Tessera

Max Folkman

@maxfolkman.bsky.social

Writer, Director w/ @nickfolkman.bsky.social • Now: Senior Writer @ Riot Games • Prev: Spider-Man 2, Ratchet & Clank, Miles Morales, MASSIVE CHALICE • voice on @scriptlock.bsky.social • Rep: Dallaslyn Lamb

90 Posts1333 Follower 616 Folgt

Max Folkman @maxfolkman.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Script Lock lives!

Script Lock@scriptlock.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Surprise! We’re back with @courtney-woods.bsky.social and Ari Martinez to talk Ghost of Yotei! In this clip, Ari talks about the narrative tool Sucker Punch’s programming team built for the writers. scriptlock.simplecast.com/episodes/cou...

Emily Yoshida @emilyyoshida.bsky.social · 6mo ago

If we're lucky, someday we'll be able to look back and see that so much of what is wrong in the film (or any) industry right now is the narcissism of a gerontocracy who are old and incurious, but also delusional enough to still think they are the *least* old and incurious living generation.

Laura Michet @lmichet.bsky.social · 10mo ago

Learned that I am being laid off from Heart Machine, and will be leaving the studio later this month. Do you need a contractor? I've got a track record of leading scope-friendly script revisions late in dev. I have also done a lot of consulting on new IPs and pitches/demos. Feel free to DM me!

Max Folkman @maxfolkman.bsky.social · 10mo ago

FREAKON TOMORROW, FREAKS! Come see our talk that we’ll NEVER speak of AGAIN! Don’t even ask!!!

ally@allyhennessy.bsky.social · 10mo ago

FREAKON SCHEDULE IS LIVE ALSO NEW VENUE SORRY IT'S FREE www.freakon.com.au/blogs/news/f...

Max Folkman @maxfolkman.bsky.social · 11mo ago

A puppet holds a megaphone and announces “attention, freaks. It’s me.”

ally@allyhennessy.bsky.social · 11mo ago

Here's the lineup for FREAKON 2025 can you believe this shit lol www.freakon.com.au/blogs/news/f...

Ben Collins @bencollins.bsky.social · 11mo ago

From Wired a few weeks ago. A lot of the people who I was told for years were the adults in the room are being asked how they want to be remembered, and that answer is very clearly "cowards." www.wired.com/story/uncann...

Max Folkman @maxfolkman.bsky.social · 11mo ago

RIP sweet prince. May you sploot forever more in the giant cardboard box in the sky 🫡

Cathy Leamy@metrokitty.bsky.social · 11mo ago

Aw man, no, RIP Maru the cat. That little man brought so much joy to my life for years and years. ❤️ en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maru_(c...

RS Benedict @rsbenedict.bsky.social · 12mo ago

Writers should internalize Lao Tzu's lesson about how the emptiness at the center of a wheel is what makes it useful, and how a pot is valuable because of where the clay *isn't*. Corporate geek culture has warped us into thinking that negative spaces are flaws that need to be fixed.

Will Weldon@oldmanweldon.bsky.social · 12mo ago

Can't stress this enough: nobody fucking cares what he was up to

Warner Bros. has said The Hunt for Gollum is in fact the first of two new Lord of the Rings feature films from Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh, and Philippa Boyens based on J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth, as the company aims to make more of the franchise. With The Hunt for Gollum, we’ll get to see what Gollum was up to in the years between The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.

megan farokhmanesh @megannicolett.bsky.social · 12mo ago

working on something a little different than usual! looking to speak with women of all ages and backgrounds about their life experiences. short questionnaire here, shares very welcome docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

Questionnaire

docs.google.com

Kaleb Horton @kalebhorton.bsky.social · 2y ago

Need to cheer myself up so here's the best Twitter post ever. It spawned one billion bad ripoffs but it's a beautiful magic trick. You don't just read it in his voice: he said it now. This quote is real.

Jason Song Quinn (Comms Open)@hulkhoquinn.bsky.social · last yr.

Needed this reminder today.

Fox Mulder from X-Files saying “Hey, you got to stay alive if you want to stick it to the government”

“If you die, you let them off the hook.”

Lila Byock @lbyock.bsky.social · last yr.

Oh no what if they turn this insanely popular young progressive into a national figure, anything but that

Eric Michael Garcia@ericmgarcia.bsky.social · last yr.

Via Maggie Haberman: "Allies of President Trump are already gearing up to turn Mamdani into a national figure to attack and tether to other Democrats ahead of the midterms." www.nytimes.com/live/2025/06...

Max Folkman @maxfolkman.bsky.social · last yr.

Aaaahhhhhhhhhhh

Dave Itzkoff @ditzkoff.bsky.social · last yr.

I’m late to this interview with Tony Gilroy but I think his answer, about why most art is progressive, hits the nail on the head. www.nytimes.com/2025/06/05/o...

Gilroy: You could say: Why has Hollywood for the last 100 years been progressive or been liberal? I think it’s much larger. I’ll go further and say: Why does almost all literature, why does almost all art that involves humans trend progressive?

Let’s stick with Hollywood. Making a living as an actor or as a writer or a director — without the higher degree of empathy that you have, the more aware you are of behavior and all kinds of behavior, the better you’re going to be at your job. We feed our families by being in an empathy business. It’s just baked in. You’re trying to pretend to be other people. The whole job is to pretend to be other, and what is it like to look from this? People may be less successful over time at portraying Nazis as humans, and that may be good writing or bad writing, and there may be people that have an ax to grind. But in general, empathy is how I feed my family. And the more finely tuned that is, the better I am at my job.

That is what actors do: I’m going on Broadway, I’m playing a villain for six months. I got to live in that. I’m playing the slave, I’m playing the fisherman, I’m playing the nurse, I’m the murderer — you have to get in there. You have to live lives through other people. I think that the simple act of that transformation and that process automatically gives you what I would describe as a more generous and progressive point of view. It just has to.

And I don’t see how you can buy, if you’re going to reissue the Hardy Boys or try to twist a knot and say that Melville or the Coen brothers made a piece of right-wing art because you see something in there — I think it really misses the larger point of the struggle that that movement is going to be up against. Does that make any sense to you?

Max Folkman @maxfolkman.bsky.social · last yr.

How dare Nintendo put in a great lil slow jam for when you set up the Switch 2, and yet still deny us eShop music

Script Lock @scriptlock.bsky.social · last yr.

Hello hello! We're back with @blendogames.bsky.social & @lmichet.bsky.social this week to talk earnestness in storytelling, working w/ external writers, when to overexplain things, deranged subreddits, and in this clip, making a comedic immersive sim! scriptlock.simplecast.com/episodes/bre...

Glennyrodge @glennyrodge.bsky.social · last yr.

I saw the Curious Case of Benjamin Button again last night. Never gets old.

CRIMINAL SIMPSONS @criminalsimpsons.bsky.social · last yr.

Josh Gondelman @joshgondelman.bsky.social · last yr.

I can't believe we have a Pope from Illinois. People from Chicago usually hate the Cardinals.

Max Folkman @maxfolkman.bsky.social · last yr.

The Three States of Employment: - Laid Off - Waiting to be Laid Off - Executive

Moo Yu (Mythmatch Out Now!)@oneofmoo.bsky.social · last yr.

It's rare that I see an entry-level writing job in games so I wanted to share that Media Molecule is hiring a writer. www.brightnetwork.co.uk/graduate-job... On site in Guildford.

Media Molecule - Writer 2025

Apply today for the Writer 2025 with Media Molecule. And find the best graduate job opportunities on Bright Network.

brightnetwork.co.uk

eric stirpē @stirpicus.bsky.social · last yr.

It’s true! We’re looking to add a new writer to the team. (Onsite here in Finland only.)

Andy Walsh@englishscribe.bsky.social · last yr.

OPPORTUNITY Writer- onsite - Remedy Not affiliated. Shares welcome emp.jobylon.com/jobs/287357-...

Script Lock @scriptlock.bsky.social · last yr.

ICYMI we put out a new GDC Grab Bag episode this week! You can listen to amazing guests like @vincentperea.bsky.social talk about simplification, and how a great entree can be just as memorable as a nine-course meal. scriptlock.simplecast.com/episodes/the...

John Bull @garius.bsky.social · last yr.

I've actually used/quoted a line from this on multiple occasions: "We could take the appalling risk of just recklessly mentioning things that people won't have heard of and see if they survive the experience. They probably will."

Gemma Arrowsmith@mmaarrow.bsky.social · last yr.

Haha! Love this letter from Douglas Adams to his US editor about not Americanising the text of Hitchhiker's Guide. 🐋🌸

Date: Monday, January 13, 1992, 5:26 pm
To: Byron Preiss
Dear Byron,
Thanks for the script of the novel. I don't know what happened to the
first one. It may have been a victim of the office move (see above).
I'll respond as quickly and briefly as possible.
One general point. A thing I have had said to me over and over again
whenever I've done public appearances and readings and so on in the
States is this: Please don't let anyone Americanise it! We like it the
way it is!
There are some changes in the script that simply don't make sense.
Arthur Dent is English, the setting is England, and has been in every
single manifestation of HHGG ever. The 'Horse and Groom' pub that
Arthur and Ford go to is an English pub, the 'pounds' they pay with

Max Folkman @maxfolkman.bsky.social · last yr.

🚨New episode!🚨 Got to talk with a bunch of folks and ask hard-hitting questions like “who’s your favorite person you’ve ever worked with?”

Script Lock@scriptlock.bsky.social · last yr.

We return with another GDC Grab Bag episode full of wonderful guests, including @thewritegame.bsky.social! In this clip she talks about the issues teams can run into when they get stuck on process. scriptlock.simplecast.com/episodes/the...

Max Folkman @maxfolkman.bsky.social · last yr.

In honor of Val Kilmer, I recommend everyone watch the commentary for Kiss Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, where he spends the entire time name dropping celebrities for a contest on his website

Joseph Galbo @josephgalbo.bsky.social · last yr.

When I hear people describe themselves as content creators.

An older Orson Welles sitting down for an interview, but with a meme quote that says: Content, content, content! A taco possesses content. A ship's manifest. An owner's manual for the operation of a microwave. Was Botticelli a content creator? Did Joyce wreck himself in chasing English to its limits "for the vine"? My God, man; have a little self respect.

Max Folkman @maxfolkman.bsky.social · last yr.

📝🔒📌

Josh Scherr @joshscherr.bsky.social · last yr.

I do love my chosen profession, but lately

David Lynch as John Ford, sitting at a desk with a cigar, saying "they tell me you want to be a video game maker," by contrast from The Fabelmans where he says "picture maker"

David Lynch as John Ford says "This business, it'll rip you apart."

Jason Schreier@jasonschreier.bsky.social · last yr.

BREAKING: Warner Bros. Games is shutting down Monolith Productions, Player First Games, and WB San Diego, sources tell Bloomberg News. Warner Bros. is also canceling the Wonder Woman game.

Max Folkman @maxfolkman.bsky.social · last yr.

Some great stuff in this 2010 interview with Alex Garland after working on his (so far) only video game (Enslaved: Odyssey to the West) "It's not important for everyone to understand storytelling, but it's important for them to respect it." web.archive.org/web/20101007...

Interviewer: There’s also often one writer, Marc Laidlaw, who drives the story. Is that sufficient, do you think, or should all developers learn to become good storytellers to a degree?
Garland: That’s a really, really big question. The first thing I’d say, and I want to make this really clear, is that I was not the writer on Enslaved in the way that Marc is the writer on Half-Life. I was very emphatically a co-writer. When I arrived at that project, the levels and the characters pre-existed. Not only that, but much of the required scenes between the characters already existed as well. So, in the way I conceptualise a writer, in that he begins with a blank sheet of paper, I was not the writer.

With regard to narrative, I think what I’d say is that it’s not important for everyone to understand storytelling, but it’s important for them to respect it. If you’re going to have a narrative within a game, you have to see it as being as valid as the gameplay. That’s what it boils down to. So here [gestures towards the door] is a film production company, and lots of different people are working on Judge Dredd behind us right now. Some of them will have narrative uppermost in their minds, and some of them won’t; some of them will be thinking: ‘How do I design this gun?’ And the design will have some narrative components.

It’s got to have a display that tells you what kind of ammo you’re using, stuff like that. But they’re not really thinking about the overall narrative picture and they don’t have to, but they’re also not going to do stuff that contradicts it, and if they do then someone else will correct it.

Garland: I guess if I were to make a criticism it would relate to character and consistency. Making sure characters are true to themselves, and true to some kind of larger truth, which relates to the recipients of the narrative. That is to say, the player. Us. For example, I think the first serious discussion we had about the narrative was on the very first day that I, Tameem and the level designers all sat down together. We got to a section where Monkey was walking down a walkway, and he sees an escaping slave trying to pull himself up to the walkway. And instead of helping the guy up, Monkey kicked him in the face and sent him to his death. They thought that projected the idea that Monkey was a badass. Whereas, to me, it projected the idea that Monkey was a bit of a cunt.

I think that highlighted a difference in our approach to character. This is a generalisation, and I know there are plenty of exceptions to the rule, but game design has a tendency to be fast and loose with character, whereas in film and books, character is handled with kid gloves. Ultimately, if you want to be serious about narrative, you have to be serious about character too.

Garland: That said, I wouldn’t want to let games off the hook. Games can and will be high art. I don’t think Rez is Hamlet, but I think Hamlet will one day exist in games. Other people might not like Hamlet and prefer Rez instead. That’s fine. What I do think, though, is that the games industry has some very serious problems to address. It seems to me that what’s happened is that in its organic development, it has leapfrogged some key stages and has jumped straight to bloated Hollywood megabucks, mega-resources-type products. That’s really dangerous.

I say that from the point of view of someone who has an agenda, because I work in the film industry and struggle constantly with the consequences of these things within film - how you get finance, how you actually make a film while dealing with an industry that, in some ways, is only seriously interested in big franchise movies. Dredd we’re going to try to make for $30 million. Studios don’t want to make films for $30 million, they want to make them for $200 million for all sorts of reasons.

Interviewer: Do gamers - fans - ultimately need to evolve as much as games do themselves?
Garland: Fans are dangerous - and I say that as a fan. What happens as a fan is that you start to define what you want that thing to be. And, broadly speaking, the people who are doing what they’re doing should do it in a vacuum. They should not really be listening to anybody. They should be closing out as many voices as possible. Closing out the voices that say this film or game should have a love interest; closing out the fans that say they like this gun from the first game, and that if this gun’s not in it, they’ll hate the second one. They should do what they feel is the right thing to do, and people like me at the other end - the receivers - can then make their own minds up.