719 - When Good Enough Isn’t Enough
Scriptnotes Podcast
John and Craig consider all the words they have to write and ask, how do you know when something deserves your best effort? They offer a useful rubric for deciding when something is worth perfecting, and when over-optimization is a waste of time. We also follow up on compulsive writing habits, industry euphemisms, back issues, and the impact and legacy of the WGA’s 2019 agency negotiations. In our bonus segment for premium members, it’s a new year! John looks back at things he accomplished in 2025 and his goals for 2026, while Craig sighs and gestures in the direction of The Last of Us....
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718 - No Worries if Not
Scriptnotes Podcast
John and Craig circle back on all the euphemisms and stock phrases that float around Hollywood. Using some favorite examples, they attempt to define and demystify the current industry-speak so everyone is looped in when we come up for air after the holidays. We also wrap-up 2025 with a look at Scriptnotes by the numbers, check-in on Disney’s deal with OpenAI, follow up on that director who scammed Netflix out of $11 million, and answer listener questions on the guilds’ involvement in video podcasts and reps who won’t send out co-written scripts. In our bonus segment for premium members,...
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717 - The Screenwriting Life: The Craft Lessons That Matter Most
Scriptnotes Podcast
In a Christmas crossover event, John and Craig join Meg LeFauve (Inside Out) and Lorien McKenna (Tab Time) on their podcast, The Screenwriting Life. We talk about why rigid structure can miss the point, how theme emerges from character, what fear and denial really look like on the page, and how writers can survive rejection without letting it define them. In our bonus segment for premium members, John breaks Drew’s heart with his lovely memories of Rob & Michele Reiner. Links: podcast , or (now with fewer emails!) Scriptnotes on John August...
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716 - Personality Typologies
Scriptnotes Podcast
on Netflix Mike Makowsky on and (The last time Mike was on the podcast) Alan Sepinwall for The Ringer by Candice Millard from Assassins by Gretchen Rubin by Linda Edelstein by Emily Mullin for WIRED on HBO Max , or (now with fewer emails!) Scriptnotes on John August on and by Luke Foster () Scriptnotes is produced by and edited by . Email us at ask@johnaugust.com You can download the episode . (9:00)
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715 - The Book Launch, Live!
Scriptnotes Podcast
John and Craig celebrate the release of the Scriptnotes Book with a sold-out show full of arguments, games and holiday cheer at Dynasty Typewriter in LA. Slate’s Julia Turner returns to interview John and Craig about the fifteen year journey towards creating the book, and challenges Craig’s dismissal of critics. We also welcome back Ashley Nicole Black (Shrinking, Ted Lasso) to help us get through a fridgeful of leftover questions, and invite three lucky audience members to play our new game: “Somewhat strange lines from Christmas movies.” In our bonus segment for premium members, we...
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714 - Three Page Challenge Live in Austin 2025
Scriptnotes Podcast
John and Craig gather a congregation of writers in St. David’s Episcopal Church for a live round of the Three Page Challenge. They look at three listener-submitted scripts to offer them their honest feedback, face-to-face. They offer suggestions on world building in the apocalypse, making military characters specific, building mystery and suspense, and crafting con-artist logic. In our bonus segment for premium members, we answer questions from our audience on how to know if a script looks correct, what we want to see in the first three pages, using actor names in character descriptions,...
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713 - Your First Produced Film
Scriptnotes Podcast
John welcomes Danya Jimenez & Hannah McMechan, the writing team behind KPop Demon Hunters, to chart their path from film school to first feature. They look at navigating early career difficulties like finding your voice and trying to get reps, their method of building a writing partnership, and how a bad pitch led them to writing one of the biggest movies of the year. We also follow up on breaking in later in life and writing with ADHD. In our bonus segment for premium members, what does Hollywood get wrong about Gen Z? Danya and Hannah share what drives them crazy about how their...
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712 - Something Wicked This Way Comes
Scriptnotes Podcast
John and Craig welcome back Dana Fox (Wicked, The Lost City) for a magical flight through everything that went into adapting Wicked and its upcoming sequel, Wicked: For Good. They look at the history of the project, why it was split into two movies, the process for writing when you’re shooting two movies at the same time, and the exhausting effort it takes for big movies to defy gravity. We also chat with Graham Rowat, the narrator of the Scriptnotes audiobook, follow up on weird movies and cuck chairs, answer listener questions on the limits of torturing your heroes and ask, did the 90’s...
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711 - The State of Pitching
Scriptnotes Podcast
John welcomes back Aline Brosh McKenna (Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, The Devil Wears Prada) to ask, what do executives expect from a pitch these days? They look at the typical structure of a pitch deck, how that differs from lookbooks, how pitches have evolved over the years, and best practices for pitching on Zoom. Also, what happened to single-lady sitcoms? If you remember Monday nights in the 90’s, you know what we’re talking about. We reflect on what they did for the culture and how social media and reality TV may be taking their place. In our bonus segment for premium members, Aline tells us...
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710 - What Happened To Weird?
Scriptnotes Podcast
John and Craig look at all the pleasant, normal people around them and ask, what happened to the weirdos? They root out the causes of cultural stagnation, offer potential solutions, and explore the entertainment that still finds a way to be weird. We also look at the tipping point between “wanting to write” and “actually writing,” follow up on printer prices and billboard queens, and answer listener questions on soundtracks, adapting a podcast and feeling ownership over your ideas. In our bonus segment for premium members, we try to remember how we construct our personal narratives,...
info_outlineJohn and Craig circle back on all the euphemisms and stock phrases that float around Hollywood. Using some favorite examples, they attempt to define and demystify the current industry-speak so everyone is looped in when we come up for air after the holidays.
We also wrap-up 2025 with a look at Scriptnotes by the numbers, check-in on Disney’s deal with OpenAI, follow up on that director who scammed Netflix out of $11 million, and answer listener questions on the guilds’ involvement in video podcasts and reps who won’t send out co-written scripts.
In our bonus segment for premium members, John and Craig navigate how to deal with difficult collaborators.
Links:
- How Disney’s OpenAI Deal Changes Everything by Steven Zeitchik and Julian Sancton for The Hollywood Reporter
- Guilty! Director Who Scammed Netflix Out Of Millions Faces Decades Behind Bars by Dominic Patten for Deadline
- Writing Movies for Fun and Profit: How We Made a Billion Dollars at the Box Office and You Can, Too! by Robert Ben Garant & Thomas Lennon
- Down to Puck: Why Women Are Going Wild for ‘Heated Rivalry’ by Seth Abramovitch for The Hollywood Reporter
- Search Engine annual meeting
- Order a signed copy of the Scriptnotes Book!
- Charli XCX’s Substack
- Trailer for Divinity by Larian Studios
- Get your copy of the Scriptnotes book!
- Get a Scriptnotes T-shirt!
- Check out the Inneresting Newsletter
- Become a Scriptnotes Premium member, or gift a subscription (now with fewer emails!)
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- John August on Bluesky and Instagram
- Outro by Nick Moore (send us yours!)
- Scriptnotes is produced by Drew Marquardt and edited by Matthew Chilelli.
Email us at ask@johnaugust.com
You can download the episode here.