r/Screenwriting

hi, i want to write some movie trailers for non existing movies, mostly for fun but also as a way to have a director´s reel, and i have a lot of ideas and i can see them in my mind very well, i know exactly what i want to show...

but i dont know if a usual script works for a trailer since a lot of it is just some extreme close ups, or reaction shots, basically shots that are there for like a second

so what is the right format for something like that?

FAQ: How to post to a weekly thread?

Feedback Guide for New Writers

This is a thread for giving and receiving feedback on 5 of your screenplay pages.

• Post a link to five pages of your screenplay in a top comment. They can be any 5, but if they are not your first 5, give some context in the same comment you're linking in.

• As a courtesy, you can also include some of this info.

  Title: Format: Page Length: Genres: Logline or Summary: Feedback Concerns:

• Provide feedback in reply-comments. Please do not share full scripts and link only to your 5 pages. If someone wants to see your full script, they can let you know.

Hello there. I am not a screenwriter, although it’s an idea that keeps coming back to me (like a splinter - in my mind).

I don’t know the industry. I am about to write something about the final episode of “The Boys” but no spoilers. To those who have seen it - to me the ending seems lazy and meh. And I’ve seen many shows or movies where ending feels that way.

Is it so difficult to write a good ending or are there other forces in play that meddle with good writing and make it bad?

I’m in my early 40s and seriously considering a shift toward screenwriting after spending the last decade in nonprofit executive leadership. That experience has given me a lot of, shall we say, enriching texture and insight into human nature (and drama). I’m financially and professionally stable enough to finally devote real time to a writing practice, but I’m also trying to be honest with myself as an outsider entering this late.

I’ve completed and rewritten a TV pilot, built a pitch deck, entered a contest, and started developing additional projects. I read scripts regularly, try to craft a logline daily, and am beginning to reach out through my personal network and queries to managers and producers.

I’m not coming at this completely out of nowhere. I have a journalism degree, sold freelance stuff for magazines earlier in my career, wrote a play in college, and have spent years doing story-driven grant and proposal writing. I also know screenwriting is its own craft and industry, and I’m trying not to assume that my competencies in other areas equal actual professional readiness.

Part of this drive comes from family history too. My late father was a talented but unsuccessful screenwriter and novelist who struggled to accept feedback (if you’ve seen Bojack Horseman, you know the type) and watching that shaped a lot of my career decisions. I took the “responsible” path for a long time, but the desire to write seriously never really left.

Bill Dubuque’s path from corporate recruiting into screenwriting has been especially interesting to me, and the closest parallel I’ve come across in my research into journeys that could resemble my own. Though I’m sure survivorship bias is very real.

Ultimately, I guess I want to know what realistic expectations someone in my position should have? What mindset and actions distinguish people who successfully pivot into this work from another career from those just romanticizing escape from burnout? Thanks in advance.

Maybe you’re in a time crunch or just working on multiple ideas, but do yall ever write multiple scripts at once or just wait to start a new project?

I just heard a rumor from another writer friend that there is not going to be a Nicholl competition this year for 2026. Anyone else hear that? I’m quite surprised by it, if it’s true.

Their most recent “update” on anything was 14 months ago:

https://press.oscars.org/news/academy-motion-picture-arts-and-sciences-partner-global-university-programs-screenwriting-labs

The person I heard this from had emailed Black List to inquire about it and Black List said this:

“As of yet, nothing is certain regarding the next edition of the Nicholl Fellowship. The Black List certainly hopes to once again be the public submission portal. Please make sure you are signed up for our email list, as any updates will be communicated via our newsletter!”

Just working my dusty ass job, no plans to up and quit. Well I will, but not today. It got me thinking about those in all mediums of writing (particularly screenwriting), and the moment they made the leap of faith.

I’m not asking when did u have enough money or when did you get “good enough”. I want to know when you knew based on your environment, your network of ppl you knew, your general output of work, the hours you’ve practiced etc. When did you go “ya know… it might be that time. Nothings guaranteed but these signs point to me putting myself in a new environment with new faces to really make this thing work.

I feel it now kinda but I know I’m not there yet. I have no support system to help me with this kind of thing. Give your words of wisdom to a small town boy🔮🧙‍♂️

Edit: this post is not about LA🤣 I do have projects being prepped in San Diego but I don’t intend in moving there

A little while back, I posted here about my screenwriting journey, and somehow that led to a real producer reaching out and asking to read my script. Still one of the stranger, cooler things that’s happened to me from Reddit.

Since then, I’ve been working on a new TV pilot, and I’m at the point where I’d love to get it in front of a few serious readers.

TITLE: DEEP MOTHER

FORMAT: Serialized One-Hour TV | Cosmic Horror 

LOGLINE: After their father’s death, estranged siblings return to their childhood farmhouse and discover their missing mother may still be alive in a prehistoric city buried beneath the land he spent his life trying to keep sealed.

COMPS: CABINET OF CURIOSITIES meets OUTER RANGE

What I’m most interested in is whether the pilot makes you want to watch episode two. Not just “is this well-written,” but: does the world feel like a show? Do the characters feel like they could sustain a season? Is the central engine clear enough?

I’m looking for a handful of readers who are genuinely into cosmic horror. Happy to send the pilot, or even just the first 10 pages, to anyone who connects with the premise.

And if anyone here has had luck getting a pilot read through Reddit, I’d be curious what actually worked for you.

Posted here like a week ago but im back with an updated script.

Would love some suggestions on how to work on this, im going for a short story about acceptance of grief. Is this alright so far?

(script - https://drive.google.com/file/d/1gQv\_SvwB6r1wiFPiRfPARSCfSGnK7mJb/view?usp=drivesdk)

Currently deep in my main project, but every once in a while I'll reset with a different script where writing just feels fun again.

Right now mine is an old X-Men feature I'm revisiting, something | originally built as a pure fun sandbox to play with my favorite characters and big set pieces. It's been a surprisingly good reminder that side projects can sometimes wake your instincts back up.

What are your palate cleansers when your main script isn't working for you? I'd honestly love to hear them. Old abandoned scripts, weird side projects, fan stuff, random ideas you only write for yourself, whatever you jump into to reset.

Hello friends!
About 12 months ago I started watching The Great British Bake-Off with my wife and thought it could be improved with a good dose of murder. Since then, I've been working on a comedy feature called JUST DESSERTS. It's been amazing fun to write but now I seek your help. Looking for some kind souls who might want to have a read to help me understand what's working, what isn't, and what can be cut. It's currently too long (!) and I'm having trouble trimming! Happy to email out copies to anyone who is keen to read and offer feedback.

TITLE: Just Desserts

LENGTH: 179 pages (I know, yuck!)

GENRE: Comedy-thriller

LOGLINE: A tightly wound journalist sent to cover a sleepy village bake-off discovers the competition has a body count, and the locals consider murder a perfectly reasonable response to bad pastry.

COMPS: HOT FUZZ meets THE GREAT BRITISH BAKE-OFF

If you have any interest, I'd love to hear from you. There's a chance of me getting a meeting with a producer and I'd really like to have this ready to show as my centrepiece.
Kind regards,
Rafa!

LSS: a manager at a legit company found my script somewhere and we worked together on development for a few months. But then… they told me they personally believe in my voice but their team wasn't fully behind the material and without internal buy-in they can't sign me. They said to keep developing, send them anything new I write, and stay open to other reps reaching out too, etc.

Has anyone been through something similar? Did it lead anywhere, or is it a polite dead end?

And, most importantly, how do you leverage this kind of experience when querying other managers?

If when you're screenplaying the scene that you wrote ends in the middle of a Page, you Skip the Page to write the Next scene or you keep writting right after?

In a treatment I am writing, the opening scene is the filming of a soap opera wedding. But, some of the feedback I got back said to redo the opening scene to feel like a soap opera. Here is the scene in question:

We see a fake wedding disrupted by a man who looks like the groom. The two men start to severely bicker. Then, a distraught bride pulls a gun from her bouquet and aims it at the two men. She ominously demands an explanation. The men freezes up. Then, a soap opera announcer leads off the show. Someone yells “cut!” And, everyone relaxes.

I don't know what to add or take away from this scene to make it feel more like a soap opera. Please help.

How valid is this rule? I just always feel like when I write that my usual page would exceed a minute by a good margin (probably around a minute and a half).

Hello,

My screenplay is set in Mexico, in a given state, I won't give any more clues, I don't want to spoil it as I hope you all end up watching the movie down the road. :)

The thing is at one point there's a car chase and derailing.

Doing some research on the area on Google Maps I found the perfect location for it, and it happens to be right where it suits my plot. However, no trespassing is allowed in the area as it's a mining operation.

What would you think if I used it anyway? Would you consider it creative license or plain cheating?

I know scenes that are supposed to take place in a jungle are shot in a big garden all the time, but I guess this is different? I mean, the place is the right place, but the action couldn't possibly happen there. Am I overthinking it?

Hi,
So I’ve been receiving really good feedback on my script and I’m honestly just shocked. I think for me, I knew the story for me was good which led me to think I was biased (obviously since it’s my own work) but it’s just shocking to me that it’s really getting good feedback and that the things I need to fix are mostly grammar and technicalities which isn’t bad because it doesn’t have much to do with needing to change my story at all.

I guess my question is when responding to feedback being that this is my first script and I’m still new to learning everything there is, how do you avoid sounding too emotional when responding back to the feedback? I’m extremely grateful for the feedback I’m receiving but, I feel like maybe I can sound overly emotional when simply giving thanks. I don’t think it’s too much of an issue but just curious as I know not everyone would be receptive to things like that?

Not entirely sure if that made sense or if maybe that’s happened to anyone else? Sorry if it’s dumb but just a bit overwhelmed (in a good way) with the feedback I’ve been receiving and just wanted to ask.

So I have a concept I plan to make into a feature length script/screenplay. But it revolves around something that was popular in the 70s and 80s. Thing is, I'm a 2000s kid so I don't know if I'd do the 70s/80s nostalgia justice.

I guess what I'm trying to ask is does it really matter if the script takes place in a time accurate period? Is there a way I can switch it up to match another time period? I don't mind it being in the 70s/80s, I can do some research and shit, I don't mind at all! But just asking for a friend.

OK to a lot of people this is going to feel like a humblebrag post but I swear it isn't meant to.

I'm actually doing quite well so far this year, the best since I started down this road. All my specs are selling, I have a few things in development, and I was just in a writer's room for a big, popular streamer show. I'm currently writing a treatment for an idea I sold where the option fee was much higher than usual.

And yet I can't shake this feeling that it's, like, stupid? I make my own hours, I do what I want when I want, and I spend all day writing thousands of words about people who don't exist, stories that probably will never see the light of day.

I wonder maybe if it's a lack of structure? I usually write in the mornings then hit a wall around lunch and will do something else, like exercise or walk or socialise or go to a museum etc. But I dunno I feel like not a real person if that makes sense?

It's not imposter syndrome - I've earned this, and I'm good at it. Maybe it's just getting used to the idea that this is a real job and this is how it works. Do we have to suffer through our days for things to feel real?

Welcome any insights from writers a little more long in the tooth!

Hi all,

Are there any Final Drafters out there?

I’m working on a script and struggling to re-number it. Every time I do, the scene numbers for scenes 1, 2, 3 go to 1, 1, 2. I’ve tried renumbering from the first scene and keeping the ‘renumber from current scene’ ticked (which seems to work anywhere else in the script, just not with these scenes). I’ve also tried going to the scene headings of the first two scenes and using the ‘ELEMENT’ tool to designate them as scene headings, but the numbering still stays as 1, 1, 2.

Has anyone had this issue or knows how to resolve? I’d be so, so grateful!!!