JOIN US TODAY as we welcome our very own "The Writer's Forge Member CHRIS DYER, ACTOR, WRITER & SNAPPY DRESSER to our Wednesday business talk where he will discuss everything Vertical, Micro Drama and he promises not to trigger anyone with AI talk (Insert Evil Laugh Here). (Chris' Internal Voice): "Keep it professional Chris. Oh be quiet. Anyways..." MICRO DRAMAS & THE FUTURE OF STORYTELLING A Live Workshop with Chris Dyer What if Vertical Dramas/Micro Series weren’t just “TikTok content”… but a strategic tool to get your REAL Film/TV projects seen, built, financed, or even discovered? In this live workshop, we’ll break down the rapidly growing world of Vertical Storytelling — from platforms like ReelShort and DramaBox to the larger creator economy shift happening across TikTok, YouTube, and beyond. We’ll cover: - Why vertical dramas are exploding globally - How mobile-first storytelling changes writing structure - Hook + cliffhanger engineering - Why audiences get addicted to these formats - The difference between traditional TV writing vs vertical pacing - How creators are using verticals as proof-of-concept IP - AI, creator-owned entertainment, and the future of Hollywood - How verticals could help writers get visibility, build leverage, and create opportunities for their “real” projects - Production, monetization, and viral marketing strategies - A live mini writer’s room + working session where you’ll start building your own concept This is NOT a “TikTok is the future, cinema is dead” lecture. It’s a practical, honest, and slightly rebellious conversation about where storytelling, audience behavior, and creator leverage may be heading next. Whether you’re curious, skeptical, fascinated, terrified, or convinced verticals are destroying civilization… this workshop is designed to challenge your perspective and give you actionable tools for the modern entertainment landscape. Because the future may belong to creators who stop waiting for permission.

I was involved in facilitating a pitch and/or new idea synopsis event, and in retrospect, the event was a lesson in clarity. Though all the writers had unique ideas, there were loglines that each sentence felt like a different story, synopses that were unclear about what story they were going to tell, and the pitch was not prepared and meandered. It was annoying, and that judgment of them by me reflected directly back at me because I know I've done and will do the same thing in the future. I certainly have my daily/weekly moments where I've written something that doesn't add to the story, or it violates the rules of the world I created. So I've learned to stop and ask, "Why?" or "Does this make sense, and "What are the ripple effects on the story as a whole?" I will always miss things that readers will find for me, and that's the ultimate value of bringing your pages to the Premium Calls of having David Stem and the community ask you questions or point out things that might need to be addressed, or those things that you've done are amazing. Developing the skill of asking myself, does this make sense, or is it just pretty fluff that I'm adding in for spectacle, or is it me just adding pages instead of adding story is golden skill I'm constantly trying to develop. Does any of this resonate with you? Asking "why" strips away superficial plot points to reveal character motivation. If a character chooses without a clear internal or external "why," the audience immediately disconnects."-- John Musker

@David Stem suggested there be a thread with media recommendations during class today with @Jason Smith @Chris Dyer @Jennifer Westcott @Shauna G @Chad Desrochers @Pia Crawford @Jules Chibututu . I missed @Thia Markson and who did I miss? Feel free to put your recommendations from class in context in comments: Here were mine after hearing more of @Anne Clendening ’s story. I recommended she see “The secret Lives of Bill Bartell” (2025) https://link.tubi.tv/YAJxoVNat3b on TUBI and David Cronenberg’s “Maps to the Stars” (2014) https://m.vk.com/video583591429_456239290 (Russian YouTube?) or on Prime

Your script has been "almost done" for how long now? Six months? A year? Three years? Here is the thing nobody tells you about finishing a screenplay. It does not get finished because you finally feel inspired. It gets finished because you finally focus the f up and power through to the end. And then the pesky rewrites. Without a deadline, you can be dead in the water. I once had to call my writing partner and tell him he had to give me a deadline on something because I wasn't working on it, but I thought about working on it all day. And he'd made the mistake of telling me, oh just finish it up whenever. So he told me next Thursday and next Thursday, it was done! That is what a script competition is actually for. A script competition can be your "next Thursday." Forget winning. Forget the laurels. Forget whether the contest "matters" or whether the judges "get" your work. None of that is the point right now. The point is a date on the calendar that you cannot move. Pick a comp. Mark the deadline. Now your draft has a job. A few real ones with real runways: Austin Film Festival. May 27, 11:59pm Central. Two days. If your feature is in shape, hit send. Tubi x Black List Horror Initiative. Open through June 30. One Black List evaluation gets you eligible. Tubi produces the winner. Scriptapalooza Fellowship. Final deadline July 1. Mentorship, not just laurels. Five weeks to get one script genuinely ready. Big Break, PAGE Awards, Shore Scripts. All have summer windows. Look them up. The number of writers in this community who have a script that is 85% there is enormous. The number who have a finished, submitted draft is much smaller. The gap between those two groups is not talent. It is a deadline. So here is the ask. Drop a comment below. Tell us: 1. Which competition you are entering 2. The deadline 3. The script you are sending Public commitment. We will check in. You do not have to win. You have to finish. More on the full comp calendar next week. For now, post your next Thursday.

I'm limited to 1000 characters. This hits it at 995ish. This, of course, is the first thing people see when they come here from a FB ad or insta post: Write characters audiences will love, and agents can't ignore. If your characters feel flat, The Diner Test shows you why. Then the Primal Forge GPT helps you fix it fast. Join Shrek 2 writer David Stem for live coaching + powerful tools built for you by a writer who's sold scripts to Disney, Paramount, Fox, Universal and more. You get: ✅ The Diner Test: Instantly see if your hero is truly alive ✅ Primal Forge GPT: My 24/7 character diagnostic tool ✅ The character-first method I've used to write, sell, and fix scripts for major studios ✅ A New Member session where I personally coach YOUR pages ✅ A community of serious writers doing the work Learn from a working screenwriter with $2.5 BILLION in box office: 🔥 Shrek 2, Jimmy Neutron, and Disenchanted 🔥 Emmy-nominated 🔥 30 years at the highest levels Get custom tools, feedback and clarity so you can finally finish that script you started. Fall in love with writing again. At The Writer's Forge. Join now. $7 Founder's rate. Ends Sunday.