My birthday has already past, but I did publish a birthday post on my blog again. Sorry that it's a bit of a downer: www.craiggusmann.com/39-on-lost-t...

One year ago today I began a four-month sabbatical. I saw a lot of movies, did some volunteering, finished a novel and wrote a screenplay, and slipped into debt. I was also less stressed and more present than I've ever been. Miss you, sabbatical.

Randomly grabbed "Superintelligence" by Nick Bostrom off my shelf to flip through and noticed something interesting on the back cover...

This tracks, considering what a struggle my budget is right now.

Showroom: Trapped in an IKEA showroom of their past, a couple must navigate years of built up resentment to survive the adjustment of an empty nest. Eternal Sunshine x IKEA #Screenpit #Co #Fea #LBu #scriptsky #filmsky

EPOCH When an exploratory mission is stranded on the far side of the Sun, a detached Commander must learn to connect in order to save his crew from an alien virus turning them into monsters. The Thing meets Sunshine. #SFi #Ho #Th #Dr #Div #Pi #Re #CFin #ISA #SeRe #ScreenPit #ScriptSky #ScriptSky+

When an octoid mercenary discovers a drug that taps into the secrets of the crystalline alien species he and his crew have been exterminating, the truths revealed change his life just as he approaches his time to die and reproduce. #screenpit #sfi #ac #fea #re

THE IRREGULARS When four teens cosplay as superheroes to live out their comic book fantasies, they discover a real life alien invasion-and may just end up saving the world! It's The Avengers meets Goonies. #Screenpit #Fea #Fam #Com #Adventure #PG

SATANIC PANIC ATTACK: After trying to resurrect her dead dog, a free-spirited woman inadvertently opens up a portal to Hell in her backyard. When a demon crawls out and possesses her, her routine-driven husband must work with the demon's older brother to save his wife and his marriage. #ScreenPit

HORRORSCOPE - When a woman from the "big city" returns to her small hometown to anonymously write the horoscopes for her father’s newspaper, her new dream job causes nightmares for the locals as her good intentions mess with the stars. #screenpit #RoCo #Fea #4Q #ISA #WrWo

DECEPTION A weary salvage crew investigates a derelict space station, only to uncover a malignant presence capable of bending reality, fracturing minds, and turning crewmates into monsters, forcing them to confront their own ghosts to survive. #ScreenPit #ScriptSky #Fea #Ho #SFi

OLYMPIANS SAVE THE WORLD After the world's militaries are decimated by an alien invasion, a desperate U.S. military recruits Olympic athletes to fight back. #screenpit #scriptsky

Obligatory picture of my holiday season physical media haul.

Saw something interesting tonight. At a restaurant, a man came into the bathroom while I was at the urinal, and immediately washed his hands. Then, he used the urinal, did not wash his hands after, and left. I'm still confused by the order of operations. But, something in my past might explain.

Fun fact about me: When I first discovered IMDB in the early aughts, I spent hours browsing the database by year. Somewhere along the way IMDB did away with that feature, which broke my heart. I searched high and low for it, but it's gone. And then I recently discovered that Letterboxd has it!

Yuletide Cat is skeptical of your holiday spirit.

It's the most wonderful time of the year (for Christmas Cat)!

I think the #Sabres plan to sign every goaltender in the league so that no other team has a goalie is genius. No goals against, all the goals for.

This season is the first in probably close to 25 years that I've decided not to watch #sabres games. The way they've started this season justifies my decision, and it seems it will be a long while before I reclaim my fandom. What a shame.

Target lock:

The world sucks right now. As Americans, we're inundated with bad news, violence, stupidity, hypocrisy, embarrassment, and shame nearly every hour of every day. It's exhausting and overwhelming, and it's made me feel helpless and hopeless. But by helping we can create our own hope. A thread. 🧵1/8

At the grocery store today an older woman told me that I was, "... the cutest shopper (she's) ever seen." I had always suspected my look of mild confusion / frustration was my cutest. Now I know for sure.

And as I skeet something snarky about the Bills defense, they intercept Tua. Just like I planned. #tnf

Bills defense looks good for 3 out of every 4 plays. And terrible for the ones that matter most. #tnf

Oh so Miami is like bad bad. #tnf

Turns out there is an ebook sale happening, so Amazon also has the ebook of my short story collection, Through Dark Into Light, at 50% off. It's coming up on spooky season, and this has some spooky stories, so it must be kismet: www.amazon.com/THROUGH-DARK...

It looks like Amazon has marked down the ebook of my novella, Anh Nguyen and the Discordian, 50% off. If that sort of a deal sounds appealing to you, check it out: www.amazon.com/ANH-NGUYEN-D...

I think I might just make this account all cat pictures all the time .

Presented without comment:

No easier way to feel like a betrayer than to give your pet medicine. "Father no! Why are you doing this? You were supposed to protect me!" - my cat as I try to give her 2 mls of sweet-tasting medicine.

New experience unlocked: Had to sign a release for something creative. I was also the only person in a theater to see Fantastic Four. Just me and the mouse I found on top of my seat when I came back from the bathroom. All in all, not a bad day.

A screenwriter's best friends are: Money Time @jaceserrano.bsky.social End list

Alright #scriptsky, I am preparing to query managers for the first time in a long time. In the past I've utilized BL3.0 (which actually did get me hip pocketed for a while) and IMDBPro to research managers. That was 8 years ago. How has the landscape changed? Any advice or recommendations?

"It is morally as bad not to care whether a thing is true or not, so long as it makes you feel good, as it is not to care how you got your money as long as you have got it." - Edmund Way Teale This post is about politics.

Man, remember the days when you could buy a new game system, plug it in, throw in a game, and play without needing to sign up for anything or create multiple logins and passwords that added 45 minutes to setting up the console? I remember.

I'm in an all-day conference for my day job. As my career is writing-based, AI keeps coming up. Whenever it does no one seems to trust or like it. I'm forced to wonder... Why are we using it then? Stop using it if it sucks! No one is forcing you! We don't have to do this!

Oh man this can be good for the DCU. Couldn't even break double-digits...

I think the 1939 Wizard of Oz is bad. It's boring and the music sucks.

Presented without further comment.

I argue this in every writing-related lesson I give, day job or creative feedback. Specificity makes things more real for the reader, connecting them more deeply to your words, and therefore your story. To the poster's original point, grounding a story on specifics allows a reader to see themselves.

Recently did script swaps with @andreaberting.bsky.social, @jaceserrano.bsky.social, @tschrack.bsky.social, and @simondoyle87.bsky.social. They each gave me such great feedback, AND I got to read some really cool scripts on top of it. Many thanks to them and the #scriptsky community for the intros!

Titanaboa between two rocks - Elijah, age 4 (2025)

Last year I decided to start building my physical media collection back up. Latest haul just came in the mail.

Hey #scriptsky, what's the word on the street about writing after-credit scenes in spec scripts? This script I have now is kind of begging for one, but it also feels weird.

The two most compelling movies I've seen lately have both taken place in a single room. Hitchcock's REAR WINDOW and Lumet's 12 ANGRY MEN are great examples of how to make stakes feel important to the characters, and therefore to an audience, while also keeping a story contained. Great stuff.

Huge shout-out to my man @jaceserrano.bsky.social for his notes on my novel. Really detailed, he did some original research to check my writing and offer advice, and extremely insightful. 10/10 will force him to read something of mine again.

I am quite nearly drunk off two glasses of wine. How many pages should I write tonight and will they be any good? (At my first big boy job our boss used to tell us he didn't care if we wrote drunk, but we had to edit sober. Only good piece of advice he ever gave )

I was just thinking today that I should post on here to say that Cauterize was an underrated pop punk band that burned too hot too fast. Also, Creed's WEATHERED is a great album. Fight me.

I'm about to write my first screenplay in 8 years and I need software. I've used Movie Magic in the past and like it, but wondered if #scriptsky has any recommendations? If I can buy the program outright, that's better. Not a fan of subscription services.

Holy shit, Meta even used my little self-published short story collection to train their AI. Joke's on them, my writing will only make their AI worse!