The Stage 32 Lounge

To be honest it depends on the context. Drive, for example, benefits from a more silent protagonist and allows the film's tone, esp music, to tell the story. Revenant is more about the mood than dialogue.

Annie Hall and Hateful Eight are centered around character interaction and ensemble.

I'd hard to say which I would prefer. It would depend on the execution.

Thank you so much Erik for replying and for pointing me to Mrs. Wright. I have found her advice and expertise extremely helpful. Once again, thank you so much.

my pleasure :)

Wendy's great - she actually taught for us too... :)

https://www.stage32.com/webinars/How-to-Build-Your-Online-Brand-as-an-ActorI see you are in LA - I started building a talent agency list - it's not 100% ready, but might be a useful resource for ya.

Oops, forgot the link: http://agentlist.org/

Thank you Tomasz for the list. You have done a remarkable job with gathering so much information. I have been reading over it and the list is comprehensive. I will definitely be contacting some of the agencies.

Had the pleasure of chatting to Danny Rubin quite a bit some time ago. He's as inspiring as his script.

Like what, Frankie?

Viktor, I love romance, humanistic dramas and witty comedies.

Annie - The scripts I'd say I've learned the most from are The Graduate, Sunset Boulevard, Toy Story, Gladiator, Casablanca. There are others too, but I think these are the ones worth mentioning.

I agree, Frankie

Those are also movie scripts I used over and over again with my film students

Hi Bill. Danny's absolutely right. It's all about finding the note behind the note. Follow what he suggests and you'll undoubtedly create a more engaging pitch.

“Depressing” subjects are tough sells. Serious subjects too. They tend to have smaller audiences, which is fine, but that may make them even harder to find the right people to get behind the project. More a fit for an Indie film. I have a screenplay about mental illness; it’s about a teen dealing with her mentally ill mother and hiding behind a veil of normality. But it’s more than that; it’s about embracing hope. And I have that element right up front in the logline. So my two cents, Christine, be mindful of all the different aspects and angles of your story. It may be about a sad subject but where is the emotional story, what is it really about? ;)

Bill, my guess on the note behind that note: that executive has heard and seen this all before. Predictable. Not unique enough. It just didn’t spark interest for that person. The other part of pitching to someone is personal taste. Me, if I was hearing pitches, I would struggle with dystopian, apocalyptic or post-apocalyptic stories, reguardless. So perhaps find out more about the person to whom you are pitching. Perhaps they have done interviews or written articles? What projects have they done? Try to suss out if your project is a good fit before pitching. Does it fit into their wheelhouse? Hope that helps some!

Danny I see your point. It only touches on opioids. Its not a depressing script at all. Maybe I can rework my log line. But my pitch clearly stated that an overdose sparked an investigation that uncovered a dark secret. Also and correct me if I’m wrong but I thought the pitching on here was suppose to help with our writing process per Nick. I just would have liked more than 2 sentences. I have pitched three other times on this site and although they passed on the script and not for reasons of it being sad. or depressing but because they did something similar. It was highly recommended that I keep pitching it though. Anyway, thank you all for your feedback. It really helps.

Judging by your description of the work "depressing" is perhaps a good descriptor. I wouldn't take that as a negative. It's dark subject matter and often times it can be hard to digest for a wider audience.

But I can relate to getting feedback that doesn't make sense in context to the work being reviewed.

I had an exec read the first episode of my murder mystery TV series and one of the criticisms I received was that I didn't reveal the murderer in the first episode.

Sometimes people just don't get it.

I have talked to several industry people swearing to stay away from Narration. Yet most movies are narrated. I call BS on the myth.

There are no rules, only tools. Except for formatting. Read great screenplays. Read bad screenplays. learn what to do and not to do, find a good balance. Tell compelling stories. Remember that every scene, every piece of dialogue has to have a purpose. Sometimes i write outlines. sometimes i do vomit drafts

Frankie Gaddo Goldman's famous quote is about marketing, box office hits & failures. Of screenwriting, Goldman had a set of rules/beliefs.

I remember reading one guru whose book boiled down story to a Venn diagram. VENN DIAGRAM! And if you just hit that sweet spot, you were guaranteed untold riches.

Stage 32 - I would like to announce I am retiring from stage 32 debates. Undefeated. 3-0. Yes I kept track of my record. I will not be accepting Dan's call out as I've already beat him before and don't see a point in a rematch. But I will say the way I used William Goldman's quote is entirely fine and if we did debate, I would win. I will be using this extra time to work on my screenwriting which will be a better use of it. Retired. 3-0. Frankie.

Welcome, Jai. Gotta love the Carpenter and I'm a sucker for a good film noir too. Here if you want to talk film or more specifically your writing.

I'd appreciate that a lot and at a glance you seem to be someone with knowledge.

And yes, Carpenter was, and is, the standard. Way ahead of his time in a lot of ways.

I liked this. You conveyed the depths of despair and the highs of inspiration that a writer is subject to. A thoughtful performance! Well done :)

One of my sayings is your screenplay pages are valuable real estate. Don't waste them.

Stephen King's advice in "On Writing": Read a lot, write a lot.

Don't get it right get it written.

at the end of a writing day, always quit when you're ahead. That way, tomorrow will be easier.

my college mentor w/ an Oscar for best screenplay - "Kid, don't write scripts. Write movies."