Day 2 in an ongoing series of thing you, my writers, might find investing about the industry. Lmk if you guys like this feature: WGA Negotiations Officially Begin Today Today. The WGA sits down with the AMPTP for the first round of 2026 contract talks. Contract expires May 1. On the table: AI protections, streaming residuals, and a health fund that's hemorrhaged $122M over two years. Ellen Stutzman is back as chief negotiator. This one matters whether you're staffed or spec-ing — the AI language they land on will shape what our work is worth for the next three years. Deadline: WGA Releases Pattern of Demands for AMPTP Negotiations Ryan Coogler Wins Best Original Screenplay for Sinners First Oscar. Only the second Black writer to win Best Original Screenplay in Academy history (Jordan Peele was first, for Get Out). Also only the second horror film to ever win the category. What's worth sitting with: Sinners is a period piece, a horror film, a blues story, and a meditation on Black identity in Jim Crow Mississippi. Coogler didn't dilute it to make it commercial. It became the most nominated film in Oscar history anyway. IndieWire: Ryan Coogler Wins Best Original Screenplay SAG-AFTRA Talks Stall, Extended Into Spring SAG-AFTRA and the studios couldn't close a deal in the first round. Contract expires June 30. The big ask: studios pay a royalty every time an AI-generated performer is used — essentially making digital replicas as expensive to use as the real thing. That's a fascinating leverage play. Watch how this language develops. It'll likely influence the WGA's AI protections as well. Variety: SAG-AFTRA and Studios Agree to Extend Negotiations A24's Undertone Overperforms, Reminders of Him Nearly Doubles Projections Two stories buried in the weekend box office numbers worth pulling out. A24 bought Ian Tuason's paranormal thriller Undertone for $3-4M. It opened to $9.3M. That's a monster return for a first-time feature director. Separately, the Colleen Hoover adaptation Reminders of Him came in at $18.2M domestic — nearly double what trackers projected. Original acquisitions and book IP both beating expectations on the same weekend. The market for compelling stories isn't dead. Awards Radar: Box Office Report for the Week of March 15

I'm going to do a much more in depth thread on this and build course work around it because it's so so important. Especially when nobody knows who you are and you're trying to be taken seriously. Why? Because it shows you care. It shows the reader they're in the hands of a true artist who isn't just writing down a series of events they're hoping to pass off as a screenplay. @Chad Desrochers hooked me up with some software that will hopefully allow me to rip some of my fave openings, so I can pontificate on them here for your edification. While I learn to use it, I was just thinking about the opening of one of my desert island movies and wanted to get this discussion started about all time greats that hit home with you. I'm posting just one below. Because it still absolutely delights me 40 years after it came out. I started to describe it, but dug up the script instead do you could see exactly how Joel and Ethan put it on the page. It's all there. Tight. Funny. Love set in motion, despite the odds. On page 1. Your homework. Don't just mention an opening you love, find the script. Show us how the magic happened. And we'll go from there! Raising Arizona Screenplay by Ethan and Joel Coen OVER BLACK: VOICE OVER My name is H. I. McDunnough... A WALL With horizontal hatch lines. VOICE OVER ...People call me Hi. A disheveled young man in a gaily colored Hawaiian shirt is launched into frame by someone offscreen. He holds a printed paddle that reads "NO. 1468-6 NOV. 29 79." The hatch marks on the wall behind him are apparently height markers. VOICE OVER ...The first time I met Ed was in the county lock-up in Tempe, Arizona... FLASH As his picture is taken. CLOSEUP On the paddle: "NOV. 29 79." VOICE OVER ...a day I'll never forget. A bellowing male voice from offscreen: SHERIFF Don't forget the profile, Ed! ANGLE ON THE STILL CAMERA It is mounted on a tripod. A pretty young woman in a severe police uniform peers out from behind it.

When you want to work. But adulthood gets in the way and you have to be a responsible adult. Ugh..

Edit: Based on your notes, a Hybrid Model has been created! It's below, after Version 3. I can't change the poll since it's already gotten votes, but @Shauna G vouches for it. So, see ya'll. I take notes too! Original Post: People, people, I've been obsessing over the About Page — the first thing a potential member sees before deciding whether to join. I've got three versions. I know which one I prefer. Drop your vote below. And if you want to tell me why, even better. Which would make you want to join? And which sounds the most like me? That's the kind of feedback that actually helps. Thanks, Dave Version 1: A great script isn't a story. It's a magic trick. The books can't teach you this. Because most of those writers haven't lived it. A great script is a seduction from Page One. An invitation to forget every other script in the pile and lose yourself completely. When an agent sits down to read, they're not hoping to love it — they're hoping to hate it as fast as possible so they can press delete and move tf on. The last thing they expect is to be surprised. To feel. To, dare we say it, laugh & cry. If you can do that — you separate yourself from formulaic Save the Cat journeys that reads like they were assembled in a lab, not breathed into existence by someone that gives a damn. Someone an agent can't wait to meet. I'm J. David Stem — Shrek 2, $2.5B in box office. ✅ Live Hot Seat coaching ✅ The Emotional Authorship framework ✅ Real feedback from someone who sells for a living ✅ A real community that gives a damn and is growing together Join now. Serious writers only. Spots, like talent, are limited. Version 2: For serious writers who want to write work that actually feels alive — not just follow formulas. Inside this community you’ll learn how professional writers develop characters, voice, and story from the inside out — so your scripts hit with emotional impact that separates you from the crowd of formulaic Save the Cat clones.

This is the place where its happens, people. If you've been in our sessions lately, you've seen radical changes to people's scripts, that elevated their vision and characters, helping them stand out from the throng of lazy wannabe writers out there. Yeah, I said lazy wannabes, because as @Godfrey Virgile and I talked about in our one-on-one session, it's HARD to write a script that really stands out. There's deep meticulous work that needs to be done. And a huge part of that is having a different pair of eyes on your work that you can trust. And that's what we're building in these coaching sessions. So, drop your pages below. And detail what cast members you need! We've been assigning things cold in the rooms, but after the last session, we realize we need to change that and have people come in, knowing the characters they are reading and understanding the intent of the lines. The better the performances, the more realistic view we get of the actual work. So... if you are dropping pages, list your cast members also. Then others, REPLY to that script and say which character you'd like to play, including Narrator. You can also reach out directly to people if you'd like them to read a particular character. Our goal here is to hit the ground running Tuesday with our scripts already casts and the actors having an understanding of their characters and the intent of the material. This is part of all of us leveling up our games so... Let's gooooooo! Who's in?