Shannon 🎃 Swift

Reminds me of Fincher's movie list. "But these aren't even pretentious!"

Scary Funny: An Exploration of Horror-Comedy | Johns Hopkins Events

Hey Mark Swift here of S&S. I will be doing a little thing on horror comedy Tues at 10am LA time with the talented @joshruben.bsky.social of WEREWOLVES WITHIN and HEART EYES fame. Sign up here if interested, should be a fun chat: events.jhu.edu/form/scary-f...

Love that man.

Scary Funny: An Exploration of Horror-Comedy | Johns Hopkins Events

Hey Mark Swift here of S&S. I will be doing a little thing on horror comedy Tues at 10am LA time with the talented @joshruben.bsky.social of WEREWOLVES WITHIN and HEART EYES fame. Sign up here if interested, should be a fun chat: events.jhu.edu/form/scary-f...

YouTube video by Bloody Disgusting Horror Robert Englund's Favorite Freddy Krueger Moments

m.youtube.com/shorts/yoSpE...

Honored. And not just because of all the love. A great watch for fans of FREDDY VS JASON. Thanks @redlettermedia.com

Honored. And not just because of all the love. A great watch for fans of FREDDY VS JASON. Thanks @redlettermedia.com

September 30 / October 1

We spent quite a bit of time and effort trying to turn the children's book GHOUL SCHOOL into a movie.

Go see ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER. Timely, wild, dangerous, hilarious and moving. PTA finds the humanity amidst the insanity. Believe the hype, we loved it.

We voted for you and support you. Congrats! Now please don't forget about feature writers 🙏😀

Hey, ABC: Bring back #JimmyKimmelLive.

Yeah I think we gave them a copy and they put it in the special FvJ tie-in issue. It's in a box... somewhere.

Hahaha we pitched him over zoom. The difference between the way he looked in his box versus mine... was stark.

Usually they misspell Shannon's name with "Damien" -- which is, as we all know, the evil spelling.

Most writers are very familiar with this phenomenon. For us it's been 27 years.

I have a favorite pre pitch bathroom on every studio lot.

"What makes it good makes it bad" doesn't make any sense to me. Good is good. Beware who you are accepting criticism from. I like snappy dialogue and chaotic energy. Tarantino literally cannot spell yet his scripts are brilliant. Press forward in your voice with confidence. Make it true to you.

Me too!

A writer could be engaged, and you will have an easier time finding one by getting them invested in the project. Make sure there is plenty upside for them if no money upfront. Or get them some money upfront and make them whole plus when deal is made. Lots of options here. Just depends on goals.

I would argue the budget at this stage is less important than the strength of the material. Make sure the actor roles are as juicy and complex as possible regardless of size. Get the actors excited. Get them invested in their character and script and their involvement will help you secure the funds.

Are you talking feature? TV? Are you the one engaging a writer or is someone engaging you? One can make a deal in almost any scenario with differing levels of protection for the writer. As a rule, don't develop something for free you don't control the rights to. But TV is tricky when pitching on IP.

Raising money is always hard, esp if you're just breaking in, but the genre to do it would be horror. Smaller the amount the easier of course. If you are writing a script to sell, you can be a little grander with your plans. Why not sell it with yourself attached? If it's amazing, you have leverage.

We have a new director on it! We are waiting till the market is a little more ready. But yes, the story on that one isn't over.

When I speak to students I often recount our first script that sold. 'If we had known then all the things we know now we might not have written it.' We broke rules we didn't know existed. It came off as fresh and cut through the noise of everything else out there. Be bold in your writing. Stand out!

I think we will see the return of the mid-budget. The real question is will it be in any genre. Right now you can get the mid-budget made in the thriller / horror space and prestige. I keep rooting for comedies but the audience often doesn't show up. We've trained them to wait for home streaming.

Every time I see an accepted 'rule of screenwriting' I can think of a half dozen examples where it's been broken successfully. I just don't buy into that stuff. We have dense scripts and light scripts. Depends on the story you're telling. But as a special FU to gurus we occasionally use 'we see' lol

In Tokyo and taking a little break. Does anyone have any questions about craft, the industry or our movies? Hit me / AMA

Great to hear! We're so excited for it!