speechless, honored, and oh so grateful 🥹 From the bottom of my heart, thank you, Austin Film Fest! #AustinFilmFestival #AFF #AFF32 #scriptsky

California, this November 4th, the whole country is counting on you. Prop 50 puts our elections back on a level playing field, preserves independent redistricting over the long term, and lets the people decide. So return your ballot today. Vote yes on 50.

When e-mail queries no longer work and the only option you have left is calling managers and agents from a number they won’t recognize

The experts say write what you know. So from now on, all your scripts should be about someone devoting an unhealthy amount of time to a career riddled with instability and dwindling opportunities

Saw ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER. A testament to the genius of PTA. A stellar cast led by Leo the Great. A masterclass in creating characters you remember. A 3-hour pic that just flies by. A funny flick that makes you feel alive. The kind of movie that makes you want to make movies.

At long last it’s @newyorkcomiccon.bsky.social week!! I’ll be coming in HOT with new exclusive originals, prints, stickers, mugs and the like. Come find me in Artist Alley at Table D-33 alongside @hannahhillam.bsky.social

Something harrowing happened this week. A fellow writer read my script and provided feedback. The analysis was superb. But as I got to the end, I realized something disturbing. At no point in his comments did he call me a genius. I will never ask for notes from that hack again

I visited a psychic at the beginning of this year, and she told me that I would be repped by the summer. Then I visited another one, and she said I still wouldn't be repped by the fall. Which is true. So there's a very important lesson to be learned here. Psychics are 100% legit

Something harrowing happened this week. A fellow writer read my script and provided feedback. The analysis was superb. But as I got to the end, I realized something disturbing. At no point in his comments did he call me a genius. I will never ask for notes from that hack again

I just want to take this moment to tip my hat to all the moral motherfuckers out there who got an invite to the Riyadh Comedy Festival and took the L to the bank account in favor of keeping their soul. I've been offered money like that before. It's not easy to say no but it feels GREAT in hindsight.

DiCaprio's new movie is very relevant to writers

THE FAKE NEWS MEDIA SAYS I'M JUST AN OKAY WRITER! BUT THEY ARE JUST A BUNCH OF SAD LOSERS! MANY PEOPLE ARE SAYING I'M THE VOICE OF MY GENERATION! ANYBODY WHO SAYS OTHERWISE IS LYING BECAUSE THEY ARE JEALOUS OF MY TALENT! THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER! - JS

Devastated right now. I had a headache, so I took a couple of Tylenol. But now I’ve completely lost my ability to write. They're right guys, it’s not safe

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

I was back at 26 Federal Plaza today, where an ICE agent violently threw this bereft woman to the ground in front of her kids. She had not touched him. She did not pose any threat. She had to be taken to the hospital. (🎥: Elias Eliahu)

If you were unfortunately in a locale where Jimmy Kimmel was illegally blocked from being viewed tonight, here is where you can see his opening monologue. Well done, Jimmy! Well done. And FUCK Chump! 🖕 youtu.be/c1tjh_ZO_tY?...

Here is a map of stations who will not carry Kimmel tonight. Anyone in these areas should contact the stations and boycott the advertisers who advertise on the Trump Regime approved alternate broadcast. Nexstar and Sinclair are afraid of Trump’s FCC. Make them afraid of their viewers. #ProudBlue

BOYCOTT SINCLAIR GROUP. Their 38 stations are listed below. www.cnn.com/2025/09/22/e...

Screenwriter STUNS in glasses and plaid shirt

Not many people are brave enough to say this. But script readers will automatically lose interest in your screenplay if the first sentence isn’t interesting enough. Which is why you need to grab their attention by using vivid, evocative verbs. Here are some helpful examples

I've noticed some despair this week. So I just want to say something. Don't feel bad if you didn't advance in the Starmaker Screenwriting Contest. You may have lost a lot of money, but there are still some other contests that can help you reach the heights ours can. Keep going

I did not realize how quickly 2025 would turn into 1984

Good Morning! Want to take action and tell Disney-ABC, Nexstar and Sinclair Media to Stop censorship and bending to this admin? Here's an updated resource list below! This is a living document and will change as there are more and more people taking action! bit.ly/boycottdisneyabc

In case you need to complain to the FCC about Chairman Brendan Carr... here is the website where you'd do that. Don't call... they don't take formal complaints over the phone. consumercomplaints.fcc.gov/hc/en-us This is an important moment in time. Act accordingly.

Disney/ABC just caved & pulled Jimmy Kimmel for political reasons. Nexstar — which owns The CW + 200+ local ABC, NBC, CBS & FOX stations — is part of the same machine. 💥 Boycott Disney. Boycott Nexstar. Boycott their advertisers. Hit them where it hurts: the $$$.

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...

Welcome to Trump’s America, where they fire Karen Attiah and Matthew Dowd for pointing out Charlie Kirk’s right-wing extremism and applaud Brian Kilmeade for suggesting we murder the homeless.

So Tyler Robinson, Charlie Kirk’s killer, is neither a Democrat, nor transgender, nor an immigrant, but instead a 22-year-old white guy from a Republican family in Utah who loves guns and wore a Donald Trump costume on Halloween. — Did I get that right?

People are saying that I’m using “Save the Cat” the wrong way in my latest script. But I just don’t get it

The Emmy Awards are on Sunday, but we already know one of the winners. The award for Best Drama goes to "Reaching September Without Getting Repped or Landing a Sale While Knowing That the Town Will Close Soon and You'll Have to Face Your Disappointed Parents Over the Holidays"

“I’ll knock out some easy scenes first, then work on a hard scene.” Actually -- there’s no such thing as an “easy scene.” If you want your script to be great, they’re all hard.

Let’s make one thing clear from the start: Charlie Kirk was the victim of a shooting in a country where he, along with other right-wing extremist influencers, have been inciting violence for years. — Kirk is neither a martyr nor a hero, he is a cause.

I don't care what they say. There are no rules when it comes to script length. You can succeed no matter what. Take me. I wrote a comedy spec that was 235 pages long, and I managed to sell it. It was for $10 and it was to a guy on the street, but it's the sale that counts

Yoooo there’s another channel on YouTube with a lot of the episodes… and the pilot has 39k views?! Holy sklerp!! #micronauts

People are always asking me for tips to enhance the dialogue in their scripts. Well, one trick you can employ is having characters use common expressions rather than stating their opinions outright. It can be hard to figure out, so here's an example from an acclaimed script

I don't care what they say. There are no rules when it comes to script length. You can succeed no matter what. Take me. I wrote a comedy spec that was 235 pages long, and I managed to sell it. It was for $10 and it was to a guy on the street, but it's the sale that counts

It's a holiday weekend, so you know what that means. Time to hang out with some friends, have a cold beer, and spend the remaining time in the grips of an existential crisis about the state of the industry

Really upset. Someone told me that short stories are the best way to break in right now, so I wrote one and sent it to the top managers. But when they read it they told me to never contact them again. How the fuck was I supposed to know one paragraph isn't enough

I'm in complete awe. A video of myself acting out scenes from The Studio with my collection of Labubu dolls just received a 90-minute standing ovation at the 82nd annual Venice Film Festival. They're saying our performances were even better than the ones given in the actual show

Wow. I pitched my high concept comedy to a producer, and he rejected it because he said it wasn’t “high concept.” Which makes no sense whatsoever because it's all about people who smoke weed

People keep telling me that the first page of my new script has too much exposition, but I don’t know. I just don’t see it

I have a decent number of followers, and more than a few may be readers for the Black List. So I’ve started using pseudonyms on my scripts when I submit them to the site so that people can judge me on my writing without being biased by my name. What do you guys think of this one?

You still haven’t gotten an offer for your script? Or an offer of representation? Are you 100% sure? Did you check your Spam folder?

Would you guys just quit it with the spoilers, please?! SOME of us haven’t had time to watch “The Sixth Sense” yet!

People keep telling me that the first page of my new script has too much exposition, but I don’t know. I just don’t see it

Throwing back five tequila shots to get in the headspace of my piss-drunk character before I write his dialogue because RESEARCH MATTERS

Was listening to this classic the other day. When you make an album this good, you really don’t need to make another.

I’ve noticed more and more writers are using creative fonts for their title pages so they can better capture the spirit of the screenplays. So I decided to try that for my latest script. What do you guys think?

Me while waiting for a librarian to hand over the old magazines I reserved so I could do some research for my script: “She doesn’t even know she’s talking to a 2012 Scriptapalooza Screenwriting Competition semifinalist”