Craig and John discuss epic world-building, and the promises and pitfalls for writers attempting to create fictional universes.
From Gotham to Hogwarts, Middle Earth to Narnia, world-building is at the heart of some of our biggest movies and series, but are we creating settings for our stories, or stories for our settings? We also discuss the differences between portals, lived in worlds and just-beneath-our-noses.
Also this week: whether a screenwriter is better off with a poorly-reviewed hit or a well-reviewed flop.
Links:
- The Huntsman: Winter’s War, Official Trailer
- Buy your tickets now for the 2015 Scriptnotes Holiday Show on December 9th with guests Riki Lindhome and Natasha Leggero, Malcolm Spellman, and Alan Yang
- The Evolution of Batman’s Gotham City by The Nerdwriter
- The Marvel Encyclopedia and The DC Comics Encyclopedia
- The Development of Star Wars, as seen through the scripts by George Lucas
- Henry Darger on Wikipedia
- The Man in the High Castle, by Philip K. Dick, and season 1 of the TV adaptation on Amazon Prime
- Middle Earth and The Perils of Worldbuilding by The Nerdwriter
- EcoLog 590D
- Outro by Jon Spurney (send us yours!)
You can download the episode here: AAC | mp3.
UPDATE 12-3-15: The transcript of this episode can be found here.