r/Screenwriting

Hello all,

A few notes based on threads we're seeing posted here that either violate the rules or are low quality and don't add anything of value.

Do your own homework

We’ve seen a good number of threads recently from very new writers or students who are asking others to do the bulk of their work for them, either coming up with plots or characters, or even writing whole or parts of screenplays for them. This community is not here to do your (literal or figurative) homework for you. As a film school student or aspiring writer, you need to be able to write your own script.

It’s also a good reminder that every Tuesday we have the Beginner Questions Tuesday megathread, for your very basic, beginner questions.

Don’t offer paid services in this subreddit

We’ve also seen people respond to those new students offering paid services to do their homework for them. That’s explicitly against this subreddit’s rules and anyone offering paid services on here may be permanently banned.

In addition to this sub not being a jobs board, no legitimate, professional screenwriters are going to be openly offering services in threads.

No screenplay cattle calls

Mods recently were approached by someone claiming to have a job for screenwriters and wanted to solicit screenplays as samples. That’s what this subreddit means by “cattle calling.” Don’t do this. We’ll ban you.

It’s against the rules, puts writers in a false competition (for which there’s unlikely to even be a “winner) and you have no idea what will be done with your work after you’ve submitted it.

Credible companies wouldn’t solicit scripts from this subreddit and our users are not a source of labor/content for whatever it is you’re trying to do.

If you're serious about wanting to pay a screenwriter for their work, it's your company's responsibility to research writers, do due diligence and reach out to them in a professional manner.

If we get word of low-balling or spamming/harassing writers, that will be a permanent ban.

Even more importantly: Writers should not be giving away their work/IP to strangers asking for content/samples on the internet. Sharing your work for feedback is fine, but giving it away to someone you don’t know without any sort of contractual protections is a recipe for a bad day.

Hope everyone has a great day.

Post your script swap requests here!

NOTE: Please refrain from upvoting or downvoting — just respond to scripts you’d like to exchange or read.

How to Swap

If you want to offer your script for a swap, post a top comment with the following details:

• Title:

• Format:

• Page Length:

• Genres:

• Logline or Summary:

• Feedback Concerns:

Example:

Title: Oscar Bait

Format: Feature

Page Length: 120

Genres: Drama, Comedy, Pirates, Musical, Mockumentary

Logline or Summary: Rival pirate crews face off freestyle while confessing their doubts behind the scenes to a documentary director, unaware he’s manipulating their stories to fulfill the ambition of finally winning the Oscar for Best Documentary.

Feedback Concerns: Is this relatable? Is Ahab too obsessive? Minor format confusion.

We recommend you to save your script link for DMs. Public links may generate unsolicited feedback, so do so at your own risk.

If you want to read someone’s script, let them know by replying to their post with your script information. Avoid sending DMs until both parties have publicly agreed to swap.

Please note that posting here neither ensures that someone will read your script, nor entitle you to read others'. Sending unsolicited DMs will carries the same consequences as sending spam.