You want to show people who you are as a writer. You need a calling card piece -- something that will give folks a taste of what you're capable of on the page and Rob & Kay are here with the do's & don'ts of what that script should look like, as well as what it should never be. This Week’s Resource: The Fellowship and Writing Programs for Screenwriters Masterlist is a wonderful resource from the WGA that allows you to organize your ultimate plan of attack for getting yourself out...

THIS WEEK Rob & Kay because Hollywood is slacking, we are discussing show, don’t frickin' tell. The only rule of screenwriting everyone can agree on...usually. This Week’s Resource: We’ve done this before when dealing with one of the core conceits of screenwriting, and as we always say, we are not the only voices on this subject, SO, we have compiled a new YouTube playlist for you guys to chew on, in further thought on today’s topic. Also we're happy to partner with ⁠⁠⁠⁠Fade In⁠⁠⁠⁠...

THIS WEEK Rob & Kay invite Brad Johnson on to discuss the sophomore year of THE GREY LIST, as well as ageism in the industry and how we as screenwriters can combat or adapt to it! This Week’s Resource: The Grey List (of course). Checkout the list, download scripts you think sound good, retweet your favs! And while it isn't free, the Smodscastle 37 Hour Film Challenge sounds like it could be a fun thing to participate in. You pay $37 and make a film that could be watched and...

THIS WEEK, amid reports that the industry is more of a dumpster fire than usual, Rob & Kay thought it was a good time to have a Screenwriting SOTU! This Week’s Resource: The International Screenwriters’ Association’s Diversity Initiative strives to elevate writers from underrepresented and marginalized communities. And, as such they are launching a FREE CONTEST, seeking writers with unique perspectives based on race, sexuality, gender, neurodiversity, disability, economic inequality,...

Rob & Kay are starting off Black History month with a very special guest, Jordan T Simon who just finished his proof of concept for his pilot “The Boy Who Promised the Moon” This Week’s Resource: Monkey Paw Productions, along with Universal Pictures and TIFF have announced their No Drama competition. Up to six filmmakers will be selected to each receive a grant to produce their submitted short scripts. During the one year non-exclusive talent experience selected participants will...

Rob & Kay invite one of Kay’s screenwriting mentors and overall lovely human being, Andrew Guerdat, to discuss his career and new YouTube series, THE GO DRAFT. This Week’s Resource: ANDY’S YOUTUBE SERIES: THE GO DRAFT! Andy’s series is ongoing, but there are 6 episodes up already. Go watch! Also we're happy to partner with Fade In while the Dasher experiment is ongoing! Remember that if Rob finishes the first draft of his novel then they will be providing two copies of their...

Rob & Kay get all nerdy n' gritty talmbout dem action lines. Y'all not gon' wanna miss this one as they finna leave no screenwriting stone unturned. Get it! This Week’s Resource: We’ve said this before, but we are not the only voices on the subject of screenwriting, so we thought maybe you could use this podcast as a jumping off point to investigate the subject further. And as such, Kay and Rob have come up with a medley of YouTube videos on the subject from the likes of Jay Carver,...

Rob & Kay sit down with Denise Cruz-Castino, whose script for "5 Weddings" was made into a movie that made it's way to the Cannes Film Festival! This Week’s Resource:   5 Weddings is streaming for free seemingly everywhere: Pluto, Tubi, Freevee, Peacock, and the Roku Channel, so go put it in your eyeholes and get a taste of our friend Denise. Notes From the...

THIS WEEK Rob & Kay are discussing worldbuilding – again. It’s not just for hobbits! Our hosts take you through how important expanding your the world of your screenplay is going to be in the marketplace going forward in 2024 (and beyond). This Week’s Resource:   Air is up on Prime, it was one of my favorite films of 2023, but I’ve been following the story of it’s screenwriter, Alex Convery, via podcast for most of 2023, because I feel like his story is kind of like the Cinderella...

Rob & Kay are back in 2024 with a an opening public service announcement for the new year: turns out, you gotta do the work. Sorry. This Week’s Resource:   This week we are repeating our TRIO of free resources for you, because sometimes y'all don't listen when we be giving out free ish, sooooo -- LAST CALL! First up is the ⁠Circle of Confusion x Anarchists United Writers Discovery Fellowship⁠, which is first because it’s deadline is first at January 5th. Then we have ⁠The Orchard...

It's Christmas! (2023) So Rob & Kay have decided to do a little reflection, musing on that thing that all of us are trying to do -- all the time it seems like -- breaking in. And, joining them, is one of their favorite Twitter Brethren, Leah Simmons, aka, Leah From South Dakota, who also talks about her debut feature, Valentine Crush and what she got from making her indie roller derby feature. This Week’s Resource:   This week we have a TRIO of free resources for you, because this is...

Rob & Kay take on their FINAL holiday deep dive with a Double Feature of their personal holiday favorites Die Hard (for Rob) & Hook (for Kay) directed by John McTiernan & Steven Spielberg, respectively -- with scripts from Jeb Stuart & Steven E. de Souza (of Die Hard) and James V. Hart & Nick Castle (of Hook) while boasting actors Bruce Willis, Alan Rickman & Reginald VelJohnson and Bonnie Bedelia for Die Hard, along with Robin Williams, Dustin Hoffman, Julia Roberts,...

Rob & Kay decided to do their penultimate holiday deep dive on Elf, the timeless Christmas classic that is celebrating its 20th anniversary. The Jon Favreau directed film stars Will Farrell, James Caan, Bob Newhart, Zoey Deschanel, and Mary Steenburgen, and Ed Asner (as Santa) This Week’s Resource:   Elf! You can find it streaming on Max & Hulu, but because of the 20th anniversary, you can also find it in theaters for a limited a time! So watch it, see what the heck we're talking...

Rob & Kay kick continue their holiday movie breakdown streak with a shared favorite of theirs, Shane Black's "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" starring Robert Downey Jr, Val Kilmer, and Michelle Monaghan⁠. This Week’s Resource:   The Long Kiss Goodnight on Pluto! Shane Black has given us another underrated Christmas Classic that we encourage you to watch if you like movies that are good and scripts that are better. Notes From the...

Rob & Kay kick off the holiday season with one of Rob's favorite romantic comedies, "The Holiday", Nancy Myers' Christmas classic two-hander starring Cameron Diaz, Kate Winslet, Jude Law, Jack Black and Eli Wallach. This Week’s Resource:   The Holiday is available on Hulu! Notes From the Episode:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Zack's Original Instagram video⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ (for our Twitter...

THIS WEEK! Rob & Kay talk to author, actor and screenwriter, Nate Golon whose indie tv series, Workshop was the first independently produced TV series to be picked up by Hulu! This is the 3rd episode in our month-long dive into indiefilm tv! This Week’s Resource:   Workshop Seasons 1 & 2 are available on YouTube. Notes From the Episode:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Zack's Original Instagram...

Rob & Kay invite THESPIAN creator/writer/producer/show-runner/director, Marc Unger, as he speaks on how he's written three seasons of a show with no guarantees. How he writes character arcs and storylines when you don't have access to actors/locations/money to finish them out, but still have to keep the train on the tracks. This is the 2nd episode in our month-long dive into indiefilm tv! This Week’s Resource:  Thespian! You can watch the first two seasons on Tubi, for free! The...

This week Rob & Kay interview Jenna St. John and (her husband), Kevin Good about the writer's room and process of their independently produced series, SEXPECTATIONS! This includes finding the engine of the show (and how modern tv has the ability to shift/change it each season, a la The Good Place or Atlanta), how they consider Sexpectations to be a comedy, but not a sitcom, and what narrative challenges future seasons might pose. This is the first episode in our month-long dive into...

Kay Tuxford is at Austin! Rob is not! Is he jealous? Maybe -- but that's not going to get in the way of the two of them tackling one of the most important parts of the screenplay, THE MIDPOINT! This Week’s Resource:  We have two resources this week. The first is from a friend of the podcast, Paige Feldman, who is documenting her journey as she writes -- and prepares to direct -- her first feature film on her YouTube channel. But this week she put out a really great video on what she calls...

Rob & Kay follow up on their previous episode, which, hopefully got your booty into the chair with your new idea ready to write. This episode focuses on what happens when your butt hits the seat: mentally, physically, and in terms of craft -- all in preparation for the bane of the screenwriter's existence...Page 40 (and how to get past it!). This Week’s Resource:  While this podcast doesn't really endorse any contest, this year’s free screenwriting contest from TSL is open for...

Rob & Kay are writing New Things™. You might be writing new things. You want want to write a New Thing™ for the first time. If so, this episode is for you, where Rob & Kay discuss how to put yourself in the Mental Palace from whence you shall write a (the) script. This Week’s Resource:  Simple. Film Courage’s Compilation Video: 10 Ways to Come Up With Movie Ideas. Simple. Nuff said. Notes From the...

Rob & Kay have BEEF. This extra-large episode covers a potentially sensitive topic. The treatment of minority & queer characters in your screenplays -- avoiding tropes and what to consider when writing outside your experience. They also name some great, current, examples of shows getting diversity, sensitivity and inclusion right, and shed light on they refer to as "jumping cat" clichés. Our Weekly Resource: Kay found a list of Diversity tests, from WeScreenplay, which you can...

Rob & Kay have talked Acts 1 & 2 and now wish to complete the trilogy by talking about how to land act 3! They discuss the old adage "If you have act three problems, you have act one problems..." (truth!), while taking you through the screenwriting math you need to have followed to have things add up in your final act. They also talk about the dreaded FOURTH ACT (don't you dare do this!), and talk about even as you are paying off everything, you need end memorably. Our Weekly...

Rob & Kay sit down with David Williams to discuss how, despite their individual achievements (which, for Dave, includes being included on the 2022 Blacklist), each is looking for ways to improve their hold -- their craft -- on screenwriting. They also get to know Dave a bit, how he came to be in the business, and then in the middle of the podcast, our hosts (and guest) get news about the Writer's Strike. Our Weekly Resource: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Again, with two (free) resources...