Steve Paulo
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stevepaulo.net
Steve Paulo
@stevepaulo.net
1.1K followers 930 following 1.9K posts
Happily married father of two. Sixth-generation Californian. Software Engineering Manager. Aspiring screenwriter. Semi-pro voice actor. Certified Sommelier. Podcaster/producer, one half of @2dads1movie.com. I have too much going on to be this uninteresting
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stevepaulo.net
First page of my new pilot spec, KENTMORE, for #FirstPageFriday. It's still in very rough form...
>_COLD OPEN_< INT. RESIDUAL SUGAR - DAY Residual Sugar is a mid-scale wine bar, the kind of place that locals hang out and wine industry people call a second home. Behind the bar is LAUREN GALLAGHER (33), short hair, tattoos, a gorgeous smile she generally withholds. She's cleaning stemware. Wiping down tables nearby is VAL GARCIA (22), Latina, her black hair pulled back into a high ponytail. She's focused. The bell above the door rings and in walks JAKE WALTERMEYER (29), handsome, strong jaw, great hair, and a friendly smile. Lauren looks up, then back to what she's doing. LAUREN Hey, New Guy. Back so soon? Jake sits at a stool in front of Lauren, who smiles without looking up at him. JAKE Got any more of that white wine from last night? Riddling? Lauren looks down near her feet at a refrigerator. She grabs a bottle, then a glass, and pours Jake a glass of Riesling. He takes the glass and sips, as the bell above the door rings once more. A TOURIST COUPLE walks in. Looking up, Lauren smiles at them, but there is something forced about it. LAUREN Welcome in! What can I getcha? TOURIST MAN What's the oldest vintage of Kentmore Estates you have by the glass? Lauren gives an exaggerated pout. LAUREN Sorry, we only serve fine wine. Jake almost chokes on his sip, the tourists look confused. Lauren continues before they can respond.
September 18, 2026 at 8:50 PM
stevepaulo.net
I am rewriting one of my screenplays from a supporting character's perspective, making it her story instead. This is how it opens.

#scriptsky #FirstPageFriday
>FADE IN: INT. KATIE'S TOWNHOUSE - KITCHEN - day Sitting at the kitchen table of a modest townhouse is KATIE SUMMERS (16), chin-length blond hair, no makeup, but pretty. She wears Dickies pants, an "...And Out Come The Wolves" album art t-shirt, a spiked wristband. !SUPER: MAY then the year fades in !SUPER: MAY 1999 Katie is sketching on lined paper in a regular spiral-bound notebook... but *she's exceptionally good*. Jim Lee-level superhero comic pencil sketches. The character she's drawing is dressed in a plaid miniskirt, ripped fishnets, an off-the-shoulder tee with an anarchy symbol, she's throwing CDs glowing with energy. Down the stairs comes her dad, KEITH SUMMERS (48) a few too many pounds, less hair than he'd like, mustache. He squints at the bright light from outside as he enters the kitchen. KEITH These graveyard shifts are gonna kill me. Katie finishes a little shading, then shuts the notebook and tosses it into her backpack. She smiles at Keith, genuine, and kisses his cheek. KATIE Mom's at work. Going out with the guys. Keith nods as Katie leaves through the front door, picking up her skateboard from the entryway. Keith notices the cup of coffee Katie prepared him, still piping hot, and smiles as he picks it up. KEITH Have fun. EXT. KATIE'S TOWNHOUSE - continuous Katie walks up to the mailbox just outside her townhouse. It's one of those large metal boxes with a dozen or so locked mailboxes.
July 31, 2026 at 6:02 PM
stevepaulo.net
Did I miss any?
A Letterboxd list titled "Live-action films with animated opening credits sequences released in 1989" with the films: National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, Honey I Shrunk The Kids, and Troop Beverly Hills.
June 14, 2026 at 2:53 PM
stevepaulo.net
I'm not a stand-up comic. So writing a character's stand-up is terrifying to me. My guiding light is that it doesn't actually have to be funny enough to do on stage... it has to be funny enough that it's plausible an audience would laugh.

#FirstPageFriday ... first two pages of ONE MORE ONCE.
.OVER BLACK A small crowd is heard laughing. TOMMY So, I've been with this girl a year, right? Ready to ask her to move in with me. But then she drops this on me... we're in bed, we *just finished*, right? And she asks me why I *picked her*. The audience reacts, "ooooh." TOMMY I know, I know. A minefield. So I told her, "because you didn't run away." This gets a laugh. TOMMY And she turns to me, and straight-faced says: "I picked you because you remind me of my brother." The crowd groans but also laughs. TOMMY Her *brother?!* Her brother. There is no coming back from that. So, I had to think long and hard about how badly I needed a roommate. This gets both laughs and applause from the crowd. >FADE IN: INT. A BAR IN BROOKLYN - NIGHT It's Tuesday night at a bar in Brooklyn, NY. The kind of place that has trivia one night, an open mic the next. Maybe a dozen people in a room that can accommodate fifty. On the very small stage at the far end of the bar is TOMMY MCMURTRY (27), slim and tall, with great hair and a smirk he never takes off. He's performing, and the crowd, small as it is, is loving it. TOMMY It's just hard, you guys. It's hard to date in the City. He points to a WOMAN seated near him. TOMMY How about you, you single? You with this guy? (she shakes her head) No? (he smirks, winks) How you doin'? The crowd laughs. TOMMY You live here? (she nods) Yeah? How long have you lived in New York? WOMAN Three years. TOMMY Three years. How has dating been for you? Hard? Easy? WOMAN I dunno. Okay I guess. TOMMY And *that's* how you know dating in the City is almost impossible. A beautiful girl like this, and it's just "okay?" I am *screwed*. The audience laughs again. Tommy enjoys it for a moment, smiling big. INT. A BAR IN BROOKLYN - LATER At the bar, Tommy is sitting with JAKE WALTERS (29), hipstery, brown hair coiffed, with a mustache-and-scruff-beard combo. A MAN walks past the two of them. MAN Great show man, very funny. TOMMY Thanks for coming out! Tommy waves at someone else leaving.
June 5, 2026 at 2:55 PM
stevepaulo.net
#WIPWednesday #Scriptsky

A couple pages from early Act II in ONE MORE ONCE, about a stand-up comic in witness protection whose need for the stage outweighs his survival instinct. (the MC is Tommy)
ALMEIDA (V.O.) Part of my job. Remember: low profile. I don't want to hear about Matt Brown doing *anything.* Am I clear? Tommy stops walking, he's now in front of the Kentmore Performing Arts Center. A sign out front reads "NOISES OFF. AUDITIONS TODAY." TOMMY Crystal. Thanks for calling. Tommy hangs up the phone as Almeida tries to respond. He walks into the theater. INT. KENTMORE PERFORMING ARTS CENTER - CONTINUOUS Tommy walks into the main theater. There are 299 seats in the theater, a large proscenium stage at one end. A few people are sitting in scattered seats throughout. In one is CLIFTON BLAKE (71), full head of white hair, tweed jacket with elbow patches, a silk scarf. Real Victor Garber energy. Next to him is Hess. On stage is SANTI GARCIA (28), handsome, black hair, with the glow you get from working outside most of the time. He's auditioning, and Clifton watches intently. Tommy takes a seat near the back as Santi performs. SANTI …and to answer your question, pal: why am I here? I came here because Mitch and Murray asked me to, they asked me for a favor. I said, the real favor, follow my advice and fire your fucking ass because a loser is a loser. (beat) Scene. Everyone but Clifton and Tommy applaud. Santi bows nervously, and is about to walk off stage. CLIFTON Hold! Santi freezes, turns towards Clifton. Clifton stands, and walks down the aisle to the apron. He looks at Santi, studying his face. CLIFTON That was a *robust* performance, Mr. Garcia. Quite the show. He begins clapping, slow at first, then increasing in speed. The others in the room timidly clap alongside him. Clifton doesn't notice anything but Santi. CLIFTON Thank you, Mr. Garcia, love. For sharing your gift today. SANTI Thank *you*, Mr. Blake. CLIFTON It's Clifton! Clifton, dear. Mr. Blake sounds *old*. Santi nods and walks off stage. Clifton heads back to his seat, looks at Hess. CLIFTON Who do we have next? HESS Dr. Jonssen. CLIFTON (calls out) Dr. Jonssen, sir! Are you prepared? Out of the wings onto the stage walks DR. PAUL JONSSEN (85), overweight, bald with a white horseshoe of hair and a close-cropped white beard. He looks unsure. DR. JONSSEN I've been practicing, yes. CLIFTON And what will you be performing for us today, Doctor? DR. JONSSEN The St. Crispin's Day speech from *Henry V*. Clifton and Hess exchange glances. CLIFTON When you're ready. Dr. Jonssen takes a moment, head down, a deep breath. When he looks up and delivers the monologue... *he is transcendent*.
June 3, 2026 at 5:54 PM
stevepaulo.net
Hoping for some good news coming late summer / early fall... 🤞

#scriptsky
Announcement dates of various screenwriting competitions. PAGE: 7/15, 8/15, 8/15, 10/15 Fade In: 7/31-8/3 AFF: Mid Sep, Early Oct, 10/31 Big Break: 8/28, 9/25, 10/16, 11/20, 12/18
May 22, 2026 at 10:42 PM
stevepaulo.net
Fun little project I'm working on to generate random-ass story premise ideas. I'm sure there are 10,000 things out there that do this. But this one's mine.
The Jackplot: a slot machine for story premises
May 22, 2026 at 7:17 PM
stevepaulo.net
Working on this one still. #scriptsky #funpagefriday
No one moves. No one is visible. Just twisted steel and shattered glass. INT. HOSPITAL ROOM - UNKNOWN White. Fluorescent. The aggressive hum of institutional lighting. Clay's eyes open to an unfamiliar ceiling. Acoustic tile. A water stain shaped like nothing. A heart monitor beeps. Steady. He blinks. He turns his head and the room tilts. His eyes find LONNIE in the chair beside the bed. Still in his dinner clothes, the same shirt, rumpled now. His eyes are red but he's not crying. The moment Lonnie sees Clay's eyes open, something crosses his face. He controls it. Lonnie pulls the chair closer. He takes Clay's hand. All sound drops out except the heart monitor. Lonnie talks. His mouth moves. He leans in, holding Clay's hand with both of his. His jaw tightens between sentences, he looks Clay in the eyes. No dialogue. Just the beep. Steady. Steady. Steady. Clay's face shifts. Not all at once, in waves. Confusion. Focus. A question forming. Lonnie answering it. Clay's eyes widening, just slightly. His mouth opening. Lonnie's hands tightening around his. And then the moment it lands. Clay's face goes still. His eyes are open but they've stopped seeing the room. The heart monitor beeps. The fluorescents hum. Lonnie is still talking but Clay has turned his head back to the ceiling. The water stain. The acoustic tile. He's looking at nothing. His hand is still in Lonnie's. He doesn't pull it away. He doesn't hold on tighter. He's just there. Breathing. While the monitor marks the time
May 15, 2026 at 10:15 PM
stevepaulo.net
It's not necessarily a *complete* sentence, but that's how I write. #SingleSentenceSunday #scriptsky
Two wine bottles: one dead, one dying.
April 19, 2026 at 11:09 PM
stevepaulo.net
Ok. Seems an odd choice of number, but why not? Page 17 of DREAMING WITH A BROKEN HEART #scriptsky #17thPageSaturday
INT. CLAY AND JEN'S BUNGALOW - KITCHEN - MORNING (WAKING) The same kitchen. Empty. Gray light through the window. Clay stands at the counter in boxers and a t-shirt he's been sleeping in. The coffee maker gurgles. He opens a cabinet, with several coffee mugs that aren’t the right one. CLAY Where did you put the... He looks at the drying rack, there’s a mug there with “Visit Ojai” printed on the side. He picks it up. The faintest half- smile touches his lips. The coffee finishes. He pours a cup. Takes a sip. Goes back to the couch to sit. INT. AD AGENCY - CLAY'S DESK - DAY (WAKING) An open-plan office. The low hum of creative people pretending to work. Clay is at his desk, staring at a monitor. A document is open, copy for something, a tagline exercise. The cursor blinks. A COWORKER passes, slows. COWORKER Hey. How you holding up? CLAY Hey, Jim. Good. Thanks. COWORKER If there’s anything I can do... CLAY Of course. Thanks. The coworker nods, gives the sympathetic half-smile of someone who doesn't know what else to do, and moves on. Clay turns back to the screen. The cursor blinks. His eyes drift to the clock in the corner of the screen. 2:47
April 4, 2026 at 11:44 PM
stevepaulo.net
A random page from early Act II in THE GOOD BROTHER, a WIP Horror screenplay... most of these characters won't survive. #FunPageFriday #Scriptsky
EXT. ZEPHYR COVE - DAY The gang is unloading the cars in the parking lot at Zephyr Cove. A heavy cooler, towels, a big umbrella, a net bag full of sports balls. They find a spot on the beach, which has plenty of other sunbathers and small parties going on. It's not *crowded*, but it's busy. Jon plants the umbrella as Drew and David drop the cooler. DREW OK... who's coming with me? Drew takes off his shirt and Emma literally catches her breath. ALISON (quietly, to Emma) Down, girl. Drew jogs out to the water, and after getting knee-deep, he dives forward, submerging completely. Everyone watches him. He pops up, smiling. DREW Water's fine! David takes his shirt off next and follows Drew in. He nearly yelps when his feet touch the water, but he dives in anyway, just like Drew did. When he pops up, though, the composure is gone. DAVID FUCK! COLD! God DAMN! From the shore, nothing but laughter. DREW Come on, Sloane. You're gonna need a thicker hide than that! Marco opens the net bag, picks up a football. He nods to Jon. MARCO How much you wanna make a bet I can throw a football over them mountains? Jon is running down the beach away from Marco. JON Just throw the ball, Uncle Rico!
April 3, 2026 at 5:22 PM
stevepaulo.net
Search your camera roll for "hell"
I work up with "Ballroom Blitz" (the version from Wayne's World) in my head.
March 17, 2026 at 5:18 PM
stevepaulo.net
IYKYK
iMessage from Sampson Simpson: "Your order is on its way and will arrive in about 9 minutes."
February 7, 2026 at 12:20 AM
stevepaulo.net
I've been playing #Hearthstone for 11 years and never once reached Legend. Until today. With a deck I started playing six days ago, starting at Bronze 10.
The "You've reached Legend" screen in Hearthstone, indicating rank 2794 in Wild
January 31, 2026 at 10:19 PM
stevepaulo.net
Gotta be honest... this is one of the funniest pages on 2dads1movie.com.
A Person page on 2dads1movie.com for Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, credited as a Composer on the 1983 film "Trading Places"
December 24, 2025 at 12:38 AM
stevepaulo.net
The website for my podcast, 2dads1movie.com is not only cool as shit, it's also stable as fuck.
Results of `bundle exec rspec` in code repo. 25.82 seconds, 1119 examples, 0 failures. Line coverage 93.83%, Branch coverage 84.96%
December 22, 2025 at 12:28 AM
stevepaulo.net
I feel like this is progress and growth and it makes me happy. Some download numbers from the first 4.5 months / 22 episodes of @2dads1movie.com #podcasts #podcasting
A chart of both daily and cumulative downloads of 2 Dads 1 Movie podcast episodes, along with some callouts: 1,653 total downloads; 75.14 average downloads per episode; 39.23 average downloads in the first 7 days of an episode; 45.1 average downloads in the first 7 days of each of the last 10 episodes.
August 18, 2025 at 10:09 PM
stevepaulo.net
Before #SFB15 drafts started, I ran projections I trust through the bizarre new scoring system, and spat out a positionless Top 200, since all the roster spots this year are flex spots. My first six picks were all players from my Top 20. I had Jones ranked 24th.

Feeling good.
My first seven picks from the 12: Achane, Henry, Kyren, SLP, Kelce, Njoku, Aaron Jones.
July 12, 2025 at 3:29 PM
stevepaulo.net
Quite pleased with my #SFB15 start. This all-Flex roster setup is fun!
I drafted RB De'Von Achane at 1.12, RB Derrick Henry at 2.1, and RB Kyren Williams at 3.1. And I'll take RBs at 4.12 and 5.1 if my leaguemates leave them for me.
July 9, 2025 at 1:21 AM
stevepaulo.net
I created californianfirst.com because I'm proud of my California heritage and the great Golden State. I'm proud to call myself a Californian, in the past, present, and future. My family came here as settlers in 1845, before the Gold Rush, and we never left.

And never will.

More designs to come.
The first Californian First t-shirt, the Bear Flag with the words "California Republic" replaced with "Californian First" in the same shade of brown and the California Gothic typeface as the official flag of the great Golden State.
June 14, 2025 at 8:57 PM
stevepaulo.net
🎵 DIG THROUGH THE DITCHES AND BURN THROUGH THE WITCHES AND SLAM IN THE BACK OF MY DRAGULA 🎵
Julie Andrews plays her guitar in the hills of The Sound of Music.
May 3, 2025 at 4:32 PM
stevepaulo.net
WOOHOO! #SFB15

Thanks for putting on such a great event, as always, @scottfish.bsky.social !
Third time's the charm! Invited to Scott Fish Bowl 15!
April 18, 2025 at 5:25 PM
stevepaulo.net
a movie that takes place where you're from

I live in the Tri-Valley area of the East Bay.

Best I could come up with is Moneyball, because Billy Beane lived in Danville at the time of the events of the story, and some scenes are set "at Billy Beane's home", but the town is never named.
MONEYBALL (2011), the story of the 2002 Oakland Athletics and their 20-game winning streak (at the time, an American League record), starring Brad Pitt as A's General Manager, Billy Beane.
April 16, 2025 at 4:24 PM
stevepaulo.net
The Kombucha Girl meme: first frame says "Free a woman from wallpaper", second frame says "utilities included"
April 9, 2025 at 2:47 PM
stevepaulo.net
Choose one film from each of your 30 favorite directors. Name of the film and director, along with a still.

#Filmsky 🎥 #MovieSky 🎬📽

30/30

Robert Zemeckis

Back to the Future (1985)
Christopher Lloyd as Dr Emmett Brown and Michael J. Fox as Marty McFly in Robert Zemeckis' BACK TO THE FUTURE (1985)
March 31, 2025 at 5:47 PM