Jonathon E. Stewart Profile Banner
Jonathon E. Stewart Profile
Jonathon E. Stewart

@JEStew3

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Screenwriter at Pixar, WB, Dreamworks, Paramount, Sony, Netflix | TEDx Speaker | Media & Generative AI Consultant | Hubby | Dad | Dude

Hermosa Beach, CA
Joined November 2009
Don't wanna be here? Send us removal request.
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@JEStew3
Jonathon E. Stewart
2 years
I think eventually you write and rewrite and tear up and get rejected enough that it eventually becomes roughly as hard as taking a shower. Which can still be tough.
@AnnieKoyama
Annie Koyama
2 years
Please tell me that writing gets easier, the more you write?
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@JEStew3
Jonathon E. Stewart
20 days
So I talked with a few manager / agent friends and asked them a simple question: what will get you to read an unrepped, unproduced screenwriter? This is what I learned. 1/10
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@JEStew3
Jonathon E. Stewart
1 year
I have been a consistently employed studio feature screenwriter for over a decade. Movies I've been fortunate to work on have grossed nearly a billion dollars worldwide. I have yet to write and sell a spec. #screenwritingtwitter 1/17
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@JEStew3
Jonathon E. Stewart
2 years
Was talking with a mentee the other day about the best way to "break in" as a screenwriter... A couple thoughts maybe worth sharing, though caveat emptor––as someone smarter than me once said, I can't tell you how to rob a bank. But I can show you how I did it. 1/18
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@JEStew3
Jonathon E. Stewart
1 month
11 years ago, on my daughter's 2nd birthday, I got a call from the head of development at @Pixar Animation. That call changed my life forever. 1/9
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@JEStew3
Jonathon E. Stewart
1 month
10 reasons to stay and watch the credits... Last night my wife and I watched Titanic with the kids. I haven't seen it in probably 20 years, but remember the movie like the back of my hand. First of all, it's a truly incredible feat of filmmaking, to the day.
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Jonathon E. Stewart
11 days
Friends! Trying something new today. If you're up for playing, reply here and show me your best longline in 280 characters or less. Over the weekend I will pick three and DM the screenwriters behind them with requests to read the first 10 pages of their scripts. #writerslift
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Jonathon E. Stewart
1 month
1. Every single one of the names we see is a real person who spent weeks or months or years working on the thing we watched in a couple hours or less. They all poured their heart and soul into making this thing. I like being able to do a little energetic nod to them as I read
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@JEStew3
Jonathon E. Stewart
22 days
This might sound crazy, but I don't believe in writer's block. And I don't think you should either. Let me explain. 1/8
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@JEStew3
Jonathon E. Stewart
1 year
So have faith! Keep writing, keep learning. Find people you trust who can help. And above all else, don't give up. It's the #1 common denominator of everyone I know who has found success in Hollywood... And who knows maybe someday I'll sell a spec, too ;) 17/17
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@JEStew3
Jonathon E. Stewart
2 years
I really hope this perspective helps. For what it's worth I have to remind myself of it often... this is a tough and mercurial business and writers get stepped on a lot. But ultimately it's been completely worth it. Good luck our there––keep up the great work! 18/18
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@JEStew3
Jonathon E. Stewart
29 days
“Getting meaningful industry reads” (especially agents and managers) is the number one priority for emerging screenwriters. I have thoughts. 1/8
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@JEStew3
Jonathon E. Stewart
2 years
Pretty much pitch-perfect... #GenX
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@JEStew3
Jonathon E. Stewart
20 days
Most of all, KEEP GOING! You are on the right track––you got this. Happy Tuesday, all. 10/10
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@JEStew3
Jonathon E. Stewart
20 days
It only takes ONE. So keep searching. Do things that other people are not doing. Spend the time you would spend querying and think about ways to genuinely build your network. Querying is cold calling. Having a champion is about making you hot, and attracting people to you. See
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@JEStew3
Jonathon E. Stewart
20 days
Keep sharing your material with anyone you know who believes in you, who really responds to your writing. Find allies, even if they are not directly or obviously in close proximity to reps. Use your contact list to really appeal to people who already know or like you. 8/10
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@JEStew3
Jonathon E. Stewart
13 days
I'm often asked what I think about working with a screenwriting partner. Mine and I have been together for ~18 years (and friends for ~30), so I have a few thoughts. Here are 10 things I know from experience about having a writing partner: 1/13
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@JEStew3
Jonathon E. Stewart
20 days
Unless you win them, contests don't generally help on their own. Even then, which contest / festival you win makes a difference. 2/10
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@JEStew3
Jonathon E. Stewart
19 days
Yesterday on the way to an actual in-person meeting on the studio lot I got a text from my writing partner: you wearing a black v-neck T? Which made me laugh––after 4+ years of Covid-induced zooms, I did have to actually think about what a screenwriter wears to a meeting. 1/10
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@JEStew3
Jonathon E. Stewart
20 days
Getting back to reps, the one thing they all agreed on: if someone they know, trust, and value hands them a script and says some version of "YOU HAVE TO READ THIS" or "dude you've gotta read this you'll know what to do with it / with this writer" etc or better yet "you need to
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@JEStew3
Jonathon E. Stewart
1 month
Congrats to the whole team, but especially to John Hoffman (Head of Story, you ROCK!!) and Meg Lafauve, whose whole heart is in this movie and everything she does. She is a true warrior in the craft of screenwriting and a beautiful soul––if you want to be a better writer, be
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@JEStew3
Jonathon E. Stewart
6 days
Screenwriting friends! Thanks to all for playing along and sharing loglines last week––apologies for the delay in following up. I, too, got stuck in the crowd strike glitch and am just now booting back up ;). 1/5
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@JEStew3
Jonathon E. Stewart
27 days
I’ve gotten a lot of common questions from screenwriters lately: how can I get people to read my stuff? How do I network when I don’t know anyone? How do I find an agent or a manager? To help as many people as I can at once, I’ll be discussing these and other screenwriting
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@JEStew3
Jonathon E. Stewart
16 days
This is something I have leaned about making art, for me: I do not have to love it. I do not have to even enjoy (though I often do). But I do have to make space for it. I have to set aside time for it. Art does not just happen. We need to show up. Screenwriting takes
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@JEStew3
Jonathon E. Stewart
20 days
I'll insert a little personal-experience advice here: there is no prescribed path, no formula or how-to step by step to break into this business as a screenwriter. Our brains crave something like this, and want to be taking steps to make it happen, but again, there is no
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@JEStew3
Jonathon E. Stewart
2 years
Steven Soderbergh once wrote that talent + perseverance = luck. I believe this. Do everything you can to improve your craft, work hard, don't quit. And have faith. That will get you through the dark times. 17/18
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@JEStew3
Jonathon E. Stewart
20 days
So then the trick is, how do you make that happen? How do you create heat for yourself? My contention is that while sometimes contests / festivals may help here (again, if you win), te better path is to FIND YOUR CHAMPION. 7/10
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@JEStew3
Jonathon E. Stewart
1 year
I will muse about this on another thread, but in my experience it's mostly networking, doing great work, thinking outside the box, being smart, calling in favors, being relentlessly persistent... 16/17
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@JEStew3
Jonathon E. Stewart
22 days
Hey #WritingCommunity I didn't want the day to go by without making an intro! So this is me, at Hotel Ziggy in LA hanging with my wife and kids, about to listen to some local rock bands. Technically not a selfie since my daughter took the photo and told me to look
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@JEStew3
Jonathon E. Stewart
2 years
I say this with all due respect to fellow humans big & small but I really don't think #TheWhale is actually about being fat. I think it's about universally relatable grief, loss, mistakes, regrets and ultimately, salvation. Made me cry anyway. Bravo! @DarrenAronofsky
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@JEStew3
Jonathon E. Stewart
1 year
Some writers get anxious between turning in a draft and getting notes from the studio––for me it's the most precious, wonderfully relaxed window of time when the script lives in sweet suspended animation, rose-tinted and beautiful, a world of nothing but pure potential ahead.
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@JEStew3
Jonathon E. Stewart
20 days
Your path just requires a little more outside-the-box thinking, dare I say a little more creativity. (It also requires an undeniable, kickass, amazing sample. This is essential. I mean unless you want to be the Hawk Tuah girl. Then just keep hoping to get lucky, I guess?) 5/10
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@JEStew3
Jonathon E. Stewart
20 days
Most (good) reps don't respond to queries. IF there's absolutely nothing else going on, and you somehow have an idea that cuts through literally every other idea that crosses their inbox, there's a slim chance your query will be seen. But read? None of the reps I talked to ever
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@JEStew3
Jonathon E. Stewart
1 year
And don't get me wrong: a strong spec is probably your best tool for "breaking in" as a screenwriter. I just think it's probably much smarter to spend your time improving your craft, rather than engaging in the hamster wheel gamification of the screenplay contest. 12/17
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@JEStew3
Jonathon E. Stewart
2 years
A SCREENWRITER'S #NYE WISH FOR 2023 May every phone call be returned And every meeting be confirmed May your name be spelled correctly And every turn executed adeptly 1/4
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@JEStew3
Jonathon E. Stewart
2 years
The moral here from my perspective boils down to a couple simple things: make sure your sample is great, not just good. This takes work, perseverance and patience. Then do everything you can to get it in front of people who will want to help you, because your spec is great. 12/18
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Jonathon E. Stewart
15 days
Friends, PSA today—if you have not heard of The Screenwriting Life podcast, then you have probably heard of @lorienmckenna and Meg LeFauve. If you have not heard of these brilliant women, let’s try Pixar? Emmy and Oscar nominated screenwriters? Inside Out 1 & 2?? In any
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@JEStew3
Jonathon E. Stewart
1 year
The question then, is, what do you do with a great spec once you have it? The simple answer (which is anything but) in my humble opinion is: get it into the hands of people who actually make movies. There is no path for this, no online upload button, no guarantee. 15/17
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@JEStew3
Jonathon E. Stewart
1 month
10. It gives us a few minutes to breathe and reflect on what we just watched.
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@JEStew3
Jonathon E. Stewart
2 years
This may be unpopular, but screenplay contests and "querying" can be wholly disconnected from the apparatus that actually makes movies in Hollywood. In these scenarios you are throwing your work into a literally never-ending pile that (maybe) gets read by low-level readers. 13/18
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@JEStew3
Jonathon E. Stewart
4 days
Hello screenwriting friends and #writercommunity ! I'm here to announce we've got 3 amazing screenwriters whose loglines and first 10 pages will be featured and discussed TONIGHT AT 6:30pm PDT* on a livestream right here: *Please note the time change
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@JEStew3
Jonathon E. Stewart
1 month
9. There’s usually some awesome music to enjoy.
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@JEStew3
Jonathon E. Stewart
1 month
8. We can figure out the names of the actors and their roles without having to pick up our phones. (Old school!)
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@JEStew3
Jonathon E. Stewart
1 year
(If I had a dime for every time I googled, "how to get into commercial real estate" I would have more money than I've made in animation residuals in a decade - fun fact: feature animation writers don't get residuals because we are not covered by the WGA.) 5/17
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@JEStew3
Jonathon E. Stewart
1 year
But back here to 2023, it is nearly impossible to write and sell a spec feature without any attachments (producer, director, movie star), yet the notion that this is how you break in prevails. 6/17
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@JEStew3
Jonathon E. Stewart
1 month
7. Some movies have some really sickly-designed end-title sequences that are mini-works of art on their own.
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@JEStew3
Jonathon E. Stewart
1 year
The other thing I think, as much as I hate to say it, is that the notion prevails in large part because of the ancillary business of screenplay contests and pay-for-coverage providers in Hollywood. 10/17
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@JEStew3
Jonathon E. Stewart
1 month
What is the number one challenge you are currently facing in your path to where you want to be as a screenwriter? It might be about breaking into the business, your craft, networking, figuring out what to do next… I’ll start. Nobody reads anymore, which is tough to grapple
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@JEStew3
Jonathon E. Stewart
1 year
In fact, a friend of mine wrote and sold a spec right after college. We were all like, whoa, this dude just made it. I think he stopped being a screenwriter (forever) about 2 years later. (He is in commercial real estate now and doing just fine, in case you were worried.) 4/17
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@JEStew3
Jonathon E. Stewart
1 year
My theory is that it's (at least) a couple things. The first is that in the wild west of a career choice, we cling to anything and everything that has even the remotest semblance of a path. It's also something to aspire to that seems simple enough. 9/17
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@JEStew3
Jonathon E. Stewart
1 year
Hi @johnaugust Got a Q from a writer I thought you might be perfect to answer. She writes “If a strike were to happen, should nonunion writers decline fellowship offers w the big studios like Uni or WB or Disney if they got accepted into the program?” Thoughts? Thx! #Scriptnotes
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@JEStew3
Jonathon E. Stewart
1 month
4. We get to see all the names of all the awesome songs and needle drops from the movie and who wrote and performed them, one of the best ways to discover new great music.
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@JEStew3
Jonathon E. Stewart
1 year
When I started out, and for many years after, there was this prevailing notion that this is how you break into Hollywood: write a great movie, sell it, poof you've made it. 2/17
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@JEStew3
Jonathon E. Stewart
1 month
2. There’s always a chance the very last frames of the film are something like Ferris Buller breaking the 4th wall and telling us to go home.
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@JEStew3
Jonathon E. Stewart
2 years
But in these hundred plus meetings, we were introduced to the people who make movies. They hire writers on assignment. They source material. They need things fixed. They are the ones we've worked for over the past decade plus. 11/18
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@JEStew3
Jonathon E. Stewart
1 year
Did you know, by the way, that even if you somehow manage to sell a screenplay outright, with no additional deal steps, you don't actually meet the minimum requirements to join the WGA? But I digress... 7/17
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@JEStew3
Jonathon E. Stewart
2 years
This all started for me with a spec script my writing partner and I wrote and rewrote and got to a point where is was great. Not good, but great. When people read a great script, they react differently than they do to a good script, starting with: they call you. 7/18
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@JEStew3
Jonathon E. Stewart
1 year
The "send your script to someone, pay them money to tell you what they think of it, get a digital reward you can post on social media" relies on it. 11/17
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@JEStew3
Jonathon E. Stewart
1 month
5. Bloopers!
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@JEStew3
Jonathon E. Stewart
1 month
I am so blown away by all the amazing loglines and one sheets that came from #screenpit yesterday. You guys are inspiring and awesome! (And kudos to everyone at @ScreenPit for making it happen!) I've gotten a lot of outreach this week from writers with finished specs asking the
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@JEStew3
Jonathon E. Stewart
1 year
To be fair, when I started out - in the 1900s, as my children like to put it - you could actually write a spec and sell it without any attachments for a good amount of money. But it didn't necessarily translate into a career. 3/17
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@JEStew3
Jonathon E. Stewart
1 year
Screenwriting is a skill like any other - you get better by studying it, and practicing. Remember how to get to Carnegie Hall? 14/17
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@JEStew3
Jonathon E. Stewart
1 year
So the question is, why? Why do aspiring screenwriters continue to toil under the notion that a great screenplay will somehow make its way to a buyer who will offer up lots of money for it and poof you'll be a working screenwriter? 8/17
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@JEStew3
Jonathon E. Stewart
1 year
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@JEStew3
Jonathon E. Stewart
1 month
Today, 11 years later, I played my Father's Day card and took the whole family to see Inside Out 2, and... it was everything I'd hoped it would be. A nostalgic walk through the past 11 years, an incredible, funny, heartwarming movie, and an amazing day for the four of us. 8/9
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@JEStew3
Jonathon E. Stewart
1 month
3. We get to muse with our friends over what the job of Best Boy actually is.
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@JEStew3
Jonathon E. Stewart
1 year
AN ODE TO FINAL DRAFT Oh, Final Draft, How do I love thee Let me count the ways... Okay it's zero. There are zero ways. You're lucky I'm too curmudgeonly and lazy to learn a new platform. *Stands on lawn and shakes fist.* #screenwritingtwitter
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@JEStew3
Jonathon E. Stewart
2 years
In our case, one of the people we'd given it to called and said she knew two reps who would love it and could she send it to them. We said yes, duh. Those two reps are our manager and agent of over 10 years now. 8/18
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@JEStew3
Jonathon E. Stewart
1 month
6. There might actually be some story left to come that we’ll miss if we leave the theater or platform.
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@JEStew3
Jonathon E. Stewart
2 years
If you've got a great spec, treat it that way. Get it to the person or people who are closest to producers and execs and agents and managers––ideally people who like you and want to help get your great script the attention it deserves. 14/18
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@JEStew3
Jonathon E. Stewart
2 years
Sounds depressing. But this is where the misconception comes in as far as "breaking in" goes. From my perspective, being a working screenwriter is less about selling spec scripts and more about doing A-list quality work for A-list quality partners. 6/18
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@JEStew3
Jonathon E. Stewart
1 year
I also get that validation helps. For sure. Screenwriting is a harrowing endeavor and sometimes it's just nice to have someone say, "Hey! Good job." But the $$ can add up. 13/17
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@JEStew3
Jonathon E. Stewart
1 month
It's kind of a lost practice. But I think we should bring it back. So without further ado, here an internet-friendly list of 10 reasons why I think we should stay and watch the credits:
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@JEStew3
Jonathon E. Stewart
11 days
THEN, if our screenwriters are game, I will plan a livestream where I talk about all of the above for an evening next week, and invite the screenwriters to join as co-hosts. Hopefully we can all learn something from it... Look forward to seeing your ideas! Happy Thursday, all.
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@JEStew3
Jonathon E. Stewart
1 month
The 25 year old VFX actually hold up. The script is amazing, the acting is amazing. It's an inarguable great movie that deserves the place it's earned in cinematic history. And the kids loved it, too.
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@JEStew3
Jonathon E. Stewart
2 years
I think there's a common prevailing notion that "breaking in" means selling a script––but "selling a script" doesn't even necessarily mean what it used to. 2/18
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@JEStew3
Jonathon E. Stewart
2 years
But here's the thing––"naked specs" are selling even less. (A "naked spec" is one that has no attachment––director, star, producer, etc.) Almost never right now in fact, even if you're an established writer. 4/18
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@JEStew3
Jonathon E. Stewart
2 years
Compared with 10 or 20 years ago, the ratio of spec buys to green-lit movies is WAY smaller––put another way, studios are buying fewer spec scripts (but possibly making a greater number of the ones they do buy, silver lining?) 3/18
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@JEStew3
Jonathon E. Stewart
1 month
It's not something I always do anymore at home because the streamers are always trying to get you to watch the next thing, or kick you off if you can't press the right combination of buttons in less than a few seconds.
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@JEStew3
Jonathon E. Stewart
2 years
This ultimately led to over a hundred meetings on our "water bottle tour." (It's called this because when you go on these general meetings, you're always offered a water bottle 🤣 Sometimes it's something fancier.) 10/18
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@JEStew3
Jonathon E. Stewart
1 month
But once thing hit me that I've been thinking about lately... When I was a kid, entranced by the magic of movies on a regular basis and at the movie theater any time a new one came out, I was in the habit of staying through the credits to the very end.
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@JEStew3
Jonathon E. Stewart
27 days
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@JEStew3
Jonathon E. Stewart
1 month
So we put our years of training to work, broke down the script and found solutions to propose for all of its issues, met with the whole team, hit it off, and got the job on the spot. One of our biggest triumphs to date. And the beginning of 14 months working on Cars 3. 4/9
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@JEStew3
Jonathon E. Stewart
1 month
One of the amazing perks of working at Pixar as a writer is that you get to sit in on other movies' screenings to offer notes, thoughts, support, etc. On our second day there, we got to see one of these early animatics of a film in production: Inside Out. 5/9
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@JEStew3
Jonathon E. Stewart
2 years
(Just a reminder here that this is another reason why your spec has to be great. All of this falls apart if it's just good. Or godforbid not good 😬.) 15/18
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@JEStew3
Jonathon E. Stewart
2 years
And then just keep after it. Keep meeting new people, making new friends in the industry. Getting your material in front of new people until the right one clicks. 16/18
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@JEStew3
Jonathon E. Stewart
2 years
Most scripts that are being "bought" are ones that have been able to attract meaningful attachments, but even then a script is more likely to be optioned than bought outright––again, studios hedging against spending $$ on scripts that never get made. 5/18
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@JEStew3
Jonathon E. Stewart
2 years
Hakeem Jeffries 212 Hakeem Jeffries 212 Hakeem Jeffries 212 Hakeem Jeffries 212 Hakeem Jeffries 212 Hakeem Jeffries 212 We can do this for as long as #HouseofRepresentatives #GOP wants to continue stalling this Congress from getting anything done.
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@JEStew3
Jonathon E. Stewart
2 years
But when we first met, they were candid: there's not a huge chance this script will sell. What they told us was people would love the script, and could they send it out to producers, studio execs, prod cos, etc. We said yes, duh. 9/18
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@JEStew3
Jonathon E. Stewart
1 month
My daughter just turned 13 and my son is 14, and my wife and I are very suddenly in the zone of opening up movies and TV previously unconsidered for them to watch. We ask ourselves often, is this one fair game, or is it too early still?
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@JEStew3
Jonathon E. Stewart
11 days
I will read them, make notes, see what's working, what's not, where there is promise, how they might be improved, etc. and get back to them. 2/3
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@JEStew3
Jonathon E. Stewart
1 month
(Even when it’s a bad one, which happens to the best of us from time to time!)
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@JEStew3
Jonathon E. Stewart
1 year
Okay. Got kids to school, exercised, meditated, ate breakfast, read the news did the worlde researched cancer texted a friend soon to have tweeted I guess it's time to write now? #screenwritingtwitter
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@JEStew3
Jonathon E. Stewart
1 month
My writing partner and I looked at each other afterward and were like, now THAT'S a movie. A few little things changed between then and the movie we all know, but those filmmakers knew what they were doing. The DNA was there, and everyone knew it was something special. 7/9
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@JEStew3
Jonathon E. Stewart
22 days
Writer's block happens in basically 2 ways, both curable. The first is procrastination. We do literally anything to avoid sitting down and writing. I am guilty of this one. But honestly the way you beat it is to just sit down and start writing. It really is that simple. 2/8
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@JEStew3
Jonathon E. Stewart
2 years
It’s a pretty awesome feeling walking down for lunch and running smack into a company meeting celebrating a pair of Oscar nominations. Bravo, filmmakers and studio!
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@JEStew3
Jonathon E. Stewart
1 month
But on that call six months later, she told us they had a script that needed a new draft, could we take a look and come up for a meeting to give them our thoughts? Ummmmmmm hell yes! 🤣 3/9
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@JEStew3
Jonathon E. Stewart
1 month
It was the 4th or 5th screening (out of about 7 before release date, so still quite a ways from being finished) and only a couple sequences were in layout, otherwise it was all in boards. And let me tell you... it was AMAZING. 6/9
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@JEStew3
Jonathon E. Stewart
4 days
So, without further ado... Congrats to Tom Schrack @tschrack for FIDDLERS! A sheltered fiddler crab is thrust out of the creek, with his little sister, into a global climate crisis where they team up with animals they've always feared to save their habitat and free their colony
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@JEStew3
Jonathon E. Stewart
1 month
After a fantastic lunch meeting with her six months earlier, she left my writing partner and I with her typical caveat for writers she meets: we hire zero to one writer a year, you have to work on site in the Bay Area, and we have nothing for you right now. 2/9
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