John and Craig discuss this year’s screenplay Oscar winners, including the success of Birdman’s outside-the-box approach and Graham Moore’s speech.
Craig asked Reddit’s r/screenwriting sub to collect a list of the so-called rules budding screenwriters are told to follow. From the rules of the page to the rules of the industry, John and Craig look at these commonly-cited rules one-by-one, discussing which ones have merit and which ones are better ignored.
All this, plus follow-up on Tess Gerritsen’s Gravity lawsuit.
Also, John has a new app in the App Store called Assembler. Find out more in the links below.
Links:
* [Scriptnotes, 185: Malcolm Spellman, a Study in Heat](http://johnaugust.com/2015/malcolm-spellman-a-study-in-heat)
* [Jiminy Cricket educational serials](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Jiminy_Cricket_educational_serials) on Wikipedia
* [87th Academy Awards](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/87th_Academy_Awards) on Wikipedia
* [Scriptshadow’s review of Birdman](http://scriptshadow.net/screenplay-review-birdman/)
* [Graham Moore’s speech after winning Best Adapted Screenplay](http://oscar.go.com/video/2015-awards-ceremony-highlights/_m_VDKA0_4756q5vd)
* [Paddy Chayefsky at the 1978 Oscars](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JupkXrn1ahU)
* [LA Times retracts an incorrect assumption about Graham Moore’s sexuality](http://www.latimes.com/local/corrections/la-a4-correx-20150225-story.html)
* [Rashida Jones on the red carpet at the 2015 SAG awards](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtj57Vg80SQ)
* [Scriptnotes, 183: The Deal with the Gravity Lawsuit](http://johnaugust.com/2015/the-deal-with-the-gravity-lawsuit)
* [Tess Gerritsen’s amended complaint](https://pmcdeadline2.files.wordpress.com/2015/02/gravity-lawsuit-amended-complaint.pdf)
* [My Cyborg Ear: How a Surgeon and Titanium Cured My Lifelong Deafness](http://gizmodo.com/my-cyborg-ear-how-a-surgeon-and-titanium-cured-my-life-1601254003) by Adam Clark Estes
* [Mike Tyson Mysteries](http://www.adultswim.com/videos/mike-tyson-mysteries/) on adult swim
* [I’m no fool with a bicycle](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-LmORiZfEJU)
* [Assembler](http://quoteunquoteapps.com/assembler/) is in the Mac App Store now
* [Outro](http://johnaugust.com/2013/scriptnotes-the-outros) by Scriptnotes listener Jeff Harms ([send us yours!](http://johnaugust.com/2014/outros-needed))
You can download the episode here: [AAC](http://traffic.libsyn.com/scriptnotes/scriptnotes_ep_186.m4a) | [mp3](http://traffic.libsyn.com/scriptnotes/scriptnotes_ep_186.mp3).
**UPDATE 3-10-15:** The transcript of this episode can be found [here](http://johnaugust.com/2015/scriptnotes-ep-186-the-rules-or-the-paradox-of-the-outlier-transcript).