This list just came out on deadline. Would be super curious to read any of the scripts if anyone happens to have!

https://deadline.com/2026/07/laugh-list-2026-selections-unveiled-1237000117/

All my life, I've seen myself as a writer. It felt like destiny to me. I've always felt different.

That's my dream, but I can't seem to reach it. I have good material—solid work that I keep in a file. But all I've got are synopses, nothing more.

I know how to write. I've read a lot of screenplays, and I know I've got what it takes. But I can't start, and it's driving me nuts.

I can see the scenes in my mind, with dialogue and everything, but I can't put them on paper.

I don't want to give up because I really believe in my work. I've been through a lot in my life, and I'm a loner (and a stoner 🙂), so I feel like I have the experiences and perspective that a writer needs.

I need advice. How do I get it out? How do I overcome this endless fear?

I organized an AMA/Q&A with legendary filmmaker/screenwriter Nicolas Winding Refn. He has previously directed films/series Drive, Only God Forgives, Bronson, The Neon Demon, Pusher trilogy, Copenhagen Cowboy, Too Old To Die Young, Valhalla Rising, and more.

It's live here now in r/movies for anyone interested in asking a question:

https://www.reddit.com/r/movies/comments/1v3mkcv/i_am_nicolas_winding_refn_director_of_drive_the/

He will be back at 4:45 PM ET today to answer questions. I recommend asking in advance. Please ask there, not here. All questions are much appreciated!

His new film, Her Private Hell, premiered at Cannes in May and is out in theaters via Neon this weekend. It stars Sophie Thatcher and Charles Melton.

Thank you :)

His verification/proof photo: https://i.imgur.com/741dTf5.png

Recently, I've been thinking about the plot structure of "Legally Blonde" (2001). Its a question of Elle's goal, of her wants and needs. If you chop the movie in half, then her wants would seem to be:

• ACT I and IIa: "I want Warner"
• ACT IIb and III: "I want to be an awesome lawyer"

That bothers me, because it would seem that Elle abruptly abandons WANT #1 for WANT #2. That's inconsistent, right?

But the common theme between those two wants is "I want to prove my worth". So.........

• ACT I and IIa: "I want Warner because marrying him will prove my worth"
• ACT IIb and III: "I want to be an awesome lawyer to prove my worth"

Okay. So to invent terminology here, now there's kinda this:

• SUPERWANT: "I want to prove my worth"
• Sub-Want 1: "I want Warner"
• Sub-Want 2: "I want to be an awesome lawyer"

The Sub-Wants can be changed out, as long as the SUPERWANT is Elle's north star.

...right...?

As a writer, this confuses me. I'm actually working on a script where my protag chases X, only to realize that X will not make her happy. She drops X to focus on Y, which does give her the happy ending. I'm consistently getting the note "I hate that Protag switches from X to Y" so I guess my Protag's SUPERWANT is not clear? Or am I thinking about this all wrong?

Title: Keep on Saving the World

Format: Short film

Draft Status: Pink

Page Count: 8

Genre: Drama, Superhero, Science Fiction/Fantasy

Summary: It’s dinner. The broccoli? Steamed. The marry-me chicken? Marriage material. The conversation? Colder than the food’s about to get. Mia’s worried that Ryan is pushing himself too hard as a superhero – he was stabbed last Monday, for goodness’s sake – while Ryan worries that if he doesn’t get back out there soon, people will die. Both are right. Neither is happy about it.

Feedback Concerns: Fourth draft of a short film script – I’ve gotten a dizzyingly wide range of feedback on this piece, and I’m not even sure where I stand with it. Brutal honestly (for example, if I should shred it) appreciated!

Link: https://filmfreeway.com/KeepOnSavingtheWorld

Hello all!

I recently got an 8 on The BL for my horror/drama script set in Salem, MA during the Witch Trials. Because of the score, the BL sent me an offer for two free evaluations and two free months of hosting. I haven’t accepted the offer yet because I wanted to get a second opinion first to decide whether I should make some small tweaks to improve my chances of scoring another 8.

I tried using Storypeer twice for this: the first reader missed the deadline, and the deadline for the second one is tomorrow (and they haven't turned it in yet). If this second reader misses the deadline too, I absolutely can't afford to wait another five days. I don't want to let too much time pass because my next monthly hosting charge is coming up, and as you all know, the BL bottleneck means waiting about a whole month per evaluation.

Two things I could really use your help with:

1. Expedited Feedback: Is there an experienced reader here who likes psychological horror/period dramas and would be down to look it over? (If it's someone who also got a good score, I'd be great!) Because of the timing, I'd need expedited feedback, ideally taking one to two days max. Just looking for a quick, solid opinion on whether I should leave it as it is or make some final changes before using the free evaluations.

2. Genre Tag: When I first listed the script, I selected both horror and drama, but for some reason, the BL system put drama as the main genre and horror as the secondary genre (might have been a mistake on my end). This ended up hurting a bit because when they posted my 8 on the BL Instagram, it was listed as only drama. I feel like a horror over drama reader would appreciate my work much more than a drama over horror reader and the script is definitely for horror fans. Should I update the tags so horror appears as the main genre, or leave it as it is?

Would love to hear your thoughts. Thanks everyone!

The chances are always low, but it’s still pretty exciting.

EDIT: We were overwhelmed with applications, so we closed applications again. Stay tuned, as this is what happens after our last port and we so we expanded.

Hi, Writers. We're a group of screenwriters helping each other improve our work for over ten years. If you’re looking for a community of fellow writers—and would value detailed feedback along with the accountability that comes from working alongside peers—our group is currently welcoming two new committed members.

We meet virtually three times a week (Saturday morning, Sunday morning, and Tuesday evening Central Time). We are currently seeking members who can commit to attending regularly on Sunday mornings at 10:30 am Central Time U.S.

The format involves a group of up to 12 screenwriters reading aloud up to seven pages from a screenplay or pilot. We also review outlines, beat sheets, treatments, pitches. Anything that helps writers. The group provides constructive feedback on the pages.

We also do regular table reads that provide an opportunity to get feedback on the piece in its entirety.

We're looking for members who:

Have completed at least two feature-length screenplays

Would like to give and receive constructive feedback

Would be committed to regular attendance

If all this interests you, fill out the Google Form here: 

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeTKWmJOx4AVddUFTTqdhsZHP-NfB22nCMQH_37uSg9ybz-7w/viewform?usp=sharing&ouid=105266347518241163272

We welcome writers of all backgrounds, and are especially interested in hearing from women and underrepresented voices.

There is a chance that we will receive more applications than we can process quickly. If we receive more interest than we can accommodate, we will close the application process. If you apply, please be patient and we will get back to you.

My first screenplay is set in San Francisco in the 1990s. It's very important that it be set in the first dot-com era as it's about tech-driven gentrification, specifically the first wave. But also, 90% of the jokes rely on that time and place.

But I've had a couple of people in contests (one was a pitch contest and the other was a contest to obtain representation) say that producers are likely to shoot down the idea because of the expense of setting it in the 1990s and that I should try setting in the present.

I tried that and failed; the Bohemian characters that I created no longer exist in SF and Portlandia has been done. And it's not just the jokes, but the whole theme of the beginning of the end of bohemian culture in SF due to housing costs (but I think you could say that about a lot of cities). I'm not just trying to write an amusing horror-comedy, I'm trying to explore that turning point before tech money changed everything irreversibly; that time period when the internet was unknown territory.

I've gotten some feedback from readers who loved the setting, as well. Do I have to abandon the time period to have a hope in hell of seeing it get made?

(Pardon the poor writing of this post; it's very late )

CLOSED! Thanks all. Slowly reaching out to people. Sent a few out today. I’ll do this for the next couple of weeks until I get tired. 👍

EDIT TO ALSO ADD: This isn’t a coupon for you to send me in a month or next year or whenever you finish your script. It’s for right now. :) I have a life too… sometimes.

EDIT TO ADD: Please stop DMing. I’ll reach out to all commenters. My DMs are clogged and I said comments only.

I usually do this around the holidays when I have a few weeks off, but after finishing two massive feature rewrites and sending them off to their respective parties, I'm ready to dive into new stuff. I also need a bit of a palate cleanse, so for the first time in three years I'm doing this now instead of waiting until December.

That said, I do have a few new guidelines after learning a lot over the past few years.

The biggest change is that I'll only be reading the first ten pages to start. It makes the process much more manageable and, frankly, experience has taught me that a lot of scripts run into the same issues early on, so this lets me give thoughtful feedback without taking on more than I realistically can and prevents me from being burnt out. Don’t worry - if I really dig it, I’ll ask for more!

• ⁠No AI. If I’m using my brain, you use yours. Additionally I’m allowing myself a few weeks to do this at my leisure. If you need a rush by tomorrow… I dunno. Guess the computers will take all of our jobs and I’m part of the problem!
• ⁠Send so I can open in Adobe. I leave in-line notes. :) Sorry! I am who I am!
• ⁠Three-strike system aka if I hit three major issues in those ten like repeated typos, formatting problems, etc., I’ll stop reading but I will send you your notes up to that point. :)
- *Make sure your basic formatting, spelling, and grammar is good-great or else you’re wasting everyone’s time. Don’t let that lack of care or understanding be our first interaction :(
• ⁠Please include any content warnings for those pages when sending over. I read almost everything but like to be prepped. I also am not much help with historical, western, or biopic (unless the biopic has some sort of new quirky take - then absolutely).
• ⁠Even if you hate what I have to say, please at least acknowledge you got them. It’s basic courtesy and good professional practice. Last year a few people ghosted and then came back once they realized the notes were actually useful - super awkward, I reckon lol.

I will cut this off at any time I feel ‘done.’ I’m a human being :)

“Who the fuq are you?” Well, you can see more on a past post here (it’s outdated though, happy to DM further if you’re cool or whatever) but the good news is if you don’t want to you don’t have to - free will is a thing. So just keep scrolling. I’m just trying to maybe be helpful but also connect with new writers.

Like last time to keep it fair I’ll follow up to comments with a DM that way there’s a bit of an established queue and no one falls through the cracks.

I’m currently writing a horror movie where the main threat doesn’t fully appear until the end of the second act.

But I still want to scare the audience until then. What could I do to keep the suspense going? I have some ideas as to how to set up the horror through several scenes across Act 2, but I’m worried they won’t be enough.

I'm looking for good examples of films that have a strong theme/moral statement, but have basic external stakes where the theme can't realistically be put into practice (like where the goal is survival, saving many others, or winning a war, where there really isn't another way of accomplishing the goal other than fighting for your life, so it's not like the characters can learn the value of kindness and then stop said war by talking it out or whatever).

asking because I am writing a script that has some pretty high stakes (saving loads of other people's lives), meaning that if the heroes who are responsible for saving them decided, "Hey, I know we're in the middle of a war right now, but let's try doing something other than fighting back", it would kind of be amoral as they're gambling with all their lives. So the heroes don't have the option of learning that there is another way of solving the problem and then changing their methods to solve it that way, basically.

Please let me know if this makes sense or if you need more info, I'll be happy to clarify.

i am interested in writing stories for 2d movies, but what i realize when reading scripts for 2d scripts, they only have the dialogue, which (i think) is because the director wants to freely decide what to put in the shot, or because it'll be hard to explain each shot, which made me wonder, first, if that is right, and second, if i can still try to write my scripts or it's impossible unless you can draw and make comics.

A struggling author receives help from an unexpected source but it comes at the cost of learning some harsh truths about himself.

Rat

(R-rated.)

I love writing screenplays, but after a full day of work or university, I’m usually too mentally exhausted to write, even though it’s all I think about during the day.

I’ve been outlining my series for about a year and have finished the pilot, but I only get a few days each month when I have both the time and energy to make progress.

My dream is to get it into production, but at this pace it feels impossible. Is anyone else in a similar situation, where the passion and motivation are there, but your brain is just too exhausted to work on the things you love?

I’ve written a profoundly scripture based drama and wondering if there are any bible literate readers interested in taking a look. Please reply here and let me know. Thanks!

Would love to find a handful of people to trade scripts with. I have a 30 page pilot.
Log line: Given 45 days until comet impact, a man abandons sobriety for a coast-to-coast revenge tour and discovers the person he really needs to face is himself.

Longer Log line: When the world gets a 45-day death sentence, a newly-sober man relapses, quits his soul-crushing job, and sets off on a cross-country “slap tour” to settle old scores, only to realize, too late, that the apology he actually owes might matter more than the world ending.

Okay, screenwriters. In your opinion, what is the maximum page length for a feature-length comedy? What number would be okay, and what number seems like too much? Please and thank you.

Title: It's Your Funeral

Format: Feature

95 pages

Genre: Dark Comedy

Logline: In order to write the perfect eulogy, a shy and coddled man-child hijacks strangers’ funerals with his reckless, dying uncle.

Feedback: This is my first draft of my first screenplay; any and everything will be super appreciated. Thank you

Link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/144hUWrFqodn7InT7szAexESNLyTR8v0O/view?usp=sharing

Hey! I'm working on a screenplay that's a historical drama (based on real events) taking place in 19th century Boston. I've done enough research that I know the particular neighborhoods or streets where a lot of scenes take place if we're following the real history, but it certainly isn't vital to the plot that it be that particular location. Should my scene headers feature the specific location, like EXT. TREMONT STREET. DAY and EXT. COPLEY SQUARE. DAY, or just keep it simple and label them EXT. BOSTON STREET. DAY?

Thanks for any input!

I'm gonna do it, just want to get a sense from you how off-putting that might be. If it matters, it's not a quote from the script, it's a quote by a witness to what happens in the story.

How do you guys handle situations where realistic dialogue uses terms that might contrast with general real world tendencies?

For example, in workplaces workers tend to call their mid-shift meal breaks “lunch” regardless of the time of day. So I shared a scene where a night shift worker was taking their mid-shift meal break around 6-7 in the evening, and he walked into the break room and saw his coworker sitting at a table with an empty Tupperware container in front of them, and he asked her “Lunch time?”

And a lot of the feedback I got was people asking “How is it lunch time in the evening?”

Do you prioritize authenticity of how people actually speak, or do you adjust the dialogue to avoid possible confusion?

A kid, a cop, and a firefighter are about to have a long day atop a tall television tower.

High.

(R-rated)