STATE OF THE STORY – LOS ANGELES 2025

Storytelling360 launched its State of the Story conference series in Los Angeles with a full day of conversations that set the tone for everything that followed. Three panels brought together some of the most accomplished writers, agents, managers, and directors working in Hollywood today — capped by a keynote conversation with one of the most decorated screenwriters of his generation. From the mechanics of breaking in to the art of sustaining a career, the day covered the full arc of a life in storytelling.

Speakers: Adam Kolbrenner, David Boxerbaum, David Beaubaire, Lee Jessup, Marta Kauffman, Jon Hurwitz, Dan Goor, Katie Robbins, LaToya Morgan, Stephanie McFarlane, Kristen “Kiwi” Smith, Zak Penn, Edward Ricourt, Jenna Milly, Eric Robinson, Eric Roth, Jeff Goldsmith.

Before a script becomes a movie, it passes through a lot of hands. This panel brought together a literary manager, a talent agent, and a producer to pull back the curtain on how material moves through the industry — what gets read, what gets passed, and what separates a script that generates heat from one that disappears into the pile. Candid, direct, and full of the kind of insight you usually only get if someone already knows you.

Five working television writers — between them responsible for some of the most beloved and acclaimed series of the past three decades — gathered to talk about the realities of a TV writing career. The conversation ranged from first jobs and first breaks to running a room, navigating the streamer era, and what it actually takes to get a show made and keep it on the air.

Four feature film writers with credits spanning romantic comedy, comic book blockbusters, thriller, and indie drama came together to talk about the feature landscape from the inside. How specs get sold, how assignments get won, how careers survive the gaps between projects, and what it looks like when a script you’ve lived with for years finally makes it to the screen.

A career that spans Forrest Gump, The Insider, Munich, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, and Dune doesn’t happen by accident. In a wide-ranging keynote conversation, Eric Roth — one of the most consistently working and recognized screenwriters in Hollywood history — sat down with Backstory Magazine’s Jeff Goldsmith to talk about craft, collaboration, longevity, and what he’s still learning after five decades in the business.