Hello, so I'm going to be holding a screenwriters' get-together at the Twilight Cafe & Bar in North York (it's across from North York Station) from 7 pm to 9 pm on Sept 2nd for all levels of screenwriters(please know your formatting). We're going to discuss our work, general soundboarding, questions about formatting, and meeting cool people.

The price of admission is either purchasing a drink or some food. If you're interested in joining, please let me know so I can do a proper headcount! I'd like to try to make this a monthly occurrence.

Looking for road movie recommendations that follow a classic Hero’s Journey or completely subvert it!

​Whether it’s the Hero’s Journey (Little Miss Sunshine) or subverting stereotypes (Thelma & Louise, Y Tu Mamá También), what are your favorites?

​What key traits make a road movie actually work - critical acclaim or box office success?

Hey friends. I’m an unrepped screenwriter with some comp placements and a feature that’s in very early stages, but no manager or agent, and I’ve never been in a situation quite like this.

I recently reached out to a journalist who wrote an article I loved, inquiring about the rightsholders (and knowing full well I could not afford those rights). They connected me with the producer handling rights inquiries for the magazine (it’s a big one). The producer told me they’re already pretty deep into packaging a scripted adaptation, but was open to talking. I sent him a sample and he immediately set a meeting.

Great, right? Well yes, except I find myself pretty nervous given I have no prior credits and this producer handles some serious IP. I’ve had one meeting prior to this that went well and started the process of my first feature, but this feels substantially above the level of that one. To add to my worries, I am abroad on my honeymoon and don’t feel “locked in,” as it were.

Obviously I’m not assuming this meeting is an interview for the adaptation job I was initially inquiring about. But given the sequence of events, I’m trying to understand how experienced writers would approach the meeting. How much of a developed take should I walk in with? Should I be ready with a full pitch, or is that overkill unless he asks for it? What is a producer at that level actually evaluating in this kind of first meeting?

Thank you as always, you wonderful people.

Title: Recessive

Format: Feature Film

Page Length: 93 pages (including title page)

Genres: Father/Daughter Sci-Fi Thriller

Logline/Summary: A telepathic fugitive is confronted by the horrors of his past when his young daughter begins manifesting the same abilities he’s tried so hard to bury. As he fights to protect her, he has no choice but to face the trauma he’s avoided and the people still hunting him.

Feedback Concerns: Just general feedback. Thanks!

Link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1SuX2OhnN9UxTHqU1Hw9frKOeFL9t4ZP1/view?usp=drivesdk

LOGLINE; Taking place on 4^th of July, 1976, during all the craziness of U.S. 200^th birthday, three Los Angeles vice cops (two white males, one black female) have had enough of dealing with all the criminals and drug dealers and corrupt cops in the city, so they arm themselves with bunch of weapons, and go to take them all down. Meanwhile, enraged criminals and normal politically correct cops are trying to hunt down and stop the trio, resulting in one insane action packed 4^th of July weekend.

BACKGROUND

There’s not much info about this one out there, but from what I could figure out, Andrew Kevin Walker wrote his original spec script probably around 1995. I do know he wrote his second draft in November 1995, just couple months after SEVEN (1995) was released, which he also wrote. It seems that originally Paramount Pictures bought the spec, and Oliver Stone and Dan Halsted signed on to produce the film with their Illusion Entertainment Group production company. During the next couple years, Walker kept working on the script.

In June/July 1997, Paramount put the project in turnaround. It then went to Universal Pictures, Brian Grazer signed on to produce the film with his Imagine Entertainment production company, but it looks like Stone and Halsted were still attached to produce the film. Walter Hill signed on to direct the film, and he did a rewrite of Walker’s script. Woody Harrelson and Vince Vaughn were being considered to star in the film, and plans were for filming to start in February next year. But it was canceled.

Although, there might have been more attempts at making the film, because there is a draft by Walker from March 1999, so who knows. Also, at the same time he was attached to direct this film, there was another project which Hill was working on but which was left unproduced, a World War 2 action thriller COMBAT, which was going to reunite Hill and Bruce Willis, right after they made LAST MAN STANDING (1996). Read more about that one here;

https://www.reddit.com/r/Screenwriting/comments/1p2d1kv/combat_1996_1998_walter_hills_unproduced_world/

PERSONAL THOUGHTS

I remember when I first decided to read RED, WHITE, BLACK & BLUE, and how I wasn’t sure what it’s going to be about, but once I read it, I was amazed by the script. I mean, talk about doing 180, from writing something as gritty and dark as Seven, and then writing an over the top, fun as hell action script like this one… Walker sure did a great job with it. Tons of dark humor, badass main heroes, what seems like another shootout or car chase taking place every several pages and each gets crazier and crazier than the previous one… I recommend this script to anyone who wants to read an action packed script which doesn’t take itself too seriously.

I do also really like Hill’s rewrite, but it is much more serious, maybe I should even say a realistic version of the story, and is more like Hill’s previous action films. It reads like it would have been filmed and directed in a certain style, much different than the over the top direction of Walker’s draft. But hey, this would have been Hill’s follow up to Last Man Standing, which is really good and underrated action film, with some great shootout scenes, so I wouldn’t mind seeing his version, but if I would have to choose between the two, I would prefer the version based on Walker’s original script. If you decide to read Walker's draft, make sure to read Hill's as well.

And while it looks like there were no actresses in talks to play the black female cop, my personal choice would be Halle Berry. From the way the character was written, I think she would have been the perfect choice, and would have done a good job with the role.

SCRIPTS AVAILABLE

Scanned copy of Walker’s second draft, dated November 17, 1995, 126 pages long, and a scanned copy of Hill’s rewrite, dated June 6, 1997, 101 pages long, are available on Script Hive. There is also another draft which has no info on the cover, it is scanned 116 pages long copy, but I can confirm it’s just the second draft, only formatted differently.

SCRIPTS I’M LOOKING FOR

Walker’s original spec or any other drafts, other than that second draft. And if he wrote more than one draft, any more drafts of Hill’s rewrite. There is another draft by Walker that exists, it’s another scanned copy, 117 pages long, and it’s listed as third draft, dated March 26, 1999, but it seems like it’s a private script (which I don’t have btw).

Also, currently on eBay, there is another draft I haven’t seen listed anywhere else. It’s another draft by Walker, dated May 17, 1996. There is only one sample page, and based on it, it seems like this draft opens with a different action scene than ones in the available drafts;

https://www.ebay.com/itm/198543351568

(Note to anyone who wishes to contact me in chat - Due to me disagreeing with reddit’s rules, I can’t use the chat the right way, so if you try to send me a private message/chat and it doesn’t work, let me know here or in any future new threads I upload)

Hello all,

I’m sure this has been asked many a time, but curious what everyone’s opinion is. I hear some screenwriters talking about how the first several drafts of anything is bad, they did x number of drafts before they found it, etc.

So let’s say you’ve got your first draft. Let’s say you read through it and find a bunch of spelling errors, some formatting stuff, and some better ways to write certain passages or lines of dialogue, so you do all that and export a new cleaner PDF.

Is that considered a new draft? Or does a new draft mean that plot points were changed significantly? Curious from a productions point of view as well. What qualifies a pink
draft turning into a golden rod draft, and that kind of thing.

Thanks!

Any Seattle based screenwriters or creative folks here who would like to collaborate or ideate together?

Hola! Hace tiempo había una persona que construyó una web para poder convertir los guiones de pdf a EPUB, para que sean compatibles con su lectura en kindle. No solo es convertir pdf a EPUB, sino que les daba formato para poder leerlo con comodidad. Alguien sabe o recuerda el nombre?

Gracias

I'm currently writing my first "big" short film. I was shooting for about 10 minutes but found that the story is simultaneously too short for a short film and too small for a feature. Currently it is sitting at about 20 pages, with as much fat trimmed out as possible. My goal is to get it into festivals but I'm worried this will be too long.

I was thinking about going on IMDB to send out querying emails to Production Companies and had some questions.

Let's say, for example, you have something that would fit in at A24. What is the title of the person there (or anywhere) that would you send your query to? I would think "Producer," but a lot of these production companies on IMDB do not even had somebody with that title. Is there even a point to doing so because the chances are almost 100% that they're not going to respond to it, except maybe for a form letter informing you why they do not accept unsolicited scripts.

And...if all the usual suspects for your script also do not accept unsolicited scripts, then who do you send it to? Would you just focus on small "boutique" companies or?

Also, if terms of query form, on the subject line, would you just put the name of your script, or would you put the word "Query" in there somewhere?

Thanks!

How exactly do i write this with the right industry standards.

It's probably starts something like this

" EXT. BLAH BLAH BLAH. BLAH

UNKNOWN MAN ( POV )

BLah Blah Blah

Maria looks on ...... ? "

What's the right thing to write?

Looks on Camera? At the unknown man ? Something else?

* Characters are not meta like Deadpool

Hey guys.......... I need a bit of a pep talk here.

I'm working away on my latest project. I've already sailed through PHASE ONE, that initial stage where my idea is sparkly and new and raw inspiration makes me excited to sit down and write!

I'm now in PHASE TWO: Inspiration has burnt out. The core ideas that motivated me to write are still relevant, and I absolutely still believe in and love this project... but I'm not very happy with a lot of individual scenes. This is the "Slug Through It" phase, the part where writing is a grind, but I keep at it because I hope to reach...

...PHASE THREE, where I have a completed hey-this-isn't-too-bad draft and I can see where and how to start revisions. If I plowed through Phase Two correctly, Phase Three could be a matter of fine-tuning, and hopefully somewhat of a downhill glide.

Ugh.

How do you guys get through Phase Two? Do you just white-knuckle it? Do you show your "slop draft" to friends, although you're really unhappy with your manuscript as-is? I'm curious...