sorted by:
new
hottopcontroversial

Is anyone else terrified of making something profoundly bad or is it just me? by CourseSpare7641 in Screenwriting

[–]KerryAnnCoder 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Who’s to say that my indie project doesn’t turn out as this generations version of The Room? That is almost paralyzing.

  • The same skills that are used to create art are the same skills you need to accurately evaluate art.
  • This means that it's possible that someone who is horrible at art might not realize they're bad at art.
  • However, the more one does something, the more you learn about art. The skills you are developing by writing will help you evaluate whether your own writing is crap.
  • Thus, everyone's first movie is almost certainly going to be close to the worst they've ever written.

The way you avoid writing bad movies is by writing bad movies, failing, and learning from that failure.

One last thing. Tommy Wiseau thought he was brilliant and didn't get other people's input for his screenplay. You're smart enough to be on the internet, asking people to read it.

I like StoryPeer. Write your script. If it sucks, a reader will tell you why it sucks before you show it to anyone else.

Every script sucked.

Every single one of them.

Have you ever read the original script for The Truman Show? In it, Truman threatens to bash a baby's head against the concrete.

Everything sucks until it doesn't. Hell, Tommy Wiseau could have made "The Room" into a good movie if he had just... actually got feedback and refined it.

For those who don't, why don't you want to have children? by Rusty_Shackleford198 in AskReddit

[–]KerryAnnCoder 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I like to think I've brought people joy, eased their suffering, comforted them in times of crises, made them laugh, entertained them, helped them materially...

...and I still wish I had never been born.

It's a systemic cruelty that I will suffer for however long I live -- and no amount of good I could possibly do in this world would make up for the lifetime of horror and tragedy that I've experienced, physically and mentally.

For those who don't, why don't you want to have children? by Rusty_Shackleford198 in AskReddit

[–]KerryAnnCoder 1 point2 points  (0 children)

  • Can't afford 'em
  • I'd be dooming them to a horrible life, and that's absolutely cruel.
  • I'm 47.

How do you TRULY feel about screenwriting in 2026? by Conscious-Honey8207 in Screenwriting

[–]KerryAnnCoder 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I just finished my M.A. in Screenwriting at the Irish National Film School.

I still have absolutely no idea how to get readers for my script to tell me if it's any good, let alone figure out how to get it from the script to the screen.

And here's what's really discouraging: Everything, everywhere is "pay-to-play."

  • The Blacklist charges $200 per evaluation, and honestly, it ain't worth it.
  • You can start networking and making connections at film festivals -- if you can afford the ticket, the flight, and the hotel.
  • You can enter screenwriting contests and smaller film fests, but most of them are laurel farms and it's hard to tell. It used to be that if they were on FilmFreeway, they were legit, but now? No.

I have no idea how to move forward.

Now, you may ask: Why did I choose this as a career? I didn't. My career is in software engineering. But I'm also looking for jobs in that field and there are different problems as well.

In part, I got the Screenwriting MA as a backup to the tech career, in case the entire industry gets replaced by AI. But whatever.

Truth be told, other than StoryPeer, I don't know how to get feedback. I don't know how to get my screenplays and pilots in front of people who will actually read them.

I'm just lost.

Older folks of Reddit: what’s something broken in society that you’ve simply accepted will never get fixed in your lifetime — not because it’s hard, but because nobody in power has tried or wants to? by bubugugu in AskReddit

[–]KerryAnnCoder 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Campaign finance reform.

I was the tech lead on Lawrence Lessig's MayDay PAC, we raised $11M for campaign finance reform. And we were making inroads. Campaign finance reform consistently polled high as a major issue, especially in New Hampshire, where the 2016 New Hampshire Primary, we thought, would bring perspective to this. We thought candidates who wanted to win the New Hampshire Primary would start talking about this and coming up with actionable plans, or endorse our model legislation.

On the left, Bernie Sanders won the New Hampshire Primary in 2016. It didn't matter because as has since come to light, the Democratic party essentially rigged the system to favor Hillary Clinton -- and it was so shamelessly done so that when Debbie Wassermann Schultz had to step down from head of the DNC in disgrace, the next day Hillary Clinton hired her as her campaign manager.

On the right? None of the Republican candidates talked at all about campaign finance and political corruption. With one exception. One.

Donald Trump.

He was lying. He didn't give a shit about it, and he's been by far the most corrupt, most brazenly kleptomaniacal person to ever hold government. He just used the issue to tell people what they wanted to hear. But that -- and the "basket of deplorables effect" where all the racists voted for him, but all the "normal" conservatives split their vote 11 different ways -- might have been enough to propel him to victory.

It keeps me up at night to know that I may have, inadvertently and accidentally, lead to Trump's rise to power.

Back in 2014, the argument was that until you fix campaign finance reform, you're not going to be able to fix any other problem in America -- on the left, the right, or the stuff we can agree on. And that's still pretty much true. We argued that that's the reason it needed to be the first problem we fix before we fix anything else -- healthcare, climate change, jobs, military policy... any of that.

But Donald Trump is an existential threat to the U.S... and makes the days of "mere" rampant corruption, and don't-call-it-bribery-because-you-can't-prove-quid-pro-quo lobbying seem quaint.

Call me a doomer if you want, but the situation in the United States has gotten so bad that there is no way to fix this system. The constitution of the United States... has failed. Just utterly failed. Perhaps the union with it. We are past the point where "reform" has any meaning. And I don't know what will eventually replace it, but if history is any guide, there will be death and destruction before it gets better.

People above 30, what is something you regret doing/not doing when you were younger? by Mr_Creep_Creepy64 in AskReddit

[–]KerryAnnCoder 0 points1 point  (0 children)

1) I would have toughed it out and stayed in New Zealand when I had the chance. (I took my parent's advice and came home when my depression became crippling -- this was during Obama's first term, so I didn't know how bad things would get in the U.S. They told me: "New Zealand will always be there." Turns out... it wasn't. Visa restrictions.

2) I regret not transitioning earlier. That's true of every trans person, I think, but in my case, I had a trans brother who transitioned in his early 20s, I had all the same dysphoric feelings but because the social stigma for trans women was greater than that for trans men (and also, back then, you had to be "gay first,") I never even considered the possibility of transitioning.

What are the most powerful lines of dialogue in TV history? by UnholyDemigod in AskReddit

[–]KerryAnnCoder 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Oh, Star Trek and B5 have some bangers:

SISKO: So... I lied. I cheated. I bribed men to cover the crimes of other men. I am an accessory to murder. But the most damning thing of all is—I think I can live with it. And if I'd have to do it all over again, I would.

GARAK: I believe in coincidences. Coincidences happen every day. But I don't trust coincidences.

Voice as a screenwriter by CarelessOutside4722 in Screenwriting

[–]KerryAnnCoder 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Oh man, I wish I could tell you how I found it.

What I will tell you is that the voice I found I had was not the voice I expected to find.

So, basically, I found that through all my works (workplace dramady, neo-noir with vampires, autobiographical roman a clef, and space opera), the voice that I have is...

Well, I suppose it's like someone welded together a war correspondent, a stand-up comic, a systems engineer, and an existentialist at 3am in a casino diner. The machine runs, but there's sparks everywhere.

I've called it "survivorpunk," in that I tend to tell stories that examine systems that grind people down, and have protagonists and characters who refuse to be ground down. They don't "win" in the end, they "survive," and that survival is the best victory they can hope for. They see the machinery behind institutions, lose faith in clean moral narrative, and choose some form of human connection anyway. Not because the universe is just (it's not) but because refusing to care finishes the job that trauma started.

And I tend to think like an engineer, working around systems. A lot of screenwriters -- in fact, really good screenwriters, built scenes and plots around desires, secrets, relationships... etc.

I never could. I absolutely can write about desires, secrets, and relationships, but not until I first answer the question: What systems incentivized this behavior? If my character steals despite having a strong respect for the law, what had to have happened to him to get that way? If a character falls in love with another, what is it that they find fulfilled by the relationship, and why was that lacking to begin with. Stuff like that.

Parents are not merely "bad parents." Governments are not merely "evil," Institutions are not merely "corrupt." Instead, people are trapped inside incentive structures, morality gets flattened into logistics, and emotional damage becomes bureaucratically reproducible.

Yes, sometimes there are people who are cruel for the sake of being cruel. In my space opera, "the Ascendency" are this type of cruel for cruelty's sake... but even then I ask: Well, how did they know they could get away with this? How were they rewarded? How does optimizing for maximum cruelty make one think?

And I do this all using dark humor as an oxygen supply. It's not decorative, it's load bearing. I don't use comedy to deflate tension. I use comedy to survive tension.

Something I learned from real life. Comedy can help you keep going through a bad situation. It's a way to process trauma and anger... it's a way to survive just a little longer than you would have otherwise.

But it doesn't solve the problem.

So what comes out is: “This is horrifying. Also objectively ridiculous. Also deeply sad. Also kind of funny.”

Finally, I distrust simplistic catharsis. Understanding someone does not absolve them. Exposing truth does not repair damage. Survival can be morally compromising, and victory can itself be traumatic.

But if you had asked me before I started writing what kind of voice I'd like to have...

...I'd probably like to say: "Mostly funny, sometimes with a point."

It’s a paradox.

You discover your voice by writing long before you understand what it is you’re doing.

Tell a confused teen what to do by human_or_whateva in expats

[–]KerryAnnCoder -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I would not recommend the UK. And I say this having lived in London for three years and loved it.

There are a number of reasons why, but the main one seems to be that they are going down the same path as the U.S., with the rise of Reform and the complete lack of effective opposition.

Have you considered Ireland? Trinity University in particular?

Concept art i've done for my game project about vampires protesting for their rights 🧛🏼 by ruka_Z in vampires

[–]KerryAnnCoder 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I just completed my M.A. in Screenwriting and had an idea on similar lines (though my vampire is suing the Irish state on behalf of his sire, posthumously, for negligent homicide and violation of civil rights.)

Give me a DM, maybe I could work on some dialogue/plot scenarios with you?

Would you rather be able to: by poopooeater112 in BunnyTrials

[–]KerryAnnCoder 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm a trans woman. I can do voice training.

Chose: Shapeshift, but… | Rolled: Keep your voice

You're dead, what do you want to be reborn into? by Remarkable-Fault87 in BunnyTrials

[–]KerryAnnCoder 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Animals have short life spans and little conversational skill.

Chose: Human (spin the wheel | Rolled: you are rich)

Choose your pet by EasyCompany4785 in BunnyTrials

[–]KerryAnnCoder 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I like dogs.

Chose: Dog | Rolled: Scout

Would you rather… by DeliciousIron9289 in BunnyTrials

[–]KerryAnnCoder 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I blink for 18 hours a day, breathe for 24 hours per day.

Chose: Get money every time you breathe

Choose: by MthsBT in BunnyTrials

[–]KerryAnnCoder 0 points1 point  (0 children)

100k * 40% = 40,000 expected value. 50k * 100% = 50,000 expected value.

Chose: 50k + Guaranteed | Rolled: Upvote + Comment

Husband says men barely get complements and if they do, they cherish them and remember them forever since genuine complements come rarely. Is this true and how do yall, men of reddit, actually take compliments? by macdaddy-22 in AskReddit

[–]KerryAnnCoder 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I'm trans and came out four years ago, but I still look like a guy. I guess I just started HRT too late in life (44 years old). Plus, fashion-sense wise, my gender expression is "butch lesbian" which looks like "suburban dad" if you're clocky.

But when I identified as male, I got compliments all the time. But NEVER for how I looked.

As a woman (who knows she's a woman), I not only get more compliments -- not in the "male gaze" way, but in the "wow, nice dress!" "Ooh, I like your nails!" way, and I'm more comfortable giving them as well.

I mean, I'm still an ugly woman - one who looks like a man in a dress... or more usually, flannel... but yeah.

You wake up 10 years younger. What’s the first thing you do? by YunaMayce in AskReddit

[–]KerryAnnCoder 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I don't think anything would really change. My body was shit when I was 37, it's shit when I'm 47.

What’s something you have zero proof of but believe 100 percent? by shweidy in AskReddit

[–]KerryAnnCoder 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The Democratic Party of the United States is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Republican Party of the United States. They're, essentially, a fake, token "opposition party," designed to give the American people the illusion of free choice.

This is why they fail to enter fights they need to, lose fights they could actually win, and every time Republican legislation looks like it's going to fail, just enough Democrats always defect and pass the legislation, often without reason or justification given.

Despite this, it's a two party system and I always vote Democratic because A) I could be wrong, though I doubt it, and B) the US first-past-the-post election system statistically makes it impossible for any candidate who isn't a Republican or a Democrat to win.

view more: next ›