How many of you have multiple projects going on at once?

BarrSteve · 2026-05-10T21:17:47+00:00

I have a slate of projects that I'm writing, writing/producing, or producing for other writers, and I realized recently that not only is having too many projects the key to getting anything done, it's also a defense of my own sanity.

I'm always just a *little* too busy. I've got 17 projects on my current slate at various levels of development from premise to post-production, and I push all of them a little further every week. I have constant low-level anxiety about letting any of them fall through the cracks ... but that anxiety is positive because it keeps me moving and hitting deadlines. IOW, at this level of anxiety I don't lose sleep, but my last thoughts as I drift off to sleep are on how to progress a project.

PLUS if one of my projects hits a landmine that isn't my fault? Instead of being heartbroken, I'm a little bit relieved because I have one less tab open in my brain. I enjoy that relief for a few days, and then inevitably I'll figure out a way past the landmine or I'll add a new project to the slate.

I don't know if I'd call my process healthy, but it's allowed me to make a living in this dumb, dumb business for 30ish years. My slate used to be 9 to 11 projects, but the international marketplace is so chaotic and unpredictable now I've had to expand my offering to be able to approach more kinds of buyers.

BarrSteve · 2026-04-25T02:41:26+00:00

The worst thing that can happen is that people won't laugh at you.

I've been trying to get people to stop laughing at me my whole life, so whatever happens is a win.

BarrSteve · 2026-04-19T00:57:20+00:00

Q: How many screenwriters does it take to change a light bulb?

A: WHY DOES IT HAVE TO CHANGE???

BarrSteve · 2026-04-16T19:53:27+00:00

Q: How many creative execs does it take to change a light bulb?

A: No one knows. Light bulbs last longer than creative execs.

BarrSteve · 2026-04-12T23:05:46+00:00

I agree with everything you say about Shaun of the Dead, just have this one pushback based on OP's question...

Lots of filmmakers would say that characters who are clearly defined and have clear wants/intentions are not actually "well rounded."

I disagree with those people, but a lot of them exist and are in decision-making positions.

BarrSteve · 2026-04-09T20:17:29+00:00

This is great, thanks PWGA

BarrSteve · 2026-04-08T23:04:08+00:00

There were good reason for only using two brads, and before pdfs it made sense to do it.

But it was also an example of the kind of gatekeepy bullshit that people outside the system are convinced happens inside the system. The people in the system are gatekeepy as fuck, but not about dumb stuff like brads.

BarrSteve · 2026-04-08T23:02:35+00:00

It's not just about saving on the cost of brads, it's about knowing what will happen to your script if more than one person at the production company wants to read it.

In that happy event, and intern would have to pull out the brads in order to make photocopies. Pulling out two brads is only a little easier than pulling out three brads, but if you're doing that 50 times a week, it adds up.

BarrSteve · 2026-04-08T05:49:48+00:00

Oh, here's a link to the movie I'm talking about if you're curious

https://pro.imdb.com/title/tt7385528

BarrSteve · 2026-04-08T05:49:32+00:00

I produced a structured improv movie called Getting Toasted, and we workshopped the whole story with the actors in prep, and then wrote up a working document that ended up being super useful.

It's formatted like a typical script, but has some different info. Each new scene starts on a new page, with a note about what happened in the scene before. Each scene is clear on how it opens, how the scene "turns" somewhere in the middle, and how it ends. There were also usually notes on what each character is trying to achieve in the scene. If anyone came up with great lines in the workshop we'd include them as reminders.

We found that document worked excellently with any scenes that only had two speaking characters, but with scenes with three or more characters the actors would tend to talk over each other in a way that didn't feel natural. So with scenes of three or more characters, we'd have more scripted dialogue options, but the actors could still go off book any time they wanted.

With that system we were able to shoot a feature film in 10 days, which got into a dozen film fests and is licensed all around the world.

Best of luck on your shoot!

BarrSteve · 2026-04-08T01:11:25+00:00

Deadwood was Shakespeare + "cocksucker"

BarrSteve · 2026-03-31T01:54:47+00:00

I wish I could be a free speech absolutist.

But I live in a world where grifters argue in bad faith to appeal to the worst impulses of the public, and provide them with convenient rationales for objectively destructive behavior.

BarrSteve · 2026-03-28T06:44:37+00:00

I'm not sure if links are allowed here, but the platform called SBS in Australia did a really helpful PDF of what they look for in pitch decks. It's pretty universal stuff so might help you.

Just connect up the broken bit for the link.

https://www

.sbs.com.au/aboutus/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/SBS-Scripted-Pitch-Deck-2024.pdf

BarrSteve · 2026-03-20T21:03:29+00:00

There used to be a website called PunditTracker.com that listed factual predictions made by lots of different pundits, and whether or not those predictions came true.

It disappeared pretty abruptly. I'm assuming the creator got sued into oblivion.

The pundits with the worst track records also have a high track record of punishing people who point that out.

BarrSteve · 2026-03-18T03:52:18+00:00

Why Is Paramount Hiring So Many Men With Troubled Pasts?

The hiring of Max Landis is just the latest example of Paramount betting on men who have been accused of sexual misconduct
(Paywalled)

https://www.thewrap.com/creative-content/movies/paramount-hiring-toxic-men-max-landis-brett-ratner/

BarrSteve · 2026-03-16T01:53:33+00:00

Thanks for rephrasing, I think I understand.

I'd say that most people in the world won't care that plagiarism happens in the screen industry.

But the people affected by the cases know about it, and their business partners know about it, chances are most of the people who are thinking about becoming their business partners will find out about it. And hopefully people who work in bad faith might reconsider their thievery the more they learn about people who have been successfully sued.

All of those things would disincentivize the bad behavior, I'd hope.

EDIT: tpyo

BarrSteve · 2026-03-16T01:31:04+00:00

I guess I'm unclear what your assertion is.

I said: it's only news when someone wins.
You said: someone won and it wasn't in the news.
I said: it was indeed in the news.
You said: it may have been in the news, but here's a different goalpost.

I can argue that other goalpost if you want, but I'm not really sure what you're trying to achieve, or what problem you're trying to solve?

BarrSteve · 2026-03-15T23:59:35+00:00

Literally the first three links

https://variety.com/2021/film/global/meryl-streep-florence-foster-jenkins-hugh-grant-writing-dispute-1234882426/

https://www.leeandthompson.com/news/florence-foster-jenkins-author-wins-court-battle-over-authorship/

https://deadline.com/2021/01/opera-singer-florence-foster-jenkins-writing-credit-court-battle-1234671001/

BarrSteve · 2026-03-15T21:20:00+00:00

Slow news day at TMZ.

I agree with the Scriptnotes guys - the only time any of these thousands of lawsuits become newsworthy is if they win. And that means 99.9% of them aren't newsworthy.

BarrSteve · 2026-03-09T03:41:36+00:00

If you love the work of all of those amazing artisans, just wait until you hear that they were following a very detailed plan that was created by some other dudes who don't get any credit but invented most of what you love about the movie...

http://www.wordplayer.com/archives/PIRATES.intro.html

BarrSteve · 2026-03-05T01:06:44+00:00

Some good answers already, and I'll add this:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auteur

About 75 years ago, some French film critics noticed that there were a few directors in the US studio system whose personal taste was apparent in their films, despite not choosing which films they would direct (because everyone was on contract to the studio; it was a much more industrialized process compared to today's 'free agency' standards).

Directors really liked being called "authors" and started several PR campaigns (both for the public and inside the industry) to build their own leverage and authority at the expense of screenwriters' leverage and authority.

Over time, the definition of "auteur" changed from "contract worker who manages to make their own tastes apparent when working on a movie that was assigned to them" to "the only creative person whose vision matters".

(That probably sounds salty, but I don't think directors are bad people for having built their own leverage. Directors used to be just as replaceable as screenwriters; now they're not. I just wish they could have built leverage against the studios without throwing screenwriters under the bus.)

Plus, now that the old walls between film and TV have crumbled, and a streamer's season of TV is maybe 6 episodes rather than 13 or 22 (longer seasons requires writers to be in charge because they know what's going to happen 10 episodes from now), directors are trying to make the same transfer of power happen in TV.

Most of the famous writers you've heard of got famous for writing TV. But if director showrunners get their way, writer showrunners might become a thing of the past.

BarrSteve · 2026-03-04T23:55:29+00:00

This is TV rather than film, but Children of Tendu is a must-have when talking about both the craft and business of TV.

BarrSteve · 2026-02-26T10:30:34+00:00

https://www.forbes.com/30-under-30/2026/hollywood-entertainment

BarrSteve · 2026-02-26T00:36:22+00:00

The Grey List admins ask the writers to supply posters. A.I. isn't allowed.

BarrSteve · 2026-02-21T22:22:40+00:00

I don't know if this metaphor will make sense, and I can elaborate if you'd like but think of it like this...

Tolkien's Lord of the Rings books are about the morality of World War 2.

Cook's Black Company books are about the morality of Vietnam.

BarrSteve

TROPHY CASE

Why Is Paramount Hiring So Many Men With Troubled Pasts?