I’m giving out 1 more – JUST ONE! – half-off set of notes on a screenplay. The first writer who e-mails me gets it. So e-mail “FIRST” to carsonreeves1@gmail.com now!
So, yesterday, I was bumbling around my movie streaming options and saw a thumbnail for the film, “Up In The Air.” I remember that that was a big screenplay back in the day (it actually got nominated for a Best Screenplay Oscar) and I casually wondered, “What would happen if you wrote that script today?” And I honestly think that it wouldn’t register as even a blip on the town’s radar.
It’s just not the kind of material Hollywood is reacting to these days. It would be considered too soft. And that got me thinking, “What *is* the kind of material Hollywood is reacting to right now?” We knew the answer to that three years ago. It was social activism stuff. And then, before that, it was anything with a female lead. But, in 2025, we’re in uncharted waters. There is no clear trend to latch onto.
Typically, what you’re looking for when trying to figure out what’s “next” is a) whatever surprise breakout movie just happened at the box office. And b) what Hollywood has been buying up recently on the market.
What’s the biggest surprise breakout movie recently? Sinners. The film dominated the industry for three solid weeks, defying all expectations. Nobody saw it coming, but it achieved that most coveted benchmark in Hollywood—the strong second weekend hold. So my best guess for what Hollywood wants next is big-budget horror.
This was solidified with Final Destination: Bloodlines, another big-budget horror film that did well. So, it seems like we’re in the clear here, right? This is obvious. Write big-budget horror!
Not so fast.
The one-two dud punch of 28 Years Later and Megan 2.0 made everyone in Hollywood who had their foot on the gas, ease up, pull over to the side of the road, and call their agents. 28 Years Later didn’t do terribly. But it didn’t do as well as it was supposed to. And then, unfortunately, Hollywood always remembers the most recent thing that happened. And the most recent high-budget horror film was Megan 2.0, which bombed.
With that said, big-budget horror (over 30 million dollar budget) is really all they have going for the town right now. So I would say it’s the best bet. You just have to come up with an idea that justifies the money. It can’t be a good high-budget horror idea. It’s got to be a great one.
Serial Killers are going to be in as well. Longlegs reminded the industry just how lucrative serial killers can be. They’re also cheap movies to make so you don’t have to tell them twice to start making that genre again.
Romantic comedies are also back. They’re not aggressively back. But Anyone But You’s success got a lot of studios flexing their jazz hands because this is another genre that costs them nothing to produce. We also just saw that rom-com sell last week, the one with Dave Bautista. And “Fake Wedding,” which I documented in my newsletter.
Some great news is that both these genres sell well in spec script form. So if you like serial killers or romantic comedies, THIS IS YOUR TIME! You could definitely sell a script in one of them with a strong concept.
Now let’s look at what Hollywood is buying. Romance is hot right now. It’s not sexy (ironically). But It Ends With Us showed that there was a real appetite for romance movies, even ones that tackle complex subject matter. But what really solidified this was the sale of Love of Your Life. Whenever Hollywood pays 7 figures for a script these days, they aren’t just buying a script. They’re steering the direction of the industry.
High Concept sci-fi seems to be the name of the game in short story sales these days. We just got that time travel short story sale. We got the big alien hostage exchange short story sale. But I don’t think you need to only write these stories in short story form to sell them. If you write a great script in this genre, they will sell as well.
Where is all this high concept sci-fi desire coming from? Clearly, it’s coming from the fact that Steven Spielberg’s next movie, about UFOs, is a spiritual sequel to his old high concept sci-fi films. This is what Hollywood does. When they know a possible hit is coming, they stock up on similar concepts, put them in development, and then if the movie is, indeed, a hit, those projects are ready to roll off the assembly line.
But, if you’re going to write these as scripts, the script has to be better than the short story. The short story trend is kind of a con game that Hollywood hasn’t figured out yet. Since you don’t have to go into detail regarding the story in a short story, it allows you to hide a lot of the story’s weaknesses. You can’t do that in script form since it’s the final format. But trust me. If you write a good high-concept sci-fi script right now, it will sell.
Finally, whenever there’s a vacuum in the industry, it’s an opportunity for writers to take risks again. Hollywood is always looking for the next great thing. But they’re especially looking during times like these, where they aren’t sure where the industry is headed. They can’t even count on superhero movies anymore. So, if you have a weird idea, bust it out. Start writing that sucker.
I will say this: That if you can package your weird idea into something identifiable, you have a better shot at selling it. Scriptshadow #7 Unproduced Script, Osculum Infame is a crazy-ass script that’s super inappropriate on so many levels. But it locks itself into a very identifiable format. Real-time setup where a woman accused of being a witch is hung on a tree to die and we follow her for the next 90 minutes as she tries to escape.
Conversely, as much as I liked the insanely weird Everything Everywhere All At Once, I don’t think that sells in script form. It’s too all-over-over-place. It only works as a writer-director project where the directors knew how to balance the wacky structure and endless narratives with perfect onscreen visuals.
But yeah, this is the time to write your “Bubbles,” your “The Lobster,” your “Bad Boy,” your “Dogs of Babel,” your “Meat,” your “Poor Things,” your “Donnie Darko,” your “Being John Malkovich,” your “Birdman,” your “Memento,” your “The Voices,” your “Pulp Fiction,” and yes, your “Osculum Infame.”
Or, just write something that nobody else is writing right now. Something out of left field. “Daddio” became such a huge industry favorite because, normally, that’s a romantic comedy premise, and then you opened that script and it was nothing like a romantic comedy. It was dark. It was unusual. It had interesting dialogue. It wasn’t afraid to tackle taboo subject matter. But Daddio wasn’t Osculum Infame. It was just a story. But it was a story nobody was telling. So, if you can do that as well, you’re going to get people curious because, right now, the industry is DESPERATELY looking for things that are NOT AVAILABLE AT THE MULTIPLEX, OR ON STREAMERS. Because those movies aren’t doing the job.
And hey, if you can write it fast, you may be able to enter it in the Scriptshadow Mega Showdown – fhe only screenwriting contest that’s free. And the only screenwriting contest judged by YOUR WRITING PEERS.
HOW TO SUBMIT
What: Mega Showdown
When: Friday, August 1
Deadline: Thursday, July 31, 10pm Pacific Time
Send me your: Script title, genre, logline, and a PDF of the script
Where: carsonreeves3@gmail.com
