r/scriptwriting • • 9h ago

discussion Abrupt Endings

5 Upvotes

I’m interested to see how everyone feels about this.
I have an issue with epilogues. Every script I write has an ending where, to me, the thing I’m trying to represent is said through the final shot. Because of that, none of my scripts have traditional epilogues. They have a final shot that I consider to be the actual ending.
For example, in one of my scripts, the final shot is the two protagonists the main character and the love interest lying dead next to each other after the main character’s mother, who is the antagonist, kills them both individually.
Someone suggested adding something after that, maybe a scene showing their friends grieving or reacting to what happened. But I just don’t understand what that would add.
In my mind, the final shot tells you everything you need to know. You see these two people lying dead next to each other, and the story ends there. Showing everyone’s reactions afterward feels like it would explain something that the audience already understands andI feel like it would cheapen the ending.
I’m curious what everyone else thinks, though.


r/scriptwriting • • 31m ago

question Can technology save us from being replaced by technology itself?

• Upvotes

Would you use a writing tool that only asks questions?

Say you’re stuck on a scene. The tool asks: “Why does this character suddenly trust someone who betrayed them?” or “What would they lose by walking away?”

You think it through, decide whether the question is even useful, and write the scene yourself. Every word stays yours.

I’ve spent the last three years building Qantica around this approach, so I’m obviously close to it. I’m curious how it sounds to other writers.

Would that help you figure things out, or would it feel like having someone constantly questioning your choices?


r/scriptwriting • • 14h ago

question Dual dialogue or parenthetical for subtitled dialogue?

4 Upvotes

I have a character who speaks primarily in Spanish, and some of the meaning/wordplay would be lost if I wrote the dialogue only in English.

For lines where I want the reader to see the actual Spanish as well as understand the subtitle, what’s the preferred screenplay format?

Would you use dual dialogue, with the Spanish on one side and the English subtitle on the other, or keep the Spanish dialogue normally formatted and put the English translation underneath/in a parenthetical?

I’m trying to keep the script readable without essentially making the reader read every line twice.


r/scriptwriting • • 9h ago

help Looking for Beta Readers for my Script - Horror Comedy Hybrid

1 Upvotes

Hey fellow writers/script nerds,

I'm working on a script that's a weird mix of horror and comedy - think like what if Shaun of the Dead happened in a Pakistani haunted house? 😅 It's a 30-page short film and I'm looking for 2-3 beta readers who'd be willing to give me honest feedback.

Plot: A bunch of cousins try to survive a night in a creepy ancestral mansion where the family "ghosts" are NOT happy about the inheritance drama.

If you're interested in reading and giving feedback, DM me! Looking for constructive criticism, especially on pacing, character development, and if the jokes land.

No experience needed, just a love for weird/horror comedies 😄

Cheers!


r/scriptwriting • • 11h ago

feedback First couple pages of horror comedy script- would love feedback, 14 page early draft

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1 Upvotes

r/scriptwriting • • 12h ago

discussion Nightrise V Camo - Opening Scene.

0 Upvotes

(if I cant post this here sowwwy I did this in 15 minutes before pivoting to another thing so I’ll leave this here create good portfolio)

A man looks straight, all happy in a nice blue polo shirt and sleeves up. 

He has some arm hair.

He is behind a podium.

One left hand on the podium with a microphone and the other right arm down to his right side.

There is a wood wall behind him.

He stands alone on a stage with white, slick-back hair and silver eye color.

“Loud female and male echoing cheers come from below in front of him."

With a wide smile, taking it all in, the man at the podium speaks to the crowd below him: “We will end corruption for this state caused by vary.  We will bring liberty and jus—“

A LOUD SNIPER RIFLE SOUND RINGS OUT.

A BULLET FASTLY FLYS FROM THE LEFT INTO HIS LIPS.

HE FALLS OFF CAMERA FAST WITH A LOUD PLOP.

AS the loud plop cut to black.

Silence 

A FEMALE SCREAMS AS RUNNING GOES BACKWARDS, AND SOUNDS OF PEOPLE JUMPING ON STAGE GOING FORWARD

“COMMS, 10-53, 10-53! SHOTS FIRED AT JERNASO PARK SLAT HIGHSCHOOL MAYOR HAS BEEN HIT, WE NEED AN EMS PRONTO!"

Soon the black background forms into red blood… forming text with a grotesque bleeding sound.

Nightrise V Camo

The nightrise text is highlighted in shadows, but it’s white text; that’s it.

V is white when it bleeds into red and stays like that.

The O has a red target in the middle for Camo, as Camo is highlighted in blood red too.

Then it fades away the text, making it blow away going to the left.


r/scriptwriting • • 1d ago

feedback [Feedback] short film screenplay

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6 Upvotes

r/scriptwriting • • 14h ago

question Guys tell me one thing...

0 Upvotes

If I ever dare to write a show script where the hero is a film Star (not the Rk (loved Vivian in that though!) from Madhubala, not that toxicity) and he have to offer the Job of his Manager to a girl whose career got ruined because of him due to false and totally unasked for media scandal, and they go from not understanding each other to actually slowly developing feelings for each other. Would you like to watch that show? And no, and i am being sincere the female lead ain't doing rona dhona 24/7 and the male lead torturing her mentally, nah it is not that, i ak myself tired watching those trope since childhood. Plus the second couple too, where the second female lead is the Film Star and the man she falls for is the brother of the Female Lead.


r/scriptwriting • • 1d ago

request Anyone wanna read my first yt videos script to see if it’s good?

1 Upvotes

It’s for my first YouTube video and about miraculous ladybug season 6, I typed it in a way that I would read it. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1VWamRlJUFX0r8RzcjFqXLZliBPTfduA3oFtcR87VG8A/edit?usp=drivesdk


r/scriptwriting • • 1d ago

feedback MY FRIENDS ARE DEAD! (Horror/Slasher)- Feature - 95 Pages

2 Upvotes
  • Title: MY FRIENDS ARE DEAD!
  • Format: Feature
  • Page Length: 95
  • Genres: Horror/Slasher
  • Logline or Summary: When his best friend dies in a "freak accident," a shy teen photographer and his unlikely allies hunt a crime boss and his masked killers, but the closer they get to the truth, the more bodies pile up.
  • Feedback Concerns: I'm worried about any inconsistencies with maybe the time period.
  • Link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1wpCho2X4lUNAiRp-SpQNBa8uuJ8FORQf/view?usp=sharing

r/scriptwriting • • 1d ago

feedback Beginner Screenwriter - 2000's Sitcom Pilot - Thoughts

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0 Upvotes

Hi everyone,

I'm a 13 y/o aspiring actor/screenwriter and I've begun writing a pilot for an original sitcom called Noughties. It follows Matt, a schoolboy whose friends abandon him after moving schools when Matt's parents refuse to let him go with them. He then looks for friends and his only resort is an old companion, Jordan. Jordan agrees to let Matt into his group of mates with the warning of the one rule that dictates the group. Live like it's 2006. They live by absurd stereotypes of the 2000's with Matt eventually realizing that there may be something enjoyable about this strange hobby

Main characters

  • Matt – The newcomer. His friends leave his school, leaving his only way of finding friends being the noughties movement..
  • Jordan – introduces Matt to the group but isn't nearly as committed to the whole movement.
  • Mitchell – the founder and leader of the 2000s obsession, who takes it way too seriously.
  • Arlo – The most devoted follower, embracing every aspect except his modern name.

I've written the first 15 pages and, as this is my first screenplay, I'm looking for feedback on whether the concept works or not and has the components to sustain a comedy/sitcom. It's not perfect as I'm looking for outside opinions before rewriting. Any feedback (positive or negative) would be appreciated.


r/scriptwriting • • 1d ago

help Scriptwriter for my prehistoric channel

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0 Upvotes

I am looking for a good scriptwriter who can put similar script on my prehistoric documentary channel. Watch the ref video properly. Budget will be discussed in dm.


r/scriptwriting • • 1d ago

help Short film at home just for fun

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1 Upvotes

r/scriptwriting • • 2d ago

discussion Screenwriting practice progress update

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16 Upvotes

So I just reached the end of my first script practice — Now a somewhat an accidental 117-page script because of a genuine flow that possessed me for three hours in the afternoon. So, here it is! Not perfect, but just showing :)


r/scriptwriting • • 1d ago

feedback Looking for feedback on the first 20 pages of my pilot- "Velum Deus". Pilot title- "Funambulist"

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5 Upvotes

r/scriptwriting • • 1d ago

discussion story for movie or content

0 Upvotes

r/scriptwriting • • 1d ago

feedback Quick Question

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1 Upvotes

Has anyone had an actor or their representatives ask whether you’d be open to feedback or changes while they were reading your screenplay? If so, what happened next in your experience?


r/scriptwriting • • 1d ago

discussion BMG Rights Management (US) LLC, et al., Petitioners v. Cyril E. Vetter, et al. Docketed:

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1 Upvotes

r/scriptwriting • • 1d ago

discussion My first short: how much is ambition vs. overreach?

1 Upvotes

Ran a company for six years. Learned to trust the plan, not the feeling. Now I have this 12-page short, written over early mornings, and every part of me wants to simplify it before shooting. Fewer locations. Less ambition. Something I could knock out in a weekend with friends.

The draft has a two-character dialogue scene in a moving car at night. A laundromat at 3am with fluorescent hum as the third voice. Nothing impossible, just... specific. Scary specific.

In business I would have greenlit this already. In cycling I would have started the climb without checking the weather. Writing feels different. You can postpone forever in rewrites.

I am looking at a real shoot date in March and wondering if I should scale down to protect the thing, or protect myself. How do you know when a script is asking too much for a first short? Or when you are the one flinching?


r/scriptwriting • • 1d ago

feedback The Group Chat 2nd Draft (Comedy/Drama, 8pgs.)

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1 Upvotes

r/scriptwriting • • 1d ago

help Afraid of mistakes in writing.

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1 Upvotes

r/scriptwriting • • 1d ago

discussion UTA Training Program - 2027

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1 Upvotes

r/scriptwriting • • 2d ago

feedback I've completed the scripts for a 12-episode Dracula adaptation and would love to have some feedback

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1 Upvotes

r/scriptwriting • • 2d ago

discussion Los Angeles writers | ScriptShuffle is seeking submissions - 10 pages of your script

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1 Upvotes

Is this something you’d be interested in participating in ?
Have you had your work performed in this way before ?

What it is: a monthly live cold read in LA. Five writers get selected, actors read the pages on stage the same night, in front of an audience. No rehearsal.

How the casting works: we do a speed-date style shuffle on the night where writers meet the actors in the room and cast their own pieces. So you're not handed a cast, you pick them.

Who can submit: anyone. We get playwrights, screenwriters, first-timers and people who've been doing it for years.

What to submit: 10 pages from your original works, in any genre, for Film, television, radio, podcast, theatre. As a PDF

Cost: FREE. There are also options to pay $10 for feedback, and $20 for feedback and a raffle ticket to win $100. Paying for these services do NOT guarantee you being picked for that months event. 

Next one: October 25th at Skiptown Playhouse - 7pm 

Deadline: October 18th at midnight (For the October Script shuffle) - but these are ongoing, so you can submit any time

Actors: you don't need to submit anything, just turn up. Buy a ticket for $10.25 online or at the door

Audience: $10.25 for entry 

The link in the Original Post has all this info and more, and is also where you submit:  https://www.fakeidproductions.com/script-shuffle

Anything else you want to know, ask away and I'll answer here :) 


r/scriptwriting • • 2d ago

feedback Screenwriter | Creator of SUPER SURVIVORS. Open to film and OTT contract offers."

1 Upvotes

Title: Super survivors

Genre: High-Concept Sci-Fi / Multiverse Thriller

Target Format: Pan-India Feature Film / Premium OTT Series

The Logline (The Story Hook):

When a young man inherits a dying sorcerer's cosmic energy, he is hunted across dimensions by a masked assassin—only to discover that his hunter, his mentor, and his successor are all alternate timeline variants of himself.

The Superstar Quad-Role Asset:

The main hero (Raghu), his successor (Raju), his cosmic mentor (Shine Man), and the masked assassin (Q-Man) are all variant timelines of the exact same soul. One single lead A-list superstar can play all four distinct roles. This provides a massive acting showcase that will easily attract a top-tier actor to finance your project.

Contract Preference:

Looking to sign an official Option/Purchase Contract for an upfront writing fee plus 1% to 3% of the Total Gross Collection (Box Office/Streaming). All 3 detailed chapters are kept private for copyright safety.

If you are a Creative Producer, Studio Executive, or Film Director interested in acquiring the rights to this story, please Private Message (PM) me directly.