665 - What Can You Even Do?
Scriptnotes Podcast
John and Craig explore character agency in everything from scenes to entire series. They look at what agency looks like on the page, which characters should have agency, and what to do when you feel your characters sleepwalking through the plot. We also strategize ways to move forward after the recent US election, and answer listener questions on writing sign language, screenwriting software for the blind, and how writing credits work when your TV series gets turned into a movie. In our bonus segment for premium members, John and Craig escape to a world where where the story is always on rails...
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664 - Hollywood Got Old
Scriptnotes Podcast
John and Craig look at how writers (and other humans) handle the anxiety of uncertainty, from election nights to green lights. We’ll talk through strategies for navigating situations where your circle of concern doesn’t match your circle of control. Then we travel back to the 1980s and 90s, when many studios were run by ambitious strivers in their late 20s and early 30s. As the decades have passed, the players in these positions have held onto their posts, leaving the next generation stuck mid-ladder. We discuss what impact the aging of Hollywood has had on its output, and where the new...
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663 - Live in Austin 2024
Scriptnotes Podcast
John and Craig make their triumphant return to the Austin Film Festival for a wild night full of Emmy winning writers. They welcome Shōgun co-creators Rachel Kondo & Justin Marks to look at their process for structuring a series-long adaptation, keeping translations eloquent and accurate, and writing together as a married couple. We then welcome Susan Soon He Stanton (Succession, Dead Ringers) and Megan Amram (The Good Place, Pitch Perfect: Bumper in Berlin) to discuss staffing on shows and crafting jokes. We also invite two audience members to play a new game: IMDB Sweeney Todd. In our...
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662 - 20 Questions (2024 Edition)
Scriptnotes Podcast
John and Craig answer twenty listener questions on craft, career, and the future of the industry. Questions include: How do you correct well wishes you haven’t earned? What kind of relationship should you have with the person who created your source material? How do you keep your reps invested? What’s going on with that Stereophonic lawsuit? And are writers retreats helpful or a total waste of time? In our bonus segment for premium members, John and Craig celebrate the new D&D Player’s Handbook by looking back through every edition since 1978. Like the handbook, it gets less dense as...
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661 - Screenwriting is a Poorly Defined Problem
Scriptnotes Podcast
Why is screenwriting so difficult, even for the smartest people? John and Craig look at the relationship between intelligence and wisdom, the kinds of problems writers attempt to solve, and the unmeasurable skills that screenwriters need to succeed. Then it’s another round of the Three Page Challenge, where they give their honest feedback on three listener-submitted scripts. We also follow up on Moneyball, green envelopes, shorts, script coordinating, and what Craig means by writers being “calculating.” In our bonus segment for premium members, how do you talk about movies and TV shows...
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660 - Moneyball
Scriptnotes Podcast
on IMDb by Taffy Brodesser-Akner or Craig Mazin on and John August on , , and by Spencer Lackey () Scriptnotes is produced by Drew Marquardt and edited by . Email us at [email protected] You can download the episode .
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271 - Buckling Down (Encore)
Scriptnotes Podcast
John and Craig are on opposite sides of the world this week, so they’re revisiting an episode from 2016 to look at the many psychological barriers facing writers tackling big projects, and offer practical strategies for actually getting the work done. They also discuss the then-upcoming election (same as it ever was), and answer a listener question about how autism spectrum disorder might impact a screenwriting career. In our bonus segment for premium members, John and Drew reflect on what’s changed in the eight years since this episode last aired, and then like all conversations in 2024,...
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659 - Big Money Movies with Marielle Heller
Scriptnotes Podcast
John welcomes back Marielle Heller (Can You Ever Forgive Me?, A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood) to look at three stories of real people with too much money and ask, How Would This Be a Movie? Stories include strategies for dating Leonardo DiCaprio, the rise-fall-rise of inventor Palmer Luckey, and a council built to give away a fortune. We also go feral over Marielle’s new movie Nightbitch, as she shares the joys of adapting something that feels personal and her tricks to directing dogs and children. But first, we take a look at a new study on which movies studios are developing, and...
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99 - Psychotherapy for Screenwriters (Encore)
Scriptnotes Podcast
John and Craig revisit their legendary conversation with screenwriter-turned-psychotherapist Dennis Palumbo to discuss writer’s block, procrastination, partnerships and more. It’s a can’t-miss episode for aspiring writers and professionals alike. In our bonus segment for premium members, we travel back to episode 425 where John and Craig debate when to practice self care or tough love, and how to evaluate when each of them are helpful. Links: on Wikipedia helps you control your mailbox or Craig Mazin on and John August...
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658 - Advice Show
Scriptnotes Podcast
John and Craig open the mailbag to answer a swath of listener questions that make Craig’s blood boil. They offer insights and umbrage on when you can turn down projects early in your career, picking the right day job, maintaining visibility when you’re taken off a project, the next steps after a successful short, when NDA’s are necessary, and how to credit unpublished source material. We also say goodbye to green envelopes as we celebrate the arrival of direct deposit residuals, and follow up on AI training and GitHub for screenplays. In our bonus segment for premium members, John and...
info_outlineJohn welcomes back Mike Schur (The Good Place, Parks and Recreation) to ask, how do you fix an overwritten script? They discuss ways to rebuild scenes and restore muddy characters that have become burdened by too many notes, all while making sure your script retains its voice.
We also look at the new IATSE deal with the AMPTP, the WGA’s back-pay settlement with CBS, Skydance purchasing Paramount, and follow-up on our idea of keeping pages un-locked.
In our bonus segment for premium members, John and Mike listen to the AI generated songs named in the RIAA’s current lawsuit and wonder, did they really steal from copyrighted material? (The answer is yes.)
Links:
- Mike Schur on Wikipedia
- Weekend Read 2
- IATSE tentative basic agreement
- David Ellison’s Skydance Taking Over Paramount After $8 Billion Investment by Dade Hayes for Deadline
- WGA West Reaches $3 Million Settlement With CBS Studios Over Writer Fees and Benefit Payments by Cynthia Littleton for Variety
- Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
- Alphabirds
- Should We Go Extinct? by Todd May
- Get a Scriptnotes T-shirt!
- Check out the Inneresting Newsletter
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- Craig Mazin on Threads and Instagram
- John August on Threads, Instagram and Twitter
- John on Mastodon
- Outro by Vance Lovett (send us yours!)
- Scriptnotes is produced by Drew Marquardt with help from Jonathan Wigdortz. It is edited by Matthew Chilelli.
Email us at [email protected]
You can download the episode here.