The Storytelling360 Library
Articles from State of the Story panels, keynotes and StorySocials: Oscar winners, showrunners, agents and managers on writing, selling and breaking in.
Pictured: Kevin Smith, keynote, Los Angeles 2026-
“If someone can talk you out of it, you should definitely quit”
Zak Penn, Kirsten “Kiwi” Smith, Ed Ricourt and Jenna Milly on pitching, notes and how the work actually gets done. State of the Story, Los Angeles 2025.
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“Running a show is just running until you die”
Marta Kauffman, Dan Goor, Jon Hurwitz, Katie Robbins and LaToya Morgan on what changed, what broke, and what they’d tell a showrunner starting now.
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“You know it when you read it”
David Boxerbaum, Adam Kolbrenner and David Beaubaire on what makes them stop reading, what starts a bidding war, and what goes wrong. Los Angeles 2025.
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“I had failed continuously for ten years”
Tony Kushner, Celine Song, Lee Daniels and Michael Arndt on calling, ego and the cost of the work. Nine Oscar nominations on one stage, New York 2025.
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“No one in movie prison thinks they’re there for a crime”
Candace Bushnell, Warren Leight, Robert and Michelle King and David Guggenheim on series ideas, notes and pitching badly. State of the Story, New York 2025.
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“All you need is a final draft and a dream”
Kailey Marsh, Noah Ballard and Adam Kolbrenner on what they do for clients, what attracts them to material and what makes them stop. New York 2025.
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“There’s no place in the world where you can starve from all the compliments except Hollywood”
Diablo Cody, Cord Jefferson, Graham Moore, Nia Vardalos and the writers of KPop Demon Hunters on breaking through by ignoring the advice. Los Angeles 2026.
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“I always thought it was about taking. It ends up being about giving.”
Paris Barclay, John Quaintance, Alison Flierl and Hayden Schlossberg on rejection, calling cards and the notes you should actually listen to. Los Angeles 2026.
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“You are a store. You probably want to sell more than one product.”
Franklin Leonard of the Black List with an agent, a manager, a producer and a development exec on what actually gets a writer represented. Los Angeles 2026.
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“You can’t smell your own cologne”
Neil Marshall, Joe Barton, Charmaine DeGraté, Monica Beletsky and Joy C. Mitchell on finding your voice, handling notes and pitching. BFI Southbank, London 2026.
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“Don’t wait for permission”
Christina Pickworth, Zoe Ross, Queenie Miller and more on what makes them keep reading a script. The first panel of State of the Story London 2026 at the BFI.
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“He loves outlining. I hate outlining.”
The (500) Days of Summer writers, interviewed the same night 3,000 miles apart, on how they met, the outlining split and twenty years of writing apart.
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“One out of ten of your movies will get made. If you went one for ten at anything else, they’d fire you.”
Thomas Lennon on writing Night at the Museum in this bar, the Taxi disaster, and why nobody will ever say your dialogue. A Storytelling360 StorySocial.
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“You have to be borderline amused by failure”
Aline Brosh McKenna on pitching, getting stuck, and why The Devil Wears Prada’s cerulean speech is really about your pants. A Storytelling360 StorySocial.
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“There’s a reason your name is on the front of the script”
Richard Gadd, Gurinder Chadha, Matt Charman, Thea Sharrock, James Watkins and Tony Grisoni on endurance and the long game. BFI Southbank, London 2026.
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You’re not a writer until you finish something
Eric Roth on Forrest Gump, The Insider, and fifty years of getting movies made, in conversation with Jeff Goldsmith of Backstory Magazine.
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Then your heart either sinks or it soars
Sir Stephen Frears on the letterbox method, not storyboarding, and why he doesn’t have visions. In conversation with Jason Solomons at the BFI, London 2026.
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If you love what you’re doing, it’s not work
Spike Lee on Michael Jordan, casting Rosie Perez off a speaker, and the year Denzel spent becoming Malcolm. In conversation with Cynthia López, New York 2025.
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You’re a filmmaker. You just haven’t made your film yet.
Kevin Smith on his sister’s advice, the book he can’t finish, and why the indies are coming back. In conversation with Jeff Goldsmith, Los Angeles 2026.
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Gurinder Chadha on the careers officer, Bend It Like Beckham after 9/11, and whether your idea is worth seventeen pounds
Gurinder Chadha on the careers officer, Bend It Like Beckham after 9/11, and whether your idea is worth seventeen pounds. With K.J. Yossman, London 2026.
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What You Need, Even If You Didn’t Know It
Richard Gadd on the Edinburgh Fringe, authenticity, and turning down the work that doesn’t speak to you.
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