Socialize

#PipelineWriters
relaunching in 2025 on X

Follow the #PipelineWriters hashtag on X once a month (TBD, returning in 2025). Screenwriters, novelists, all writers welcome.

We might have a specific topic, we might have a guest Q&A, but most likely, it's a free-for-all.

Random giveaways, too—sometimes contest entries, sometimes the very-popular Pipeline Artists mugs, sometimes notes from Script Pipeline or Book Pipeline.

If you absolutely hate the idea of being on X/Twitter, or Threads, or BlueSky, or any social media site because you feel it's the literal 8th circle of Hell according to Dante's Inferno ...

We totally understand.

BUT—

Here are a few easy tips to maintain your sanity and engage with minimal, if any, distraction. They'll take ~3.2 minutes to implement (we timed it).

"X has become a cesspool of ___," you say. Maybe so. But you can still hack your way through it.

Tip #1:

Unless you enjoy random videos of people fighting in big box chain stores or residual viral clips from TikTok, don't follow the "For You" feed. Stick ONLY to the Following feed, which is comprised solely of the people you choose to follow. And if who you're following is posting weirdo nonsense (we all have those online friends), just mute them. Or unfollow them. Or you can select "not interested in this post" and it'll show less often.

You can also create custom feeds:

Tip#2:

If you don't pay for a subscription (and we can't blame you ...), there's no getting around the ads, but you can tailor them (or block/mute certain ad accounts) to your preferences at least.

Tip #3:

"But they're stealing my content and using it to train A.I."

The best we can suggest is to unclick this in Settings > Privacy & Safety. We did, on all our accounts.

That doesn't guarantee X (or BlueSky, or Meta, or ANY site, lbh) can't skim the things you post to train A.I. or target ads or any other seemingly nefarious thing, so our tip is the same tip they gave in 1994: don't post stuff on the internet you don't want swiped. 🔐

Tips For All

Follow the people you want to follow—your friends, the trades/news, etc.

But social media isn't about staying in your bubble. That'd be boring. And tbh, kind of reductive. Like we've done with Pipeline Artists, we want creatives to expand their horizons, so your time spent on social should, in our very humble opinion, play into that.

Furthermore, this goes for everywhere, online or irl:

Don't feed the trolls.

Never respond to users who aren't open to a rational conversation. Or who are engagement farming (i.e. saying objectively dumb things for likes and reposts). Who are sketchy anons and rude for the sake of glorifying their own perverse self-interest ... if you've been around long enough, you know some of them fit that profile perfectly. It's a waste of your time and saps your creativity energy. Trust us. Not worth it.

Surround yourself with positivity, worthwhile people, and communities you can grow with and learn from. 🙏

Pipeline Recommended Twitter Chats:

#scriptchat: Sunday 5pm PT / 8pm ET

The Screenwriter Twitter chat that started Screenwriter Twitter chats.

In 2009, our Editor-in-Chief Jeanne Veillette Bowerman co-founded #scriptchat, where screenwriters first learned the phrase "Twitter chat." There's only one rule: bring your tequila (or beverage of choice) and leave your ego behind. Over 200 industry guests have appeared, from David B. Hayter and Jane Espenson, to showrunner Sheryl Anderson.

Check #Scriptchat for details—and 12 years of transcripts.