Back in the day, I truly thought that every screenwriter aside from lonely little old me already had a writers group. In my mind they were all meeting weekly and giving each other sage advice and sharing handy tips about execs and reps while I toiled away at my lonely laptop. Groupless.

So I sent this tweet: 

All right, y'all. It's time. How did you find your writer's group? And how specific are you with criteria? Ex: I think I want a group of other TV 1-hour drama and/or genre writers, but would expanding the scope to other types of screenwriters be useful?

— Jennifer Dunn 🌋 (@WriterJennDunn) November 27, 2020

And it turns out, I was incredibly wrong about every writer out there having fun in their groups without me.

Screenwriters. Want. Groups.

This started a whole thing where writers piled on to that and my following Tweets to ask how on earth you find a writers group in this economy in a pandemic at all.

From there, the now-closed Writers Group Finder Google Sheet was born. And it grew. Fast.

Over 500 screenwriters used the sheet to find groups. And then they created groups. So many groups. 

They created groups for all types of folks, from beginner-level writers of all genres, to horror writers, to LGBTQ-identifying writers and many, many more. 

I’ve had the honor of having half hour Zoom conversations with 20+ screenwriters who found a group through the spreadsheet, and all of them, to a one, said that their writers group has kept them engaged with their writing, held them accountable to write, and helped them feel like they’re advancing their screenwriting skills. 

For free.

A Free Addition to Competitions, Consultants and Classes

That heartened me, because one thing that has always bothered me about screenwriting is the fact that so many people feel like they are out there writing into the void. And to get feedback, they feel like they have to pay to play by entering a screenplay competition, paying for time with a consultant, or taking a class. 

Don’t get me wrong. 

I owe a LOT to screenplay competitions. I found my first rep through a competition and got my first paid screenwriting gig through a referral from a different competition’s director. I’ve also taken life-changing screenwriting classes and paid good money to consultants. There will be no bad-mouthing of competitions, classes or consultants here.

But not every screenwriter is at the point where a competition or a class or a paid consult is useful. And there are so many reasons for that. Maybe you don’t have anybody to point out typos or common formatting errors that tend to get dinged in competitions. (Screenwriting is at least partially a craft after all, with its own set of rules.) Or maybe there’s just a big ol’ gaping plothole that you can’t see because you have been staring at your screen for five years banging this script out. A writers group is, among many other things, useful for giving you the honest feedback you need before you go out there and enter competitions or query representatives or pitch production company execs. 

But of course, a big ol’ Google Sheet soon becomes unsustainable. And it was getting really, really, really hard for folks to scroll through all the various writers groups, figure out which ones had openings, and get in touch with group members to find out when the next meeting was taking place.

Notes Community is Born

And that’s why I created Notes Community.

Notes Community is in the Alpha phase, meaning it is very, very new. I happen to have a background in tech, but I am not a developer, so I had to call on friends-of-friends to help me get this sucker programmed. But, as it is, it probably isn’t as polished as you are accustomed to. (Yet.) But we’re working on that and updates flying in all the time!

Meanwhile, I invite you to sign up for Notes Community and browse around for an open group. Or better yet, create your own group! 

I am also open for feedback. Did you find a bug? Was something confusing? Shoot us an email and we’ll look into it and get back to you ASAP. 

And last but not least, this was a labor of love but it sure wasn’t free. The app cost about $2000 to develop and the polished version will cost about $65/month to operate. If you feel like the spreadsheet or app has helped you, please pay what you can over at Ko-Fi. I’ll be eternally grateful for your contribution and will reserve a special place in my heart for you!

Now go on! Good luck finding your perfect screenwriters group!