>Resources
https://thescriptsavant.com/
http://www.wordplayer.com/
http://www.thefutoncritic.com/devwatch/
https://una.pressbooks.pub/fade-in/

>>217252826
Not to be a doomer but is there any point writing screenplays if you're a non-jewish A24 nepo-baby? I have plenty of ideas for screenplays, even written one myself, but I put my creative energy into writing other things because getting into the film business seems like an absolute pipe dream.
And I say this as someone who knows people who have produced movies and know a quite a few E-list actors.

>>217253294
skill issue?

>>217252826
I'm working on this rape scene but I need a good song to accompany it. Anyone have any suggestions?

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>>217252826
>What are you working on today?
I will be writing lore for my D&D campaign, whilst imagining I was writing a screensplay for my (subversive) indie action movie, with realistic weaponsplay and fight choreography, that will be discussed in Youtube iceberg videos for years to come.
And you goodsir?

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I did another short scene based on some random prompt generated by ChatGPT. I didn't spend all that much time on it, but here's something to read

>>217254777
This is pretty shit anon ngl

I read all 5 pages and I still dont know wtf your story was about. You didn't put any effort into describing the sanctuary or any of the areas, what was in them and around the characters? Computers? A fucking waterfall? I don't know you didn't tell me. No effort went into your dialogue, just generic questions to keep the "story" chugging along and expo dump what was happening in real time. Big print is for showing story. Dialogue is for showing character usually. You can obviously flip those principles if your a good writer, but that usually requires mastering the basics of the principles first. There's no emotion in your script. Who is Jason? What is his occupation? What the fuck is happening again? None of this was clear, I legitimately only finished your script because I tuned out reading it the first time then went back and read it carefully to make sure it was actually zero effort trash. Which it is.

About what I would expect from someone who needs AI prompts I suppose

>>217252826
>What are you working on today?
I spent 5 minutes writing a throwaway scene to explain a filmmaking blunder. So that was fun

>>217252826
Not a screenplay perse, but i'm working on the trailer for the dvd relase of a 3 hours video-art project I nade last year.
After that i'm gonna work in a no-budget experimental antology i'm making. It's a multi-media project that mix guerrilla documentary, mockumentary stuff, video-collages, live action sequences and porly done stop motion focus in the daily life of a guy that became NEET after his tennage lover break up with him. It's both a love story going wrong and a film about lonliness in the internet era
Right now I made some stuff for that one, mosly some of the video collage segments. Full thing is +18, so procede with caution:
https://archive.org/details/the-art-of-seeing-with-the-television-eyes-jkl-2025
https://archive.org/details/duplex-gringo-friendly
It's also a musical, so I need to focus more in that too. Find people and that kind of shit. Maybe I try on /mu/ someday

>>217253294
Because writting is cathartic and there's always space for guerrilla filmaking. You can make your most expensive scripts into visual novels, if You don't like going full underground.

>>217254656
"Mi niña bonita" - Chino y Nacho
You can thank me latter

>>217254990
Thanks for the feedback. Yes, I know I'm not good. I spent like 10 years doing technical writing, so I need to break from that style. It's not easy, but I'll keep trying.

>>217253294
What's stopping you from producing your own film? Write a very low budget script, save up for a few months/years, film it.
Any excuse you have for not doing this is what will stop you from ever making it as an acclaimed filmmaker.
>b-but I don't want to be a filmmaker, I want to be a scriptwriter
Then find an indie filmmaker who's learning the ropes, and convince them to make your scripts. There are literally internet forums dedicated to this. I see posts on facebook about twice a week of filmmakers looking for writers to collaborate with.

>>217255186
>. I see posts on facebook about twice a week of filmmakers looking for writers to collaborate with.
i dont use facebook

>>217254777
>5 pages of a character asking questions and the other character coyly sometimes responding and sometimes ignoring him
In what world does this create a story that anyone is interested in? Sure, you want mystery. But you shouldn't be trying to frustrate your audience.

>>217255236
Okay? So that there is another excuse.
I'll say this to you really bluntly: no one is looking for an anti social autistic neet and hoping they have good scripts that are worth making.
You want to be a scriptwriter, you have to actually put effort in. You can't just write scripts and then expect money. People who are far greater writers than you put a fuckload more time and effort into the actual process of getting their scripts read and produced, only to still fail to get anywhere substantial. If you can't put in even the tiniest modicum of effort then no, you have no chance.

>>217255253
Thanks, I'm just practicing, so it's not really fleshed out, but yeah, I can try to make something more cohesive next time.

>>217255664
What's your process?
A lot of writers/wannabe-creatives have the outlook of making something for the sake of making something. So they go "successful works do this, that and the other, so that's what I'll do". And this results in generic shit with no soul or identity.
As a writer, you should have stories you want to tell. You shouldn't write because you want to be a writer. You should write because the story is already inside you and you want to get it out (and maybe you think it's cool and want other people to see how cool it is).
So instead of going "I need x pages where they talk about the macguffin, only teasing it so that the reveal can come later", you should be going "holy shit and then we're about to learn about the macguffin but we don't because they get sidetracked fighting ninjas and there's cool backflips and shit".
OR
"They start talking about the macguffin but fail because it's not really about the macguffin, they're just trying to connect and using it as an excuse but failing because they're fundamentally broken people and that's what this conversation will showcase"
OR
"Bob tries to talk about the mcguffin but Sally is way too cool to care about that shit, frustrating Bob and causing him to try and arrest her but Sally ain't going down easy"

>>217255153
>>217255186
You both make very good points, I concede. Also, I suppose there is going to be more of a market for DIY indie movies in the foreseeable future seeing as the mainstream producers are actively going against consumer interests.

What would you guys say is the best screenplay you’ve ever read?

>>217256055
I wrote a pretty good one about pirates a couple of years ago. Maybe that?

>>217255920
Thanks. I do actually have one story that I started writing. I have it mostly sketched out, the major plot points, the characters, their backstories, their personalities, the subtext/theme, the ending. There's still a few open details in the middle, but nothing major. I started writing it, and I was doing alright with the descriptions and action, at least for a first draft, but every time I did dialog I could tell it was terrible. I mean... you saw above the kind of dialog I write, and it was worse than that. So I stopped and decided to focus on learning to write dialog. I did some reading, guides and more movie scripts, and I've been having Chat GPT generate scenarios just so I can practice, but I haven't really been getting better. I replied above to someone else that I worked as a technical writer for like 10 years, so I'm trying to get out of that style, and it's harder to break than I expected.

>>217256120
What is it about? I have an idea about pirates that's basically Lord of the Flies set in Libertalia whilst the law is moving in on them. Don't really know how to go about it.

>>217256256
I never got the difficulty with writing dialogue. I'm not someone who writes good dialogue btw. There's 3 core components imo
>what is the point of the scene?
>what are the characters thinking?
>does it sound 'natural'?
The last one is the least important because how natural it sounds depends on the actors and can be tweaked accordingly. The only thing you should care about in regards to the last point is that it isn't an awkward exposition dump. Just think about conversations you have. Listen to the radio/podcasts/tv shows in the background if you have to.
The other 2 are far more important. You have a story to tell. You don't have time to waste (if you do, your story is probably shit). Why are you showing this conversation?
>it would be weird if they didn't talk here
Great. Shouldn't be more than a paragraph then. The rest can be implied off screen.
>I need to deliver exposition about the macguffin
Great. Get to the point then. Come up with a plausible excuse for them to talk about it and then fucking talk about it.
>I want to showcase how a character's feeling
Ah, now this is where it's interesting.
>I want to establish their relationship
Cool. It should be entertaining then. If it's playful, tell a joke and have some ribbing. If it's hostile, throw in some passive-aggressiveness. If it's flirty, mess with the prior two ideas. If you fuck up and write yourself into a corner, maybe your character does too. There are no rules. Characters that make human mistakes and who are awkward feel more real.
Ask yourself, does it really need x number of pages to establish?
I say this as someone who writes pages of dialogue at times. Nothing wrong with a dialogue-heavy script/film. But it shouldn't be at the expense of entertainment. In general, the story should always be moving forward. If it's not, you should be doing something that justifies why it's not.
Again, you should never be wasting space for the sake of wasting space.

>>217256055
A lot of people say Chinatown. It's pretty good.
https://thescriptsavant.com/movies/Chinatown.pdf
I liked the Die Hard and Starship Troopers screenplays too
https://thescriptsavant.com/movies/Die_Hard.pdf
https://thescriptsavant.com/movies/Starship_Troopers.pdf
I also read the Jurassic Park one recently, and it was very good. But the version I found seemed like it was scanned, ran through an image -> text parsing program, and then pasted into a text file, so the formatting was really screwed up. I wouldn't recommend it, unless you can find a good version.

>>217256475
>The only thing you should care about in regards to the last point is that it isn't an awkward exposition dump.
This is what my first attempts all were. Like... I tried to hide it, but then it turned into obvious "as you know..." lines. This is unfortunately how I've trained myself to communicate, from my work. But I'll keep working on it, thanks for the advice.

>>217255173
Read "Writing Screenplays That Sell" by Michael Hauge.

It's one of about 5 genuinely worthwhile screenwriting books

>>217256414
I won't give away the premise because it's a semi-original idea. But you go about every script roughly the same way depending on your process.
For me
>have a few scenes/ideas in my head that are extremely visceral but completely out of context
>outline them, think about the driving protagonist in these scenes
>connect them
>think about a general outline
>think of more scenes that I want to showcase
>rinse and repeat until I have dense outline (will often take over a year, don't try to rush this process, let it come naturally)
>when I reach a point where the entire story is clearly in my head and I've outlined it, fill it in
>write the dialogue that's important
>write the action that's important
>that's basically a script, just type it up in a proper format and voila
So if I was writing about pirates in Libertalia, I'd think about what scenes I actually want first - which, as I write this, is led by an image out like 50s-style kodachrome saturated film, sweaty sunburnt faces, and the camera positioned inside a cave by a spring, with the bright light from outside the cave dominating the centre of the frame and a cut to a closeup of a tense pirate inside the cave staring outside, waiting for something (which I guess would be the would-be invaders).

>>217257321
>Like... I tried to hide it, but then it turned into obvious "as you know..." lines
Reframe them in a less dumb way.
"As you know, the creature escaped containment one month ago. And as your briefing details, we believe we've finally found it." becomes, "Last month's disaster will not be repeated again. I will personally shove a stapler up the colon of anyone who even jokes about bringing a snickers bar into the office. The only reason I haven't done so today is because I've just received good news. The dickheads in intelligence tracked it down. Normally it'd piss me off that we weren't the ones to find it. But since they're letting us take it in then I suppose it's alright. So first person to tag this fucker with hot lead gets 1 hour in the rumpus room. Any questions? Thought not."
I realised as I was typing that that I need to give characters some type of personality for the dialogue to flow. As soon as they have a personality, the sentences flow easily because you're not writing to deliver exposition, you're writing how they think. Like I say, I'm not great at dialogue. But a good actor could turn that into gold. Learned that from Gladiator.

>>217257608
Thanks, this is good stuff
Also I think I tried to read the Gladiator screenplay, but the version I found online did not match the movie at all... Though, I think that movie went to production before the script was even started, so I'm not really surprised.

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>>217256055
Die Hard, its also one of the most important screenplays ever written, as it changed how action is 'done'.
I also like The Matrix, Alien, The Thing and Everything Everywhere All At Once.


This is something i wrote two years back, its the opening - and its also perfect litmus test for screenwriting feedback. What do you think?

>>217253294
write your own
when AI kills hollywood, make them with AI and sell them to the jeets

>>217258540
Some of it is a little unclear. I think the poster description should be grouped together, without a line of dialog in the middle. The O.S. should be sufficient. Also, the boots stepping in, the black hatted man, and mystery man are the same person?

>>217258435
lol
I didn't learn from reading the Gladiator script. I learned from the bts story where Russel Crowe showed up pissed off and called the writing garbage but said he could deliver them great anyway because he was the greatest actor in the world.
This was on the day they shot the "my name is Maximus Decimus Meridicus" scene to give more context.
My friend is a filmmaker and I've read a few of his scripts. I always interpret them completely different to how he films them. To me, his scripts read like an absurdist ott comedy, similar to Lanthimos. But his films are very grounded, slow and realist.
And then finally, try reading transcripts of real life conversations. They're messy and awkward and don't read natural.
It all comes down to delivery. Every time.

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>>217253294
Yes

1 to prove to yourself that you can do it
2 to have a working schematic of something you are going to shoot yourself
3 Practice
4 Someone paid you to

Writing as a means of getting into the business without connections or a reputation though is futile. It's not going to happen because it almost never happens.

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>>217252826
Lifeforce: Dominion

A private assembly of world leaders convenes under flickering holographic seals. An envoy from the World Restoration Initiative, secretly alien, presents humanity’s salvation — a universal “Neural Stabilizer” vaccine said to harmonize emotional chaos and prevent war.

Dr. ELENA VARN, a biochemist haunted by the events of the original Lifeforce, analyzes new biotech samples. She finds non‑organic microstructures in the serum — tiny crystalline filaments with bioelectric patterns mirroring a nervous system inside nerves.

Screens blare propaganda. “Stable Minds, Stable World.” Free markets boom on the promise of “energy efficiency.” Products measure emotional output. People glow faintly under certain lights — their life force subtly draining.

Elena joins rogue scientist MARCUS TRENT and neuro‑anthropologist LEE XIAN, who decode the nanotech’s true purpose: to convert human consciousness into a distributed control grid. Each injected host becomes a node — broadcasting life energy into a central organism orbiting near‑Earth space.

MONTAGE:

Citizens buy “soul‑enhancing” wearables that pulse like living veins.

Parliament debates “safety injections,” unaware most members are already networked.

A child draws eerie patterns that match alien circuitry.

DISCOVERY:
Microscopic footage reveals the nanotech’s alien signature matches survivors from the Churchill spacecraft disaster forty years earlier. The invaders now move through bureaucracy instead of plasma storms.

>>217254656
Try this one, its an old Scottish song and might work really well in the situation, especially for choreography.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=b53_KpjmUpY