John August

John and Craig investigate their anxiety and ask, why is the future so hard to predict right now? They discuss everything from what’s going at OpenAi, the upcoming elections, a new service that uses AI to generate script coverage, and muse about how to move forward in a time of unprecedented uncertainty.

We also follow up with two listeners who wrote in for advice, and answer new questions on composite characters, being inspired by reddit, and how to maintain a long running D&D group.

In our bonus segment for premium members, John and Craig freestyle the introduction to the upcoming Scriptnotes Book.

Links:

• The Strange $55 Million Saga of a Netflix Series You’ll Never See by John Carreyrou for the New York Times
• Digital background actors in Disney’s Prom Pact
• Sacking, revolt, return: how crisis at OpenAI over Sam Altman unfolded by Dan Milmo for The Guardian
• Alex Edelman: Just for Us
• Weber Connect Smart Grilling Hub
• Get a Scriptnotes T-shirt!
• Check out the Inneresting Newsletter
• Gift a Scriptnotes Subscription or treat yourself to a premium subscription!
• Craig Mazin on Threads and Instagram
• John August on Threads, Instagram and Twitter
• John on Mastodon
• Outro by Alex Winder (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.

John offers a host of career-focused insights as he tackles our overflowing mailbag to answer as many listener questions as he can.

What’s the best way to keep track of shower thoughts? How do you build a good creative workplace? How do you disclose your past wrongs to a future employer? What is Appendix A? And who picks up the tab at a coffee meeting?

In our bonus segment for premium members, bells are ringing as John and newlywed Drew discuss what makes a wedding work.

Links:

• Oppenheimer: The Official Screenplay by Christopher Nolan
• WGA Appendix A
• An Extremely Detailed Map of New York City Neighborhoods by Larry Buchanan, Josh Katz, Rumsey Taylor and Eve Washington for the New York Times
• TFI Photo Lab in Danvers, MA
• Get a Scriptnotes T-shirt!
• Check out the Inneresting Newsletter
• Gift a Scriptnotes Subscription or treat yourself to a premium subscription!
• Craig Mazin on Threads and Instagram
• John August on Threads, Instagram and Twitter
• John on Mastodon
• Outro by Nico Mansy (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.

UPDATE 11-30-23: The transcript for this episode can be found here.