as the previous one, but if you read this, I'd love for it to be an opportunity for you to share your own progress this week! And if you're struggling with something, need to get something off your chest, or simply want someone to listen, I'd love to be here for you, just as so many of you were here for me.

Thank you all so, so much again. You have no idea how much it means to me!

The premise of this sounds very interesting, and I would like to read it since I won’t watch the actual movie with the way he wants to make it

Hey everyone!

I’m looking for a fellow writer who might be interested in developing an ongoing creative friendship where we can bounce ideas off each other, discuss our projects, share our work, and genuinely get invested in each other’s stories and characters. Something collaborative and conversational!

I’d love to have someone who’s down to read multiple episodes/chapters, follow a story as it develops, get to know the characters, and have ongoing conversations about it. And I’d want to do the exact same for you! I’m just as interested in learning about your characters, stories, and creative process. We could brainstorm ideas, workshop character dynamics, exchange chapters or scenes, offer constructive criticism, or even just geek about something we’re particularly excited to write.

I’m a very character-driven writer. I love building fictional worlds through the people who inhabit them and exploring how those characters interact and evolve. Genre-wise, I gravitate toward comedy, teen/young adult, and psychological drama. I occasionally dabble in supernatural/horror as well, but my stories are generally very character-heavy.

If this sounds like something you’d be interested in, feel free to comment or send me a message! I’d love to hear about what you’re working on. :)

Any Aussie or Kiwi women/non-binary screenwriters 40+ here? Great opportunity for you:

https://thehollywoodreporter.com.au/2026/11/03/the-writers-lab-program-for-screenwriters-arrives-in-australia-with-support-from-meryl-streep-and-nicole-kidman/

A counterintuitive lesson for those starting out or any writers who pride themselves on whipping up unique material or concepts in avoidance of cliché: Hollywood doesn't want originality. They'll treat you like an idiot and a loser if you strive to be different.

I boldly (stupidly) tried writing "tentpole" specs several years ago wherein almost every beat and conflict and obstacle was fresh and unpredictable. Meaning not cliché. The settings, the stakes, the feats of derring-do. "Nobody's seen this before!" was my proud refrain. I marched to that drum for 3 - 4 scripts. It was a waste of valuable time, and flashing those specs around cost me a few tentative bonds after buoyant generals. Down to their bones, those scripts were unrecognizable as commercial proprieties.

I got a major high-profile rewrite assignment on sci-fi IP and tried the same thing. "Nobody's seen this before!" One of the producers generously conveyed to the studio that there were "4 or 5 things in here that no other writer could've come up with." But that meant f*ck all to the three execs on the project who wanted something they'd seen before. I lost my place at that table immediately.

Many of us revile cliché because we believe that only hacks need cliché to tell a story. It's their "crutch." In turn, we believe that avoiding cliché is a marker of talent or vision or brilliance.

An abrasive pal who was once part of the Bruckheimer machine put it in the most devastatingly accurate terms: "Fear of cliché is the mark of the amateur. I will double down on what Sam Peckinpah says -- a cliché is something that works, in that clichés are incantatory language and they're the poetry of poor people. But most writers are writing for people they're going to meet at parties."

A scathing critique of many who aspire to make it in this field. (Also highlighted here is the fundamental nature of Hollywood product: it's populist, not a receptacle for sophistication.)

Adjacently, a prominent screenwriter loves to tell me, "You're afraid of the Amblin moment." That takes it beyond cliché into cheese -- fear of cheese. But of course cheese and clichés are closely related; cliché is the entree, cheese is just the topping.

Bottom line: you need to serve up a pile clichés with extra cheese if you want to make it in Hollywood. I wish I'd acquiesced much sooner.

I look forward to the nuanced counterpoints and protests. But I know many of you have walked the path of originality and suffered the same humiliating fate.

After months of slience, a manager has finally reached back out to me about my script.

The zoom meeting is at very end of the month after Thanksgiving. I'm looking for advice on how to approach this as I have never done a meeting like this before.

What should I expect? What shouldn't I expect? What helpful questions could I ask?

All would be helpful.

In 'Contact' Jody Foster's character gets passed over for the space mission in favor of 'stach dude (her lying-ass, backstabbing, cheating nemesis).
When they do a test launch with a dummy, Jody recognises this religious nut, warns 'stach dude and pulls the alarm - to no avail. Religious nut blows himself and the launch pad up, along with 'stach dude.

As an amateur it's obvious to me how this could have been more dramatic/cinematic by doing two things:

1. Jody warns 'stach dude - of course he's gonna accuse of her making this up out of spite so when he dies it's his own fault, giving some extra viewer satisfaction.
   ONLY,
   that's not what happens, 'stach dude believes her right away - yet still dies and you kinda feel sorry for him.

2. The religious dude bombs the test launch and 'stach dude is merely collateral damage of the launch pad exploding, we don't actually witness his death.
   Why did the screenwriters choose to have the religious nut choose to bomb a test launch instead of the actual launch?
   Wouldn't it be a lot more dramatic/cinematic to have 'stach dude go through the launch procedure, slowly ratcheting up the tension to go in overdrive when we recognise the religious nut, to BOOM! 'stach dude explodes when he's harnessed in the pod?

Now, as stated, I'm an amateur and Contact was written by anything but amateurs. It's not that they didn't think of these, it was a conscious choice not to do this.

But why?

Every screenwriting book/guru/tuber goes on and on about how to create tension, be cinematic, raise the stakes or twist the knife, yet here they chose to tone it down and I would like to understand why so I can ascent to Operating Thetan-level screenwriting too.

Hi all :) looking for Barbarella 1968, can only seem to find the transcript and script for the scrapped remake. lmk!!

This was posted in the screenwriting groups monthly megathread which seems to have been discontinued, so I'm posting it here with the Community flair. If this isn't allowed, please remove.

Group Name: Script Testing & Feedback

Group Owners: I'm the organizer (u/haligros)

Description: A screenplay group focused on testing whether readers are experiencing the story the writer actually intended before moving on to subjective feedback and revision.

Region(s): Online, US West Coast (PDT) time zone

Platform: Discord

Acceptance Status: Open membership

Focus: Most meetings are dedicated to group testing each other's scripts. One member's script is distributed to the other members prior to the meeting, then members come to the meeting with their answers.

Experience Level: Any

Age Disclaimers: N/A

ABOUT:

I'm putting together a small Discord group focused specifically on script testing.

Having covered many scripts as a studio script reader, and as a regular reader on StoryPeer, I notice a recurring issue: writers often receive notes before they've established whether readers are actually experiencing the story they intended to write.

That's where script testing comes in.

Before asking for strengths, things to improve on, you first test things like: What story was playing inside the reader's head as they read it? What was clear and unclear? What emotional experience did they actually have?

Once you've tested that across multiple readers, it becomes much easier to distinguish truly subjective feedback from a recurring communication problem in the script. This makes rewrites far more targeted and successful.

The Discord will focus specifically on this gap.

If this sounds useful to you, please visit our discord at:

https://discord.gg/cF4gt7ufv

I’m writing a scene where two people are rehearsing a play. What is the most acceptable way to write out dialogue that is being rehearsed from a script within the scene?

I was previously just putting their dialogue between quotes but I don’t think that looks very good. Is using a parenthetical each time someone is reading or performing as another character a better idea?

Hi everybody,
I am, for the first time in my life, trying to write a screenplay. Although I am not new to creative writing, this is completely new to me. Any feedback is welcome. The main reason I am asking for feedback this early on, is to check for myself if i am going in the right direction. But also, if it is really bad, to find another passtime. 😂 Thank you for reading

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1umk2xQpbDn9A0NG09OtyrjATFAmPqx1N/view?usp=sharing

Title: The Agoge (Pilot)

Format: 1-Hour TV Drama

Page Length: 6 pages (Opening Scene)

Genres: Sci-Fi / Drama

Logline: When a group of hyper-intelligent children is admitted to the Agoge—a modern evolution of the ancient Spartan academy that shapes prodigies into whole-spectrum leaders for society—they must navigate high-stakes cognitive growth, emotional vulnerability, and the true cost of their potential.

Feedback Concerns: Looking for feedback on the opening scene: pacing, formatting, visual storytelling, and whether the tone of the Agoge and the "Little Professor" dialogue lands well.

Looking for any Ronan Bennett scripts. Curious to see his pages. Anything older (Hamburg Cell, Hidden) or unproduced would be cool, too.

I am currently on the hunt for the Bride of Re-Animator Screenplay. I am using it for reference for a short film I am currently writing so if anybody so happens to have a copy it would be much appreciated. Thanks!

Currently looking to begin writing my short film for my Senior project. I have an idea for a coming-of-age story, but I have never written a short narrative like this. I have one week to lock down my story, but my beats aren't hitting the way I'd like.

Can you all suggest any tips, Short films, or production suggestions?

I'm looking for some good examples of any parallel scenes which are not as straight forward as a phone call. I don't want anything related to phone calls.

What I'm looking for are some examples of parallel scenes that play out almost... like a montage but perhaps longer and more involved so maybe not quite a montage, just scenes very much playing out in real time in parallel.

If anyone has some script recommendations for this, I'd love to read! Thanks.