My 2025 as a Working Screenwriter
Or; The Year I Waited Too Long
As has now become an extremely time consuming tradition, at the end of 2025 I sat down to look back at my calendar, my inbox, and my dated drafts, in order to figure out exactly what I did this past year, as a working screenwriter, and share that with you, the people of the internet.
Who the heck am I, you ask? I’m a professional screenwriter (I have an IMDB! Hello!) and have been doing this as my career, ie for money, since 2016. It’s been a decade of growth and change for me, and a decade of death spiral for Hollywood. I kid, I kid.
And why am I doing this? Well… I started writing these year in review pieces (this entire newsletter, frankly) because the film business is a strange black box. You only ever hear about people’s successes — that’s what the trades are for! — and you don’t usually hear about the hundreds thousands of hours and emails and calls and meetings and projects that ultimately… don’t become anything at all. Think of this series (you can find them all, from 2021 onward, here) as me doing as honest of an accounting of my year(s) as I can.
I’ve been booked and busy as a writer, but I remain ambitious.
2025 was focused on getting a movie puzzled together with me as the writer/director. Puzzling a movie together is one of the most Sisyphean, Herculean, and just plain confusing, tasks imaginable. And I was doing that alongside continuing to write new films (and series), continuing to build this newsletter and my social media presence, and processing some very big personal news that will impact, oh, my entire future. But enough CONTEXT, let’s get to the good stuff.
What the heck did I, a working film (and television) writer do over the course of 2025?
JANUARY
After a proper break (I penciled in a week off in my calendar) I get back to work on the treatment for the Animated Project I started at the end of 2024. Most screenwriting assignments are broken into various steps (or deliverables) and the first one in this deal is a treatment of the film. I’m hard at work on this when...
FIRES DESTROY MUCH OF LA.
We aren’t technically in the evacuation zones, but because we’re on a hill, smoke is seeping in through our drafty windows (even taped shut), and I can see the charred remains of peoples’ books from Altadena drifting down onto our (very much wood) deck. Emma is of course not here, she’s in NY for a documentary awards ceremony (fancy) and so I pack up our dog and bring him and our most important possessions (camera gear and social security cards) to my parents in Orange County.
We wait for the smoke to clear and are joined by more LA friends trying to protect their newborn child’s lungs. But my work can’t wait, I’m behind on turning in this treatment. So I hide away from the full house, finish outlining the film, and send it off to the team.
Mid January is the first time I’m paid in 2025. Pretty good! [If you look back at previous years this first paycheck of the year as a screenwriter can sometimes be… June? August?]
First “No” of the year comes from an actor we’d submitted the Directorial Debut to last year. Unclear whether this is their team passing or if the actor actually read. Given the state of LA, it doesn’t seem like a great look to send out a script currently, so we table submissions for a second to really think about who we most want for the role. Enough of these long shots, let’s send it to the right person.
I catch up with the producers on the Short Story Adaptation (aka Colby’s Directing Project #2) and once we all determine everyone on our team is safe from the fires, we agree that we should also wait a bit before sending anyone anything. Seems in poor taste! “With that in mind, there are just a couple tiny tweaks that maybe you’d like to make to the script and lookbook in the meantime?” I say sure, of course!
I have lunch with the director on the YA Novella Pitch we were taking out last year. Sounds like the the producers (who have access to some money) want to finance a script rather than take our pitch out any wider. Would I be open to writing the script? Yes! If we’d started with this instead of a year of pitch prep and pitching and waiting, we’d already have a great (and finished script). Let’s do it. Director and I are game.
Director and I now go have coffee with the producer who lays this plan out to us. We agree! Sounds like a cool strategy! Pitching is slow and arduous and takes longer than writing a movie, usually. So the producer tells us to hang tight, they need to get their ducks in a row with the financing and their internal deals etc etc etc, but seems like a good plan to get the movie moving.
End of the month I catch up with the producer on this IP Based TV Series that we spent last year trying to package up with an exciting director. We haven’t made the stars align there, so producer and I decide it’s worth taking the series out as a pitch without any attachments. I get to work on writing a pitch.
FEBRUARY
After receiving No’s from the very long shot actor submissions that had fallen into our lap by coincidence, we send the Directorial Debut to someone we’ve always considered the “real” first choice. This submission includes the script, a lookbook, a personal note to him, our team reaching out to his agent to introduce the project, AND a friend of a friend reaching out more directly to let this actor know “these people are real and normal.” And... the submission gets through. He reads it, and wants to meet!
We meet over zoom! We get along, seems like he gets the movie, and seems like he’s game to give it a shot. We plan to get together in person when he’s next back in LA. Flurry of emails letting the producing team, managers, agents all know it went well. We all agree we can “officially” (this is basically just a handshake) attach said actor.
In the meantime, my producers have been crunching a rough budget and a rough schedule (which always is what determines the budget) because having those exact numbers in mind will be essential for taking our entire package to financiers.
For Directing Project #2 we submit the script to our first big exciting idea for a lead actress. Script, lookbook, and a personal note all go out to her agent. Fingers crossed.
Still waiting on feedback for the treatment for the Animated Project, but sounds like they are working something out over there and will be back to me soon.
MARCH
My manager and I have lunch with my new theater agent, who’s in town from NY. We’d connected at the end of last year, after a very cool actress read a play of mine and expressed interest in working on it together. He wants to touch base on that -- he has ideas for people / places to send it -- but also more generally get to chat and know what if anything I’d like to do in theater. I have an old play of mine that I’d love to convert into a musical, which I send him, and we discuss the possibility of a stage adaptation of a favorite book of mine. He says he’ll look into it.
I have coffee with a producing friend who’s in town for The Oscars. Ooh la la, fancy! We catch up, and I mention The Directorial Debut, which he’s into. Can he read? I think so! I check with the other producers who agree it would be useful to have a Fancy Producer on the team and so we say yes please!
Our new producer reads and is into it. We set a call for him and the rest of the team to touch base, discuss how to work together, and what everyone believes next steps are.
We agree one lead actor probably isn’t sufficient to build an appealing “package.” Ideally we want two? Three? Basically you want as many notable people as you can get — especially for a director’s first feature. We go through our supporting cast and I propose we submit the script to an actress I’ve wanted to work with for ages. It’s someone I had coffee with in April 2024, and I have been trying to come up with an excuse to work together since.
Write her a personal note and submit the materials to her agents. I also text her (we’d shared info when we met, always get a point of personal contact if you can!) letting her know “We officially submitted something to your team, I’d love if you’d look! Would be super fun to work together!”
She reads and we zoom at the very end of the month and she’s into it! Hello! We are assembling a very exciting package!! And pretty fast, too!
Another flurry of emails and calls within Team Colby to discuss what now. We have two actors, is that enough to finance a movie or do we need more? Do we need one more? You think we need one more?
Let’s try for one more. Another discussion about who that should be, another letter to a fame-o, another call/email to another agent.
Meanwhile, for Directing Project #2, we’ve been asked to submit the script and materials to the author of the underlying short story it’s all based on. This is an important writer. We’re all a bit intimidated. But I hear back at the end of the month with a note from the author that is very positive (phew!) and has a couple suggestions that they caveat with a kind of “take em or leave em, it’s your movie.” They are actually very helpful. Smart writer! We all breathe a sigh of relief, and it’s always kind of crazy to realize your name and writing have been on someone’s desk and on their mind. Like... what? This author’s thinking about… me?
The book I’d asked my theater agent about is very much not available (shoot) and he’s been slowly sending out My Play to a few places he thinks would be a good fit. Waiting on any news there.
APRIL
We finally make the official submission for our third actor for the Directorial Debut. Three is better than two, right? The more important names you can put together, the better. This is to someone well known who I have a connection to via friends of friends. Ultimately, this ask kind of fizzles out, we don’t really get an answer either way, and are forced to after several weeks let this actor’s team know that we are politely going to have to move on.
For Directing Project #2 we finally get a response on our first actress submission — it’s a pass. And the person who read the script (not the actor, her reps) candidly “didn’t get it.” This doesn’t bother me (hello, look at all of the rejections this year and every other year I’ve written these) but there is clearly something about this that bothers the producers. “Should we do a rewrite?” I advocate that I don’t think that’s necessary. I think we should submit the film to another actor. I rank the next couple choices I like for them, and say “let me know who you think we should submit to and I’ll write a personal note to them.” They say “let us discuss.”
Call with the showrunners of the TV Series I worked on in 2023-24. They believe the show is coming back (dates TBD) and wanted to let me know that they’d love to have me back if/when the room starts for the next season. I say yes, duh! No clear idea when that will be. August maybe? I say... sure, I’ll pencil it in.
Directorial Debut team all zoom to talk next steps. Our newest, fanciest producer is of the opinion that we should revise the budget and schedule, and connect with my agency’s independent financing team (who he knows and has worked with before) about their opinion for what to do next with the package we currently have assembled, what their opinions are on how to best secure financing now.
We’re told that they can speak to us and dive in… after Tribeca. That’s six weeks of waiting? During which we are told to not do anything that will affect the value of the film? So… what are we supposed to do? Everyone agrees to wait. “We’ll get going after Tribeca.” But I’m annoyed.
Past six weeks I’ve been cracking away at an Action Spec Screenplay (I’ve been toying with this since 2022) and have a new revised draft I like. Feel like it’s ready to start sharing. Send it to my manager for him to look. He has some small, mostly cosmetic ideas to make the script a bit more fun / special, and so we set some time next month to get together in person and talk through the script together.
The Edit for Father Figures begins in earnest. The documentary editing window is an entirely different thing than in fiction. Remember, this is where you are really writing the film. We have 36-40 weeks of edit scheduled, which would put us at finishing the film sometime in early 2026. We are gunning for late 2026 or early 2027 festivals.
We have raised a significant amount of money for the film this year and last, via both grants and equity investment. We have enough money to cover our edit — hence getting started in earnest — but are still looking to close the gap to allow for the rest of the film’s finishing.
MAY
Manager and I get together and talk Action Spec. His ideas are good so I get to work as quickly as I can trying to implement. Takes maybe a week, and once all the new fun polish ideas are folded in I send it to my agents.
We start pitching the IP Based TV series. I’ve built an entire 20 minute pitch for what the series is, why it’s exciting, why now, the first episode, and what the first few seasons might be -- and since these are all being done over zoom -- I also build out a slideshow of images so it’s not just me talking.
Animated Project team has finally come back with notes on the treatment! Why did this take as long as it did? They hired a director (which is good news)! But it meant a delay on creative feedback while their deals all got put together. Now that there is a new creative voice involved, discussing the treatment becomes a much larger conversation. Exciting stuff, but means we need a new draft of a treatment, and one that’s pretty different from the first iteration. Better to figure this stuff out before a screenplay exists! I get to work on revisions.
While we wait to get our big meeting for the Directorial Debut, I pester everyone into agreeing to submit the film to one more actor. If we’re going to be waiting around, we might as well be waiting around with a couple of different irons in the fire, right? So we take a chance on someone Extremely Famous, and submit to that actor’s team.
End of the month I get on a Team Call to discuss the Action Spec. I’m thinking this will be about next steps, but everyone actually has more notes. I’m annoyed. But also I think their notes are probably correct. Ok, shoot. More work for me.
End of the month I send in a new and revised treatment for the Animated Project. It’s a pretty different conception of the film, folding in our new director’s vision. We will see what the feedback is!
JUNE
Father Figures is asked to participate in the Tribeca Creators’ Market. Emma is in NY for a different event anyway, so takes meetings in person, while Florrie (our other producer) and myself take meetings over zoom. Mainly these are with festivals, distributors, and sales agents who are curious about the project and want to hear more. Since we’re just beginning the edit, it feels a bit early to formally share the project with these folks, but it’s nice to start building these relationships and the awareness of the film.
Directorial Debut we finally get this call with the Entire Team to happen. They have some thoughts about slightly tweaking our lookbook / pitch deck for the film in order to make it a little bit more compelling for financiers. I take this on as my homework.
I send the revised materials out to everyone within a week. This then becomes… “let’s get a new call on the books. Maybe July?” The beginning of the month doesn’t stick, so it becomes the end of July. Long time to wait for a call!
We fly to Durham, NC, to film with Emma’s mom for Father Figures. Until now, she hasn’t wanted to be on camera, so we want to make sure this goes well. It does!
We’re also still pitching the IP Based TV Series. Couple more this month.
Lunch with a friend to talk about potentially doing music videos / a music film / TBD for an upcoming album of his. Very cool songs. Show him a bunch of kooky ideas for it that he seems into. We trade ideas for a few weeks but this kind of slowly peters out. I don’t think that there was ever a clear plan for what exactly he and the band wanted to make, and they’re still working on the album, so there’s a chance this comes back around. But if you want music videos I am very much interested in directing them!
I send the Action Spec back out to my team, revised based on their notes, and we start to put together a list of potential producers to send it to. “Maybe we should wait until… after the July 4th Holiday?” I say okay.
JULY
Hollywood is closed for the week of July 4th? This is a new one to me. Afterwards I email everyone about the Action Spec and say “excited to send this out!” We start sending it out.
Two weeks vacation with my family! Much needed.
Emma and I tour studio spaces in LA for Father Figures. We’d always envisioned some stylized, constructed scenes that we would shoot on a stage, so we’re trying to figure out what that space would be. We also aren’t entirely sure what that material will be, as it’s dependent on how the film edits together, and so this is still TBD.
Directorial Debut call gets pushed to August. :(
Directing Project #2, the one where they said “let us discuss” sending it to a second actress… I’ve heard rumblings from my agents that they’re inquiring about whether I’d be open to rewriting the film. Based on what? One person not liking it? I don’t like this plan and communicate as much to my agents. Then I reach out to the producers with a “hey guys maybe we should connect and talk next steps for this movie?” It’s weird that they’re floating this idea to my team and not… me? The writer/director?
Passes on the Action Spec slowly begin rolling in over the course of the month. These convert into general meetings with execs at these production companies. I guess it’s complimentary for people to read something and want to meet, but... always a bit of a bummer when it’s not about the thing you sent.
We’ve gotten our final Pass on the IP Based TV Series. Huh. After years of development and thought… that’s it. Nobody wanted to buy the show. Okay. I guess that’s the end of that.
AUGUST
The Action Spec has continued to collect some “we really liked it, not for us at this moment.” I’m told one actor’s production company is having their VERY IMPORTANT STAR read it as a potential vehicle. They ultimately pass despite everyone saying it’s a good / fun script. Okay. We will keep sending it out.
Emma and our editor have gotten the Father Figures cut to a first assembly, but it's become clear as we all look at it that we need to do a pickup shoot here in LA. I spend a weekend helping to shoot some additional material around the house with Emma, some dummies, and some other targeted shots we know we would like but don’t yet have. To supplement what our DP is getting, I end up shooting a little as well. Indie filmmaking really does mean you do everything!
While I continue to wait for… any updates on my movie(s) or the TV Series that I’d been told is coming back but still haven’t really gotten updates on… I start thinking about what to do next. I want to write a feature film that’s even smaller than the Directorial Debut (and Directing Project #2). I don’t want to wait for anyone’s permission. An idea that’s small enough that I could go get the money from people I know, rather than spend months strategizing about funding and timing and on and on and on. I just want to be able to raise the money myself and go make a movie. So I start outlining. I actually posted about this here. I want to run the experiment of building a feature in the open, via the newsletter.
So I start posting on TikTok and Instagram. This is mainly to continue the mission of the newsletter — how do I best share the behind the scenes of what I’ve learned, and continue to learn, about working in film & TV in a way that will reach the most people? Turns out, video is the way to do it. This grows so much faster than the newsletter. As I sit writing this now, I’ve gained about 15K followers over the past few months.
Of course, as soon as I start doing a new thing, I get a call. The TV Series room will start in a few weeks. Okay! So I may not really have the time to write this new feature and build it in public via the newsletter / social media. I table the outline for that for the future. Still excited about this plan, I just need more time to actually do it!
Directorial Debut call finally happens. They want to put together a list of potential friendly financiers to send the film to… but “maybe we should wait until September?” In the meantime we plan to fine tune our schedule and budget so that we have a very detailed package that we can send out (if/when we do send it out?).
I also reach back out to Directing Project #2, “just following up!” It’s beginning to feel an awful lot like I’m being ghosted by the producers of the movie! I am assured we will get something on the books to touch base. Hm…
The Animated Project team is back! We get on zoom to commence me on a first draft. And… They’ve created concept art for the movie! The delayed feedback was not a lack of interest in the revised treatment so much as... starting to figure out the artistic style of the film! Very cool and inspiring! They want me to get started writing the first draft. There’s just one problem. We have this meeting the day before the TV room starts. Sounds like I’m going to be a busy boy this fall.
The TV Series starts literally the next day. Back to full-time writing mode and workdays, which is... an adjustment! It’s nice to be back to imagining a TV show with friends, to get lunch every day, and to get a consistent paycheck, but... when it rains it pours.
I get a text an hour into the room’s first day telling me that I have an offer that’s just come in to write a feature. The YA Novella that I honestly haven’t thought about in months... [see January???] They’ve figured out all their deals and financing and are ready to offer me a script fee to go write it. I’m concerned because… I am very much not available. And will remain very much not available for... quite a while. I’m currently -- writing a series full time, writing another feature film during my lunch / evenings / weekends, trying to secure the financing for my directorial debut, producing a documentary that’s supposed to be finishing in early 2026, and I have also just discovered that Emma and I are expecting a BABY in the spring!
I’ve even hired an assistant (hi Megan!) to help me with my very limited time because I am way overbooked. So... when exactly am I going to write this new movie?
I talk with my team who suggest we politely ask if they can wait six months? Nine months? I let them know the news that in 8 months if all goes well I will have a newborn baby and may not be able to (or want to) sit down to write a screenplay for a while after that. Plus I’ll still have all the other stuff that I’m still finishing up. I don’t know when this could happen in the next... year, maybe more?
I’m in a privileged position that I haven’t ever found myself in before. I am simply too busy to take on a new job. Booked, Busy, and Blessed.
SEPTEMBER
I call the director on the YA Novella Adaptation and let him know all the news. I don’t really feel like I can ask them to wait another year plus for me after it has taken so long to get to this stage. This is disappointing, but ultimately best for me (for my newly growing family?!) and for the movie. We part ways still friends and I get back to the room. And the feature. And the other features.
The team on the Directorial Debut and I all get on zoom to review the revised budget and schedule and talk strategy. August is over, meaning people are back to work(?), but we are stressed that the year is quickly ending.
We want to get the film to financiers ASAP, but we also think that because the subject matter of the film has been in the news a lot, it might be a good idea to announce the film in the trades. Usually this is reserved for projects that have all of the money secured and are already in production… but we also want to get the news out there since the topicality may help us in our conversations with funders.
We start putting together the plans for a press release, and start coordinating with everyone’s various teams — managers, agents, publicists, my team — it’s a lot of cooks in the kitchen to write a short little blurb about a movie. “Maybe we should wait until this release is out before we go to funders?”
OCTOBER
I get on a Team Zoom for Directing Project #2. We haven’t all spoken in months, not after the producers were spooked by our “No” from Big Actress #1’s agent (in April). They really think the film is a little too ambitious, and, more than that, a little bit too “complex.” They’d like me to rewrite the film to pare it down, simplify, and make it an easier read. As the now director, I disagree. I remind everyone we’ve only submitted the film to one actor over the last ten months. I’m confused by just how rattled everyone is based on one person’s feedback. And frankly, it doesn’t bode well for our ability to collaborate on the film together for the next few years. If we can’t meet resistance without panic… this is going to be a very challenging road.
I tell them I’m not available to rewrite the movie, at least until the room is over in March 2026. And that, frankly, I don’t want to rewrite it. I think, as I said in April, that we should at least submit it to a few other actresses before we do anything at all. Why not collect some responses while I am otherwise occupied? The call ends with them saying “let us discuss.”
We have not spoken since! This is frankly, insane! We’ve worked on this film together since… 2021 (I actually pitched it to them in 2019)! I am convinced this is the best screenplay I’ve written in a very long time. But one person said “No” and that’s… it? This is actually the most devastating update of 2025 for me, and I’m still mad thinking about it. Just crazy making! I’ve stopped following up, because, what’s the point? But… what a waste of time and energy and a very good idea. Even re-reading this I can feel my heart rate rising!
Meanwhile for the Directorial Debut, because we are coordinating everyone’s publicists etc, it takes until the end of October to publish this press release. Now that the release is out, my agency’s independent finance folks advise “Maybe we should wait” until after AFM to submit the film to funders. That means mid November. Which means it’s almost Thanksgiving. Which means the year is almost over. Hm... We agree to wait.
We get Father Figures to our first official Rough Cut, which means we all watch and share notes and reactions. We discuss next steps for the next Rough Cut, and Emma starts working on “writing” the documentary, ie, writing some moments of voice over that will carry through the film.
I am working full time on the TV Series, by the way.
NOVEMBER
In the evenings and over lunches I review voice over with Emma as we continue to barrel ahead towards a 2nd Rough Cut of Father Figures that will incorporate all of this new material.
We get a RC 1.5 finished right before Thanksgiving, which starts to test out the voiceover, and we review. This is working. We’re pushing the film in the right direction. As the year continues to slip away, we start to feel the pressure of needing to get this thing finished! It’s good, we’re entering the final sprint of the last few months of edit, but… scary!
We do still have a gap in the budget, and need to find the finishing funds for the film, but feel confident that we’ll have a strong cut to share in the early new year, which should help us do that.
I have also continued plugging away at the Animated Project mornings, evenings, and weekends and finally have a first draft I’m excited about. I submit the film to the team and wait to hear back. Will I get feedback and start the second draft before the end of the year? Only time will tell! But it’s nice to go back to only one active, full-time, writing job (the TV Series I am writing!)
Once we get through AFM, the debate for the Directorial Debut becomes... you guessed it: “Maybe we should wait.” Is there enough time to send this to financiers before Thanksgiving? Does it make sense to submit the week of Thanksgiving? I say... I don’t want to wait, I’m tired of waiting, we’ve been waiting for one reason or another for most of the year, and there will always be a new excuse to wait, if we wait now, we might as well wait until 2026.
We send out our first batch of submissions to financiers the week before (and the week of) Thanksgiving. Now we wait (for responses).
This forever waiting game inspires this video that goes viral.
I also get news this month that… In the Blink of an Eye will be premiering at Sundance in early 2026! Wow wow wow. Very cool news. It is insane how long movies take. Here we are. The lineup goes public in December, but very cool stuff. Hoping that becoming a Sundance Alum may prove helpful as we work to raise the money for the Debut. If you’ll be at Sundance, come see the movie, and come say hi!
DECEMBER
We get our first “No” from a financier for the Directorial Debut. Not a problem. I’m used to hearing no, about all sorts of things. We still have it out to the rest of the people we’d submitted it to, and have a longer list of more submissions we can/should make... but we… agree to wait, until 2026.
We get Father Figures to our 2nd official Rough Cut. We send the RC to some of our funders right before the holiday break, and promise ourselves we will in fact take a little bit of a holiday break before we watch it.
And that’s the year. Still trying to get the money for the Directorial Debut. Still working on the TV show. Still working on the animated feature. Still producing the documentary. Still expecting!
The Takeaway
As I spend the last few days of the year writing this, I am struck by just how many times I got sucked into... “Maybe you guys should wait a little bit.”
I fell for that a lot this year. But the waiting has never really benefited me. The key cast we needed for my Directorial Debut was all attached by April. We shouldn’t have been waiting around. We should have been barreling ahead towards getting the money ASAP.
The two films I’ve made the most progress on this — the debut and Father Figures — couldn’t be more different in pace. It has felt so much simpler, and more rewarding, to make a nimble, indie film where we can move, and fast! Obviously it’s different with documentary, as you can just start filming, but the ability to raise money iteratively and throughout the process means we haven’t once been waiting around. We’ve been making a movie. And in the nearly-a-year we’ve spent waiting around on the Debut, we’ve nearly finished Father Figures.
So in 2026, there will be no more waiting. This will be the year where I am very annoying to everyone because I am sick and tired of it. I am going to be pushy this year. Prepare yourselves. To my team, sorry in advance.
I am also struck by… just how many projects die long slow unceremonious deaths. TV Series I pitched? Dead. Action Spec? Based on the reads, and responses, I think it’s dead. Directing Project #2? Deflated until the point of death. The play I started the year with enthusiasm about? Fizzled out due to lack of concrete interest from anyone other than me.
These are all things that I have spent years working on. And then, when the stars don’t align, the end. RIP good ideas.
Of course, original ideas don’t ever really die. I’d much rather have original specs and plays on my hard drive than pitches for Open Writing Assignments. You’ll notice if you compare this year to previous years, I didn’t pitch on anything at all.
I was busy, but during the time I did have, I was trying to find ways to make work that I could go make myself, rather than find a “job” via an assignment. In my experience, most of these assignment “jobs” don’t really exist anyway, so I’d much rather put my time into something that I can go make (that benefits me!) rather than trying to convince people to let me write something. And, fortunately, I have a lot of stuff going on as it is. There’s still my directorial debut, there’s still the doc, there’s still the animated feature I’ll be writing a second draft of early in 2026.
2026 is also the year I head to Sundance as a filmmaker for the first time! So if you’re there and want to meet, let me know.
And best / happiest / scariest of all, 2026 is the year I have a child???
It’s going to be a great year, I can’t wait.
A quick little note: If you liked this, and have liked the previous years (2024, 2023, 2022, 2021) and in general enjoy my ongoing project of making transparent a career that’s traditionally extremely hard to get people to be honest about… I have a favor to ask you.
Please consider any/all of the following.
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Loved reading this and getting a bit of insight to the industry. I was reminded of Michael Palin's diaries, whose years are also often filled with writing, waiting and discussing.
Wishing you a great 2026!
I love this overview. Waiting around seems to be a universal game. I used to wonder about those long gaps people have on IMDB and I thought they had not 'done' anything for years, but in fact the years in between were spent doing all the things you have been writing about and getting rejected or being unlucky a lot. Oh the grind!
In the spirit of not waiting around for someone to give me a job or a task I started my own Substack recently. It's a way of making me work at a constant pace as I am not (yet) as busy as you are, but also I love the format of short scenes - it's been very useful when it comes down to working on projects I have going.
https://substack.com/@listankovic?