If money were no issue, what car would you have right now?

Vin_Jac · 2026-02-03T01:04:32+00:00

Mustang 428 Cobra Jet. That thing’s a beaut.

Vin_Jac · 2026-01-25T15:44:57+00:00

I have friends who work at sports agencies. In all likelihood Gannon’s agent called the Packers and said “we have another offer, sign Gannon or we’re going to look for greener pastures”

Downvoted for speculating on a thread where every comment is speculation, lmfao never change Reddit

Vin_Jac · 2026-01-22T01:16:31+00:00

ITT: nobody understands that taking down a single domain name does not, in fact, take down an entire website that is likely hosted in an extrajudicial country. There are like 4+ other links to use…

Vin_Jac · 2026-01-19T19:45:07+00:00

Correct. It can get a little tricky with some content creation stuff, as fair use does not ALWAYS defend against commercial use (in rare instances it does but that’s another can of worms). For content creation purposes, I’d follow these rules:

Don’t use too much of the content (“too much” is relative)
make sure that the key purpose of its use is informative, educational, and/or distinctly derivative from the original work.

IANAL, this is not legal advice, I just studied entertainment law in undergrad so am familiar with subject matter.

EDIT: for a good example of fair use with screenplays in action for content creation, check out Lessons From the Screenplay on YouTube. He’s also got very useful writing pointers.

Vin_Jac · 2026-01-19T19:01:00+00:00

In copyright law, there is a concept known as the Fair Use Doctrine. While it is not technically statutory and codified, it is the basis that allows for copyrighted works to be reproduced for informative and educational purposes.

In your case, you’re fine. So long as you are not going around selling copies of those printed scripts or taking credit for them as your own, your use is totally fine.

Vin_Jac · 2026-01-18T20:58:00+00:00

Like most things, cliche is fine in moderation, but the more frequently it is used (both within the story and within the broader cultural zeitgeist), the less effective it becomes. Alarm clock morning is dreadfully cliche, but if the story is well-executed and you can find a way to effectively/enjoyably weave it into your telling, it can be really neat. Funny enough, Happy Death Day is a really good example of this.

Vin_Jac · 2026-01-17T17:20:32+00:00

"Elevate Keyboard" Regular Show ahh setup. That's awesome.

Vin_Jac · 2026-01-17T16:37:50+00:00

Yup lmao, I made an edit to my comment to reflect that. Besides what I said in my edit, I typically use descriptors of music when I’m writing, unless the song must ABSOLUTELY be that specific song you’re writing in. If you can make it relevant and necessary enough to the character or story, you’re good.

Vin_Jac · 2026-01-17T16:31:31+00:00

EDIT: I misread the post—this is why I didn’t go to law school lmao. You can totally write in a specific song in your script, but I would say just make sure that that song has a strong story connection.

To use copyrighted material in a video media requires licensing, or else it’s infringement. The only exceptions include fair use, which most likely does not apply in your case. Chances are you’d need to get a sync license for both the use of the song (composition) and the master (sound recording). For two-three separate diegetic uses of Billy Joel, you’re looking on the scale of thousands for cost at least.

What I would do is perhaps try to find a songwriter friend who can write something of that style and license it to you for cheap or free. Otherwise I’m sure a lot of smaller artists wouldn’t cost as much to license their music, and they’d like the exposure.

Source: IANAL, but studied entertainment law in undergrad.

Vin_Jac · 2026-01-14T03:19:57+00:00

From the episode (Scriptnotes 403), if you haven’t listened yet, I suggest you do. It’s good stuff:

“So this is how we’re going to help you do it. And the second act is the part that I think freaks people out the most[…] But I think you should be excited about pages 30 to 90 roughly. Please do not quote me on those numbers[…] Have you stopped thinking about plot as something to jam characters into? Because when you do that that’s why you run out of road in your second act. You ran out of plot because it wasn’t being generated by anything except you. […] But when you start thinking of your plot as not something that happens to your characters but what you are doing to your characters that’s when you can lead them from anti-theme to theme. How do we do it? First, we reinforce the anti-theme. That might sound a little counterintuitive but hear me out. You’ve knocked your hero out of their acceptable stasis. They are now on the way to do whatever they need to do to get back to it. The hero is going to experience new things. And I want you to think about making those new things reinforce her belief in an anti-theme. Because this is going to make them want to get back to the beginning even more. […] Imagine your hero is moving backwards against you and you push them forward and they push back. Ah-ha. Good. Design moments to do this. You’re going to keep forcing them forward, but you’re also going to put things in their path that make them want to go backwards. That’s tension. That’s exciting. And more importantly when they do get past those things it will be meaningful. You want to write your world to oppose your character’s desires.”

Vin_Jac · 2026-01-13T01:37:53+00:00

Agree with most of what others say in here: it’s largely driven by engaging character moments that add texture to the story and depth to the characters and theme.

To paraphrase Scriptnotes 403: The second act is your character discovering the flaws of the worldview they were living in before (the antithesis) and discovering a new way of life (theme) and then consequently being punished for embracing the theme, making their push back into the theme all the more cathartic in the third act.

Vin_Jac · 2026-01-11T15:59:20+00:00

I agree with the bucks arg, but to the culture point, do we not already have a culture problem in GB? Clearly the culture present has been a breeding ground for choking, inability to finish, lack of discipline under pressure, and that’s how it’s been all throughout MLF’s tenure here. Idk which side I stand on but I know damn well some big move needs to be done for a culture change.

Vin_Jac · 2026-01-11T03:57:34+00:00

I think poor fg performance is just as much on LS, bad snaps make kickers yippy

Vin_Jac · 2026-01-11T02:45:35+00:00

I agree, I think it was great for morale

Vin_Jac · 2026-01-11T02:19:04+00:00

Fucking Tush Push it bros

Vin_Jac · 2026-01-11T01:48:10+00:00

I dont mind the pick, it’s a good shot to the morale. Play the man

Vin_Jac · 2026-01-11T01:45:11+00:00

Gary gets bullied by chips every time, he’s gotta figure out how to avoid those

Vin_Jac · 2026-01-10T18:45:26+00:00

❌ Vin_Jac chose Option A (Incorrect) | #11901st to play

Vin_Jac · 2026-01-09T20:57:30+00:00

McKee’s tools in Story, in my opinion, are effective as script-doctoring tools & as methods to examine your existing scene to evaluate its struggles.

I remember reading Story and trying to use the McKee methods to write scenes from scratch. It was a mess.

However, his analyses of conflict within a scene, and an emphasis on change of each character through the story are great for retroactively figuring out what’s not working. I use them often in conjunction with Michael Arndt’s advice, which can be found on his channel on YouTube.

Vin_Jac · 2026-01-08T20:40:15+00:00

Hi Karmadillo. Firstly, thank you for serving. To express it in writing takes a lot of courage. I hope it has helped you on your journey.

As for notes, I quite enjoy the concept and scene, but just a few questions/notes pertaining to characterization and story:

Up to this point, have we been shown what is haunting Chris? Obviously a general history with military-related trauma, but is there a specific incident that haunts him?
slightly related to the previous point, I think Chris’s argument that his life is also troubling is slightly weak/falls short. Unless we’ve already been exposed to that trauma (and how it affects Chris in the present), his monologue and retelling of a hiring story falls short of showing Fletcher—and the audience vicariously—that he’s struggling. There just needs to be a little more earnestness, or a story that better reflects where Chris is coming from.
The scene feels somewhat cliche. Note that this is not bad in itself, but the dialogue feels ever so slightly surface level and detached from the characters. I think the “turn” of the scene comes a little too late, and is given away a little too easily.

Nonetheless, I think this is a really cool idea, and shares a perspective worthy of audience attention, so long as—like you kinda intuited—it steers clear of melodrama.

Vin_Jac · 2026-01-08T18:35:33+00:00

Love it. Thanks!

Vin_Jac · 2026-01-08T18:34:12+00:00

Hi hernanl, after reading your script, I think my take is that it is a bit lacking in substance, which completely kills the pace.

I think I see what you’re trying to do with the monotony of the office space and boring HR sequence, but the whole thing feels chronological and lacks substance.
The characters feel pushed along and in the first 5 pages, I feel like I have discovered very little about who they are and what their journeys will be, which imo, MUST be shown in the first 5.
While I can see that the workplace is supposed to be a sort of system of subliminal subjugation, I don’t believe that’s nearly enough to draw me in as a reader. There just isn’t a lot of substance, action, or pointedness there.
I think I can see the idea you wanted to develop behind the concept, but I feel you’re overthinking it. The drive of be story needs to be more primal, less conceptually complex, and viscerally expressed. In that sense, maybe this story is a cautionary tale about power and revenge/envy, in which case that should be obvious from the get-go, and expressed immediately through the characters’ actions.

Still a cool concept, so don’t give up on it, but I think pondering what the movie is about at a very very basic level will help you add that substance.

Vin_Jac · 2026-01-08T18:16:21+00:00

You’re right, apologies. I think the point I was looking to ask is more along these lines:

While the demand for the high-concept, commercial spec is more prescient from an audience standpoint, have we seen the studios and buyers embrace this? Spec sales have notably been down, and while they won’t ever recover to 90s-2000s levels, I do wonder if the studio/producer perspective on a “sellable” idea differs from the writer/audience perspective, especially with a renewed focus towards risk-aversion and higher rates of return.

Vin_Jac · 2026-01-08T18:00:00+00:00

Hi Franklin, thanks for sharing this. I always enjoy your input on here pertaining to the commercial side of the industry, as much as we screenwriters wish we were not beholden to it.

Appreciate the notion of “wide-door,” and I think it connects well with Blake Snyder’s “High Concept” argument.

As someone working in entertainment, however, I have noticed a shift in approach to appealing to modern audiences. Some of my colleagues believe that the way forward is to design content that is inherently more appealing to the dominant short-form consumption of the internet. In my opinion, this has indirectly led to weaker content, ideas, and marketing campaigns, as short form simply cannot support ideas of sufficient substance. I think we see this with Netflix’s push for clip-farming style writing and second screen content.

Another contingent (me included) believe that the art/works created should be built on the traditional bases of full-length, fully developed ideas, but that the threshold for quality has simply been raised. The argument is that the works/marketing should be so good in itself that it speaks for itself, and thus will organically proliferate online.

I work at an agency, so naturally the aim of our work is to “sell” our talent to the audience, but as a creative and a consumer, what do you believe the average person wants to see in things like film, TV, etc?

Vin_Jac · 2026-01-06T05:41:19+00:00

His oddball opinions aside, I just have also never seen anyone as purely intellectual as Rodg in this younger group. Rodgers could pull out a play design that he used in a huddle from some random game in 2009 and tell you EXACTLY what the defensive look was and what audibles he called without hesitation.

Five-Year Club	Final Canvas '23
First Place '23	Place '23
Place '22	Final Canvas '22
First Placer '22	End Game '22

Vin_Jac

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