Magazine article
Reddit short stories are popular in Hollywood – joining a long trend. Here are 5 of the best short stories on film
The Conversation, Vol.26 May 2026
2026
Appears in The Conversation
Abstract
Short stories published on Reddit have been selling for lucrative amounts to studios like Warner Bros, Amazon MGM and Netflix. It seems there’s no need to write a full screenplay: a few thousand words in a short story could be enough to kick start a Hollywood dream.
I Pretended to be a Missing Girl, the story attached to Warner Bros, with Sydney Sweeney producing, was posted in 2020 by English teacher Scott Cote to Reddit’s popular horror community r/NoSleep, where stories must be written as if true, in the first-person – and commenters must act in the same spirit. Film rights sold last year.
Stop-motion animator Marcus Kliewer also found success on r/NoSleep, where his short story We Used to Live Here attracted the attention of a producer who sold it to Netflix in 2021, with Blake Lively set to star and produce. Kliewer then got a book deal. An expanded version of his story became his debut novel. His second novel, The Caretaker, published last month, was also based on a short story (unpublished), with film rights already sold; it will be produced by Sweeney, too.
Online platforms such as Reddit and Wattpad, a platform for publishing and sharing fiction, have become part of a legitimate acquisition pipeline. New York magazine reported in late 2024 on the “booming subgenre” of movies based on Wattpad stories (including Amazon Prime’s most popular original film worldwide in 2023, My Fault).
Details
- Title
- Reddit short stories are popular in Hollywood – joining a long trend. Here are 5 of the best short stories on film
- Authors
- Karen Hands (Corresponding Author) - University of the Sunshine CoastGinna Brock (Author) - University of the Sunshine CoastJane Frank (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast
- Publication details
- The Conversation, Vol.26 May 2026
- Publisher
- Conversation Media Group
- Date published
- 2026
- DOI
- 10.64628/AA.v96t5mdkp
- ISSN
- 2201-5639
- Copyright note
- © The Conversation Media Group. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
- Organisation Unit
- School of Business and Creative Industries
- Language
- English
- Record Identifier
- 991230730102621
- Output Type
- Magazine article
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