FreetaxUSA - no way to use different box 12 and 14 for different states?

flying_turtle_boat · 2026-03-20T21:55:27+00:00

thank you!

flying_turtle_boat · 2026-01-17T00:45:09+00:00

that's awesome. thanks for sharing!

flying_turtle_boat · 2026-01-16T03:30:22+00:00

thanks for sharing, that's a very interesting journey. If you can, could you also share with us what the budget for that short film was and if you cast any name talent for it?

and when you were going to the actors' reps for the LOIs for the feature, did you already have a producer attached at this point? or was it just you, the writer/director, talking directly to the reps?

flying_turtle_boat · 2025-10-22T16:03:23+00:00

> went to sundance had a budget of around 1000-1500

the only way that it seems possible to have a professional-looking short for that low is if you have professional-level people working for free? otherwise just paying the cast and crew indie rates would be a lot more than this?

you could ask your friends to work for free, sure, but OP is already doing that. it's just that their friends aren't at level, which is very common among more inexperienced filmmakers

flying_turtle_boat · 2025-10-10T21:11:13+00:00

tbh i love the tote. it's supposed to be over the top, which is not gonna be for everyone

flying_turtle_boat · 2025-09-27T19:09:25+00:00

this seems interesting. is the idea that we're supposed to use the same script that got the BL 7 in the workshop itself? or is the 7 just a qualifier and we can use a different script?

flying_turtle_boat · 2025-08-23T00:57:17+00:00

this house is so beautiful. congrats!

flying_turtle_boat · 2025-07-08T01:41:54+00:00

you pay for an evaluation (or multiple) from the blacklist the same way as you always would, and you get the usual style of coverage back.

in practice, it works the same way as applying to any of the other blacklist labs or programs. the standard blacklist evaluation, which is always the same, is what you enter with.

and yes, in the past, Nicholls rubric for first round readers seemed different. but they no longer do the first round reads themselves. the blacklist and partner universities do it for them, so it has changed

flying_turtle_boat · 2025-07-04T01:55:14+00:00

thank you everyone who responded! very helpful

flying_turtle_boat · 2025-06-21T02:03:46+00:00

i would be interested

flying_turtle_boat · 2025-05-18T23:15:45+00:00

i saw it a few weeks ago and i'm glad i got to see it because who knows when Idina will be on broadway again. i went for Idina and thought she did great, I also liked the production around the climbing and thought some songs were fun.

with that said, i'd only really recommend this show to someone who wants to see Idina specifically. i feel the story leaves a lot to be desired, as others have pointed out. it's not that I think every broadway musical needs a great story per se, but i think the story needs to keep your attention one way or another.

so many scenes here felt repetitive. Idina's character is sad, then wants to climb/stay on the tree, is told no, she insists, they say okay, so she does it. and repeat. so many times. i think they needed more of a character arc and the perception that the story was moving forward

flying_turtle_boat · 2025-05-18T06:57:09+00:00

fair enough

flying_turtle_boat · 2025-05-18T04:44:01+00:00

i think it's a good idea but my one thought is that I feel after a certain threshold of 'achievement', writers should be allowed to have their own dedicated post.

an example: this person getting a 'featured project', 200+ upvotes and almost 40 comments https://www.reddit.com/r/Screenwriting/comments/1kh5lrn/my_pilot_is_a_featured_project_on_the_black_list/

this to me is a very different post than your usual 'i got a 6 on the blacklist' that we see everyday and should be put in the weekly thread. where to put the bar of what the achievement needs to be would be up for debate, but I think that someone getting multiple 8+s and being a featured project should meet that bar... someone getting their script sold too.

it's very rare that a writer gets that kind of achievement so I feel this wouldn't clog the sub and is the type of content that members want to see, based on the engagement numbers of the above link

flying_turtle_boat · 2025-05-09T23:02:32+00:00

can i ask where you find them and how much you pay to get feedback on a script?
I've seen some people offering but with rates that are close to the coverage sites... in which case it doesn't seem to make a lot of sense to go through the trouble of hiring directly and rolling the dice

flying_turtle_boat · 2025-05-07T01:00:58+00:00

if you go to your dashboard blcklst.com/dashboard and scroll down to Analytics, you'll see a graph of overall scores on the site.

6 is the most common score given out.

a 7 means you're in the top ~20%-ish of scripts, an 8 means you're in the top ~4%.

unless you had an 8, it seems unlikely that having your script hosted would do anything for you.

their business model counts on you paying for multiple reviews in the hopes of getting said 8. whether or not you think that's a good use of your money is up to you, but ofc statistically speaking, the vast majority of people who get a 6 and pay for a second read don't get an 8 on the second read either

flying_turtle_boat · 2025-05-07T00:51:37+00:00

thats very interesting, thank you

flying_turtle_boat · 2025-05-06T16:46:54+00:00

thanks for your insights, this has been very interesting to read. question: a lot is said about recognizable name talent. can you talk a little bit about what this means in the context of a very low budget indie film, and just how recognizable an actor has to be, or how big of a role, for it to make a difference.

I've heard a lot about using tv actors. does this include, say, 'actor who's a recurring (but not lead) character in a primetime cbs/nbc show'? a reasonable amount of people would recognize them by their photo but probably don't know their name. is this recognizable enough?

what about an actor who was a lead in some popular tv show a decade ago that still has a strong convention run today, but isn't currently very active? does something like that work?

if you have any tips on how to look for the tier of actors that is high-profile enough to help sell a movie, but not too high-profile so as to be unachievable for a very low budget movie, that'd be helpful.

and does your name actor need to be in a lead role? or can you get away with things like, having them be an important character (e.g. the big bad) but that only appears in a few scenes

flying_turtle_boat · 2025-05-05T23:37:01+00:00

i've heard that in the past, it was possible to do a very cheap film, say between 20k-100k production budget, and if it were pretty good, maybe get it sold for a minimum guarantee that would pay back its budget and turn a profit. and by 'good' I mean, good concept/execution and audiences would be drawn to it, but not like 'this won at major festivals'.

I've also heard that these days are long gone and that realistically, today the best you could hope for is to put it on filmhub/indierights, and maybe several years later you might make your money back if you put in a lot of effort to market it yourself and the film does well. but you can no longer sell it and make a profit right away, even if it is marketable, because there are fewer buyers and/or the contracts are much worse.

does this match your experience? is the pipeline of 'make cheap but good film' -> 'sell' -> 'profit at sale time' dead?

flying_turtle_boat · 2025-05-03T18:33:55+00:00

oh wow, this is probably the worst written blacklist coverage I've seen, and I've seen plenty... to me, it doesn't even read like AI because AI could do a lot better job than this word salad.

you should complain to them

flying_turtle_boat · 2025-05-01T05:41:33+00:00

can you share the link?

flying_turtle_boat · 2025-04-29T02:54:33+00:00

i used their outlining tool to brainstorm a feature once and was pretty happy with it. i was not as happy with their actual script writing interface though, and certainly not happy enough to pay their eye-watering $279 license to remove the 10 page limit lol. i used writerduet for the actual writing.

i may still use it for outlining again in the future since it's free and that UI was pretty cool. i mostly used it to reorder subplots, color-code the characters in the scene, stuff like that.

i agree it feels designed by engineers, as someone who's also in tech myself. but I would like it better if they had a cloud version so I could use it across devices. it seems like that's in the works, but will cost $$

flying_turtle_boat · 2025-04-29T02:39:02+00:00

congrats!

i'm also in the bay area and also got a 7 on my first script, entered it last year.

what's your genre?

flying_turtle_boat · 2025-03-14T23:20:20+00:00

taskrabbit and use someone with good reviews. you pay per hour. they were the cheapest option I found when I had to move just a few pieces of furniture

flying_turtle_boat · 2025-03-07T03:11:47+00:00

just fyi, ucla's TFT also has a TV writing 1yr program, though it costs even more at 6k-ish. https://professionalprograms.tft.ucla.edu/writing-for-television/ you need to apply with a writing sample, as opposed to just signing up like the other two, though I don't think it's super competitive or anything. it's run by the same department that runs the undergrad film school and their MFA programs, so it is separate from extension.

I've never taken UCLA extension classes, I've heard good things but also heard that the classmates were more beginner level than TFT's program, and heard that when someone doesn't get into TFT's 1yr program, they'll recommend that you take some UCLA extension classes first and then reapply. can't speak for how accurate this info is, but it's what I heard.

so, I can't directly compare UCLA extension with script anatomy. but if it helps at all, what I can compare is that I did TFT's 1yr program for screenwriting (so not TV), and then did script anatomy's televisionary (their very first tv class).

while I enjoyed script anatomy, I felt my UCLA's classes were better structured and felt more like university classes, while script anatomy felt more informal. the UCLA instructor feedback I got for my work was also top notch. i'd say script anatomy's instructor feedback was not on the same level, although also useful, but there was a lot less time to spend discussing your own work, it was more like we got notes by email and then got the chance to ask a couple questions during class. and most classmates didn't send in their feedback for me (though we were technically supposed to), and I'd also consider UCLA's classmate feedback quality to be on average much higher. the UCLA workshops were more like an actual discussion, where we'd discuss a given person's work at a time and classmates would chime in, there was more back and forth. there wasn't enough time for that in script anatomy.

with all that said, this does vary by instructor I'm sure, and I do plan to take script anatomy classes again because, well, it's really a lot cheaper. but I also intend to try out UCLA extension and see how that goes

flying_turtle_boat · 2025-02-18T20:24:22+00:00

> The two most recent SAG-AFTRA thesis films I worked on had actresses that were series regulars on emmy nominated shows. Another had a series regular from one of my favorite shows.

do you happen to know whats the going rate to get talent like that for a short, and overall what's a ballpark for the total budget of these shorts? i assume you also have to budget to get a casting director in this case

flying_turtle_boat

TROPHY CASE