Name: Quinn Spicker
Winning Feature Script Title: God Makers
Script Logline: In this true story for the battle over ChatGPT, academic researcher Helen Toner takes on tech-industrialist Sam Altman in an attempt to control the future of AI.
What first got you interested in screenwriting? When did you start writing?
I’ve loved movies and storytelling as long as I can remember. The first (mini) screenplay I wrote was so long ago I can’t even remember what it was called or what it was about. I remember where I was living though, so I know I must have been around 8 years old. Life has taken some fun detours, including a 10-year stint in tech startups, but I’ve been writing in some capacity ever since.
Is there anything you’d like to share about your writing routine? How do you find time to write?
I wrote God Makers as part of a two-year Masters program at the American Film Institute. During these two years I’ve had the privilege of being able to focus on writing and learning full-time, which I realize isn’t something to take lightly.
Being full-time at AFI hasn’t meant not needing to juggle multiple projects though. For example, in first year you’re not just working on a feature script, but also a TV script, 3 treatments, and 3 short films. Time management became important.
I remember shortly after moving to LA to start the program, a Staples near my apartment was having a liquidation sale and I bought a huge whiteboard on sale there.
I have my various projects and commitments written on the board, and I try to plan out my writing in 3-hour stints. Sometimes one stint a day, usually two, and if I’m really under the gun, I can fit in three. I find using a whiteboard like this helpful in offloading the logistical part of writing and meeting deadlines out of my brain and somewhere external.
Then, during a 3-hour stint itself, my phone is on Airplane Mode and my aim is to be as focused and undistracted as I can.
What do you enjoy most about writing? What do you struggle with the most?
My favorite part of the process is the earliest part, when you have just a loose concept, you start doing research and writing down a huge mess of ideas. This is the most creative and free.
The outlining process is rewarding once you get to the point where it’s starting to work, but can be a bit of a slog at the beginning when you’re not yet sure if all your ideas are going to coalesce.
Once I have a solid outline, going to pages becomes fun again.
Finally, the rewriting phase becomes a slog again (for me at least), especially as I start to lose perspective on your the writing, and start to be unsure if I’m making things better or not. But of course… it’s a necessary part. And leaning on the feedback of trusted friends becomes crucial at this stage.
What gave you the inspiration for this Winning Feature Script?
I had wanted for a long time to write something about AI safety. That’s kind of a heady theme though, not inherently dramatic, and it took a long time to find a way in. When the real-life events of the board room battle for control over OpenAI occurred, with the firing and subsequent rehiring of CEO Sam Altman over a matter of days, I felt I had my in.
These were real life larger-than-life personalities, waging an epic battle for what each participant believed to be the future of AI and humanity’s relationship to it. All of it happened in a compressed, pressure-cooker timeline, perfect for dramatization as a film.
I had my “in”, and felt I had to write it.
How did you feel when your script placed as a quarterfinalist, then semi-finalist and then ultimately as one of our Feature Winners?
It was extremely exciting!
How has your experience been as a winner of the 2025 Shore Scripts Feature Contest? Any key takeaways?
Brandon and Sarah have been great, giving advice and setting me up on a number of calls with amazing industry mentors. The exposure as well has helped me take my career to the next level. Since winning the Shore Feature Contest I have a producer attached to my project and have gotten representation. It feels like things are really starting to happen!
How did you hear about Shore Scripts?
I think mainly word of mouth. It has a reputation as one of the few contests where winning is a lot more than just a cash prize. Where the mentorship and exposure can have a tangible career effect.
What goals do you have for this script and your future career?
The dream for this particular project of course would be to have it produced. However, I’m in it for the long haul, and while I continue to push to get this script as far as it can go, I’m starting on the next as well.
My long term career ambitions are to write highly researched thrillers and grounded sci-fi about the ways technologies are impacting our world.
What advice do you have for up and coming screenwriters?
Firstly, obvious but true — Just keep writing.
But don’t do it in a vacuum. Consistently expose your work to feedback, as much as you can. That’s how learn what’s working, what’s not, and how you get better.
