The hottest Screenwriting Substack posts right now

And their main takeaways
Category
Top Technology Topics

Titanic Awards Season Post

Gideon's Substack • 16 implied HN points • 13 Mar 26
🎭️ Culture Screenwriting
  1. Hollywood looks strained: ticket sales and original adult-oriented hits are down, while the top-grossing films are mostly sequels, reboots, or franchise IP.
  2. Awards season still functions as a public ritual to show the industry is alive, and it highlights a mix of big studio spectacle and smaller, arty or foreign films.
  3. Critical reactions are mixed and personal—some acclaimed pictures feel overrated, while original, character-driven films like Sinners, Sentimental Value, and It Was Just an Accident get strong grassroots support for major awards.

Get rid of what your project needs

Subtle Maneuvers • 3144 implied HN points • 22 Jan 24
🎨 Art & Illustration Screenwriting
  1. Céline Sciamma's screenwriting process involves merging desired and needed elements for a unique approach
  2. Sciamma believes in animating 'needed' scenes with desire to create a more compelling narrative
  3. Choosing unsatisfaction temporarily can lead to departing from conventional solutions in creative work

January 2024 - The story so far...

Development Hell • 631 implied HN points • 20 Jan 24
🎨 Art & Illustration Screenwriting
  1. The life of a screenwriter is filled with surprises, challenges, disasters, and triumphs, constantly learning new aspects of the business and ways to work and cope.
  2. The television industry is currently facing turmoil due to various factors like Covid, WGA strike, and Wall Street, making it difficult for new projects to materialize, but classics like The West Wing, A Series of Unfortunate Events, and Battlestar Galactica remain timeless.
  3. New tools like Plottr for novelists and screenwriters or strategies like time-blocking mornings for writing and afternoons for other tasks can enhance productivity and creativity.

The Slump

Development Hell • 572 implied HN points • 10 Aug 23
🎨 Art & Illustration Screenwriting
  1. The life of a screenwriter can be perceived as glamorous and successful from the outside due to the nature of their job in creating stories for TV shows and movies.
  2. Success in the field of screenwriting is often associated with fast cars, swimming pools, mansions, and occasionally awards.
  3. Screenwriting is a unique profession that involves the creation of stories either on speculation or for payment, offering a window into a world that can appear luxurious.
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'Quentin Tarantino Would Not Like It at All!'

Animation Obsessive • 2601 implied HN points • 24 Apr 23
🎨 Art & Illustration Screenwriting
  1. Screenwriting for animation is important and can influence the flow and feel of a project.
  2. Good storytelling is crucial in both live-action and animated films, but making a good animated movie is often harder due to the various elements that need to align.
  3. The indie animation scene in China is gaining recognition, with a viral music video highlighting the success of independent animators.

On being easy to fire...

Development Hell • 315 implied HN points • 18 Mar 23
🎨 Art & Illustration Screenwriting
  1. A good story and script that faced difficulties in getting produced for years finally gained traction when the UK script option expired and a US studio showed interest.
  2. Experience taught the author to manage expectations, but the unexpected interest from a studio led to them not only paying for the script but also offering a directing role and immediate production.
  3. Sometimes, situations can unexpectedly turn in your favor, illustrating the importance of perseverance and being ready for sudden opportunities.

REPOST: Steve Martin's "Holiday Wish" Monologue is Perfect Comedy Writing

I Might Be Wrong • 9 implied HN points • 25 Dec 25
😂 Humor Screenwriting
  1. Great sketches follow three clear steps: establish the funny premise or "game," heighten it with escalating beats, and blow it out with an absurd, decisive finish.
  2. Specificity and escalation matter — pick vivid, increasingly extreme examples in the right order so each beat builds on and tops the last.
  3. Tight, efficient writing can carry a sketch by itself: mine the premise fully, avoid filler, and end strong, while delivery simply amplifies the writing.

Why Are There a Million NIMBY-Themed Movies and No YIMBY-Themed Ones?

I Might Be Wrong • 5 implied HN points • 12 Dec 25
🎭️ Culture Screenwriting
  1. Popular movies lean on a simple underdog-versus-developer story, making homeowners sympathetic and developers easy villains because that emotional conflict is easy to tell.
  2. Pro-housing (YIMBY) stories are hard to dramatize and sell, since supporting development involves complex tradeoffs and lacks a single, easy-to-hate antagonist that fits classic screenwriting beats.
  3. This storytelling bias has real consequences: it hides how anti-development choices harm people by keeping housing scarce, worsening commutes and pollution, and protecting incumbents who benefit from the status quo.

Screenwriting

Story Club with George Saunders • 57 implied HN points • 05 Dec 24
📚 Literature Screenwriting
  1. Writing for film and TV is different from writing books. In screenwriting, many choices depend on how the scene is shot and performed, which isn’t just up to the writer.
  2. Screenwriting can feel frustrating because it limits the writer's control over language and detail while also feeling liberating since writers can imagine big, wild scenes without needing to describe every detail.
  3. It's common for writers to have strong opinions about their work in fiction, while they might be more unsure when writing scripts. This can lead to both hesitance and exploration in screenwriting.

OSD 255: Quicker than you think

Open Source Defense • 49 implied HN points • 08 Jan 24
🕹 Technology Screenwriting
  1. With every exponential adoption curve, there's an exponential abandonment curve.
  2. New ideas with exponential adoption curves have corresponding old ideas with exponential abandonment curves.
  3. Exponential abandonment curves can catch industries off guard, leading to a downfall if not recognized in time.

The Seed Grower - Part I

storyvoyager • 8 implied HN points • 24 Jul 23
⚔ Fiction Screenwriting
  1. A farmer grows illegal seeds of resistance in a dystopian world.
  2. The Midsummer festival preparations reveal tensions with The Cooperatives and the arrival of an AI Officer.
  3. Alaska struggles with the legacy of her father and the responsibility of protecting bees and cultivating plants.

The Seed Grower - Part III

storyvoyager • 5 implied HN points • 20 Aug 23
⚔ Fiction Screenwriting
  1. A farmer grows illegal seeds of resistance, but her life gets complicated when an unexpected guest joins the Midsummer festival.
  2. The AI Officer creates a humorous moment with the school kids, causing laughter and a sense of mystery and intrigue.
  3. Alaska grapples with difficult decisions and sacrifices, ultimately facing consequences for her actions in the end.

In the beginning...

filterwizard • 0 implied HN points • 19 Aug 24
📚 Literature Screenwriting
  1. Starting something new is important, so take your time to set it up right. A solid beginning helps everything else fall into place.
  2. This platform is for writing about electronics, but there's an interest in also sharing fiction and screenwriting later.
  3. Engaging with your audience from the start is key. Inviting requests can help you understand what readers want.