Screenwriter’s Weekly News Wrap-up for Monday, June 16, 2025
I skim the trades, so you don’t have to.
Stay ahead of the curve with Screenwriter's Weekly News Wrap-up, your go-to source for current screenwriting news and Hollywood insights for aspiring and veteran screenwriters. This weekly roundup is designed to keep you informed and inspired with the latest industry trends and updates. I do this out of passion, so if you find it valuable, a like or share would mean the world to me. And if you haven’t already, consider subscribing for just $5 a month—your support makes a big difference.
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◊Beneath the Beach: Horror Surfaces in Malibu
Horror veterans Tod Williams (Paranormal Activity 2) and producer Steven Schneider (Late Night with the Devil, Strange Darling) reunite for Malibu, a low-budget subterranean thriller for Screen Gems, with Michelle Randolph in talks to star. The screenplay’s author hasn’t been named yet, but the project is housed at Spooky Pictures, the new genre banner from Schneider and Roy Lee—both known for developing strong, commercially viable horror concepts with franchise potential. For screenwriters, this is a reminder that the “contained horror” model (single-location, high-concept) remains a viable entry point for first-time feature writers—especially when you can tap into a known subgenre (like underground or “buried alive” horror) and pair it with a marketable hook or talent. If you’re developing in this space, study the economics of Blumhouse-style scripts and focus on inventiveness over scope.
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◊Doggy Drafts: Snoop Biopic Gets a Rewrite from Craig Brewer
Universal’s long-gestating Snoop Dogg biopic has found its new rhythm with Hustle & Flow director Craig Brewer now onboard to direct and rewrite the script. Brewer, repped by WME and Goodman Genow, previously co-wrote Coming 2 America and earned acclaim for Dolemite Is My Name, showing a knack for dramatizing Black entertainment icons with both grit and flair. He’s revising a prior draft by Joe Robert Cole (Black Panther, The People v. O.J. Simpson), whose version initially charted Snoop’s rise from Long Beach streets to global superstardom. For writers, this swap signals the industry’s frequent reality: even Oscar-nominated scribes can be rewritten if the director has a different tonal vision. Brewer’s hiring also shows the power of a director-writer hybrid—when studios want alignment, they’ll often go with a storyteller who can do both. If you’re aiming for a biopic, anchoring your take in an emotional transformation (not just chronological milestones) gives your draft stronger staying power—even if someone else ends up at the helm.
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◊The Pen Is Mightier Than the Wick: How Writers Are Expanding the ‘John Wick’ Universe
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/lists/john-wick-spinoffs-that-could-come/
The John Wick franchise continues to be a playground for action screenwriters looking to build mythologies around violence, codes, and world-building—with more spin-offs on the way. Though franchise originator Derek Kolstad (repped by APA and Circle of Confusion) was the sole credited writer on the first three John Wick films, later installments saw Army of the Dead writer Shay Hatten and Predators scribe Michael Finch join the roster. Hatten—who began as a writer’s assistant at Team Downey—is a rising go-to for high-concept, lore-heavy action projects, and is reportedly involved in ongoing franchise development, including the upcoming Ballerina spin-off starring Ana de Armas and the animated prequel from Kubo director Shannon Tindle.
For screenwriters looking to break into franchise work, the Wick universe offers several key lessons: create characters with just enough mystery to justify backstory expansion (like Mr. Nobody or Sofia), structure each installment with world-expanding implications, and think in terms of modular narratives—each story a self-contained tile in a larger mosaic. The development of spin-offs around characters like the Bowery King and Caine underscores how smart supporting character design can lead to standalone vehicles. If you’re writing action, ask yourself: does this world invite return visits? If yes, build it as if the next movie isn’t a sequel—but a spinoff waiting to be greenlit.
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◊Typewriter Assassin: The Screenwriter’s Novelist Who Never Missed a Shot
Frederick Forsyth, who passed away at 86, wasn’t a screenwriter—but his meticulous, politically charged thrillers were catnip for filmmakers and screen adapters across decades. Best known for The Day of the Jackal, Forsyth’s debut was adapted in 1973 by screenwriter Kenneth Ross and director Fred Zinnemann, and remains a masterclass in adapting real-world political tension into lean, cinematic storytelling. Forsyth wrote exclusively on a typewriter and famously avoided emotional prose, favoring precision, research, and restraint—a style screenwriters crafting political or military thrillers can still learn from today. The Odessa File, The Dogs of War, and The Fourth Protocol all transitioned from his novels into films with robust procedural structures, minimal exposition, and characters who act decisively under pressure. Forsyth’s career reminds writers that fact-based fiction—when built on firsthand reporting or lived experience—can become evergreen source material. His agency, Curtis Brown, represented him throughout his literary career. If adapting real-world events or building espionage dramas, study Forsyth’s journalistic clarity and use of historical scaffolding to generate tension without melodrama.
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◊Killer Prose: Kelley’s Courtroom Returns with Brosnahan in Tow
Apple TV+ is doubling down on literary legal thrillers with Season 2 of Presumed Innocent, this time adapted from Dissection of a Murder, an upcoming novel by Jo Murray. David E. Kelley—repped by CAA and long regarded as one of TV’s most prolific showrunners (Ally McBeal, The Practice, Big Little Lies)—returns as co-showrunner alongside Erica Lipez (The Morning Show), crafting a new murder case centered around a young lawyer defending a high-profile suspect. Kelley’s deep background in blending procedural storytelling with layered personal conflict continues to make his scripts textbook examples in balancing exposition with emotional stakes. Writers should study how Kelley structures argument scenes as character showcases rather than plot dumps—revealing power shifts not just through what’s said, but when characters choose silence. With Rachel Brosnahan (also repped by CAA and Brillstein) starring and executive producing, and J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot producing, the anthology format signals a strategic shift toward serialized prestige with standalone arcs—ideal terrain for spec writers looking to build high-concept pilots rooted in courtroom drama.
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◊Crimes of the Craft: Scott Cooper Lines Up His Next Noir
Writer-director Scott Cooper has set his sights on a new, untitled crime two-hander for Amazon MGM’s United Artists label, with Scott Stuber and Nick Nesbitt producing. Cooper, repped by CAA and Jackoway Austen, is known for his character-driven genre work—from Crazy Heart, which earned Jeff Bridges an Oscar, to the gritty Out of the Furnace, the epic Black Mass, and the elegiac Western Hostiles. His latest, Deliver Me from Nowhere (the Bruce Springsteen biopic), is due this fall via 20th Century Studios and could be an awards contender. For screenwriters, Cooper’s trajectory offers a blueprint for evolving from actor to auteur: his scripts layer masculine vulnerability over hard genre frames, often emphasizing sparse dialogue, mood-heavy worldbuilding, and morally compromised leads. Writers crafting contemporary crime scripts would be wise to study how Cooper uses silence, loyalty, and flawed justice as thematic engines—especially in two-character dynamics that feel personal without losing cinematic scope.
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◊From Biopic to Breakdown: How Julia Cox Cornered the Grief Market
Julia Cox leveraged her Netflix “Nyad” success into Amazon MGM’s “Love of Your Life,” a Ryan Gosling-produced romantic drama about a young widow’s healing journey with Patrick Schwarzenegger as her ex-turned-confidant. Cox’s transition from sports biopic to grief-centered romance demonstrates how writers can build studio relationships through thematic expertise—her ability to craft intimate female resilience narratives positioned her as Amazon’s go-to scribe for elevated romantic dramas that blend commercial appeal with psychological depth. The script’s female-centric structure, where the male lead supports rather than shares the protagonist’s arc, reflects Amazon’s data-driven preference for stories that overperform in key demographics, while the Gosling/Rachel Morrison package elevates Cox’s work into the prestige tier that justifies Amazon’s theatrical release strategy and European production investment.
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◊Oscar Winners Don’t Take Summers Off: The Heder Playbook
Sian Heder’s “Being Heumann” at Apple demonstrates how Oscar-winning writers leverage their credibility into passion projects with built-in prestige appeal. Fresh off her CODA triple-win (Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay, plus Troy Kotsur’s Supporting Actor Oscar), Heder co-wrote this disability rights drama with Rebekah Taussig, adapting Judy Heumann’s 2020 memoir about the historic 1977 federal building sit-in that forced government compliance with accessibility laws. Heder’s Apple overall deal allowed her to package Mark Ruffalo as Joseph Califano opposite Ruth Madeley’s Heumann, with David Permut (Permut Presentations) and Kevin Walsh (The Walsh Company) producing alongside Heumann’s Gravity Squared Entertainment managers John W. Beach and Kevin Cleary. The project showcases how writers can parlay awards success into studio relationships that support socially conscious material—Heder’s proven ability to craft authentic disability narratives through CODA positioned her as the ideal filmmaker to honor Heumann’s legacy while delivering the prestige content Apple prioritizes for awards consideration.
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◊The Sheridan Assembly Line: How Taylor Builds His Television Empire
This Ali Larter profile reveals Taylor Sheridan’s systematic approach to building his television universe, where he maintains creative control across multiple productions while developing writers who understand his multi-tonal storytelling method. Sheridan writes all episodes himself rather than employing traditional writers’ rooms, creating “Landman” as a family drama that shifts between oil field danger, romance, and domestic comedy within single episodes—a technique that requires actors and directors to navigate tonal complexity without traditional rehearsal or blocking time. The show’s success demonstrates Sheridan’s ability to craft serialized content that functions like extended films. Larter’s comments about receiving scripts just three episodes ahead during season two production illustrates how Sheridan controls narrative flow by writing in real-time, allowing him to adjust character arcs based on performance chemistry and audience response. This production model—where the creator-writer maintains absolute script authority while delegating directorial duties to trusted collaborators—represents an alternative to the showrunner system that’s producing some of television’s most commercially successful content, though it requires performers comfortable with minimal preparation time and directors willing to execute Sheridan’s specific vision rather than contribute their own creative interpretation.
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◊Now You See Me, Now You Steal: Heist Screenwriting Goes Southeast Asian
While the screenwriters behind Magik Rompak have not been publicly credited yet, Adrian Teh’s creative leadership on this Malaysia-Singapore co-production reveals the evolving heist genre outside Hollywood. Known for writing and directing military action films like Paskal and Wira, Teh returns to high-concept genre storytelling with a script centered around a disgraced magician who plans a jewel theft under the guise of a live magic show. The narrative structure combines sleight-of-hand showmanship with revenge-fueled team dynamics—a Southeast Asian twist on the Ocean’s Eleven formula. With a modest $3 million budget and backing from multiple government incentives including Singapore’s IMDA and Malaysia’s FIMI+, the film exemplifies how regional markets are using national support programs to mount genre films with global appeal. For screenwriters, Magik Rompak highlights the value of fusing culturally specific setups (traditional mysticism, local crime politics) with universally bankable genre engines like the team heist—with magic as the misdirection.
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◊Fast Feet, Faster Dialogue: Sherman-Palladino Returns to Dance-Driven Drama
Amy Sherman-Palladino and Daniel Palladino’s Étoile on Prime Video is the rare prestige drama that fuses stylized writing with balletic storytelling, placing screenwriters in the unusual position of writing both emotionally urgent dialogue and choreography-integrated structure. Known for their signature rapid-fire banter on The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and Gilmore Girls, the duo applies their tonal finesse to the world of elite ballet—casting actors and professional dancers in equal measure to convey a story about ambition, identity, and the cost of artistic devotion. Sherman-Palladino, a trained dancer herself, uses the ballet setting to externalize internal character arcs through movement, while her scripts layer in themes of self-worth and existential doubt without abandoning the sharp wit that defines her work.
Repped by UTA and known for redefining female-driven ensemble TV, Sherman-Palladino has created a model for blending genre and tone that’s instructive for screenwriters aiming to break format. By integrating dance as narrative propulsion rather than backdrop, Étoile offers a writing challenge that demands character motivation be readable both in dialogue and physicality. Writers developing performance-based material—whether it’s sports, dance, or music—can study Étoile’s form as an example of multi-sensory screenwriting: where structure must harmonize movement, emotion, and speech in a single, seamless beat.
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◊Fast Company: Kosinski, Bruckheimer, and Apple Drive ‘F1’ Into the Summer Blockbuster Lane
Screenwriter-director Joseph Kosinski (Top Gun: Maverick) is once again steering high-octane spectacle with F1, a $200M Apple Original Films production that merges cutting-edge tech with emotionally grounded character drama. Written by Kosinski and produced by Apple, Brad Pitt’s Plan B, Jerry Bruckheimer Films, and Lewis Hamilton’s Dawn Apollo banner, the film stars Pitt and Damson Idris as racers navigating the world’s most elite auto sport. Kosinski, repped by CAA and known for sleek, technically ambitious projects like Oblivion and Tron: Legacy, spent over a year developing proprietary camera rigs to authentically capture Grand Prix races—using Apple’s iPhone technology as part of the innovation stack.
Apple’s deep involvement in the script and production pipeline signals a new model of tech-entertainment integration for screenwriters: think narrative development that leverages brand synergy (in this case, the iPhone camera system) while still prioritizing cinematic storytelling. Kosinski’s script blends classic redemption arc structure with modern production logistics—coordinating 28 simultaneous camera setups and real-time F1 race access. For writers, F1 is a case study in tailoring a screenplay for multi-stakeholder collaboration without sacrificing emotional clarity. The key lesson? If your story architecture is clean, the scale can be massive—and still feel personal.
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◊Them, Not They: Jess McLeod’s Gender Odyssey Gets Backed by Odenkirk and Schoenbrun
Writer-director Jess McLeod, best known as an actor from One of Us Is Lying, makes a confident leap behind the camera with She’s Nonbinary, a Vancouver-shot dark comedy short that explores identity, misgendering, and the silent tension within queer relationships. The project attracted heavyweight support from executive producers Bob Odenkirk (Better Call Saul) and Jane Schoenbrun (I Saw the TV Glow), who praised McLeod’s script for its daring honesty and emotional specificity. The story centers on Max (played by McLeod), who is forced into a personal reckoning after being approved for top surgery, challenging the dynamic with their straight, cis boyfriend (Alexander Steele Zonjic).
McLeod not only wrote but also produced and co-edited the short. Cinematography comes from Sydney Bunning, with intimacy coordination by Katherine Kadler (The Last of Us, Yellowjackets). The film was produced by Erin Purghart and Eva Tavares through Respectfully Productions. For screenwriters, McLeod’s rise underscores the growing demand for intersectional, queer-led narratives that blend sharp comedy with visceral introspection. The takeaway? Screenwriters developing work around underrepresented identities can now find meaningful support if the voice is bold, the story urgent, and the POV undeniable.
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◊When Animation Writers Hit the Franchise Jackpot
Pam Brady and Matt Lieberman’s “The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants” demonstrates how established animation franchises offer writers guaranteed theatrical releases with built-in audiences. Brady, known for “South Park” and “Team America,” teams with Lieberman (“The Addams Family,” “Scooby-Doo”) on this December release directed by Derek Drymon, where SpongeBob and friends face the Flying Dutchman’s ghost in ocean depths—a premise that allows for expanded world-building beyond Bikini Bottom’s familiar confines. The script attracted Regina Hall, Ice Spice (who’s also contributing an original song), Sherry Cola, Arturo Castro, and George Lopez to join the returning voice cast, while Paramount Animation’s December slot positions it as family counterprogramming during awards season. Brady’s transition from adult animation satire to family-friendly franchise work illustrates how writers can leverage their comedy credentials across age demographics, while Lieberman’s recent animated adaptations (earning mixed reviews but solid box office) prove studios value writers who understand IP translation—both scribes benefit from animation’s longer development cycles that allow for extensive rewrites and character development that live-action tentpoles rarely accommodate.
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