I know...it's tempting...

When I'm not blogging, or when I'm not putting videos on YouTube, I'm still writing movie-and-TV scripts. And nine years into my second wind as a writer, I'm still plugging away...even at a time when artificial intelligence has made tremendous strides.

AI has been able to do more things for people than it could even two years ago. And one of those things is...it can, with just the right prompts, write an entire television script or a screenplay.

Yes...it's tempting to go to ChatGPT or Gemini or some other source and have it turn out a script.

And I'm not going to go there.

Now...I actually feel more comfortable feeding a screenplay of mine (or my one teleplay) through a site like https://screenplayiq.com or https://ScriptReader.ai and getting back an analysis. Last year, I started turning to ScreenplayIQ and ScriptReader out of curiosity...and to get one perspective or two as to whether I'm on the right track in this journey I'm on.

Of the 31 scripts I've written (or revised from my first try at screenwriting...the 1980-1994 period), all but three have earned at least one "recommend" from ScriptReader.

The other three picked up "considers" across the board.

I don't mind using the pitch trailers I get from ScreenplayIQ...and, in fact, I've been able to upload them to YouTube. (They don't look too bad...even with those little or not-so-little quirks.)

Both sites have helped me make better written pitches: ScriptReader and ScreenplayIQ shine at identifying script themes, script moods, and character arcs.

That all said...there's still absolutely NOTHING like the TV-and-movie-script evaluations (paid or not) you can get from flesh-and-blood human beings. The AI evaluations help...but the final word comes from scripthousing sites like Stage 32 and Script Revolution.

If anything I've ever written resonates with people on Script Rev and/or Stage 32, I'm happy.

And if you've ever read any script I've written...thanks so very much for putting my stuff to the test.

Lookbook #2- "Rivertown Rock!"

I've been wanting to put up this lookbook for some time...and I would've kicked the idea to the curb if it weren't for the way you responded to the "Really Old School" lookbook and its video counterpart.

In 1992, I wrote a screenplay called "Rivertown Rock!" In it, I wanted to take a look at how music's British Invasion affected teenagers here in America's Midwest in general...and one family in particular. Always wanted to take a look at it through a screenplay of mine.

I wouldn't have started a record collection if the invasion weren't a catalyst...and maybe you began collecting 45s and albums back then, too, because of groups like the Beatles and the Dave Clark Five and the Rolling Stones.

Well, after getting feedback through Stage 32, I decided to revise that script of mine (same for "Really Old School" and two others)...and now, through sources like Network ISA, I'm looking for a producer who'd like to film it. (I've already submitted five screenplays of mine through ISA...and got yet to hear from any producers. That's okay...that's the way the system is.)

Here's the "Rivertown Rock!" logline:

It's Sunday, 2-9-1964...when the Beatles' appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show inspires a Sioux City, IA teenager to start her own rock group and show that girls can play the music, too.

I'm Jim Boston...thanks so much for reading this blog!

Lookbook #1- "Really Old School"

Things have gotten to the point in the movie-and-TV industry where writers trying to break in (and those who've already established themselves) need to put together a collection of photos serving as an expression of the writers' vision of how a movie or TV series is supposed to look. (Directors have been using this tool for quite some time.)

This collection of pictures is called a lookbook. 

Well, anyway...here's my very first attempt at a lookbook, and it's connected to my very first attempt at a screenplay since 1994, "Really Old School."

The screenplay's logline: 

Inspired by a piece of 1910s sheet music, a modern-day Omaha, NE teenager wants to honor and emulate the tune's author: Her newly-deceased great-grandmother, a ragtime-era composer-musician-bandleader-arranger.

Hope you like this lookbook...and wishing you all the very best!