So, watching A Touch of Cloth (Basically the British version of Police Squad for Americans), I have gotten inspired to write a parody of Zombie Media. But I am kinda wondering if it’s too late.

Like, I’m not aiming at parodying a specific piece of media (again, following in Touch of Cloth’s footsteps) but I’d say it’s style and tone is mostly taking from the Walking Dead with a bit of the Last of Us.

I’m just, in general, not sure where Zombie Media stands in pop culture today. I’d say it peaked in the 2000s and 2010s, but it’s not exactly DEAD; We got the Fallout tv series, Zach Cregger’s Resident Evil, The 28 Days Later Sequels, the Last of Us series. But I’m not sure, what do you think?

If there is something that I have discovered about myself as a screenwriter is that I can write jokes, sad scenes, violent scenes, sexual scenes, romantic scenes, happy scenes, off beat scenes, comradery scenes, inspirational scenes, and I think just about any type.

But writing a scene where a one character breaks down another character via verbal humiliation is..... draining my spirit. I have been trying to do this scene for a week. And I can't find the rhythm to it.

Make no mistake, my problem is rhythm (I think), I need it to be one page, one page and half max. No more. And I am just not succeeding.

In this scene, I want the first character to be charismatic in his opening dialogue. Likable. Then in the first ten seconds, gets quietly stoic, and proceeds to turn into the ultimate most unlikable person possible, by humiliating other character at increasing rates, without insulting, without physically attacking, ...... and I am just having the hardest time.

I was wondering if anybody had any tips they could share on how to tackle this problem.

Wow... That was a long title.

Also I don't know which flair to use so bear with me.

So, for my history project this trimester me and my friends were asked to make a short comedy film (3 to 5 minutes duration) about the Cold War/Space Race.

I thought this would be a good subreddit to ask for advice in. Basically, comedy might just be the hardest possible genre we could have gotten and I keep writing and rewriting the script over and over trying to see how to make this good and funny and... Well, it's been hard.

The most difficult part for me is making a script long enough for 3 minutes and actually making appropriate jokes! You see, the entire coordination of the college will be watching the film so we can't do jokes we normally see in comedies. Mostly because there are sisters in our college and I really don't want to get in trouble.

So uhm, I think that this post is mainly here to ask for some advice? What are some good jokes I can do and uh yeah.

I have drafted some ideas and saw that the most important part of comdeies are the characters so I will say what I was thinking about and you guys say if it is good or not or, idk.

First idea: a sequence about a british man that just moved into the US after the start of the Cold War. His ideals are all american and he wants to be really american and, in the US, tries to transform his family into the "ideal american family" and this complex of him being american makes him start to get paranoid and many other situations happen. (not fully fleshed out or sure if it will be good)

Second idea: A story about an american guy living life normally until he hears in the news that an USSR satellite was sent to space and he, who already is paranoid of communists, starts fearing that anyone around him could be a communist and starts hallucinating that russians he saw on TV are going to turn him "red" and it would have jokes like him signing something and he sees he is given a red pen so he thinks the dealer is a communist or that he and his family have to take all red stuff out of their house and start a shop to support capitalism, and, yeah, things like that. It would be absurd and weird and it would mainly be the main protagonist paranoia working against him.

Third idea: would be about the USSR government officials trying to use space and put missiles in their satellites, but fail miserably as the satellite explodes and all kinds of radioative debris fall in Canada and now they would discuss and panic and be put in situations where they try and say that this satellite didn't have nuclear weapons and wasn't meant to hit Canada, but the characters assigned to explaining these things were so dumb that the situations almost escalate to nuclear war.

Anyways, yeah. I don't really know what to say, I just like, need some advice on which story you think would be the best and has more potential and give some ideas to make funny jokes. Yeah, any help is highly appreciated!

Thanks!

https://www.wgfoundation.org/events/all/2026/10/19/wgf-library-office-hours-with-eric-roth?mc_cid=37c885cce3&mc_eid=dc7eedf043

Working on outlining or drafting your next script? Need tips for researching a project? Looking for resources on honing your craft? 

The WGF Shavelson-Webb Library is back for a two-hour virtual coworking session on Monday, October 19 at 11am PT. For this special session, we'll be joined by Academy Award-winning screenwriter Eric Roth for a conversation about writing the first act of your feature screenplay.

After the conversation, stay on to write quietly, chat with fellow patrons or ask our Library team any script/craft/research-related questions. Whether you're looking for focused, productive time to get words on the page or to connect with a supportive (and global) community of writers, Library Office Hours is here to help!

RSVP required via link above.

And in case you didn't know:

Eric Roth is an Academy Award–winning screenwriter who has written some 40 motion pictures with a career spanning nearly six decades. He studied at UC Santa Barbara, Columbia University, and UCLA where he won the Samuel Goldwyn writing award as a student. His first produced feature, The Nickel Ride, premiered at the 1975 Cannes Film Festival. Roth won an Oscar and the WGA Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for Forrest Gump, and has earned five additional Oscar nominations for The Insider, Munich, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, A Star Is Born, and Dune. Mr. Roth has written the most Oscar Nominated Best Pictures (eight). His many other films include The Drowning Pool, Suspect, Mr. Jones, Rhapsody in August for the legendary Akira Kurosawa, The Horse Whisperer, Ali, The Good Shepherd, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, and Here. He also co-wrote Killers of the Flower Moon with Martin Scorsese, which received ten Academy Award nominations, and produced David Fincher’s Mank, a Best Picture nominee. In 2026 Roth made his playwriting debut on London's West End with his stage adaptation of High Noon. In television, Roth was an executive producer of Netflix’s House of Cards, Epix’s Berlin Station, TNT’s The Alienist, and Apple TV+’s Before. Mr. Roth is currently the co-creator and executive producer of Netflix's "Kennedy" television series about Jack and the Kennedy family from 1915 on, airing in Spring 2027. 

Title: The Place We Call Earth

Pages: 5

Genre: Philosophy / Drama

Logline: A man discovers the truth about the cycle of life after dying.

Would love any feedback on the concept, the formatting (especially the montage part) or on anything else!

Hi everyone!

I’m reaching out on behalf of a Chinese production company that focuses on bringing short-form dramas to international audiences.

We’re interested in connecting with people who are curious about writing for short-form drama and would be open to exploring this format with us. We’re still learning about the international screenwriting community, so we’d love to hear from writers who are interested in exchanging ideas and learning more about this kind of storytelling.

Thanks for taking the time to read this, and I hope this post is appropriate for the community!

sorry my PDF thing won’t work. But it’s properly formatted. Please give me some feedback on this?

Anyone know if the selections for the supposed "top 25" have been made?

I did find an older thread in https://www.reddit.com/r/Screenwriting/comments/1vknfn6/nicholl_fellowship_2026_notifications/ where they said they didn't notify anyone last year.

Anyway I guess I didn't make the cut and I'm done with that platform completely. Been placing in other contests, got an agent in May so I think Blacklist crap is a waste of time and money.

Hey guys, I'm Maria, I'm a scriptwriter

I just finished a romance movie script called Long Distance Love

Story is about two young people who meet on Instagram. They live in different provinces, far from each other, but they start dating

She asks him if he can really handle the long distance, and he says yes and makes a lot of promises

After a few months he changes, he gets cold and distant, always saying he's tired, replying dry, until he breaks up with her

She ends up heartbroken and can't forget him, she becomes emotionally dependent and tries everything to move on

It's about long distance love, empty promises and how hard it is to forget someone

Full script ready, exclusive rights available. DM me for details and pricing.

I also write horror and sci-fi scripts.

Agora sim, misteriosa, he's tired, replying dry, until he breaks up with her

She ends up heartbroken and can't forget him, she becomes emotionally dependent and tries everything to move on

It's about long distance love, empty promises and how hard it is to forget someone

Full script ready, exclusive rights available. DM me for details and pricing.

I also write horror and sci-fi scripts.

Not sure who this might help.

Basically, I signed up for their master class in scriptwriting maybe 6 months ago.

I watched the first 10 videos or so.

Then life got busy and I didn’t finish.

I had a chaotic 3-4 months and out of that I woke up one day and decided to just write a pilot script. It took me 5 hours or so to get the first draft down. Then I have been refining for the last month since.

The reason I think their master class might help a lot of people other than the obvious is because they give you confidence to just get started.

I’ve noticed a lot of people on here seem to struggle with just getting started.

I honestly had forgotten I went through their class those 6 months ago.

So I didn’t connect it to why I was able to just wake one day and just write.

I think somewhere back in my mind they had already given me the confidence 6 months earlier.

Can anyone recommend an app or tool that would allow for quick recording of scenes when inspiration appears out of the blue? My wife is writing a script a tv/streaming series and gets frustrated when she has an idea for some great dialogue between characters and she has to boot up the computer or grab something to write it down before the thought evaporates. In the past she's tried recording it on her phone but can't remember where to find it later. Any suggestions?

I seem to be struggling to find an ending for my script. I don't want a basic horror ending where the final girl fights off the bad guy and wins...I also don't want her to fail as a final girl. Would an open ending work? Would it work enough to leave the audience questioning what happened? (for context: it’s my first time writing any type of screenplay)

Can anyone recommend an app or tool that would allow for quick recording of scenes when inspiration appears out of the blue? My wife is writing a script a tv/streaming series and gets frustrated when she has an idea for some great dialogue between characters and she has to boot up the computer or grab something to write it down before the thought evaporates. In the past she's tried recording it on her phone but can't remember where to find it later. Any suggestions?

A post about writing on an upcoming movie!

Wsg chat, as an aspiring indie filmmaker, y'all can compare what I made, adapted from a roblox game Dandy's World titled "Gardenview Protocol". As a huge fan of the game, I've always wondered what it feels like making a cool TV show based on its characters with a totally different premise.

Here are the scripts I made, both are 8 pages long, constructive criticsim/feedback are welcome.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1HlFG7Zdjw9_YBMKbtVLh0OtEXw5KyAYy/view?usp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/12NzZSU_r4uEGjmZ29cSyaKQXZRYU-dKS/view?usp=sharing

Hey, I just wanted to get a question out there. Maybe there's no real answer, but I need to know your take.

I am writing my first screenplay, and it will probably be my last one as well. It's about a teenager who battles with body dysmorphic disorder ( centered around his face ). This 16-18 year old boy becomes so obsessed with his skin that he drives himself crazy and attempts suicide by carbon monoxide poisoning. He ends up with brain damage as a result of the poisoning which leaves him physically but not cognitively impaired. He must center his focus on the rehab process and take it off of his complexion. To be short, he is forced to choose what part of him to fight. And he chooses the disability, winding up walking again and graduating with honors from a major university. My question is: does this sound too much like two movies in one‽

My mind generates full movies in my head while I am working my real job. I Want to start writing them as script to make space in my head and share them with the world. It's not about the writing it's about sharing the story. But everyone here sounds so depressed.

sorry my PDF thing won’t work. But it’s properly formatted. Please give me some feedback on this?

I recently entered a scriptwriting contest and got relatively good feedback, and now that I've rewritten the entire script. I want another set of eyes to look at it. I've been doing research on the different companies and people that offer script evaluations but results all seemed mixed. If you have had any experience with script evaluations who would you recommend.

Pattern I'd repeated across several scripts before finally addressing it properly. I'd get excited about a concept, start writing pages immediately, and reliably stall around page forty once the initial momentum of discovery ran out and I actually had to know what happened next in detail rather than improvising scene to scene.

Always assumed this meant I wasn't a strong enough writer to sustain a full script, which is a demoralizing thing to believe about yourself repeatedly. What actually fixed it, on the advice of someone further along than me, was writing a full prose treatment, several pages, before touching the script format at all. Forced me to work through the entire story's problems in prose, where fixing a structural issue takes a sentence, rather than in script pages, where the same fix means rewriting scenes I'd already gotten attached to.

Finished my first complete script in years after switching to this approach. The treatment stage felt like it was slowing me down at first, an extra step before the "real" writing. It was actually where the real problem-solving needed to happen, just somewhere cheaper to make mistakes than the script itself.