Been thinking about Who Framed Roger Rabbit and the gamble Disney took at a time when they were struggling. MASSIVE hit that helped change the company's trajectory pre-Alladin, Beauty and the Beast, Little Mermaid & Lion King. If you're Paramount, Sony, etc. right now, this kind of risk makes sense.
OPPENHEIMER or ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER or Scorsese is a bit different. They've earned their epic + obviously have the chops to pull it off. But so many movies have egregious runtimes nowadays. It's killing their movies and possibly the movies altogether. 1 hour 40 minute flicks are easier to catch.
The average length of a Coen Bros feature is right under 100 minutes. If they can tell their epics without going 2 and a half or 3 hours, basically everyone can. 95% of the time there's just no reason for a movie to be over 2 hours give or take.
Thriller spec sale. Husband/wife team behind DROP. Theory: it's easier to sell spec No. 2, 3, 4, etc. than No. 1 because you've been vetted by the industry. A proven commodity. That takes nothing away from the talent of the writers (congrats!!!). Just kind of a cover-your-ass industry. #scriptsky
First spec sale in about 3 weeks (that has been announced). Mini-slump is over after a hot streak. Rom-coms are selling like hotcakes. #scriptsky deadline.com/2025/09/sas-...
Screenwriters can be a fatalistic lot, often convinced that good outcomes no longer happen. So IMO it's important to constantly focus on big screenwriter wins. Helps you keep your eyes on the prize and block out the panic.
Black List script THUMB gets picked up. Good to see a typically slow month get so much business going. Crossing my fingers that this means a big fall for screenwriters. #scriptsky deadline.com/2025/08/mill...
4th spec sale of the week β about Kobe Bryant. As someone who's had two Black List scripts wind up in sports rights hell, doing something like this on spec is tricky... but can get you noticed or even sold with some luck. Hollywood loves a good sports story. #scriptsky deadline.com/2025/08/kobe...
Another spec sale. 3rd this week. Action romcom. Awesome seeing all this action around original material. #scriptsky deadline.com/2025/08/blak...
Erotic thrillers really seem to sell and are almost always written by women.
Second spec sale in 24 hours! Erotic thriller. #scriptsky
Hot spec sale. Will Dunn's THE PIRATE. He also wrote the Black List script THE PEASANT, which was kinda like period piece John Wick. Enjoyed that one for sure. Good to see things keep moving. #scriptsky deadline.com/2025/08/jaso...
Love that you get both GODFATHER 1 & 2 in there. Why choose when you can have both? NETWORK also a classic.
Screw Myers-Briggs. The real personality test is your Letterboxd top 4. #scriptsky
There was a romcom spec a little while back. Yeah. And a lot of the less buzzy, smaller deals arenβt reported so who knows. The getting βset upβ stuff, options, etc.
Third spec sale of the week! This one had 11 freaking offers. I share this shit to keep our spirits up. There are reasons to be hopeful, and the industry will need strong original feature stories to keep audiences showing up at the theater β and even streaming. #scriptsky
Geeking out about HIGHEST 2 LOWEST. Love Spike. Am a Denzel stan. And this is a Kurosawa remake. Been almost 20 years since these two worked together! INSIDE MAN was one of my favorite movies from the aughts.
Specs are selling again after summer vacay hibernation. This is the second of the day announced. A comedy. The Naked Gun effect??? Anyway, good to see biz happening. #scriptsky deadline.com/2025/08/sony...
What movie taught you how to curse? For me, it was BEVERLY HILLS COP.
Mission Impossible.
Spec script market seems to have cooled off. Probably just because execs/producers are all on vacay this time of year and reps are waiting to send things out to market. We're waiting to send something out right now. Shocking how much of the year is a bad time to send things out. #scriptsky
The biggest grift in entertainment right now is to label your project "anti-woke."
Major reconstructive surgery is tough! But it shows you arenβt settling and will get this plot to the right place.
Impossible bar to clear. I did just kinda wish it was NICE GUYS 2 but also good for that spec writer!
Think confidence is the most underrated part of screenwriting. Listen to your favorite rappers and how they express their message β thereβs no half-stepping. Being assured and bold convinces readers theyβre in safe hands. #scriptsky
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Screenwriting is a dense lattice of micro-decisions. Thousands of word choices conveying hundreds of plot choices. And because movies are as much about what you leave out as what you leave in, every decision really counts. #scriptsky
Hell yeah
The peach allergy sequence from PARASITE is so face-melting that it relegates CALL ME BY YOUR NAME to the movie with the second most memorable peach.
