John August

Archives for 2013

So you’re applying for a job

Random Advice

Having sifted through many resumes over the years, I agree with [Brett Terpstra’s advice](http://brettterpstra.com/2013/01/16/thank-you-for-your-time-well-be-in-touch/):

  • Customize (or at least supplement) your resume. If you’re going to link to a web resume, it’s awesome if you make it a unique url tailored to the job you’re applying for.
  • Don’t list 10-year-old, deprecated technologies under your current skills. Your awards in COBOL programming are actually a turnoff when listed under skills instead of achievements.
  • Have a skills section. Your job as manager of a restaurant franchise location is less interesting to me than your current capabilities.
  • Put that skills section at the top. You know, before your extra-curricular activities.
  • Make your resume a well-formatted PDF, not a DOCX file.

That last one is apparently controversial, because many places require you to send in a Word file. But I personally dread when I see a .doc in an email, because I’m never sure how it’s going to open, or how it’s going to look — particularly on mobile. I don’t even have Word installed on my main machine, so every time I open one of these files, I get warnings from Pages or TextEdit.

Creating a custom URL for your resume is smart, and shows me you know what you’re doing. It will also tell you that I actually clicked through.

People still buy movies

Episode - 72

Go to Archive

News, Scriptnotes, Three Page Challenge, Transcribed

With last week’s news that home video stopped its free-fall and actually grew a little bit in 2012, John and Craig discuss whether studios might ease off on one-step deals and other development austerity measures.

But while one bloodbath has been averted, this week’s batch of Three Page Challenges is particularly gruesome — but also pretty good.

Craig is too stubborn to admit that John’s workflow for generating both starred and clean PDFs is vastly smarter and better, but since John writes these episode blurbs, he gets the last word. Victory!

John also has a shocking announcement that changes everything: He’s become a single-spacer.

All this plus Craig’s encomium to his new car in this week’s Scriptnotes.

SPECIAL NOTE: We’d love to know a bit more about you, so if you could please answer a few questions at [johnaugust.com/survey](http://johnaugust.com/survey), we’d be super-grateful.

LINKS:

* Digital Entertainment Group’s [Year-End 2012 Home Entertainment Report](http://www.dvdinformation.com/pressreleases/2013/Year_End_2012%20cover%20note_FINAL_1.8.13.pdf)
* [Frankenweenie](http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005LAIIA8/?tag=johnaugustcom-20) four-disc set on Amazon
* LA Times on Wal-Mart’s [disc-to-digital service](http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/entertainmentnewsbuzz/2012/04/disc-to-digital-at-wal-mart-is-simple-if-you-know-your-vudu.html)
* Three pages by [Al Ibrahim](http://johnaugust.com/Assets/AlIbrahim.pdf)
* Three pages by [Keith Groff & Jonathan White](http://johnaugust.com/Assets/KeithGroffJonathanWhite.pdf)
* Three pages by [Nick Keetch](http://johnaugust.com/Assets/NickKeetch.pdf)
* Three pages by [P.K. Lassiter](http://johnaugust.com/Assets/PKLassiter.pdf)
* Tesla [Model S](http://www.teslamotors.com/models)
* The WolframAlpha Blog on [what Craig can do with that hour John saved him](http://blog.wolframalpha.com/2012/11/02/what-could-you-do-with-an-extra-hour/)
* [The Scriptnotes Survey](http://johnaugust.com/survey): A minute of your day. A lifetime of good karma.
* OUTRO: [Electric Car](https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/here-comes-science/id328953349) by They Might Be Giants on iTunes

You can download the episode here: [AAC](http://traffic.libsyn.com/scriptnotes/scriptnotes_ep_72.m4a).

**UPDATE** 1-18-13: The transcript of this episode can be found [here](http://johnaugust.com/2013/scriptnotes-ep-72-people-still-buy-movies-transcript).

Big Fish announces Broadway plans

News

Today, we [officially announced](http://www.broadway.com/buzz/166623/big-fish-sets-fall-dates-at-broadways-neil-simon-theatre-kate-baldwin-bobby-steggert-and-more-join-cast/) more dates and details for the Big Fish musical.

For Broadway, Big Fish will begin performances September 5 at the Neil Simon Theatre. Opening night is set for October 6.

As [previously announced](http://johnaugust.com/2012/big-fish-in-chicago), we’re starting off with a five-week run in Chicago’s Oriental Theatre beginning April 2, with an official opening night on April 19. [Individual tickets](http://www.broadwayinchicago.com/shows_dyn.php?cmd=display_current&display_showtag=bigfish13) go on sale February 4th.

We also announced almost all of our cast today. Norbert Leo Butz, Kate Baldwin and Bobby Steggert play the central Bloom family, with a phenomenal group of actors surrounding them. I’m ridiculously happy with who we got, and everything they can bring to the show.

Obvious caveats: Long roads, many surprises and whatnot. As I said [last week](http://johnaugust.com/2013/sprints-marathons-and-migrations), writing a musical is a migration, not a sprint or a marathon. But I’m very excited for our next two stops on the trek.

Do I get residuals? A flowchart

Follow Up

Jeff Drew (@jeffdrew) asks: “Animated movies don’t pay residuals like live-actn movies” Is there a WGA table, flowchart or infographic?

I couldn’t find one, so I made one:

residuals flowchart

btw, [Lucidchart](https://www.lucidchart.com/) is handy.

**UPDATE:** The official Twitter feed of the Animation Guild took offense at my flowchart, so I’ve amended it with the “Will I get paid residuals?” headline and changed the “no residuals” box to read “You get no residuals.”

As Steven Kaplan of the Animation Guild [tweets](https://twitter.com/AnimGuild):

> You are incorrect. Animation writers are @IATSE members and do get residuals. The IA residuals flows to our health plan.

> “Mailbox” residuals @IATSE members do not get. Ask a WGA writer what they pay for the WGA health plan though.

Of course, “mailbox” residuals are exactly what screenwriters mean when they talk about residuals. Big green envelopes. Actual money in your name that you can use to pay your rent.

I pointed out that residuals on a big studio movie can be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars to the writer. His reply:

> Indeed. Not saying its not lucrative, just pointing out the reason why IA residuals go toward the health plan.

> The IA residual component, calculated much differently than the WGA one, is an essential funding source for our health plan

So on an animated movie covered by The Animation Guild (not all are), residuals contribute to the health plan.

Ultimately, our disagreement is over “gets,” so let’s go back to Jeff Drew.

Jeff will **get** residual checks if he writes a successful live-action movie under the WGA’s jurisdiction. The same script, produced as an animated feature, will not **get** Jeff residuals money he can spend.