There's a particular kind of story that stands out to us: We want reported stories that reveal some kind of tension. How is the subject of your story changing the industry? Who are the stakeholders who will have to adapt? What's something or someone people have been overlooking, and why is that an issue? Pitches that demonstrate that you've homed in on a source of tension and that you're well versed in the answers to the crucial questions surrounding it jump to the top of our list.

Wattpad uses a machine-learning program called StoryDNA to scan all the stories on its platform and surface the ones that seem like candidates for …

Intellectual property is the lifeblood of entertainment, and Hollywood badly needs a transfusion. Stuck recycling the same ideas and producing the same franchises, Hollywood is now looking to podcasts, news articles, and even songs and paintings to dredge up stories that could be hits with global audiences. Finding the right stories--and developing them into things that actually exist on screen--can be an arduous, money-draining process. One company thinks it has found an efficient new way to sift through millions of user-generated stories to find the next Hollywood hits: artificial intelligence. And, on occasion, it actually brings fans of those stories into the arcane process of developing them for the screen.