November 2025 Newsletter

Hello, imaginary internet people!

It’s cold!

As usual, the UK has done a clumsy transition from summer to winter, skipping autumn, dragging out the dregs of summer, then slamming the door shut on it, kicking us all directly into the middle of winter, without any time to get used to it.

All of a sudden, it’s icy cold, dark, miserable, except for when it’s weirdly too hot and stuffy, and you’ve put on 857 clothing layers because you’re not psychic.

Fun!

This has been a WEIRD year.

The TV and movie industry has been in an odd place since the lockdowns and strikes, and everyone seems terrified to make things, but also terrified to not make things, and somehow, things still seem to get made.

My various projects in development are… still in development, but that’s not out of any fear from the people involved, it just takes time for anything to get through the process. I have multiple things, at various stages, “with” companies doing active development: a feelgood underdog sports comedy, a romcom (I know, I was as surprised as you), two entirely different haunted house movies, a big budget action comedy, a slasher, and a crime TV show. They could all suddenly find their way to production tomorrow, at the same time, or they could all fizzle out and die. This is the way. Naturally, if anything does happen, I’ll spill the beans here, as much as I can.

By the way, I get that I’m not the person you’d expect to do a romcom. But I’ve always loved romcoms, and always wanted to do one. They are actually very similar to horror movies, in many ways. They’re very distinct genres, they have specific rules, audiences will expect you to do certain things, and they are both VERY hard to write.

For horror, and romcoms, if you don’t love the genre, if you don’t come to it with respect and passion and love, you won’t write a good one, and people will be able to sniff it out. That’s why there are plenty of cash grab, toothless, terrible horror movies and romcom movies, because people think they’re easy, and rush out cheap filler they think will do well.

Romcoms have an added difficulty: everyone knows how they end.

So you have to spend most of the running time trying to trick the audience into thinking that the thing that happens in EVERY romcom somehow won’t happen in this one… and then do it anyway.

It’s not easy. Lots of romcoms fall on their face with the ending. Even some good ones.

Possibly one of the best romcoms with the cleverest way around this is 13 Going On 30. First of all, it’s a classic, it’s adorable, and it has a sequence where Jennifer Garner, Mark Ruffalo, AND Andy Serkis do the Thriller dance. But it totally lands the ending. You genuinely don’t expect it. But it’s inevitable. And yet you don’t see it coming. It’s amazing. If you haven’t seen it, go get it now, you’ll thank me.

Recent movies I’ve enjoyed: The Running Man, the book adaptation I’ve been waiting for since I was 15, and it MORE than delivered for me, I loved it. Wicked For Good, although I guessed some of the plot twists based on a year of speculation, it’s a gorgeous film and a great finale. The Long Walk, the other book adaptation I’ve been waiting for since I was 15, was stunning. Weirdly, both adaptations were in the same book collection, by the same author, and both got released in the same year… Oh, and I took the kid to a singalong cinema screening of K-Pop Demon Hunters, which is absolutely EXCELLENT, in every possible way. This will not be a surprise to most of you, I’m sure.

Gaming is back on the agenda, too. I picked up the remastered Resident Evil 4 on sale, which I’m loving revisiting. It’s the same! But very different! I’ve forgotten where everything is, so despite playing it through 5 or 6 times originally, it’s all still a surprise to me. The Precinct is a really fun game where you play a police officer, and have to actually police the city properly, legally, giving tickets/fines where necessary, arresting if the crime warrants it, and use the correct approach, which is fascinating. And I grabbed the remaster of Days Gone, which is a great excuse to do a 4th playthrough, or at least just go back in and take care of some hordes.

Just signed up for Charli XCX’s Substack, which is a fascinating look inside the life of an incredibly famous, talented pop star, who is also just a random human being like the rest of us. She’s here if you want to read her posts: itscharlibb.substack.com

After setting it up a couple of months ago, I’ve finally got my Skool screenwriting group off the ground, and have started adding in classes and resources. It’s free to join, you can chat with me and other like-minded writers, get group support, access lots of free classes, do script swaps, and you don’t have to sign up for the premium level if you don’t want to (although there are some great extras in there if you do). I just added a free class called “Every Screenwriting Book Ever… in 2 Minutes” which will probably annoy some of the “gurus” out there… Come and join for free, jump into the chat! https://www.skool.com/write-your-script-3307

What else is going on lately? Feels like the year is rolling to a close, the film and TV industry will be slowing down and stopping imminently for the festive break. I wish we could hibernate, like bears. Just skip the cold winter bit, then wake up in spring, rolling out of a burrow and sliding down a hill, then eating a hiker (maybe not that part, well hey, try anything once, why not).

All of which means we’ll have to clear the living room out to fit the inevitably enormous tree the kid will want jammed into the corner. “Santa” is currently scouring online shops trying to find the weird toys she’s asked for, some we’re not even sure exist, but we’ll do what we can. I tend to not want anything, just a nice day, so I’m happy with a mini keg of ale and a football annual (for kids, obviously, so I can understand all the stats…) So I suppose, in a way, we will be hibernating. A bit.

There might be another newsletter before the end of the year, but regular subscribers will probably be rolling their eyes right now, muttering “yeah, right”. Hey, I did promise there wouldn’t be too many!

Whatever you’re doing over the upcoming break, I hope you’re all safe, happy, and loved. Let’s all try not to make the planet any worse, eh? Do what we can to improve our tiny little section. Random acts of kindness make the world go round. Be good, and if you can’t be good, be careful…

James Moran

www.jamesmoran.com

www.skool.com/write-your-script-3307