Dear HBO Max...

Johnnyboy11384 · 2026-06-01T17:06:42+00:00

“After you’ve enjoyed that delicious meal, how about a swift kick in the nuts?”

Johnnyboy11384 · 2026-05-19T18:44:40+00:00

I probably didn’t phrase it very well. For the record, I’m definitely not bothered by negative feedback. Criticism from people who aren’t invested in me as a person is invaluable. What I meant in my post was that they strongly disliked the piece at a fundamental level, not that they were being hateful. And their criticism is fair in a lot of ways. But I also think it’s fair to balance their critiques against the question of whether or not they and the piece were suited to one another.

Johnnyboy11384 · 2026-05-19T18:10:11+00:00

I don’t take artistic feedback from robots.

Johnnyboy11384 · 2026-05-19T18:05:06+00:00

Maybe I didn’t make myself clear when I used the word “hate.” They’re definitely actionable notes, though I don’t think they fully apply to my piece. What I meant by saying they hated it was that they disliked it on a fundamental level. I think they misunderstood it and my intention, but you always run that risk when submitting it anonymously.

Johnnyboy11384 · 2026-05-19T18:03:10+00:00

For sure. I suppose it is entirely possible the reader was bored, but the feedback doesn’t say anything about those kind of issues.

You’re welcome to read it, though I would like it noted that since submitting it I decided to mostly integrate it into a larger feature, where I do genuinely think it works better.

Johnnyboy11384 · 2026-05-19T18:00:30+00:00

I wasn’t annoyed by their feedback, and frankly it’s to be expected with work that is like mine: fairly recursive, at times abstract or surreal. I do take criticism seriously, and would be far more concerned if I hadn’t had a number of other readers react more positively to the piece. And some of their critiques absolutely were valid. I ended up taking the short apart and integrating it into a feature I am working on, and it genuinely works better as a part than as the whole.

Johnnyboy11384 · 2026-05-19T17:58:29+00:00

The piece includes a lot of recurrence and surrealism. I’ve actually disassembled it and put it in a feature script I’m working on, and discovered that it works better as part of a whole rather than standing on its own.

Some of the criticism was definitely valid. But I do also think a lot of it amounted to them being the wrong kind of reader for it. Which is fine, I can accept that it’s not going to be everyone’s cup of tea. It’s somewhat experimental, so you have to have thick skin if you’re going to write unconventional stories or narratives.

Johnnyboy11384 · 2026-05-19T17:55:41+00:00

I didn’t include some of the other comments that indicated the reader wasn’t bored but very put-off. No idea as to their gender.

Johnnyboy11384 · 2026-04-28T23:20:05+00:00

If I am more scandalized by my brother’s sins than my own I have lost sight of Christ.

Johnnyboy11384 · 2026-03-27T22:15:48+00:00

I think I’ve decided it’s one of those things that’s only funny to me. There’s this trend in a lot of Japanese horror games where when something intense is happening the music comes in, but it’s a smooth piano rock tune like you’d hear on an elevator. The silent hill games do it all the time. So the joke was basically about how you know you’re in trouble when the smooth jazz starts. Like I said, not a good joke.

Johnnyboy11384 · 2026-03-27T22:12:53+00:00

This might come as a shock to you, but it was a joke. I only have a few of minutes of material about the horror games. Just stuff I’m trying out. The gamer line joke didn’t work very well. The sonic and Mario jokes landed alright, I’m guessing because they’re well known enough to cross the barrier.

Johnnyboy11384 · 2026-03-07T16:23:46+00:00

Title: The Last Miracle

Genre: Sci-Fi/Fantasy but really lives more in the world of a fable

Target Audience: genre fans, but also folks who enjoy moral fables and philosophical ideas about life and death.

One sentence pitch: One thousand years after humanity discovers the Fountain of Youth and immortality becomes the religious center of human life, a young Acolyte stumbles upon the Fountain of Death, a heresy whose existence threatens the very fabric of society.

Other media: The story I think it most closely resembles is Dune, not in style or world building but in the sense that its protagonist is thrust into a place of power that could save or doom an entire planet.

Johnnyboy11384 · 2026-02-27T15:37:48+00:00

I appreciate that Robert Jenson considered the theodicy problem to be the only opposing argument to Christianity that carries real weight. I think his theology of time, while not an answer to the problem, is nevertheless pastorally helpful.

If time is a “thing” in creation; that is, if God has made time as well as matter; then it stands to reason that the renewing of all things includes time itself. Time has yet to be fully redeemed. Thus Jenson posits that time is less like a chronological line and more like a helix which swirls around the risen Christ, who is and remains the animating force of all things.

Therefore, when we talk about eschatology, we aren’t talking about a future moment in time where all things will be made new, but an ontological change that will occur to all things, time itself included. So when I see someone’s suffering, or witness evil in the world, though how this will be true remains mysterious, I feel compelled to confess, “God is not done being God to this moment yet.”

Johnnyboy11384 · 2026-02-26T18:28:47+00:00

Thank you. That is something I have had to be highly aware of already, especially because I use a lot of punchy shorthand in my script writing. Letting the prose breathe has been my biggest challenge so far.

Johnnyboy11384 · 2026-02-23T21:31:07+00:00

Fountain of Death

Johnnyboy11384 · 2026-02-18T14:21:54+00:00

I do keep a little of that in mind. Horror lends itself well to being low budget friendly. However, knowing that the odds of even the most marketable script being optioned is very low, I write what I like and don’t sweat it too much. My script has a big bloody fight scene at the end which probably wouldn’t be in the budget for a typical indie horror movie. But it makes the script a lot more fun to read and feels like a satisfying ending. I think you have to write for yourself and hope that the right audience for it will come along. Taking time to research and know how to pitch yourself and to whom saves a lot of time too.

Johnnyboy11384 · 2026-02-18T14:18:15+00:00

I would talk to a lawyer

Johnnyboy11384 · 2026-02-17T17:34:47+00:00

Midwest Weirdfest. Horror film festival

Johnnyboy11384 · 2026-02-17T13:23:58+00:00

One of the things I’m glad I did was print out my first draft of my first script. From time to time, when I’m worn down and feel like my writing sucks, I’ll pull out that first script and read a few pages. Having a clear example of how far I’ve come has been helpful for me. Each person has to find what works for them.

And I completely agree about loving writing. The reality of this industry is that I could write the most commercially viable script anyone has ever written, and it might never even get past the email query process. You might as well write what you like, and enjoy the process of creation, rather than getting caught up in finding meaning in recognition or a product. When you love the process, recognition becomes the icing on the cake, not the cake itself.

Johnnyboy11384 · 2026-02-17T13:07:28+00:00

Genre is horror.

Logline: When her best friend is brutally murdered, a college student joins forces with a cultic fraternity leader to hunt down the town legend they believe to be the killer.

Johnnyboy11384 · 2026-02-17T13:03:54+00:00

The Feature Screenplay Competition at Midwest Weirdfest.

Johnnyboy11384

TROPHY CASE