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I recently updated my Youtube channel, and came across a scene from my 2003 pilot “Alaska.” I thought it would be interesting to compare the written scene to what it looked like in the final version.

Here’s the scene as scripted. (You can read the whole script in the Library.)

Here’s the finished scene after filming and editing:

The biggest changes to the scene were motivated by the location we found. Director Kim Masters wanted plenty of windows, so we ended up enclosing a porch and playing it as a kitchen. We didn’t feature any of the set dressing I wrote in (industrial cans, saltines), but the set decorators followed that vibe.

Once the gunshots started, some dialogue got rearranged.

First, Valerie’s line was shortened to the much better “Call for backup?” Second, we added a line for Mathers — “Alright, let’s see what we got first.” I honestly don’t remember if it happened on set or in looping. (We don’t see his face in the cut, so it would have been an easy line to slip in.)

Because we ended up with a single-story cabin, there was no need to have Mathers sliding down a roof. Otherwise, the rest of the scene plays very much as scripted — and very much how I imagined it.

For me, writing a scene is a process of fully visualizing a scene in my head, then finding the words to describe it. You don’t always get such a good match between intention and finished product, but the better you can evoke the experience of the scene on the page, the more likely you’ll be pleased with the outcome.

Scriptnotes now has an app for iOS and Android. It’s free for both platforms.

You don’t need to use the app. In fact, most listeners will probably be better off sticking with their current setup if it meets their needs. We’re still on iTunes, just like we’ve always been.

Or if you’re not happy with your current podcast app, keep looking, because there are many good choices out there. (Personally, I’m a fan of Instacast for the iPhone.) As a podcast app, Scriptnotes only does one thing, and it only does it acceptably well.

So if I’m not recommending the Scriptnotes app, why does it exist?

For the back catalog.

There are now 121 episodes of Scriptnotes, and listeners often want to go back and hear those old episodes. We sell a USB drive of the first 100, and offer a subscription-based archive of all the episodes, but neither of those solutions is helpful when you just want to hear a given episode on your phone.

The Scriptnotes app hooks into the full archive, so if you’re a subscriber, you can listen to any episode whenever or wherever you want.

Since launch, we’ve actually gotten very few questions about the app, but here are some answers to theoretical questions someone might ask.

What’s the deal with subscriptions?

Scriptnotes has always been free and always will be. We make the most recent 20 episodes available through iTunes. Older episodes are available in the archives, either through the new app or at Scriptnotes.net as part of a monthly subscription ($1.99/month).

Think of it as the Netflix pricing model. For that $1.99/month, you can download as many episodes as you want.

Are you making money off this?

As Craig loves to point out, Scriptnotes is a money-losing venture. Between editing, transcripts and hosting costs, there are more expenses than t-shirts and monthly subscriptions could cover.

But that’s okay. We’ve turned down advertising and other opportunities because neither of us want Scriptnotes to be a business. Craig and I do the show because we like it.

Could someone subscribe, download all the episodes, then cancel?

Absolutely. To me, the handy thing about the monthly subscription is being able to listen to any episode at any time, but it’s totally up to you.

How do I cancel a subscription?

In the Libsyn account page, click “Change Subscription.” On the next page, you’ll see a button to cancel.

What’s the deal with bonus material?

To me, Scriptnotes is me and Craig together, talking about screenwriting stuff. Sometimes we have special guests, but it’s always the two of us.

Occasionally we have audio that is in the same vein as Scriptnotes but not really an episode. A good example is a recent conversation Daniel Wallace and I recorded at the Austin Film Festival. We put that up as bonus content for subscribers because while it’s interesting and on-topic, it’s not really a Scriptnotes episode.

Basically:

Me and Craig = Scriptnotes episode
Me or Craig = possible bonus content

Will there be a lot of bonus material? I doubt it. I wouldn’t subscribe just for the bonus material. But if you have ideas for something you think would be great for a bonus thing, certainly tell us.

The app feels really iOS 6.

That’s not a question, but yeah.

We’re releasing the Scriptnotes app under our Quote-Unquote Apps banner,¹ but it’s actually our host Libsyn’s app. They did all the coding — Ryan just sent our background artwork.

You may notice it looks almost exactly like Marc Maron’s WTF app or Jay Mohr’s Mohr Stories app. That’s because it’s exactly the same app, just with different background images.

It’s not just dated — some of the functionality is also a bit hidden. For example, you can download episodes for offline listening by tapping the star next to the title. If you’re getting ready for a plane trip, this is a handy way to bank a few episodes for listening.

I suspect the app will eventually get updated with new graphics and such, but I don’t know a timetable.

How do I report a problem with the app?

On the main screen, tap Contact, then Troubleshooting. From there, you can Send a Diagnostic Report that generates an email to the Libsyn team. You can also just email consumer@libsynsupport.com.

1. We put the app out under our label so we could track download numbers. As of yesterday, we had 359 downloads for iOS. ↩

Antonia Lidder recounts her experience with Frankenweenie, and its impact on her son diagnosed with autism:

In spring 2012, when he had a vocabulary of approximately 15 words, Gabriel clearly said ‘Sparky’. We were excited that he’d said a word and was undoubtedly trying to communicate with us, yet we had no idea what ‘sparky’ was. We searched our memories and came up blank. Then one day I recalled, ‘Last month we did see a trailer for a Tim Burton film – there was a dog in it called Sparky, but it’s only mentioned a couple of times, and it was so fast, and we’ve only seen it once…’

‘Nah,’ my husband said, ‘can’t be.’

How much we have learnt since.

For some kids with autism, seeing a movie in a theater eliminates many of the distractions of ordinary life — eye contact, social cues, needing to keep up a conversation. In the darkness, they can focus on the movie in front of them. The movie theater is one of the last places you can fully lose yourself in a story.

Frankenweenie is deliberately simple, both visually and narrativley. It’s black-and-white, with no fast cutting. It’s the story of a boy and his dog and the adults around them.

My hunch is that kids with autism identify with both Sparky and Victor. Sparky is mute but curious, steadfast but easily frightened. Victor is reclusive and odd, but his oddness isn’t threatening. He’s special and his parents love him for it.

For Lidder, the film opened the floodgates:

FRANKENWEENIE sparked a magical trajectory for us, showing us the actual potential in our beautiful boy, rather than the deficiency that others perceive in him because he can’t express himself in recognised, neurotypical ways. It also has given us so many moments of unbridled joy and discovery that I don’t have the words to convey their significance in our lives.

Ultimately, FRANKENWEENIE is the tale of a boy who is different, isolated and misunderstood. The boy loses himself in film, and the adults find themselves as he shows them what love really is. In this way, and every other way, FRANKENWEENIE is the film of our lives.

My thanks to Picturehouse for sponsoring these special autism-friendly screenings, and for sharing this story.

Editorial is one of the slickest text editors for the iPad, and thanks to some clever Python scripting, it can now show previews of Fountain scripts:

The Fountain preview is not perfect. I noticed parentheticals didn’t find the right margins and other bits of minor weirdness. But this workflow demonstrates one of the big advantages of Fountain’s plain-text heritage: you can adapt existing tools to work with it.

Fountain-centric iPad apps are coming, but until then there are no shortage of great text editors for iOS, so it’s worth experimenting. Anything you write in Fountain can easily be transformed into a PDF by apps like Highland or Slugline.