Why is Screenwriting So inaccessible?
The one unifying thing all screenwriters say? “I had no idea this was a job you could do.” “I taught myself.” “I loved films, but had no idea people wrote them.”
It’s baffling to me.
Narrative Structure is Dead. Long Live Narrative Structure
Like most fledgling writers, I’m obsessed with the scriptwriting podcast Scriptnotes. There’s a point that routinely gets hammered home on the pod that, for a while, I was incredibly resistant to. They hate structure. But, the more I’ve read, and the more I’ve written, I’ve come to realise they’re absolutely right. Narrative structure in screenwriting is utter codswallop, and yet without it this industry is nothing.
A Writer’s Journal #01
Long before a certain right wing celebrity found himself on the wrong end of the gun laws he was fighting to protect, I had an idea. What if, during a Question Time style panel show, a member of the audience got up and assassinated a right wing panelist. An act so random, so public, and so violent would ripple out, the catalyst of enormous social and political change. In this thinking, I charted not change, but collapse.
What if, after thirty years of that turmoil, war, and eventual societal collapse, a woman just wanted to find a decent pair of daps?
The Best Pilot Episodes you Can read for free right now!
What makes a great first episode? Or, a “pilot”, if you will…
Honestly, it depends on the larger story you’re trying to tell. Even anthology series tend to have a thematic arc. Who are the key players? What are the stakes? What’s the “question” you’re asking your audience that will keep them coming back week after week?
In the Shadow
Click the link below to read! REMEMBER, this is a first draft, the result of a writing challenge to complete a draft between 1st February 2026 and 31st March 2026. This is not a perfect script, far from it, but I hope it’s still an enjoyable read!
How Important are the First 10 Pages REALLY?
If you start learning how to write, at some point you’ll come across ‘the first ten pages’. This is, apparently, the paradigm page count to hook your audience and make all the necessary promises to keep them hooked for the duration of your story.
But, how true is it?
What really happens on the 10th page? How much to we really know?
Using Thematic Language to Make Readers Love your Script
There are millions of scripts out there with exciting plot twists and deep character development. What is it that makes certain scripts feel special?
Theme.
Lessons Learned from a Month of Reading Scripts
It’s pretty telling of how chronically online either I or my generation is that the concept of reading is considered a ‘challenge’, but in January 2026 I did exactly that. Over the course of 31 days, I read 30 complete scripts and plays.
Here’s what I learned.
Dear Writers - Stay Woke
As much as I don’t want to give oxygen to the bullshit competition offering two grand to any writer than can write a ‘non woke’ play, I do feel that it’s an important perspective to recognise.
Even if it is just to belittle it for being the wailings of the artistically redundant.
Character Introductions – How The Best Writers Reveal Their Protagonists
There’s no ‘right’ way to introduce your character, but there are some things you can do to really showcase in their first few moments on screen / stage who they are and how they fit into the larger narrative.
Free Script Library: 2026!
If you know any other free script libraries that I haven’t included, let me know! I want to make sure we all have access to the best of the best. Gatekeeping makes you a horrible meanie and we don’t want those around us.
A Writing Blog Worth Reading
To everyone that read the Tongue in Cheek blog last year, thank you! And also, sorry about that. It was a bit of a mess, wasn’t it? Think pieces one week, story craft the next, and a complete lack of focus led to a bit of a mismatched year for the blog.
Well, in 2026, that all changes.
Tongue in Cheek 2025: Wrapped
Yes, loyal following, I know you’ve all been waiting so patiently for my most beloved moments of 2025. Well, worry no longer, for here it is! Broken down into neat, digestible chunks for you to peruse at your leisure!
Doctor Who Christmas Special 2025
No Christmas Special of Doctor Who this year? Not on my watch! Click below to read a completely original Christmas Special with new companions, a new Doctor, and the ultimate Christmas haunting…
(Video Game) Open World RPG: About the Storytelling Medium, How You Write it, and Reasons it May Fail Your Story
Open world RPG’s are dense. Packed with story, intricate gameplay mechanics, and a vast world to explore, there’s a lot to draw writers in to a project like this.
But, is it worth it?
Gifts to Buy For the Writer in Your Life
Quick, panic! Christmas is next week and you still have no idea what to buy your writerly friend / partner / significant other / secret Santa for Christmas!!!
Worry not, dear reader, for Tongue in Cheek Writing has put together a collection of purchases that are sure to fill any writer with unbridled joy and delight!
Radio Play: The Highs and Lows of an Audio Medium
Everybody gather around the wireless, it’s time to stare at a speaker!
Radio plays hold a very special place in our cultural history. They were the first live communal entertainment streamed directly into homes. Weirdly, nobody can agree when the first radio play was broadcast, but it was definitely in the 1920s, and since then thousands if not millions of hours of fiction have been beamed directly into the ears of listeners.
So, You Submitted to the BBC Writers Open Call: Now What?
If you’re one of the lucky thousands that spent the last week hovering over the ‘submit’ button of the BBC Writers Open Call (or any competition, for that matter). Congratulations! You did it! But… Now what?
Solo Shows: The Medium of the Moment. But is it Worth it?
Some stories are meant to be experienced in the room. Perhaps… around the campfire?
A Solo Show is maybe the closest modern audiences will ever get to feeling like cavemen, gathering around of an evening to hear an urgent tale of paramount importance.
It’s just one storyteller and a (hopefully) packed venue. Except the storyteller isn’t telling a story, they’re living it. The audience are flies on the wall, watching this individual relive moments of their life the way we all do when tucked in bed at night. Alone.
Yes, the BBC is Broken. No, We Can’t Afford to Lose it
In all honesty, I have no right to throw my thoughts into the mix on this one, but I’ve seen some frankly stupid, impulsive, and dangerous rhetoric being spouted in the days since the BBC lost its Director General and CEO of news.