3-2-1 Screenwriting Thursday: Cyclical Creativity, Indirect Conflict, The Right Length for a Short Film
July 16, 2026· Kate Gaulke
Happy Thursday!
You know, it's kind of crazy to think we're already over halfway through the year. I don't know about you, but 2026 has felt pretty go-go-go for me. It's been a wild ride.
Backing up a little bit - last October I was downsized from Agile Entertainment and built out Show Up & Write. November was apartment hunting. December we got engaged and moved on the same day, then a week later flew home for the holidays. January we returned home to boxes and I had the bright idea to do a daily video series on writing an entire feature length vomit draft exclusively during the SUAW time period which took up a massive amount of energy - but I did it!!! I'm still editing btw. Probably taking more time than I need to buuut -
After finishing the vomit draft I realized, oh, a ton of my base level business practices and systems had completely fallen by the wayside during my time at Agile. The whole thing needed to be organized, updated, and standardized across the board. And, oh, that's not a small fucking project by any means. And, oh, I need to do, like, math so I can like, I don't know, pay my bills.
So, the back half will focus on refining business systems, fine tuning client experience (I want to be better about emails), building out an actually sustainable content system (I'm so bad a promo), getting back into regular networking (I felt like my online presence needed a facelift first and now I'm just taking out the stitches) and finishing my feature (I want to start taking it out seriously at the top of 2027).
The whole first half of the year has just felt like getting our feet under us and I have a strong suspicion the back 9 will feel the same, if just a scosh steadier... I hope.
Anyways, on with the show -
3 IDEAS FROM ME
I. Cyclical Creativity
I've worked my entire life in this industry (no really, my first shoot was a Huggies ad) and this world has some incredibly toxic (coughcapitalistcough) views on productivity.
When you look at the greats in any creative field they have a clear cycle:
- Out in the world promoting their latest project
- Time down to rest and recharge
- Semi-hibernation/retreat in order to deeply focus on the next project.
I think LA has this energy about it that makes you feel like you should always be promoting, but we can't exist permanently in one phase of the cycle.
It's okay to be in whatever phase you're in right now.
II. Indirect Conflict
When we think about conflict I feel like we most frequently turn to direct conflict. Two characters at direct odds with each other. Good vs. Evil. Superman vs. Lex Luthor. The Mummy Vs. Brendan Fraiser.
The side we're on as the audience is clear - it's such an easy choice we don't even think about it.
But one of my favorite forms of conflict is indirect. Two sets of people, both empathetic with worthy causes, who just can't both win. They're not intrinsically against each other. They might have incompatible natures or domains. They might seek the same grander moral high ground, but have different lenses on what that means. They might even have the same goal.
In Andor Luthen knowingly allows Kreegyr and his men to walk into an Imperial trap because warning them would expose a crucial intelligence source. Kreegyr is not Luthen’s enemy; Luthen sacrifices fellow rebels to preserve the rebellion.
In Project Hail Mary, Eva Stratt and Dr. Ryland Grace both want to save humanity, but when an explosion takes out the scientists meant to go on the expedition to save Earth, Stratt forces the incredibly handsome Dr. Grace onto the ship against his will, knowing she's dooming him to death in space.
The season 1 finale of The Last of Us, and the Sound of Metal are other great examples of indirect conflict.
Indirect conflict is trickier and far less common than direct conflict, but when it's done well it's just deliciously gut wrenching.
III. The Right Length for a Short Film
I strongly recommend for 5 to 7 minutes of runtime if festivals are the goal. MAX 10 to 12 minutes. Let me tell you why.
Let's flip our perspective over to that of the festival programmers real quick. Contrary to what artists may think, the goal of a festival programmer is NOT to collect the best pieces of art together into one premium show.
The goal is to get butts. In. Seats. Aka recoup costs and pay for all the shit they needed to buy to run the actual festival.
Festivals don't just magically appear free of charge. There are MANY costs involved: renting the theater, step & repeats, promotion, website build and deployment, not to mention all the labor to go through all of the submissions and actually organize the whole thing.
The more projects a festival is able to include, the more people who made the films will get their communities to come and support them and buy tickets.
A half-hour short could take over 3+ other short film spots, which means losing out on 3+ groups of people buying tickets to the screening
A long 'short' needs to clear an extremely high bar in order to merit inclusion. Even if it does clear that bar, the financial incentive to include a long short is... not good.
The shorter the short - the better your odds of making it in.
2 QUOTES FROM OTHERS
I.
Once again from Spinning Silver (NYT Bestseller, Hugo and Nebula Award finalist) by Naomi Novik:
"But I had not known that I was strong enough to do any of those things until they were over and I had done them. I had to do the work first, not knowing."
II.
"Great acts are made up of small deeds."
1 QUESTION FOR YOU
WHY do you write? Like, really. Why?
Until next week,
Kate Gaulke