My ending wasn't landing. Spent a week thinking it was the ending's fault. It wasn't. My hero wasn't beat down enough at the start to earn it. Went back to my comps, figured out what they were doing and fixed not the ending but the beginning. New post: hollyweird.colbyday.com/p/your-hero-...

You can always sharpen

The one rule three "sad fake dad" movies taught me about act one.

hollyweird.colbyday.com

Love this from screenwriter @colbyday.com. This is what I do, but not becuz of sage advice but from a lack of self-discipline. 😄 Follow or subscribe to his substack: substack.com/@colbyday #writersky #authorsky

PRODUCER: our new show is about a ragtag group of mutant ninja turtles STUDIO EXEC: HOW OLD ARE THEY

“I’m Colby Knoxville, and this is Eating Lettuce.”

I don’t have a lot going on right now. Should I try this explosive diarrhea trend

I run a monthly zoom hang for writers via my newsletter. I've always charged just $8/mo to do it. We dig into craft questions, career questions, manager and agent questions, you name it. If this sounds like something you could use, price is going up tomorrow. hollyweird.colbyday.com/subscribe

Subscribe to Hollyweird with Colby Day

Weekly insights on screenwriting, craft, career and navigating the mysterious state of mind that is “Hollywood.”. Click to read Hollyweird with Colby Day, a Substack publication with thousands of subs...

hollyweird.colbyday.com

Substack just ranked Hollyweird #6 in Rising Film & TV. Which means now is probably a good time to explain what it actually is. I’m a working studio screenwriter — and I write a free weekly newsletter about what this career really looks like. Once a week. Free. Link in profile.

Wrote about the difference between a craft problem and a relationship problem this week —and the test I use to tell which one I'm actually looking at.

Your job is not to transcribe

How to tell if it's a notes problem or your reps just aren't into you anymore

hollyweird.colbyday.com

In a good year I’d pitch on maybe a dozen projects. Get hired once. That’s what a good year looks like. Nobody talks about the ratio of success to failure in Hollywood because the ratio is embarrassing. But the ratio is also just the job. Once you accept that, the nos stop feeling like verdicts.

Every question I get asked in these is one I’ve had myself at some point. That’s kind of the point. Live Zoom Q&A this Wednesday July 1 12pm PT. Free. Bring whatever’s been stuck in your head — craft, career, what to write next… Last day to grab a spot here. docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

Hollyweird Hang Q&A RSVP

Drop your email, name, and question (if you have it) for Wednesday July 1st's Hollyweird Hang. I'll send the zoom link to everyone who signs up.

docs.google.com

As a former reader, this is absolutely true. I never, ever had a script that opened with ten terrible pages change my mind by the end. Some people misunderstand this to mean your first ten pages can’t start slow. That’s not what I’m saying. The first 10 pages tell me if you can WRITE

Colby Day@colbyday.com · 2mo ago

The first ten pages of your screenplay aren’t the beginning of your story. They’re the audition. A tired reader isn’t asking “what happens next?” on page one. They’re asking: “Is this writer worth my time?” You answer that with voice. Confidence. The sense you know exactly where this is going.

The first ten pages of your screenplay aren’t the beginning of your story. They’re the audition. A tired reader isn’t asking “what happens next?” on page one. They’re asking: “Is this writer worth my time?” You answer that with voice. Confidence. The sense you know exactly where this is going.

You can stare at a structural problem for days and get nowhere. But take a walk, sleep on it, work on something else… and you’ll suddenly know exactly what to do. The best thing you can do with a script you’re stuck on: Put it down.

“Go where you’re wanted.” Stop trying to convince people who are already looking for the exit. Making a movie is a multi-year marriage. Don’t start it with someone who was lukewarm at the altar.

Most writing paralysis is just your brain in the future instead of the scene in front of you. Who’s here. What do they want. What’s in their way. That’s it. That’s today’s job. New Hollyweird on exactly this ->

I’m back

On taking it one day, or page, at a time

hollyweird.colbyday.com

Hot take: If you're on your third or fourth revision thinking “this is the final draft…” you’re probably wrong. Until the movie’s screening in front of an audience, there is no final draft. You’re going to be tweaking that thing all the way through. Trust me.

Most of a screenwriting career isn’t writing. It’s convincing people to let you write. Development meetings. Pitch calls. Emails that go unanswered. “We’re a big fan but…” If you’re worried you’re doing it wrong… you aren’t. This is how it goes.

I fear Hollywood is going to take all the wrong lessons from the breakout success of backrooms and double down on trying to find YouTube based IP when in fact what people love and cannot get enough of is the feeling of freaky liminal space

Most “no”s have nothing to do with your work. Slate full. Bad timing. Someone in the room had a weird personal association. We treat every pass like a verdict on our talent. It’s almost never that.

Writer’s block is mostly just your brain fast-forwarding to “what if this fails” instead of staying in the scene you’re actually writing. The fix: who’s here, what do they want, what’s in their way. Write that. Repeat.

Just came back from parental leave. First thing I noticed: Hollywood didn’t miss me. Choosing to find that reassuring. Everything I was working on is still here.

Listen to this ep for my hot take on Michel Gondry that he’s “Too French.”

Phillip Iscove@pmiscove.bsky.social · 4mo ago

This week on @podcastlikeits The 2000s @emilystjams.bsky.social and I start a brand new miniseries on Spike Jonze & Charlie Kaufman’s 2000s by talking Human Nature with In The Blink of an Eye screenwriter @colbyday.com! We discuss Michel Gondry, Charlie Kaufman’s transgender metaphors and Bjork!

This week on @podcastlikeits The 2000s @emilystjams.bsky.social and I start a brand new miniseries on Spike Jonze & Charlie Kaufman’s 2000s by talking Human Nature with In The Blink of an Eye screenwriter @colbyday.com! We discuss Michel Gondry, Charlie Kaufman’s transgender metaphors and Bjork!

“It never really gets easier to hear No.” I’ve been working in Hollywood for years. I’ve sold shows, written pilots, even made movies. And I still feel it every single time. Here’s what I’ve learned about what “No” actually means — and what it doesn’t. 🧵

This is my #1 piece of advice to screenwriters. Don't work with one giant document, put the date in the name of the file and then "Save As" today's date every day. Not only do you now have a Wayback Machine to your whole script, you now have the freedom to completely fuck up and only lose a day.

Colby Day@colbyday.com · 5mo ago

First: remember, you are not going to "break" it. The old draft isn't going anywhere. Save a new file every single day you work and you can always go backwards. The draft you have right now is the floor, not the ceiling. So stop nibbling around the edges. Pull the engine out of the car.

I got to talk to @benblacker.bsky.social, very smart writer and very smart writing in writing, about In the Blink of an Eye, making movies with your friends, and of course how crazy it is to get anything made in this business at all. benblacker.substack.com/p/colby-day-...

Colby Day (In the Blink of an Eye)

Plus: some live shows!

benblacker.substack.com

In today's Writers Panel, @colbyday.com discusses assurance in writing and business, learning by making, writing impossible-to-execute ideas, receiving notes + more. Plus, some fun live shows coming up! benblacker.substack.com/p/colby-day-...

Colby Day (In the Blink of an Eye)

Plus: some live shows!

benblacker.substack.com

“The difficulty is the friction of actually caring” is going to stick with me for a while

Colby Day@colbyday.com · 5mo ago

If the rewrite feels hard — good. That means you're probably doing it right. An easy rewrite is usually a polish in disguise. The difficulty is the friction of actually caring. Every writer you admire has sat exactly where you are right now.

Every writer hits "The Rewrite Suck." It's the moment you look at something you've been working on for months and think: "I can't figure this out. This sucks. I suck." I'm a working professional screenwriter. It happens on every project I've ever worked on. Here's how to survive it. 🧵

I talked with Final Draft about going from writing insane theater to writing insane films, and the advice for screenwriters I keep shouting from the rooftops — DO NOT FOLLOW THE MARKETPLACE, FOLLOW YOUR HEART! www.finaldraft.com/blog/write-t...