249 | Screenwriting & Social Media: How Being Online Can Help Your Career

In this special roundtable, we’re joined by three working screenwriters — Nic Curcio, Kristen Tepper, and Julia Yorks — who have each built successful writing careers while also growing authentic, engaged followings online.

We talk candidly about the growing pressure for writers to maintain a social media presence. From expanding your network to attracting opportunities, social media can help. But it can also complicate your creative process, affect your mental health, and make the work feel secondary.

This conversation is an honest look at that tension — and how, with the right mindset, social media can become less of a burden and more of a creative outlet that reflects your voice, supports your goals, and connects you to a writing community in an often isolating industry.

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Check out Nic, Kristen, and Julia's social accounts below...

Nic Curcio

Instagram: ⁠@nicolascurcio⁠ | TikTok: ⁠@nicolascurciowriter⁠

Kristen Tepper

Instagram: ⁠@kristentepper⁠ | TikTok: ⁠@teppertoks⁠

Julia Yorks

Instagram: ⁠@juliayorks⁠ | TikTok: ⁠@juliayorks⁠

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EPISODE TRANSCRIPT:

Lorien McKenna: Hey everyone. Welcome back to The Screenwriting Life. I'm Lorien McKenna, and today we're doing a round table with three multi-hyphenates – Nic Curcio, Kristen Tepper, and Julia Yorks. In addition to writing, they have amassed a large and loyal following on social media, each of them – not together. Separately.

So they are going to be talking about how they've been able to carve out space for themselves online to sustain their creative lives and even open doors in the industry, which I'm really excited to talk about. 

Nic Curcio is an LA-based screenwriter and graduate of USC’s MFA Film and TV program. He wrote a movie for Sony Pictures animation called “Goat” that hits theaters in February 2026, and has also written on live-action franchises like “The Magic School Bus” – love! – for Universal. On the digital side, Nic regularly posts on Instagram (@nicolascurcio) and TikTok (@nicolascurciowriter) about the craft of writing and has partnered with companies like Neon, A24 and Paramount Films.

He also hosts “The Hollywood Hang,” a podcast about the highs, lows, and the hell-no’s of the film industry alongside Kristen Tepper, who we're also excited to welcome to the pod today. 

Kristen is a writer from Chicago who is currently living in LA. In 2022, Kristen's feature, “Better Luck Next Time,” was featured on The Black List. When she's not Writing YA dramas and mysteries, she's developing pitch decks and social campaigns for studios, producers, streamers and directors. 

You can find her on TikTok @teppertoks and Substack sharing insights from her marketing career and her journey toward becoming a professional writer to an audience of over 50,000 followers. 

And then we have Julia Yorks, and Julia is a screenwriter and an actress. You might know her from social media where she opens residual checks from her stint as a child actor and demystifies the process of breaking into Hollywood for her 60,000 followers.

Julia started her screenwriting career a decade ago as a staff writer on “The Adventures of Puss ‘N Boots.” Since then, she's written over 40 episodes of kids television across 12 different shows, sold an original live action sci-fi show to Freeform, and had a comedy feature, “1Up,” that was released on Amazon Prime. Her romcom, “The Seven Guys You Date Before Marriage,” was featured on the 2024 Black List.

Julia also coaches and mentors emerging writers through her screenwriting community. Okay! Now Julia, you are also an adult actor as well – are an adult actor, right? 

Julia Yorks: I wouldn't phrase it that way, but…

Lorien McKenna: Oh, sorry! Not an adult actor. Okay. You also, you're, you were a child actor and you're acting now, right?

Julia Yorks: Yeah. It's, so funny because I always say screenwriting is my day job, but I I moonlight as an actor. I had every New York Actor's Dream. I was on an episode of “Law and Order” last year, so now I can be happy. 

Lorien McKenna: That’s awesome. And then, so great. So that's Julia, the most awkward introduction in the history of the podcast, probably. And Kristen, we need to hear your voice, so I'll ask you a question. What is your favorite thing about co-hosting a podcast? 

Kristen Tepper: Oh, that's a really good question. Nic is a really well-spoken, smart person, and I learn something from him every time he opens his mouth. 

Lorien McKenna: So you are the Lorien, and Nic is – right. All right. Nic, welcome to the show. Yes. Let's see, what's a good question for you? What is your favorite dinosaur? 

Nicolas Curcio: Oh my God. I love dinosaurs, so I love this question. I would say a brontosaurus and I do have a brontosaurus tattoo. Yeah. 

Lorien McKenna: Okay. See, I just knew that I could tell your vibe. Yeah. On Zoom. So before we dive into the interview, where I'd love to talk about writing and social media and acting and podcasting and how all those things work together and how maybe they fight each other sometimes from all your perspectives.

We're gonna do “Adventures In Screenwriting” with a social media twist, which is: What stopped you in your scrolls this week, which is apparently a social media question. So I have to admit right off the bat that I have a TikTok, but I forgot my password and I can't get back into it. So I don't really have a TikTok.

And then I went about setting up, I'll do a new TikTok. So I probably have a whole bunch of TikTok accounts that I might need some help with that. It was one of my ADHD, “I'm gonna set up a TikTok and I'm gonna start doing…” and then I didn't, because I can't figure it out. And then I went on my Instagram and deleted every single picture, every single post because I was like, I'm gonna start over.

And then I, I didn't 

Kristen Tepper: Did you at least archive? Did you archive? 

Lorien McKenna: Yes. It was like – 

Kristen Tepper: Oh good, okay. 

Lorien McKenna: They're not like deleted. It was pictures of my daughter that I just didn't want available. No, I got, I had a thought and then I executed it but didn't follow through. So what stopped me and my scrolls, which is, sorry, it's on Facebook, because it's the only thing I look at because of The Screenwriting Life Facebook group. 

I really like videos of people falling down and dogs doing mean things to their owners, like slapping them or spilling their coffee. Which is weird because I've had experiences where people in real life fall down in front of me and I'm like, supportive. It's scary. I call 9-1-1, like I'm all over it. I'm the person you want in an emergency. And I hate to fall down and I hate to be scared or pranked myself, but there's just something so delightful. Schadenfreude, is that what it's called? I love it. 

So I saw one today that was of, it was like dads. And so like a dad walks into a garage door and falls down, or dad gets scared. He throws his laptop in the pool. I just think it's hilarious. I'm an awful person. There's one that my friend and I send back and forth all the time. It's a model walking in six-inch spike heels and she wobble, wobble, wobbles, and falls down off the runway. And I don't know, it just – it is not that sophisticated. It has nothing to do with screenwriting, but I will watch those and then all of a sudden my whole feed is full of those. Yeah. And I'm like, yay, dopamine. 

Alright. Kristen, what stopped you in your scrolls this week? 

Kristen Tepper: Okay. This is really niche guys, but I feel like some people will know what I'm talking about.

Have people seen the narrator series where it's, “This is Halle. Halle wants to be a influencer today.” And it's these, it's mostly girls, but they're so creatively storytelling their lives and like their hopes and dreams and the way that they have the camera on the ceiling and looking down, I am just very impressed with the quality of production that they're doing.

And they're very funny and smart. One girl had chickens and I was like, maybe I do want this life. This is where I'm headed actually. So it's great. 

Lorien McKenna: That's awesome.I don't know what that is because obviously you're all here. 

Kristen Tepper:  I'll send you one. They're so lovely. 

Lorien McKenna: Send it to me. Yes. Great. Julia, what stopped you? 

Julia Yorks: So something that stopped me in my scroll this week is people lip-syncing to Judge Judy's most intense lines. That woman is a wordsmith and she writes, or I mean, she doesn't even write. She comes out with things that I could never even write. And the people who are lip syncing, I could have sworn that they were saying these lines because they are so good. The match. It's just perfection. Chef's kiss. She is a legend. It's absolutely hilarious. 

Lorien McKenna: And Nic, how about you? 

Nicolas Curcio: I was so concerned that both of them were gonna steal my “stop your scroll” because my entire feed is basically still “Sinners” content. So I would say, but specifically it has been the people who are moved by “Sinners” that they're making literal, like career moves.

So the video that I saw there was this woman – it wasn't even, “Oh, I wanna be a filmmaker.” There was a woman who was fascinated by the marketing that Ryan Coogler did by coming onto TikTok. There's a lot of really big creators that he collaborated with in just really interesting, like very organic ways.

Like that, who's that guy who says, “Come here”. Do you know the guy I'm talking about? And then he moves the camera close to himself. 

Lorien McKenna: “I've seen him in the bathroom.”

Nicolas Curcio: Yeah! Yeah. 

Lorien McKenna: “Lemme tell you something.” I like that guy.. 

Nicolas Curcio: Yeah. So he did one and then Ryan Coogler was there in the bathroom with him. But this woman said she literally wants to now switch her major and go into marketing instead because she was so fascinated by the “Sinner” social media marketing campaign. That was what I thought was very interesting this week. 

Lorien McKenna: So what is the “Sinners” marketing campaign like? Why is that all over? So I stalked all of you guys, looked at yours, and “Sinners” is everywhere, but it seems to be some kind of – I feel so out of it. And old. What is this “Sinners” thing on the social medias? Tell me about it. What's going on? Why is it special? 

Nicolas Curcio: I think it's just, it's the fact that studios can pay a lot of money to have their directors, their actors, go out and film like professional promos for films, which is usually what happens. Or they go on “Chicken Shop” or “Hot Ones” or whatever. But it seems like now in this kind of like golden age of social media marketing, they're just finding really organic ways to do collaborations with specific TikTokers and creators that, I don't know. I guess it's hard to explain. It's just far more organic than I guess what we're used to. So it's really cool to see, oh – I follow that person and now they're doing this fun little – and it's not even like professionally shot stuff. It's the same content that the creators usually make, but it's like all of a sudden Ryan Koogler is there. 

Lorien McKenna: Awesome. Tabitha Brown started on TikTok and then, did a TV show, and now she has a whole empire with products at Target and stuff, so she really leveraged that to launch something really special.

So what I'd like to talk about is were you all writers first, like before you got on TikTok, or was it the TikTok first and then you were like, “I could use this for my career.” Or what was the background? How did this all come about? Because the reason we're having you all on is because you're screenwriters and you have this social media presence as well. So Kristen, what came first for you? Was it writing?

Kristen Tepper: Writing definitely came first. I have been in my room since I was little writing Nancy Drew fan fiction. So it was definitely the thing I always wanted to do. But I went into marketing because I was like, “I don't know how one becomes a writer. I don't know anyone in Hollywood, so I'm gonna do marketing.”

And then, yeah, during COVID I just started posting a little bit because I was quite bored and alone and I thought this is a fun way to spend my time. And it just morphed from there and realizing the power that – not power. I don't know, the opportunity that TikTok was presenting at the time, which was really exciting.

Lorien McKenna: That's cool. Julia, what about you? 

Julia Yorks: Yeah, I've, like I said, I was a child actor, now an adult actor.

Lorien McKenna: Wait, what?! 

Julia Yorks: But I have been a screenwriter. I got my first agent like a year and a half out of college. I went to USC and I got my first job in the industry on the lit side as an assistant on “The Adventures of Puss ‘N Boots.”

And I was at Dreamworks for many years. And so I was writing for a very long time before I got onto TikTok. And again, it was 2020 COVID, “bored in the house and I'm in the house bored,” and I saw a lot of people talking about screenwriting, and those people were either super informative – a lot of guys, men who had broken in 20, 30 years ago, or a lot of film school people telling their experience.

And one, some of that experience was not what I had experienced. I bro in, it was 2013. And I just thought, “Oh I feel like I have an interesting perspective to share here.” And so I started making videos and just have continued to do that ever since. My whole goal is, I made a lot of mistakes because I came into the writing side, just entertainment blind. My mom was a special ed teacher and my dad was a carpenter. So what do I know? And trying to help people not make those mistakes. 

Lorien McKenna: Awesome. Nic, what about you? 

Nicolas Curcio: Same. Yeah, I was a writer first. I've been screenwriting professionally since I think right around when lockdown happened. So like March 2020 is when I went to Sony. But yeah I had just, I've always been like an obsessive, or I guess addicted TikTok scroller.

But I didn't really start posting a lot more until the strikes because I saw a lot of content about the strikes from people who weren't striking Guild members. And there was even some drama on TikTok about certain creators being like, “Hey guys, I'm available.” And I came in and I was just trying to make a lot of videos during that time to tell people like, here's what's happening. Here's the vibe, here's the truth about screenwriters. We're not a bunch of rich people like trying to get more money.

Lorien McKenna: Ah, hold on. I have to have some laughs for that. Sorry.

Nicolas Curcio: Oh, you'd be surprised. There was a bit of a narrative on TikTok going on at the time, which is, people don't understand –

Lorien McKenna: I remember during the strike it was like, “What are you, why are you trying to make so much money?” And it's yeah, we make a good salary for five weeks of the year.

Nicolas Curcio: Exactly. 

Lorien McKenna: And then, or nothing at all for a year. You don't know. 

Julia Yorks: I always say, when people ask me what I write, I say anything that pays me and a lot of stuff that doesn't. 

Lorien McKenna: Yep. 

Nicolas Curcio: Exactly. 

Lorien McKenna: Yep. Yeah it's very steady employment when you work for free. 

And then Jonathan, you're also a writer and – or Producer Jonathan. And you have a TikTok presence. What about you? 

Jonathan Hurwitz: Writer first. I was writing poems about monkeys and dolphins at the age of four and five. And my grandmother, God bless her, still has them hole punched, like in a binder. It's so sweet. 

TikTok for me is honestly a shocking thing that I even thought about doing. I am – was my whole life that anxious kind of wallflower, fly on the wall, never even liked being in pictures, didn't like seeing myself on video. And what Kristen said, I just had a moment, during the pandemic. I was bored and lonely and was watching old episodes of “Lizzie McGuire and just wasn't over the fact that the reboot that I worked on still just never going to be a thing. And I thought, “I'm just gonna start talking about this.” And then I had the weird experience of having a video go viral. And I didn't know what that would feel like, but there was virtual validation injected in my veins and I felt sick. And I just kept doing it, and that's how I got started. 

Lorien McKenna: Jonathan, do you think that Lizzie McGuire moment and talking, it was a script, right? Or you were talking about the show? 

Jonathan Hurwitz: There was going to be a reboot on Disney+ and it got canceled in – right before the pandemic in 2020. And it was, there was a lot of talk about that on social media, and then it was four or five years later that I started talking about it on TikTok, just kinda what the show would've been had it actually gotten to come out. 

Lorien McKenna: Do you think that moment helped you with your career as a writer?

Jonathan Hurwitz: I would say there wasn't anything like in the immediate – like in the following weeks or months that necessarily was tangible, but I would say longer-term, that was maybe a year and a half ago. I would say it connected me to, or reconnected me to, the writing community, which I had felt disconnected from for the last few years.

That's how Julia and I connected, and Kristen and Nic honestly were on my radar, too. So it definitely longer-term has helped me feel connected to that community. 

Lorien McKenna: So you all were nodding your head of yes, it's that connection to the community. That's what I've experienced with the podcast. What does that connection – not, what does that connection mean? How do you parlay that into either more social media content or into getting paid as a writer?

Julia Yorks: I will say just from a personal standpoint, I am mostly in the future space now. I live in New York, so I'm not in LA anymore. And I think that most of my friends are not creatives. They are consultants and bankers. And so for me, building a connection, even if it's virtual of writers, has been really great and supportive.

And also just this industry, this profession can be super lonely and isolating. And so I found that has been incredibly helpful. 

Lorien McKenna: What about you, Nic? 

Nicolas Curcio: Yeah, no it's truly bizarre. I'm having the same moment right now, like just being on here and hearing your voice after listening to the podcast for so long.

But it's really fun to meet someone, I guess we're – this is not real life, but to watch someone's content. Like I've met pretty much everyone that I watch and then when I meet them in real life, they're just super talented, super smart people. 

I just went on my first ever influencer field trip. I went to a movie fest and there wer like 10 influencers who were all like, film people. There's book people, fashion people. But they were all so smart and nice and I hadn't even seen some of their stuff until after. But yeah, it's like I go to film festivals and people come up and then I get to meet people.

So it's truly just – I think it's the coolest thing in the world because we do feel really connected to the people in our phones.

Lorien McKenna: That's awesome. Kristen, what about you? 

Kristen Tepper: Yeah, last night, people who follow me sometimes join like a Slack channel that I have, and last night we did virtual pitches and it's just like people shooting their shot. Pitches to me are so nebulous because you never see anyone really do them.

And so it was just fun to have all these like young writers with these crazy original ideas all chatting about, “How do you make my pitch better? What did you like from my pitch?” And I think that's just really exciting because writing is lonely when you're just like in your room and it can be really defeatist to not have people to talk to about it or bounce ideas off of.

And even like here, like I think I text Nic at least twice a day just about random thoughts that I've got. But yeah, it's just nice to make friends, especially when you're – it's a town of people who just move here to hope for the best and have a dream.

And so it's nice. It's really exciting. 

Lorien McKenna: So writing, right? I spend most of my time trying to figure out how to find time to write with all the other things. The reason I set up that TikTok account, I was like, “I'm gonna do this right? I've got shit to say.” And then I realized it's a lot of work.

It's like a whole other full-time job. Like this podcast takes up a lot of energy and a lot of, most of it, Jonathan and Jeff's, to be honest. But it takes up a lot of preparation and planning. It feels like a whole other job. So how can you add content creator? 

Okay, let's stop here. What do you like to be called? Is it “content creator?” Is it “influencer?” Is it, “I'm on socials?” What is the way to talk about yourself in this? 

Julia Yorks: I just always say, “I talk about screenwriting on TikTok,” is what I say. I guess it's more content creation than anything else. I don't know who I'm influencing to do anything.

But it has been very strange. If you look at my TikToks, I've started talking a little bit less about screenwriting, but also a little bit more about my personal life and starting over in my mid-thirties after going through a divorce. And that has been really interesting because it bridges this gap between people who wanna talk about screenwriters and and movies and people who wanna talk about change, life changes and really, it's so funny because those two things are so intertwined because I've found that this period of my life has really influenced my writing in such a way. And life experiences really influence your writing. And just enrich it. And yeah. But “content creation,” I guess is okay.

Lorien McKenna: I think that's really interesting to talk about – you're creating more content that's personal and if that is then going into your writing as well... 

Julia Yorks: Yeah. 

Lorien McKenna: Sort of those conversations that you're having on a wider platform. Oh, that is something I wanna talk about – the discovery of that.

What about you, Nic? Are you an influencer, a content creator? How do you refer to yourself? 

Nicolas Curcio: Sometimes I'm on the influencer list, but it gives me like – I don't wanna say that's like a derogatory term or something, but I would say “creator” because, I think the thing that all three of us have in common is so much of the content that we make is educational.

We do try to help people and talk about our experiences. But in terms of the timing thing I was just talking to somebody the other day and they asked me the same question. They were like, “How do you have time to post all this stuff?” And I'm like, and I didn't say this to their face, but I was like, “You're like the first person to like everything I post.”

So you're scrolling on your phone all the time. I don't have as much time to scroll these days, but I have time – I can make a quick video and usually I'm just, I just turn the camera on and just rant and then I  edit and make myself sound better. 

Lorien McKenna: I could do that. 

Nicolas Curcio: Yeah. Yeah, exactly.  

Lorien McKenna: I’m so good at that. You guys showed up for the podcast and I was ranting about something. I don't even remember what it was at this point, but it was very important. I could totally do that. 

Nicolas Curcio: Yeah, you just edit it later and make yourself sound really smart. 

Lorien McKenna: Oh, see, that's the part, that's the part I don't want, I don't wanna edit it. I don't wanna post it. I just wanna rant. Yes. That's probably why it's not the right place for me. 

Kristen, what about you?

Kristen Tepper: Yeah, I think you have to say a content creator. I, again, to Julia's point, I don't think I've influenced anyone except maybe to be like, “Final Draft is expensive, but it's really great.”

Like those are the things that I'm, like, the only things I really talk about. I, and time-wise, I feel like, because my day job is still marketing and social media and I do that freelance, I have mastered my schedule down to the hour or I'm like, “This hour is for this project and this hour is for a TikTok.”

And the same to Nic, the same as I think writing as rewriting to an extent. Like you can just throw a video up and if you edit it well, you can find the magic in the 30 second to minute video. 

Julia Yorks: I think that the time thing is so interesting because now it's writing is the first priority, content creation, and then I also coach and mentor writers. And I have found that when my schedule is more full and I've been doing kind of calendar blocking too, I actually am a better writer than when I had hours and days to sit around and just like putz around my house and watch comps. I have in quotes, “Watch research.” 

Lorien McKenna: It's research. Did a lot of research right now, I have to say. 

Julia Yorks: A lot of research, yeah. And so I think it's actually helpful in a way. Something that I do think is really interesting is screenwriting is such a self-motivating, whether it's a hobby, whether it's your career. You are in charge of your schedule and you have to make it happen.

And content creation is the same. And I almost wish that one of those things were a little bit more corporately structured for me, so that not everything was reliant on my own self motivation. 

Lorien McKenna: But is there an expectation? You have all these followers that there is gonna be a certain amount of content generated all the time. And if you don't keep generating it, you're gonna lose followers. You're gonna lose engagement. Isn't that's a lot of external pressure? 

Kristen Tepper: I deleted the TikTok app when they thought they were gonna ban it, and then you couldn't get it back. And I had a few like partnership brand things.

I was taking my boyfriend's phone and trying to make my Tiktoks there, but it wasn't quite right and he was saying he needed it for a call. So like definitely the fear of you've built this beast and you need to feed it is very real to me. 

Nicolas Curcio: Yeah. And there's for sure like a mental stress on it. Like when I have days or multiple days where I'm like, “Oh, I haven't posted anything,” then there's, it's one extra thing that is nagging at the back of your brain. But yeah, I think it's like I, the way I look at it, I'm like, if I can, pump out a little nugget of writing advice every day then that will hopefully help somebody.

Lorien McKenna: How many hours a week are you spending on this?

Nicolas Curcio: I feel like it's hard to measure. I'm not exactly sure because it all blends together as well. It's because sometimes I'm scrolling TikTok and then I have a list of, “Oh this is in the headlines today. I wanna make a video about the Sinner's box office.” I wanna do this, I wanna do that. So sometimes things that are happening in real time, it's easy for me to drop and say, “Okay, I'm gonna do this now.” And obviously like a writer's schedule is what allows you to just do that throughout the day. 

Julia Yorks: I try to batch some content if I can, and then obviously if something comes up that I wanna make a video about – yesterday, Coverfly announced that they were no longer going to be in business. So I was like, okay, that's a topic that I think would resonate with my followers.

But honestly, particularly as a woman, as a newly single woman, like some days you just don't wanna be on camera. And I think, so batching the content when I look and feel like I want to is helpful.

And then also some days you just don't have it. Some days, I have drafts and drafts of things that I haven't posted, and some days I'm just like, “Ugh, I can't do it.” It sounds so silly, but it really is such a visibility fear sometimes. And you have to be willing to put yourself out there.

Lorien McKenna: Yeah. That seems really scary in terms of comments. The comment section. When you get notes on a project, there's a very defined context for that. There is a code and a model of behavior, right? If you're on the phone, you listen to the notes, you say, “I'll think about that,” or “I'll look into that,” or “Thank you,” and then you go, you have your situation, right?

But no one else is witnessing that other than the people in the room. So when you go and process with your co-writers or your producers or whatever, it's a very contained thing. When someone leaves a comment on your post, everyone can see it and respond to it and engage. And you can't just say, “I love getting notes.”

So how do you manage that kind of feedback that people don't filter? 

Julia Yorks: Yeah. We're also in a place where all of us are getting notes, screenwriting wise, from people who if we don't love their feedback, we at least trust their opinion or we are paid to respect their opinion. And so people on the internet, faceless people giving their opinion about everything from our looks to the way that we talk to the things that we're saying.

What I have learned is just, faceless trolls on the internet. I just – I truly do not have the time or the energy or the capacity to care about what you say. But every once in a while you get that one comment that really gives you a sleepless night. 

Lorien McKenna: Yeah. Do you think it's because it's like something that's triggering your own fear about yourself? Is that – 

Kristen Tepper: Yes. 

Lorien McKenna: Yeah. Kristen, how do you deal with the notes. Notes? They're not notes. I mean comments. 

Kristen Tepper: They're notes in a way! 

Lorien McKenna: They're not notes. I think that's important to distinguish. The important thing to distinguish is that when you're getting notes from someone that you are being paid to respect or someone you respect or that's their job, it's a note. Comments are different. 

Kristen Tepper: I don't know what's happened recently, but I have really been able to compartmentalize and just let people fight it out for themselves. There are some fights that happen in my comments and I just say, “Godspeed, you guys have the time,” and I will just close my app and walk away.

Sometimes they linger where I'm like, I could have said this, or maybe I'll respond with a stitch and do that, and then I just have to go for a walk and say, “It's just not the most important thing in my life.” 

Lorien McKenna: Nic, what about you? 

Nicolas Curcio: I feel like I obviously don't have to deal with it as bad because I'm not a woman on the internet.

But people are, that being said, people are very mean. And I think that the thing that I struggle with is I like to read – I shouldn't be doing this, but I like to read every comment that I get because so much of my content is based off, “What are the screenwriting questions that people are asking over and over again, like every single day?”

“How do I get a manager? What do I do with my script?” 

Like the same stuff I'm sure you guys hear all the time. But I've met big content creators and when I ask them, “How do you deal with when you do a promoted post or you work with a brand and everyone's just being super mean in your comments,” and most of them are like, “You read your comments?” and I'm like, “How do you not read your comments?”

I guess I'm just still not at that point where I'm ready to completely turn that off because I do want to answer questions and I want to know what people want to know from me. 

Lorien McKenna: Just thinking about some unsolicited feedback I've gotten about my presence, performance on the podcast and how it sticks. This one thing just, I cannot, I laugh about it, I make fun of it, but it's this, “Oh my God, what if that's true? What if a lot of people think that, and this is just the one person that's really reached out?” How do I make that go away? You guys? How, tell me. I don't even have a comment section and people send emails.

Julia Yorks: The one thing I tell myself is that all engagement on my Tiktoks is positive engagement because that drives views. We like engagement. So if people are saying mean things, I don't usually delete it because that's just driving the video forward to more people. So their negativity is actually helping me, is what I say.

Kristen Tepper: Yeah, I usually say, I'm like, that person must be having a really bad day and be so insecure to be this mean to someone, like to go out of their way to be mean. And I try to rationalize it like that. It doesn't always work. I wish I was, Nic is phenomenal at the most gracious, kind responses to people that I'm, I think you might wanna tussle.

Nicolas Curcio: I have gotten into some screenwriting drama in my years on TikTok. It's like I, it used to be on Twitter. This is, it's usually the fights about what you're allowed to do in a screenplay and the rules of screenwriting and never do this. And so I've channeled that on TikTok, but I try to keep my cool and be cordial. During those disagreements with people about what you're supposed to do in screenwriting or not do. 

Lorien McKenna: And the answer is, “Just don't ask me. Go figure it out.” Just kidding. Yeah, I'm kidding. But those rules are always something I like. I don't care if you bold or underline your slug lines. Make a choice and stick with it in your screenplay. I don't, I'm, there's no, anyway, we can cut that there. 

Kristen Tepper: Pe there are people out there who will tell you that you are wrong. By just saying that simply, 

Nicolas Curcio: I get blacklisted for doing that.

Lorien McKenna: Yeah, I know. But who's gonna blacklist me for – I just make a choice and then I deliver a script. I've never had any producer or network executive or anyone say anything about the format of my slug lines.

Julia Yorks: But that's also because you are delivering great scripts and even saying you have to write a great script is controversial on the internet.  

Lorien McKenna: Really? 

Julia Yorks: Yeah. 

Lorien McKenna: Why? Tell me, what does that mean? 

Julia Yorks: Because so many great scripts, “Everything I watch on this streamer is terrible. That's not a great script. I can write something better.” Or if it's just fine, “That script was just fine,” and I think people really don't get, the script is truly the most perfected part of the process. It's not a bad script when it goes to get made. It's just nobody sets out to make bad movies or TV shows and, but yeah, just saying you have to write something great. People get really mad about that. 

Lorien McKenna: What else do people get mad about? I know the whole thing about the slug lines and the, whether you can say “We see” and dashes and ellipses and should you be editorializing your action lines and all like some of those. And then, but I had no idea that saying you have to write a great script was controversial.

What other things do people grind on? 

Kristen Tepper: I think there's a lot of industry distrust, like they're jaded by it without even being in it because it is such a hard place to make it. I, that's kind of part of why I started my TikTok and it was much more film marketing and still is a lot about that job because it is luck, but it's a lot of preparation.

It's a lot of meeting people and there are just steps that you can take that I try to say you can do it, it's the hardest thing that you'll do. But if you keep going, you're a positive person and you try to work hard, like it'll get figured out. But I think people are really anti that concept and they really believe you need a connection.

They're like, “I'll never do it because my uncle's not the CEO of Netflix.” I'm like, “Me either, my guy. I wish.” 

Lorien McKenna: Yeah. I find that to be successful as a screenwriter or anyone in the industry is that you have to have hope and some positivity that it is going to work out. Otherwise what the hell are we doing?

I'm working on a pitch right now for a show. If I had no hope that it would go, why would I – if I was just seeing that as an excuse not to do it, no one's gonna wanna buy this, and why would I be the right person to sell this sports show? And, so I, I find that that's why it's, I love getting notes, right? That's why it's like, how do I turn this around for myself so that it's actually something I can stand doing every day without my spirit being totally crushed. 

Julia Yorks: I get a lot of people saying that they appreciate the positivity that I bring when talking about the industry, because look, yes, there are contractions. Yes. It's, I'm making a wave motion with my hand right now, and there's nothing that I can do about that. And I've learned over my many years of being in this industry, and more importantly, I've learned in the past year, specifically, if I can't control it, why am I worrying about it?

All I want to focus on are the things that I can control. And some people see that as – it being a Pollyanna about the state of the industry or you're, trying to make it seem like it's easier to break in than it is, and I just think I did it. So who am I to say that you can't?

And I think that – the advice that I got when I just started this career from a writer who, at the time that I met him, was delivering Dagwood’s Pizza in downtown LA and is now working for the Marvel movies and is making a fortune was just, you have to outlast everyone and not in a “Survivor” type way.

Lorien McKenna: You don't wanna kick anyone off the island or like stab anyone. 

Julia Yorks: No, I’m not trying to bone anybody off. But it's just that people leave and people give up and for a variety of reasons, it's not, sometimes it's financial constraints. There's a lot of reasons why people can't continue to pursue this, but if it's what you really wanna do and if you can make it happen, and for me, I don't have any other transferrable skills, so it's what I'm gonna do. And so why focus on how hard it is. 

Lorien McKenna: We're all, “I always do this, right?” We're being the main characters, and that means that you have a choice. It's like if you say, “I’m not related to anyone at Netflix,” there's no choice in that. You're not, you have no power in that. There's no actionable thing. 

But if you say, “I can do this,” or not, “I can try or not.” And then what are you willing to do to make it happen? Which is what all main characters need to be asked, right? What are your options? What do you want and what are you willing to do to get it? That is the beginning of act two, right?

So that's where we all are all the time, which is terrifying, right? Every day, what are you willing to do and what do you want? It's hard. It's hard to be the main character, to have main character energy. And yes, I'm working on this in therapy, so that's why I'm bringing it up because I'm realizing in my life right now, I'm at a place where I feel like everything is happening to me.

Very much. And that I realized I don't have the, I don't feel like I have the capacity to make a choice. because I don't know what the options are right now. So I'm having to like back way up and remind myself what do I want and what am I willing to do to get it? And the people who have fun or some kind of power shitting on the industry I don't think they really want it.

Nicolas Curcio: Yeah. I think overall, like across the board, the three of us in my opinion, I mean we all are, even though we're very honest about what's happening in Hollywood. What's the vibe? We are all very positive about the industry, and we are, we're not out here saying in the comments, there are people like, “Hollywood's dead. You can't even break in with a good script. It's all connections. It's all nepotism, it's all burning.” 

But it's like we're the ones in the industry and we're like very – I'm still positive about it, but we're realistic about it. We're not just like cheerleaders who are like, “Come to this industry, you're gonna be rich. It's so easy.” I originally thought that when I, like, first broke in, “Oh, I'm gonna be the one who's like successful off the bat and not even ride the rollercoaster up and down. It's just gonna be amazing.”

But we've all like been doing this for a while and we I feel like we have a good idea of the highs, the lows, and the hell no’s. But yeah, but still we're overwhelmed. Like all of our content is very positive. 

Lorien McKenna: I don't think it's Pollyanna. I think it's, “We're in it, and here's the reality.” And nobody's path is the same. And just because you have an uncle who works at Netflix, that might even be harder for you.

And just because you have a connection of someone who's powerful, like they might be like, “Fuck off, I'm not gonna help you.” It's a pretty powerful chip to play, to bank your, to back someone up. See, I can't be Pollyanna. I am a cynical person with hope. What does that mean?

I'm a realist. I'm a realist, right? Yeah. Isn't that what that is? Yes. Reality is, it's really hard. But again I've lost all my skills. I can't organize anything to save my life anymore. Ask Jonathan, he's always texting me, “Did you do that thing? Did you do that thing?” I'm like, “I did. I did. I'm doing it today. Did I do it?” 

Kristen Tepper: I think to the main character energy I, and like the little bit of control you have, I don't know if any of us set out being like, “I'm gonna be the main character and this is gonna help me.” But it has really helped give me a lot of confidence and like I've met so many people and some people that can potentially move a needle.

So like I have given myself like a little main character on the screen. This big like energy that's fun to go to and put on, not a character, but a little bit more of my positivity because in my day to day I can tell you to doom and gloom, but like when I'm talking to my phone, I'm like, “This is what I wanna tell myself – what I want someone out there to hear about the industry too and remind myself.”  

Lorien McKenna: Oh, I give great advice on the podcast. Do you think I follow most of it? No, I mean that okay. The podcast is not social media, but it is, we're talking about screenwriting and talking about life, and I believe everything I say and it is true, but I don't always do it right because I'm in my own way.

Do you guys have that experience as well?

Kristen Tepper: I think people might think I am always positive and optimistic, but if you talk to me about the nitty gritty state of the world, I can get real. I read a lot of political books and that is where it tends to be like a different. And when I tell people to go touch grass and I'm like, “I need to touch grass. Like what am I doing?” 

Lorien McKenna: What does “touch grass” mean? Ground yourself?

Kristen Tepper: Yeah. Get a reality check, get a grip, girl. It is not that serious. I need to do that to myself more, but I do remind people to go do it a lot. 

Julia Yorks: Yeah, I think it's been incredibly interesting showing up and I, we talk about personal, we, you talk about personal stuff on this podcast. And so I feel comfortable talking about it. And again, life is screenwriting and it's all incorporated. But I think that previously I was on social media, “Here's screenwriting stuff. This is my experience, let me tell you all about it.” And still very much myself, but a different version.

And since opening up a little bit more about my personal life and just being really vulnerable, I think that has merged into my screenwriting advice and content as well. And I recently started this small community of screenwriters because I felt like screenwriter Twitter is gone and I don't go on screenwriter Reddit.

And I didn't know if TikTok was gonna explode. And I found this great little community. There are 40 of us in it right now, and it's just such a supportive place and I feel like if I hadn't been as vulnerable on TikTok, I don't know if I would've been able to build this community in such an authentic way.

Because I feel like these writers are getting to see all facets of me for better, for worse. And yeah, I don't know. It's weird. Building a brand, I think only works if the brand is authentically you. 

Lorien McKenna: Yeah. Do you find it weird though when you meet people out in the wild and they feel like they know you?

Nicolas Curcio: That's a little weird, yeah. 

Lorien McKenna: People will ask me sometimes, “Oh, how is this thing?” I'm like, “How do they know that about me?” I must have said that – my kid's in seventh grade, so we have to go to the high school orientation things. And a parent came up to me, and she started asking me something, and I was like, I what? I don't, “Hi, it's nice to meet you,” because I forget what I talk about on the show, but it is confusing. 

Julia Yorks: Sometimes I have the opposite, but I'm an open book, probably too much. So I filter myself on the internet. But if you like, let's gab after this podcast, I'll tell you my whole life story.

Lorien McKenna: Oh yeah. No, I don't know how to small talk and I'm all about trauma dumping. It's weird when somebody comes up to me and is, “Oh, how was the situation with your car?” And I'm like, “What? When did I talk to you about what's happening?” 

Nicolas Curcio: Yeah. No I think I'm the same. I think I do have a brand. My brand is like, “No rules.” That's every video I make comes back to no rules of screenwriting. But yeah, I don't know. I think when people meet me in person, they say that I'm the same. I do. Yeah. I don't know. 

Kristen Tepper: So much taller. 

Nicolas Curcio: That's what people do say. They're like, “Oh my God, you're tall.” 

Lorien McKenna: Really tall. I get that too. Although, what a terrible question to ask you guys – “Are you faking your personality on the social media?” I just realized that, and also the influencer question too, right? You have to be called an influencer by somebody else, or that is something bestowed upon you, or do you own that anyway? Yeah. 

Kristen Tepper: Oh, they're bad? Because I think it's the reality. It's like I can't be positive every minute of every day. That's a hard ask. Yeah. 

Julia Yorks: Something about influencers that I find to be really interesting. I'm sure Tepper and Nic, you guys have a similar situation, is how many really large influencers not only follow me, but comment and ask about screenwriting advice because they wanna move into more of the traditional media space.

And what I always say to them is, one – “Why? You are making so much money.” It's a stay where you are, but it's also like you are doing this or you wanna pursue more of a screenwriting path or more of a traditional path because you wanna tell stories and you already have an incredible platform to tell stories.

So are you getting out of your platform already? What would you be getting out of pursuing this other? Because at the end of the day, we're all storytellers, be it on a small screen or on a larger screen. And that's what I feel like separates me when I speak to actual influencers. I feel even less of a content creator. I I feel like I'm a screenwriter. 

Lorien McKenna: All right. Here's a question we can or cannot include this – are you making money on your social media? 

Kristen Tepper: I can go. I don't normally make money on TikTok, but I did just have my first real viral video, and that was a nice chunk of change for sure. I had made a TikTok on it. It was like $1,800 from one TikTok, which is just insane. 

Lorien McKenna: How do you make a thousand dollars on a viral TikTok? 

Kristen Tepper: You have to first have 10,000 followers, which like, seems so daunting when you're starting. And then though from there you're invited into something called the Creator Program.

And once you are in the Creator Program, your videos over a minute and if it's quality, I don't know how they range that, but like are informative or knowledgeable, you get paid for views and a level of like engagement that you get from it. So that's like how you from TikTok.

Lorien McKenna: Okay. Yeah, TikTok, the literal app pays you. 

Kristen Tepper: And then for my Substack, I do have members, we do a monthly script club and we do the virtual pitches and just like a community of us hanging out and like getting on Zooms and stuff. So that would be like my ways. But I still pay all my bills, because I'm just a baby, by all my marketing and pitch decks.

And from social media, I meet a lot of people, producers, directors, writers who are looking for pitch decks. So that's also been a –  

Lorien McKenna: So you've been able to leverage some of your social media presence into getting work. Maybe not necessarily as a writer, but doing pitch decks, but then you're meeting all these people and being amazing and forming relationships and friendships.

Kristen Tepper: Yeah. 

Lorien McKenna: Okay. All right. Anyone else wanna talk about if they're making money or not?  

Nicolas Curcio: I make a good amount of change on TikTok. A lot of it comes from working with the brands and stuff. So I have a digital manager now in addition to my film people. And she brings in like a good amount of opportunities of just companies that want me to go to screenings or post about certain things.

I think for a screenwriter it's great because especially in the post-strike world, like none of my screenwriter friends have gotten their first big job back yet. We're all still just trying to make stuff happen. So it can be really helpful and for me it's been able to be like, “Okay this is what can help me survive right now,” instead of having to go out and get a quote unquote real full-time job.

So between that and like one other side hustle I have, I'm able to be like, “Okay, I can keep writing my screenplays and keep going,” and, I, but I also don't have any family to support. I just have my cat. So the cat is fine. 

Lorien McKenna: Awesome. Awesome. 

Julia Yorks: I think brand deals for me are somewhat – you never really know when they're going to come. So they're not things that I bank on. I work with Final Draft a lot or other screenwriting services or platforms. And then because of opening up a little bit more about my life, I've started getting into more of the fashion and beauty space too, which is very strange and interesting and I'm honored to be included.

I would just love packages of free clothes. That is truly my dream. 

But for TikTok, for me, when I first started, I got a lot of people reaching out saying, “Would you read my script? I will pay you,” and so at first I did coverage and what I realized about coverage is that if you don't know how to take notes, it's not helpful.

And so what I started doing instead was really doing what producers, writer friends, my managers, do with me. So now I sit down with people for an entire day and we get up at the whiteboard and either re-break their script or go through page by page and polish it and really just get into the nitty gritty one-on-one.

And so that for me has been really interesting. It's not something that I do a ton every month because it's a lot of work. But it has been something like, I feel like I'm getting paid for my service, but also that it's a service that I feel like is actually really important and helpful.

Lorien McKenna: So yes, you can make money doing it. Sometimes you can make enough to support yourself. Sometimes it's getting connections and doing other things like side hustles. Okay. It still seems like a lot of work because it's a job. What you're doing is a job, right? 

Jonathan, what do you got? 

Jonathan Hurwitz: No, yeah, I wanted to ask, I've heard that you need to post a certain amount of times a day to actually start to gain views and followers. I've been told it's three or four times a day. Is that something that you are thinking about every week when you're thinking about what to post?

Nicolas Curcio: I don't know that the algorithm has a certain number that fulfills the algorithm. I think it's more so the reason people say that is because posting on TikTok is 100% just a numbers game. If you post 20 Tiktoks, maybe one of them will go viral. No one is posting things that consistently perform.

So I think it's more so if you're posting three times a day, you just have a higher chance because you're playing the lottery so you have a higher chance of breaking through. And I think it's also good because it, like writing, it teaches you not to be precious about what you're posting. Because I've had things that I've spent so much time on, nobody watched it.

So I, every time I approach something, I think, “Okay, I need to get back to my screenplay. So let me just put in the most limited amount of time that I can while also trying to make something good.” 

Kristen Tepper: I also think something about the three times a day, you learn what people resonate towards you doing.

So I always know, like anything I talk about social media campaigns or pitch decks, like the things I really know tend to do well. But the other day my video that went viral was just me obsessing over “Sinners” and like the kind of lore and the Irish vampire and Nic commented and he was like, “I think this is just gonna be what you do now, basically.”

And it's like that – I'm like, oh, maybe I do dig into that. It's just a useful learning thing to post that much and realize what you do well and how you can get better. 

Jonathan Hurwitz: What advice would you have – I'm sure we have listeners who are either maybe on social media already or maybe aren't, but are interested. How do you even go about starting to – 

Lorien McKenna: Remember your password! 

Jonathan Hurwitz: You know, how much – not unlike sitting down and thinking about if you're developing a new idea, and you're sitting down, I know I usually just open up a Google Doc and I'm throwing things in there. Do you or did you sit down and think about, “What do I wanna say on here? What is my brand? What is my voice? Am I going to start off by batching 10 videos and I'm gonna release them once a week?” Any thoughts on how you can get started? 

Julia Yorks: I think you just have to find your own rhythm. I think a great goal is, “I'm gonna post once a day, every day for 30 days.” I still try to post once a day at least, just because it keeps me like, in integrity with the process. And if I take one day off, what's two, what's three, what's more? And so I really try to stick with that, but it doesn't always happen.

I think in terms of whether you wanna niche, they say like niche down and pick a lane. Something that I always talk about is how when I started as a screenwriter, I would just pick a character or a plot idea – as the execs say, genre agnostic. And I think early on in my career, that did not behoove me at all because I couldn't be branded.

My reps would say, “We can't place you. You work in animation, but you wrote this kind of JJ Abrams YA sci-fi show, and now you're writing this comedy.” Now in my career, it has been an asset because I can write anything. I got a horror movie, I got a romcom, I got a thriller. But I think that when you're starting, it does help to pick a lane so that people can identify you as, “Oh, there's that person who talks about X.” I don't know. I don't know if you guys agree or disagree. 

Nicolas Curcio: Yeah, and you can try different things. Like when I first started posting, it's, it seems crazy to say now, but I wasn't talking about screenwriting, I was just talking about movies I liked because I didn't think anybody cared about screenwriting.

I was like, “This is too niche.” And then I had a TikTok that went viral because I was talking about the first page of “Challengers” and how it was a rule-breaking page and it was way too dense and all the things you're not supposed to do. But I was like, “Oh, people actually do care about this.” 

And so many people who watch my screenwriting content, they're not screenwriters. They're like, “Oh, all the things you say apply to the music industry or writing songs. I'm an architect, and all the things you talk about are always the same things I talk about.” I think the more specific you can get, you'll find that people will watch your video who aren't even necessarily in that lane. They're just finding different ways to relate.

Kristen Tepper: Yeah, I definitely feel in my work life too, I've always been someone who was like, if I can do a favor for you or teach you something, then I can slowly, eventually ask. And so I started out with very much the film marketing and talking about how I got into it.

And it was a lot of college people following me, being like, “Oh, I didn't realize I could, that's a career I could have.” And slowly as I gained followers, I started being more like, “My dream is to be a screenwriter,” and I think to Julia's vulnerable thing, it's a vulnerable thing to admit that you have this big, crazy dream.

And so I think that helped me to be like, “I'm gonna be of use to people. I'm gonna show you how I did something and show you what the social campaign templates look like.” And then eventually gain your trust to tell you about me and my dreams. 

Julia Yorks: Something that I also think is really cool – I think we're all in different places in our screenwriting journey and being able to speak to where you are.

Some of my favorite videos to watch are people who say, “I'm about to write my first screenplay, come along with me as I write it.” And because there will be people who are looking up to you or people who are at your level or people like me saying, “Ah, I remember that, and that's nostalgic and keep going.”

And so really just sharing where you are in the process. You don't have to be an expert to post about your experience. 

Lorien McKenna: So when we first started the podcast, I think we recorded our first episode in January of 2020, we were still in-person at a studio and we released the first two episodes at the same time and we had 16 views. We were doing it on YouTube video as well, and with the pandemic that quickly went out the window. I was, “I don't wanna be camera ready, this is too hard. I'm in my jammies. I just ate a potato, I'm not doing my hair.” 

You guys were out doing all these amazing social media campaigns. I was actively not riding my Peloton and had an intense relationship with potatoes in my air fryer. That was, there was, it was a dark time for me. So we had 16 views slash listens and we kept doing it and it took a beat to get up to, I think it was like 400. Woo. And, but it, and now we have pretty significant audience and followers and everything.

How long does it take? Did it take you all to be like, okay, “Here's my first video. I got eight views.” And how, what was the ramp up where you didn't get discouraged and you kept going? 

Nicolas Curcio: I think it's less a number and it's more so a feeling like I've been posting for years, but it was about maybe a year ago and some months that I did the thing where I said, I'm gonna try to post every day no matter what, and really try to take this platform seriously.

And I only feel like just now, like in the past few weeks to the past few months that I've finally started to feel like what I'm doing. Like I'm starting to get to where I want to be. And most of that is just from interaction with people who like my content. So like when I was at like South by Southwest the film nerd capital of the world, like that was when so many people came up to me.

And I was like, “Oh, people actually watch my stuff.” And it started to cross over into the industry. And like my agent will say, “Oh yeah, like this person called, they saw your TikToks, we're gonna send 'em a sample.” So I think it's less so like a number, and it's more so when people start coming to you and saying, “Hey, really like what you're doing, “ then everything clicks and you're like, “Oh, people are liking this. Film students messaging me.” Like it's an emotional response. 

Lorien McKenna: Are you able to take the compliment? That's my next one, because I still struggle with it. 

Nicolas Curcio: No. Yeah. It's always hard. It's always hard, but as long as people say, “oh yeah, you encourage me to keep writing my screenplay or to start writing screenplays,” then job accomplished. 

Julia Yorks: Lovely. I've been giving screenwriting advice on Twitter now for many years and so I think that kind of helped me to broach onto more of the forward facing TikTok. But I will say I had a really cool experience once where I met with an exec and I was always posting like tips and tricks and templates that I had.

And this exec at a very large company said, “I knew your name, but I thought I hadn't read you before. And I kept being like, why do I know this person's name?” And finally he said, “I looked on my desktop and it said the Julia York's Beat Sheet template.” I'd made this feature beat sheet template. And he said, “An agent sent this to me probably a year ago. And I use it and I give it to all of my writer clients as we're trying to like, or my writers as we're trying to break down their scripts.” 

And I just thought, “Oh. Okay, cool.” Like you are VP at a huge company and you are using my template, like this is something valuable for me to share. So that is –

Lorien McKenna: Please send me that template, by the way.

Julia Yorks: I will. I absolutely will.

Lorien McKenna: I'm excited about a new tool. 

Julia Yorks: I will. 

Lorien McKenna: That's awesome. 

Julia Yorks: Yeah. 

Lorien McKenna: Kristen?

Kristen Tepper: It's definitely, it's the, I am like, I guess I really started to take this seriously about like film and marketing probably two years ago almost. And it's like a slow growth, but I think every time someone – kind of what Nic said, is your content just makes me think it's possible. That's worth it to me. 

And then, yeah, to the flip side, I've made content not thinking about what it could get me, and it's gotten me some like meetings with very fancy producers that I never would've dreamed of. And like it is, as I see content creators become less of an ick or an outlier I think it's only going to become more helpful and exciting to share my journey. Hopefully I get staffed on a show and I can share what that's like. And I think that's where like I find so much value in making it less intimidating or confusing what this industry looks like to someone new. 

Lorien McKenna: So on the podcast I often worry that I ramble and talk too much about personal stuff, but generally speaking, I feel like how I am on the show could influence potential people working with me, which in one way is really excellent because they know who I am.

And if you don't wanna work with me, great. Then we would not have been a good match. On the other hand, I'm afraid that I might be discouraging people from reaching out to me for potential collaborations or job opportunities. And that I seem very busy when I talk about all the projects that I'm working on.

So then people think I'm so busy, I'm like, “I'm busy, but like I'm still a writer. I'm still looking for work all the time, even when I'm working.” So I worry about that kind of stuff. Is that something that you all worry about? I'm putting myself out there and like what the industry thinks too, right? Oh, you're on social media. 

Nicolas Curcio: It's a question that has come up a million times on our podcast already. Like even all the episodes we haven't aired yet is people ask it all the time. I went to my friend's NYU satellite campus film class, and they said the same thing. They were like, “But does Hollywood take social media seriously? Are you worried that they're gonna think you're doing this other lowbrow thing of like social media?”

And I don't know, l think you're always gonna be worried about, “Oh, what if this turns someone off?” But like you said, I think that's someone you probably don't wanna work with anyway.

But it can be a really vulnerable thing, like what we do – even what y'all do on the podcast – it's not normal for screenwriters to say, not only what are you working on right now, but like, how are you feeling? Which is why I love this podcast is because you guys talk about that.

But yeah it's just not like screenwriters are supposed to just go write. Screenwriters are largely faceless and so it is weird to see a panel of screenwriting content creators. And so I think it has a lot of people scratching their heads a little bit. But I think as long as you, when I make a video, I just assume that everyone I know is gonna see this video.

And early on it became clear to me algorithm-wise, if I talk about a movie, somebody reaches out and says, “Oh, that director's my friend, I'm sending it to him. Or him or her or them.” So I try to, yeah, I try to take this and say, like I keep it positive and I just assume that everyone will see this, and most of the time I'm being complimentary or I'm saying this is a great example of this.

Yeah, I think, but of course there are always gonna be people who say, “Oh, like you're making videos about screenwriting.” 

Lorien McKenna: I definitely have that – “Oh yeah, I have this podcast.” I almost have to apologize for it in some way. I think the podcast itself is amazing and it's helped so many people and I hear such great positive things and I love doing it, but at the same time shouldn't you be writing?

Like, why don't you take all that energy and everything you know, and learn and go write. You know that it's my own internal – no one's ever said that to me, but that comes from my own, “What am I doing? Shouldn't I just go and write?”

Kristen Tepper: I feel that similarly, but like to the, I have a quote, literally it's my desktop quote. It's not exactly what one of you said in one of your episodes, but it was basically you guys saying “Write today so that you can write all of your future ideas,” and like you guys giving that nugget to me is like very impactful and worthwhile. like 

Lorien McKenna: What does that mean? Explain it. 

Kristen Tepper: You guys were like – 

Jonathan Hurwitz: Lorien, you said it!

Lorien McKenna: Hey, see this is the problem. People come up to me and they say, “You said this thing on the podcast.” I'm like, “Wow, that sounds smart.” And they're like, “You said it.” And I'm like, “No. What?” 

So write today so that – oh you write it today, you get that out, then you have time to write that out. 

Kristen Tepper: Yeah. Like you can write all the things you're excited about and like I think those little nuggets are like why you have to keep doing the thing despite what else anyone might say. And I do get a little worried, I would say I'm a little more intense in my beliefs and a little more open if you cross over from my Instagram to my TikTok.

And so there have definitely been people who are like, “Stick to screenwriting or stick to filmmaking. I don't wanna hear your personal opinions.” And that's valid and fair. 

Lorien McKenna: We've gotten that feedback on the show. People are like, “I just skip right over Adventures in Screenwriting.” I'm like, I don't. And some people are like, “We just listen to Adventures in Acreenwriting and we don't care about the rest.” I'm like, “I don't really care, you can do whatever you want for a free podcast.”

Kristen Tepper: You could just scroll right past me if you're not feeling the video. But mostly I do think it's positive. I think people are very interested in it too, to an extent. People are like, “How do you make a TikTok?” this podcast episode is that – it's, let's talk about this nebulous thing. So it's mostly positive. 

Julia Yorks: The only time I ever worry about it is when an exec follows me and I have a script due and they're like, “Where's my script?” I had an exec once say, “This is a good sign. I see words that I know are from my script in your post.” And I was like, “Okay, yeah. I'm working on it. I'm working on it.” I haven't had a ton of industry people, executives and whatnot say, “Oh, I've seen your TikToks.

I went to an exec mixer. I snuck my way into a New York City exec mixer the other night, and one of the execs introduced me by saying, “She has this amazing TikTok.” And I was like, “Oh my God. A TikTok.”

Yes, but everyone was so sweet about it. But yeah I haven't had a lot of industry people, like during generals or things say to me, “Oh yeah, I watch your videos.”

But then once I get to know execs and they start to follow me, for me, it's more of a fear of I feel like being in front of a stage of thousands of people that you do not know is way less scary than being on a tiny black box stage in front of people you do know. And that's how I feel about Instagram and TikTok. 

On Instagram, my former in-laws are on there. My friends from high school are on there, and I feel so much less confident to post the things that I do on TikTok. On TikTok, I'll gab all day about an array of subjects. But to me that's the real fear of visibility is that smaller circle on Instagram.

Lorien McKenna: Because you have Facebook, which is for old timers. And then Instagram, which is more like family, friends, intimate. And then TikTok is whatever, you never know. 

Julia Yorks: Because Instagram feels so curated, it feels like everyone showing their best slices of life and their most, Instagramable moments. Whereas on TikTok, people say the craziest things, they show up looking crazy, and it's just fun.  

Lorien McKenna: You're saying TikTok is for me to show up crazy, however, I just don't know how to get access to that account. I have three followers already. 

Kristen Tepper: You need to get access. You gotta get back.

Lorien McKenna: I know. I don't know how I – I need someone young and smart to help me figure that out. And Jonathan is like, “Do not reach out to me. I'm not helping you.” 

Jonathan Hurwitz: Don't reach out to me respectfully. Respectfully. 

Lorien McKenna: Yeah. He does that respectfully. And I'm like, “Okay.” He knows my hyper fixation, and then I'll be like, obsessed about it, and then I'll forget about it for three months.

So how do you describe ASMR? My kid talks to me all the time about ASMR. She's like tapping on things. I'm like, but you, but is it tapping, what the hell is it? 

Kristen Tepper: Nic, do some. 

Nicolas Curcio: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. 

Lorien McKenna: I don't get it. You guys, is it just like a – 

Nicolas Curcio: I don't actually know – what's the broad definition of ASMR? Is it anything that's meant to, it's very quiet and whispery, like tickles your brain, but… 

Kristen Tepper: Yeah, like tickles your brain. It like scratches something in your head that people really enjoy. I don't know how I sometimes do get trapped in people's lives that are doing them and I'm like, why am I still watching this? And then I scroll away. 

Julia Yorks: If I need to sleep, sometimes I will in a desperation mode, I will Google TikTok or TikTok ASMR and they have some sleep ones that just instantly you're out. 

Nicolas Curcio: Basically just like a guided meditation.

Julia Yorks: With scratchy noises. I dunno. It's really soothing. 

Lorien McKenna: Okay, so it's not like white noise? Can it be visual? I love to watch those videos of the things getting squished in the giant squishy and then the woman next to it is acting it out. 

Kristen Tepper: Sometimes girls have long nails and they do things like this and it is, it's very like intimate though. Like sometimes I feel inappropriate to be like in with –

Julia Yorks: No, I'm trying to figure out my new style and just things I'm trying to, I'm, I keep saying that I'm rewriting, this age and I just got these big long nails and I can't stop tapping things.

Kristen Tepper: I love them.

Julia Yorks: I can't pick anything up.Iit's impossible, but I can't stop. I can't stop.

Lorien McKenna: I think I'm gonna actively choose not to engage with ASMR because I dunno what it is. So I'm just gonna be like, I don't know what that is. I don't need to investigate or learn anything about it. And just everyone knows what it is for themselves, but I can't, I, it's not a thing for me.

All right. So you guys have all been lovely asking you all these questions. I'm so curious about all this. Of course now my brand is I'm gonna find my password and I'm gonna get on TikTok and I'm gonna do all this stuff and then just seems like a lot. Like I said, it's like a whole other part-time job and you have to be camera ready. Unless your thing is that you're not. 

Julia Yorks: There are filters that you can use.  

Lorien McKenna: See the technical stuff, I just, I, it's a lot like. We should do like a class. 

Kristen Tepper: Like we should all just like host a little – we'll get passwords back, we will show filters. 

Lorien McKenna: And it should be for Gen X. “Hey, gen Xers, do you wanna be on TikTok? Here are some basics. Step one, go to TikTok,

Kristen Tepper: The app not .com. 

Lorien McKenna: Yeah, definitely. That's right. Go to the app on your phone. Not TikTok dot. No, exactly. Because I was imagining myself Googling it, but then I have it on my phone. So yes. The basics, right? Perfect. 

We learned how to type on manual typewriters. Okay. Like it is the Wayback Machine. The looks of horror on all of your faces was amazing. I think we need to screenshot that and share it because. That was a moment for me. 

Jonathan Hurwitz: I’m gonna take a screenshot. 

Kristen Tepper: You just had to be such a, not a better writer, but really like the amount of retyping and deleting and cropping and cutting and pasting and I don't even understand how people were writing.

Lorien McKenna: I used to type people's essays in college for money. 

Kristen Tepper: Oh, that's genius. 

Lorien McKenna: There was an electric typewriter by then, so I would just retype. I was a very good typist. But you can't really edit as you go. Especially when you see old movies and they're like hacking away at the keys. Like they're just typing and then they'll make a correction with a pen. Or even when they used to write by pen, they were just like, back in the olden days, Jane Austen. Anyway… 

Nicolas Curcio: Typewriters are back. I was in line for something the other day and I saw somebody using an electronic typewriter and it was a Hemingway brand, like the estate branded these digital typewriters. I'm sure he would love that. But they have these digital typewriters.  

Lorien McKenna: Does it come up a cup holder? 

Nicolas Curcio: But I was like, should I get a digital typewriter?

Lorien McKenna: No, I have some. No, don't do it. No. 

All right. It's been great chatting with you all. Thank you for being here.

We have the same three questions we ask everyone at the end of the show. So what brings you the most joy when it comes to your writing and or being a content creator. Nic? 

Nicolas Curcio: I guess the thing that brings me the most joy these days is when those two things perfectly intersect. The perfect night would be I get to go to some really cool event because I'm screenwriter Nic, but then somebody knows me as actual screenwriter Nic and they've read a piece of my writing or my Blacklist script or something like that. And yeah, I just, I love when everything comes together. 

Lorien McKenna: Kristen? 

Kristen Tepper: Nic, that was a good answer and I can't steal it. That would be wrong. I think what brings me the most joy is when I crack the, or like I, the puzzle is coming together, like the puzzle feels right now for a few of my scripts that I'm like, I have all the pieces. I just gotta tighten it up. And then the same in social media like, where I'm like, oh, I really enjoy these types of videos. Or it's actually just fun. It doesn't feel so daunting. I think like when they both feel nice together. 

Lorien McKenna: Julia?

Julia Yorks: Yeah. I just think there is something so cool about how you start with a blank page and then you fill it with stuff that comes from your mind, and then at the end of the day, there's a hundred pages of stuff that you just created. I think that's so awesome. And similarly just looking at TikTok and at the profiles that I've created and looking back at all these old videos and saying, “Wow, okay. I did a lot of stuff and I think that's pretty cool.” 

Lorien McKenna: All right. So what pisses you off about screenwriting or content creating? That's a whole other podcast just called “What Pisses You Off.” Yeah, I'm the host. I might be the only guest, too. I'm just gonna rant. Nic, go ahead. 

Nicolas Curcio: I think I would say in writing it's rewriting. I find it, there are some projects I have – there was a script that we just took out and I got to hear some very smart notes from people who are now starting to read the script.

And it's all the things that I already knew. We've had a million conversations about this over the past nine months, but we've gone back and forth so many times that we lost all objectivity. And I'm just like I knew that was what we needed to do, but it's just so hard when you rewrite something to oblivion. It's very hard. 

Lorien McKenna: Kristen?

Kristen Tepper: I think the lack of control to an extent – like you can put out a TikTok that you think is great, and that algorithm is like, “This is not great.” Ha. Or you can have a bunch of people engage, but it's just not pushing it out. It's just a game of chance, which is fine.

And like to writing, you just never know who's gonna read it – if they're gonna read it, if the AI is now reading it, if the intern. So I think it's just a little bit out of control and is always stressful to me. 

Julia Yorks: Thing that pisses me off most is writing a great script and then having to wait to take it out because we need to attach. “Attachment” is my least favorite word, and it's so great when you end up attaching amazing talent to your work who just make it better and also give you so much faith in the fact that what you wrote is worthy because they wanna attach to it. But ugh, the process takes so long and it is so frustrating. And just because someone attaches doesn't mean they're on for good. The whole process can fall through in a moment. And that is what pisses me off. 

Lorien McKenna: Yes. Because when you reach out to somebody's agent to say, “Hey, I'd love to have your client read the script,” that's the only person you can have it out to. So you have to wait for them, the agent, to contact the actor or the director, or whomever they have to read it and respond. And only when they pass can you go to the next person. So it can take forever. Forever. And studios always love it for their clients. 

Julia Yorks: Oh, we love it. You don't love everything. I don't have to.

Lorien McKenna: No. And then you get the response back – “They don't have time.” Or there's no schedule, this isn't right. And you're like, did anyone read this? Was it just the pass? So then you don't get any – there's no sort of context about why, or did they read? That's why I just never take any of that – I just assume no one read it, so I can't take it personally. 

Julia Yorks: I don't take it personally, it's just more of a time thing. And it's funny, I will say there was an actress who I never really had any strong thoughts about either way. And she passed within two weeks and now she's my favorite actress. Put her in everything. I love her because a quick pass? You're my favorite person! 

Lorien McKenna: And that says everything. That two weeks is a quick pass.

Julia Yorks: Yeah. 

Lorien McKenna: So it's not like we're over here waiting like a week and then we can move on. No, it's months. Somebody has your script, and then something happens in the world and it kills your script while you were waiting for someone to read it, which may have just happened to me. That's awesome. I'll wait five more years and send it out again. It's fine. Everything's fine. Don't worry about it. 

All right. And the last question is, if you could go back and have coffee with your younger self, what advice would you give? Nic? 

Nicolas Curcio: Don't pitch on every single board game and candy bar and piece of IP that comes in. You may be tricked into thinking that's how you get jobs. And for some people it can be, but I had a solid couple years where I should have written way more specs because a spec script is the most powerful thing you can ever have as a writer. It's the only time you will ever have leverage – when someone wants an original piece of  material that you wrote. 

Lorien McKenna: Are you talking about people coming to you and saying, “Hey, pitch on this IP/OWA? 

Nicolas Curcio: Yeah, OWA.

Lorien McKenna: Okay. Yeah. Are you watching “The Studio?” 

Nicolas Curcio: Oh yeah, it's too real.  

Lorien McKenna: So good. 

Nicolas Curcio: It's amazing. 

Lorien McKenna: I thought I'd be crazy watching it. It is delicious. 

Nicolas Curcio: It's amazing. 

Lorien McKenna: It is the best. Anyway – Kristen? 

Kristen Tepper: Yes, I would say I have a bit more of a backbone. Be a little more bold when you're talking to people and like, you can ask for things if you've worked with them a while. I'm not good at that yet. I'm still like back logging all of the people I've worked with to be like, “Do you want to get to coffee with me, please?” 

Lorien McKenna: Yeah, that's hard. 

Kristen Tepper: So yes, be more bold. 

Lorien McKenna: Okay. My advice for you is instead of “be more bold,” it's more about just approach everyone and everything as if they want to spend time with you rather than asking them to spend time with you, right? 

Kristen Tepper: Yes. 

Lorien McKenna: “Hey, what a great opportunity for you!” It's the same thing, the subtext, right? When you go out to pitch, you're not begging. You're like, “I love this. I want someone to love it, too. If you love it, great, let's talk. But I'm not gonna convince you to love this if you don't like it. No, you love it? Let's do it. But I love it. It's amazing. This is your opportunity to do this amazing thing with me.” That's you.

Kristen Tepper: That's what I need to – that is the energy I need to be bringing. 

Lorien McKenna: You are amazing. See, I give myself the best advice, but don't – I'm about to take out a pitch, so I'm like practicing. It's like you're welcome before you even ask, right? But on the inside, deep, deep on the inside. 

Kristen Tepper: Yes. 

Lorien McKenna: Julia, what's yours?. 

Julia Yorks: Buy Bitcoin. And I think what I would say is just – so I was a kid actor for so long. I was just very used to rejection. And I'm pretty good with detaching from outcomes in my professional life. Have not at all been good with it in my personal life. And so I think my advice would be more about trying to have the mentality that I have towards my work, in my own personal life and just really not to take things personally and to detach from outcomes. Because in this business, input does not equal outcome. And input does not equal output. And I think that's also true in life as well. And so just going along for the ride a little bit more and having a bit more patience for the experience. 

Lorien McKenna: All great advice. Thank you so much. Before we wrap, one last piece of advice that you feel like you would love to share with our audience?

Kristen Tepper: I'll go, I say this a lot, “Be delulu with a plan.” Be delusional, but write out your big goals and try to stick to it. 

Lorien McKenna: Isn't that what we're all doing as screenwriters? 

Kristen Tepper: Yes. 

Lorien McKenna: Isn't that we talked about at the top of the show? Which is it's gonna happen and here's how I'm gonna make that happen. That's great. 

Nicolas Curcio: I would say don't be afraid, just do it. I've talked to a lot of film industry friends recently who said that they want to start trying to post videos, but they're just very reluctant. And I would say yeah, don't be afraid. Just try it on TikTok. You're largely posting to strangers all over the world, so if nobody sees it, then it's no big deal. 

Lorien McKenna: That's a language thing too, right? Instead of, “I'm going to try to start posting it, I'm posting it.” Just a frame switch for yourself. I am not gonna try to be a writer, I am a writer. I'm writing, and then you have to do the thing to back up. 

Julia, what's your last advice?

Julia Yorks: I always say that creativity does not thrive in financial instability. And so something that I know, something that I say to a lot of writers who are trying to make their way up in the world now is I say, have a career and then write when you can.

Kind of like I said earlier about how when my schedule is wide open, it makes it a lot harder to write that. I just feel like that is how you navigate the industry now.

Lorien McKenna: All good advice. 

Julia Yorks: Sobering advice for the end, I know! 

Lorien McKenna: Let's wrap it up. That's great. No, but I think everything that we talked about is really great advice and it applies to screenwriting and content creating in social media because it really is about deciding to do something, have a plan, do the thing, learn as you're going, learn from your mistakes and keep going even when you have a video that doesn't get attention, or it takes you a long time to get followers, or you have been writing for five years and you haven't quite cracked in yet.

Also, just to be clear, once you break in, you have to keep re-breaking in. There is no, “I broke in. It's happened.” I have to re-break in every time I step in a room to pitch and every time I write a script. So you have to keep showing up. So yeah, keep showing up. So thank you all very much for being on the show. I really appreciated the conversation. 

Kristen Tepper: Thank you. 

Nicolas Curcio: Thank you so much for having us. 

Lorien McKenna: Thank you so much to Nic, Kristen, and Julia for coming on the show, and we'll link all of their socials in the episode description. 

And remember, you are not alone, and keep writing.