Craig and John just have to talk about the double-barrel craziness of the Joe Eszterhas/Mel Gibson spat. How often do you have screenwriters lobbing incendiary accusations at movie stars?
Well, pretty often, actually. But almost never so publicly. And the already-certifiable, formerly-A-list-ness of it all makes it especially gossip-worthy, so forgive us if we go on for a while.
That settled, we follow up on the Amazon Studios deal and what it means for screenwriters not currently in the WGA. One listener calls Craig an idiot, which leads to a discussion about what “professional screenwriting” even means.
John wants aspiring screenwriters to stop using the term “breaking in,” because it doesn’t accurately reflect the early stages of a writer’s career. Meanwhile, Craig takes umbrage at the idea of “trust fund screenwriters.”
We end with some questions and answers:
* What is a screenwriter’s quote, and how does it get determined?
* How do international screenwriters get U.S. visas?
* Can animation writers get WGA coverage?
All this and more in the new Scriptnotes.
LINKS:
* Joe Eszterhas’ [letter to Mel Gibson](http://www.thewrap.com/movies/article/joe-eszterhas-letter-mel-gibson-36949)
* Warner Bros. buys rights to Reddit creation [Rome Sweet Rome](http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118044449)
* [John’s rusted car](http://johnaugust.com/Assets/johns_car.jpg), 1990-1996
* Intro: [Tarzan, Lord of the Jungle TV cartoon intro](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i__2vabLGxY)
* Outro: [North Korean teens play “Take On Me”](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBgMeunuviE)
You can download the episode here: [AAC](http://traffic.libsyn.com/scriptnotes/scriptnotes_ep_33.m4a).
**UPDATE** 4-19-12: The transcript of this episode can be found [here](http://johnaugust.com/2012/scriptnotes-ep-33-professional-screenwriting-and-why-no-one-really-breaks-in-transcript).