Trending Lounge Discussions

Hi Jeffrey. Stage 32 has a number of script services that might be able to help you out. You can email me at writerhelp@stage32.com if you'd like.

This is something that you need to learn how to do yourself.

Most screenwriting is assignment work, and TV is usually staff work where your amazing pilot script gets you a coveted job as a writers assistant where you hope to get one of the two spec episodes per season and then climb your way up the ladder of shows and positions until you are a staff writer on a hit show, where they ask you if you have any show ideas... and you whip out that pilot script (more likely a brand new pilot using all that you have learned while climbing the ladder)...

So the problem with hiring someone to polish your script or any other outside service is that the script that they read is not entirely your work. Someone else "fixed it". And even if they only corrected the format or edited it to the proper length, the place that hires you expects you to have done that work yourself and know how to format and edit already... when someone else did that for you.

Writing is you alone in a room doing the work. You need to learn how to be completely self sufficient.

Hey, Emmy Williams! I totally understand. There's a lot here! What are you trying to do?

If you're looking for ways to network through the lounges, then I would definitely suggest a couple of blogs I've written:

One is my introduction and suggestions on how to network: https://www.stage32.com/blog/Find-Your-Community-on-Stage-32

The other is a step-by-step guide on how to navigate the lounges: https://www.stage32.com/blog/5-Ways-to-Explore-and-Network-in-the-Stage-...

Feel free to reply here if you have any further questions!

Thanks Karen. I'll check on these blogs

I wish the app was more user friendly, getting my laptop out means I get distracted with all the other things I need to do once I get it out lol. The app simply stopped functioning. My point in saying that is that I find it easier on every level to come here via computer, then look at my messages and some of the posts on the "Home" page then look at my profile, then maybe pop into the lounge for specific topics. Sometimes I check the jobs page.

Hi Tasha, The boy's name is Todd.

You mean I should write his name instead of talking about a nine-year-old boy?

A secret govt research facility must find a connection between 9 year old Todd, and recent supernatural events.

Thank you, Chuck. I like it better.

I mean I like yours better, Chuck.

@Phillip I'll have to check out THE GREAT. . . I've never seen it.

If TWELVE ANGRY MEN is of interest, the original Westinghouse Studio One live production is worth a look.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HlaXebUi72A

Phillip "Le Raconteur" Hardy The Great Waldo Pepper is an amazing film. I watched again a few years ago. Those flight scenes and 'wing walking' are top notch flying. As a pilot - they blow me away. I have a book "Flying the Old Planes" written by the great stunt pilot Frank Tallman. He talks about his work on TGWP extensively. Also "Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines". Back in the day when flying was all practical... no CGI.

I'd like to add Ray Bradbury to my list. Both Goldman and Bradbury were novelists turned screenwriters. I think they have always written in a 'cinematic' style - and so were able to make that transition. (F.Scott Fitzgerald and Raymond Chandler as well)

Richard: As a visual writer, Goldman did a superb job capturing those aerial scenes on paper to assist director George Roy Hill in capturing them on film.

I learned alot from Michael Mann and Oliver Stone. They helped me understand how to make characters more human and realistic.

Hey, Kenny Daniel - My name is Kay, I'm the Community Manager. Welcome to Stage 32! Please edit your profile name so that it is your name (the name of the individual typing), not your company name. Other than it not reading correctly ("Mooreplus Multimedia works at Mooreplus Multimedia"), it's also against our policy.

Once you get that fixed, I'd love for you to participate in the "Paris, Je T'aime" challenge I posted in the Filmmakers Lounge! It's just a fun way to get to know people through their city:

https://www.stage32.com/lounge/directing/Paris-Je-Taime-for-Wishful-Thin...

I think you'd also enjoy my intro blog post on the Stage32 Community:

https://www.stage32.com/blog/Find-Your-Community-on-Stage-32

Enjoy exploring the lounges, and don't forget to comment and respond to others’ posts, too! It's the best way to really connect!

Ok thanks. Will get it fixed

Excellent news, Thom.

GREAT! Motivating. Love reading a post like this in the morning...

Thanks, all! I really do appreciate your support!

Congratulations and I pray that one or both go with it!

Congratulations!!!

Awesome!

Very nice.

Excellent and enhances the film

Lovely.

@Steven Thanks for share. Pleasantly surprised, so relaxing to watch. Intriguing space shuttles and sky then guy looks out of window like we all do in hotels or home. ( DOP must have been in plane at some points.) Kinda trance meditational.

Hi @Catarina This can be a dicey and seedy industry with regards to who gets paid for what and this person approached you personally. (Not like you went looking for them in an interview/pitch.) You obviously have the special bullet they needed to guild the lily taking their project to higher level. (Yorkshire expression for making something its best.) Do not waste time feeling hurt but let adrenalin fuel another project. I second @Richard P to always, always have some record of events prior to execution of input. Lawyers cost but a simple email can and often does suffice in courtroom.

In addition to what I aid above... you wrote it, you own it. If he doesn't want to credit you as writer, don't let him use it. He can't use even a phrase in that work without breaching copyright.

take a look at this site it might help. https://www.raindance.org/10-rules-of-copyright-for-screenwriters/

and

https://www.copyright.gov/video/script.html

Catarina's bio says she's based in Lisbon, Portugal. Copyright laws vary from country to country - and even from treaty to treaty between countries. She doesn't list where the author of the book is located. Without knowing the very difficult specifics of her case - it would be unhelpful to assume the US Copyright laws apply, or that even WGA standards might be in play. It's complicated.

Richard P. Alvarez Portugal is a signatory to the Berne Convention. She's probably in a stronger position than she would be in the US, which has far weaker copyright laws not having been a signatory until relatively recently.

Its your story that only you know what best to do with it - does it really need expanding? If so... Just let your writing juices flow--

If you do want to expand a short into a feature, then you should look at other ways in which you can tackle your story's message without going too much of on a tangent. Appropriate subplots and supporting characters that still tie into your lead character's story goal are just some ways of doing that. You should also look at adding more story-relevant obstacles in the way of your protagonist as well as enhancing your hero's character arc.

Here's a link to how some well-known shorts were adapted into successful features.

https://infocusfilmschool.com/2-crucial-writing-tips-adapting-short-films-features-film-school/

And if you ever want to talk further, feel free to PM me.

I had a situation on contrary....few scripts I intended to write in feature length format ended up being short :) Anyway, Jaime Furda why don't you try get it filmed as a short movie? If it gains success you can then transfer it into feature script, can even get hired to do so. Lot's of such examples out there...

Welcome! Your skill set is much needed in today's new normal!

I’d suggest to finish one thing at a time - finish meaning from paper idea to rewrites to production to screening for an audience. Finish the short.

Nice to meet you, Trevor!

And you Thom!

Welcome! See Stage 32 Blog and Lounges!

Hey, Chelsea Rivera! My name is Kay, I'm the Community Manager here at Stage32. It's funny, I have you as "in-network", but I don't recall meeting you. But it's nice to meet you again!

I can relate - I would say that I am a producer first and a writer out of necessity, but my inner child would stand straight up and correct me. I told my father (who was a professional actor/singer) at the age of five that I would be a better actress than he ever was, and since then have been trying to keep it "just for fun". But the truth is, I'm an actor first, a director second, and a writer/producer as an invitation to collaborate. Also, my cool black kitty totally understands English. He's given himself away by responding as if he knows. He's brilliant, but an absolute idiot. He's close to figuring out how to open doors but still needs to be lead to his bowl of food. facepalm

Oh, Atlanta? Would you be interested in participating in the "Paris, Je T'aime" challenge I posted in the Filmmakers Lounge? It's just a fun way to get to know people through their city:

https://www.stage32.com/lounge/directing/Paris-Je-Taime-for-Wishful-Thin...

Have you had a chance to explore the Acting Lounge? There have been some great conversations that I think you'd dig, including one actress's account of working opposite Viola Davis: https://www.stage32.com/lounge/acting

I think you'd also enjoy my intro blog post on the Stage32 Community:

https://www.stage32.com/blog/Find-Your-Community-on-Stage-32

Enjoy exploring the lounges, and don't forget to comment and respond to others’ posts, too! It's the best way to really connect!

Hi Chelsea, Nice to meet you. Yes, this Corona epidemic has changed the world as we know it. I have also abandoned a short movie project about Alzheimer due to the Corona crisis . Like you I am an actor first, but I also am trying to sharpen my screenwriting skills. Two Kindle books comes to mind: The Craft of Scene Writing: Beat by Beat to a Better Script by Jim Mercurio and The Hollywood Standard, 2nd Edition by Chrisopher Riley

Hey, Chelsea! Not an actor, but if you need advice about writing, I'm happy to put in my two cents'!

Welcome, Chelsea!!

Welcome!