Steven Spielberg Wrote Disclosure Day in the Notes App on His iPad—Here’s How

File this under extremely 2026: Steven Spielberg says the first pass of his new sci-fi movie Disclosure Day started in the Notes app on his iPad. Yes, that Notes app. Honestly, kind of perfect for a filmmaker who has always mixed old-school instincts with whatever tools are in front of him.

From grocery lists to a Spielberg screenplay

On CBS Sunday Morning, Spielberg said he banged out the earliest version of Disclosure Day in Notes, then did the classic print-and-mark-up cycle before hopping back to the iPad for revisions. The reason he typed instead of handwriting? Practicality. He joked that his penmanship has gotten too hard to read.

"On my iPad. I mean everybody has it. We have a notes section. That's where I wrote it. And then I printed it out and would read it and then, go back to my iPad again."

It's a weirdly relatable image: one of the most influential directors alive building a studio movie inside the same app most of us use to remember milk and passwords.

What the movie is actually poking at

Disclosure Day is set against alien disclosure and government secrecy, but Spielberg made it clear the story's real engine is bigger than little green men. He's zeroing in on faith, meaning, and where humanity fits if we learn we're not alone.

"Is God our God only on this planet, or is God a God for every system where there's civilization?"

That's the conversation he teed up on CBS Sunday Morning — not a takedown of religion, more an open-ended, curious what-if that tracks with his decades-long fascination with wonder, contact, and the unknown.

The quick version

• Spielberg wrote the earliest draft of Disclosure Day in the iPad Notes app.
• His workflow: type in Notes, print it, read/mark it, then revise back on the iPad.
• He typed because his handwriting has become tough to read.
• The film uses alien disclosure as the backdrop to explore faith and humanity's place in the universe.
• On CBS Sunday Morning, he asked: "Is God our God only on this planet, or is God a God for every system where there's civilization?"
• Clips from the June 8, 2026 interview sparked posts claiming the movie could make some believers reexamine their views or that it approaches things from the Church's perspective; the interview itself reads more like open-ended exploration.
• Disclosure Day hits theaters June 12, 2026.

Side note: Emily Blunt has said that after researching for Disclosure Day, she now believes in UFOs — which fits the movie's headspace nicely.

Anyway, if you needed a reminder that big ideas can start in small places, there you go. Your next great sci-fi concept might already be sitting next to your grocery list.