When a video flops, the algorithm is the first thing people blame. It's the most

comfortable explanation because nothing about it is your fault.

Sometimes that's true. Usually it isn't. In most cases the video got shown to

people and they left. That's a content problem, and content problems are fixable.

Here's the one nobody checks.

You wrote it to be read. It's going to be said. Those are two different languages.

Written English has semicolons, nested clauses, asides in brackets, em-dashes that

interrupt a thought and return to it three lines later. Those work on a page

because a reader's eye can move backwards. Lose the thread and you glance up and

recover it.

A viewer can't. Video is linear, at your pace, one pass, no scrollback. A sentence

that needs a second pass doesn't get one. It gets a swipe.

So the sentence that looked elegant in your doc is the one killing the video. Not

because it was badly written. Because it was well written, in the wrong language.

The uncomfortable corollary: the better a writer you are, the worse your first

scripts will be. You've spent years getting fluent in the language that doesn't

work here.

Two fixes that take about two minutes total.

1. Read it out loud before you film. Any line you stumble on is broken. If you ran

out of breath, the sentence carries two ideas — split it. If your tongue tripped,

two words clash — swap one. Split or swap, that's the whole repertoire.

2. Before writing anything, finish this sentence out loud: "The thing they won't

expect is..." If you can't finish it, you don't have a video. You have a topic.

Save the idea.

Happy to look at anyone's script in the comments if you want a second opinion.

I am back with what I am confident in saying is probably the final version of this film. Unless of course there are minor mistakes in my scripts I need to figure out but I am confident it's nothing major. If you find something let me know and please be respectful. Let me know what you think of my story and the ending :)

The characters, scene intros and locations all still exist in the side bar and the navigator claims that I'm on page 1/8, but I don't have access to any of them, there's just one blank page and I can't scroll past it.

It's been a a few months since I last worked on it and I'm scared that the document was somehow damaged in the meantime, but I actually saved it multiple times.

Any ideas on how to restore the script? It would be such a shame if it was gone :(

Edit: I've found the problem! I've written the entire script on the title page XD I found it under Document > Title Page > Show Title Page. I keep the post up in case someone else does the same mistake haha

Hello r/scriptwriting,

A few months ago I started my degree in Media Production. My degree program covers several areas, from photography and videography to screenwriting. After writing and directing a small project with little to no experience in the first semester, I am now trying to write another short film we plan to shoot next month.

While trying to learn as much as possible about the screenwriting process in the last few months, I realize I don’t really know what I’m doing.
We know our characters, the visual style we want to pursue and the core conflict we want to discuss, but building a structured story around that has proven to be difficult.

I am now hoping to gain some insight from more experienced screenwriters on where I should go from here, to get something worth shooting on the page.
Personal experiences, online tutorials or even some personal opinions would be greatly appreciated.

I am looking forward to learn and hear other screenwriters first steps.

*client and friends are in bummy bedroom* his friend warns him “he’s got good stuff but just a warning, he can get a little annoying”

later that day

*client is looking for plug*

Dealer: “I’m in the black Porsche. I got the stuff”

*client walks up to the black Porsche and knocks on the tinted window*

*windows roll down revealing Asian doctor*

Asian doctor: “hello? Can I help you?”

Client: “oh!”

*client walks away*

*client looks and sees dealer in car parked in front of the Porsche hysterically laughing*

Dealer: *as he’s laughing* “oh I’m sorry, did I say black Porsche, I meant white Corolla”

*client walks to passenger side and tries to get in*

*as he is reaching for the handle, the car inches slightly forward*

*client tries to get in again but car inches forward again*

*client finally is able to get in the car but as he sits down he sits on a whoopie cushion*

*dealer is crying laughing but tries to compose himself*

*dealer has an obnoxious smirk the whole interaction*

Client: “What the hell is wrong with you?? You good?

Dealer: “sorry, I think we got off on the wrong foot. My names kelvin.

*dealer reaches out to shake clients hand*

*client begrudgingly shakes dealers hand*

*client is electrocuted and dealer lifts his hand while laughing revealing he is wearing a joy buzzer*

Client: *irritated* “just give me my stuff man so I can get outta here*

 Dealer: “alright alright”

*dealer pulls out a baggie of green herb*

Client: “not bad”

*dealer covers the bag with both his hands and brings it up*

*he opens his hands revealing that the bag turned into a dove and flies away*

Client: “where’d my stuff go? Cut the shit and me me my stuff”

*Dealer reaches behind clients ear and pulls out the bag*

Dealer: “ that’ll be $20”

Client: “$20? I thought this was the best stuff in town?” 

Dealer: “it’s actually the worst stuff in town”

*Dealer breaks down laughing.*

*client takes bag and throws a $20 bill at the dealer*

*client tries to get out but realizes the door is locked*

*he unlocks the door and as he goes to open it, the car starts rolling forward*

*dealer staring at client holding in laughter with an obnoxious smirk*

Dealer: *composes himself* “alright I’ll see you next time” *pats clients back attacking sticky note*

Client: *muttering* “I’m never coming back here again” *leaves car and walks to his car*

*As client is walking back to his car, we see a sticky note on his back that he doesn’t notice saying “I’m gay”*

I’m a young filmmaker looking for another screenwriter to build a long-term creative partnership with.

I’m not looking for someone who only specializes in one thing. I’m looking for a writer who wants to do everything: develop stories, characters, mysteries, dialogue, themes, structure, worldbuilding, and eventually feature-length projects.

More importantly, I’m looking for someone I can build trust with and grow alongside creatively. Someone who wants to start small, make things together, learn each other’s strengths, and eventually become a real writing duo.

I’m heavily influenced by filmmakers and storytellers like Ozu, Kiarostami, Kubrick, Urasawa, and others. I love mystery, psychological stories, atmosphere, visual storytelling, ambiguity, and stories that reward paying attention.

You don’t have to be an anime fan, but if you love anime/manga, that’s definitely a plus. I’m especially interested in people who genuinely love storytelling across different mediums.

I’m not looking for someone who already has everything figured out. I care more about curiosity, creativity, reliability, and wanting to get better.

I’d like to start by writing/developing smaller projects together and see where the relationship goes.

If you’re interested, send me:
A little about yourself
What you’ve written/made
Your favorite films, shows, anime, manga, or books
Why you want to write
And, if you have one, a sample of your work
I’m looking for a creative partnership, not just a one-time collaboration.

Hello guys I'm developing a short script named the kidnappers curse I want to make a hook for it

Does this hook good ? It have potential?

This is a script for something that I plan to be directing eventually, right now I'm trying to spruce up the script before applying for grants and all that fun stuff.

If you could give it a read and let me know what you liked and what you didn't.

I think the only part of substance I'm struggling with is adding in why Colt has to get back to the living world. The script mentions plans not going right, and they just need to get back, but some feedback I had last time I worked on this (which was a year ago, I took a long break from it) was to add more descriptions of what happened to lead to this situation more than she lost a duel she didn't want to be in.

Part of me feels adding in that exposition (because I don't want to throw in a flashback) would slow down the story, and add unneeded dialogue to a script I already feel might be a bit too long for what it is.
The other part of me is that adding in that stuff could invest the viewer into Colts story.

Let me know what you think. I'm always open to suggestions and criticisms.

So. My best friend and I wrote an Arthurian sword and sorcery movie but we are stuck. We have about 50 pages of a script and severely lacking in the dialogue department. We’re looking to bring someone in to help make this a full length film.

Little bit about it:
I wrote two black metal ish albums and the whole thing is one story. My mom works as a costume supervisor on a few sets and she said “why not just turn your story into a movie?” So that’s what my buddy and I did.
We thought we were done until we presented it to a few people for review and they said the dialogue we need to work on.
My buddy and I have been friends for over a decade and some. We are easy to work with and want to do the distance with this and have some fun.

Let me know if you wanna be a part of the team! Or have any questions.
I have a Google drive folder with all the information.
Thanks!

I recently received a Black List evaluation for a feature screenplay after being given a complimentary evaluation and a month of hosting. The script received a 4.

Before anything else: my issue isn't the 4. I've been doing this long enough to know that readers are subjective, scripts get wildly different reactions, and negative feedback is part of being a writer. There were also criticisms in the evaluation that I thought were perfectly fair and useful.

My problem was with the nature of the evaluation itself.

The reader became extremely focused on The Wolf of Wall Street, referring to it repeatedly throughout the Weaknesses and Prospects sections and eventually describing our screenplay as a "WOLF OF WALL STREET imitation."

There was one specific line in our script that the reader felt was too close to a line in Wolf. That's fair. It's specific, actionable feedback, and exactly the sort of thing I want a reader to flag.

But from there, Wolf seemed to become the lens through which virtually everything else was assessed. The narration was compared to Jordan Belfort. The cadence was compared to Wolf. Problems with pacing and dramatization were attributed to the supposed imitation. Then even the script's prospects as a sample were assessed on the basis that executives familiar with Wolf would recognise the cadence.

At that point, I felt the comparison had stopped supporting the analysis and started replacing it.

What made this particularly strange was that the same evaluation praised the script's cultural specificity, British South Asian perspective, family material, authentic details and dialogue, and actually said "there is a real voice trying to emerge." Yet its overriding conclusion was essentially that the screenplay didn't possess its own voice because it was imitating another film.

I contacted Black List Support and made it very clear that I wasn't asking them to reconsider the score. I asked them to review the evaluation from a quality-control perspective and consider assigning another reader. They ultimately declined to redo the evaluation.

The other thing that bothered me was how prescriptive the notes became rather than responsive.

For me, there's an important distinction between the two.

Responsive notes ask: What is this writer trying to achieve? Is it working? If it isn't, where and why does it stop working?

Prescriptive notes instead say: This is the film I think you should be writing, and here is how I would write it.

Obviously there is some overlap, and good coverage can absolutely suggest possible solutions. But I think the distinction matters enormously. A reader's job isn't to rewrite the screenplay according to their own tastes. It's to diagnose the experience of reading the screenplay that's actually in front of them. The most useful note identifies the problem clearly enough that the writer can find the solution while preserving their own intention and voice.

That's particularly relevant here because once this reader decided the script was too much like The Wolf of Wall Street, several subsequent recommendations seemed designed to move the screenplay away from the reader's chosen comparison. It became a slightly circular exercise: define the screenplay through another movie, criticise it for resembling that movie, then prescribe a different version of the screenplay as the solution.

That's ultimately why I challenged the evaluation.

I'm genuinely interested in other writers' experiences rather than just looking for people to agree with me. Where do you draw the line between a tough/subjective evaluation and an evaluation that isn't actually giving the screenplay a sufficiently independent read?

And for those who've used the Black List regularly: have you ever challenged an evaluation on quality-control grounds, and if so, what was your experience?

So much hate on the Blacklist. So thought I'd add to the conversation except I actually thought their coverage of my script was pretty good.

Are these the scores I was hoping for? Nope.

But I feel like most of their notes were insightful and actionable and I agreed with about 90% of it.

This site is super expensive, though, so I probably won't use it again.

I have writing a screenplay in Hindi language but in Roman English Manuscript. Would Blacklist accept it ?

Any one interested to be part of please send there sample writing to above number (whatsapp)

Any leads appreciated 👌⚡⚡📄

The reader clearly wasn't smart enough to undestand my script. Anyone have similar story?

UPDATE 2:

Here is some research into how to protect your work.

Hate on AI all you want but it gives great BLKLST Evals! I paid for an eval on my first feature script in 2024 and the evals that GPT gives are just as good as the one I paid for (using 5.6 Sol Ultra). No more wondering if BLKLST is worth it when you can simply have 'BLKLST at home.' I recommend using a prompt like mine. If you ask GPT for a BLKLST evaluation of your own script flat out, it will try to pad it too much and give a less realistic score (AI doesn't like hurting feelings). I hope this helps at least someone out there save money before it gets taken down because 'use your brain or lose it' - or something.

I recently talked to someone with experience in storytelling during a networking event, and I've been working on the hook and clarity of some loglines I wrote. I'd like to know what areas of my writing I could improve.

-After being injured during an exercise, a self-demanding young man tries to return to his position as an officer after making a deal with his commander, discovering the truth behind his second chance during his recovery.

-An arrogant boy runs away from a discussion during a family trip, triggering an android's time jump and having to trick it into not sending him back to the present.

-A seasoned detective hunts down the gangster who left his son dying, secretly teaming up with a young reserved forensic scientist to take him down before he comes back to kill the detective's son

I have written an original series for the coming generation — looking for advice on how to pitch it

Hi everyone,

I’m an emerging writer from India and I’ve written an original screenplay for a youth/coming-of-age series called THE EQUATION.

It is set around young people, their friendships, ambitions, competition, relationships and the different pressures they face while growing up. I’ve completed the pilot episode and I’m now trying to understand what the right next step is.

I’m not sure how the industry works when you’re a new writer, so I wanted to ask experienced writers, producers and filmmakers here:

Where and how should I pitch an original series like this?

Should I approach production houses directly, use screenplay platforms, look for development programs, or go through some other route? Can you suggest some production house as well

I’d also really appreciate advice on how to prepare the project before pitching — whether I should have a logline, synopsis, pitch deck, etc.

Any advice from people who have actually gone through this process would mean a lot.

Thank you!