John and Craig welcome back writer/producer Megana Rao to discuss techniques to explain what happened in the world of a movie before the movie began. How do we use past events as touchstones, and how does our interpretation of events become the narrative in our culture?
Then Megana tells us her story of getting staffed. How does a new writer join the WGA, and what is expected of a writer on your first day? She also answers listener questions and shares advice she’s learned from her time on our show.
In our bonus segment for premium members, Megana introduces John and Craig to Get Ready With Me videos.
Links:
* [How to Become a Member of the WGA](https://www.wga.org/the-guild/going-guild/join-the-guild)
* [Conceiving the 2000s](https://noahpinion.substack.com/p/conceiving-the-2000s) by Noah Smith
* [Unscripted: The Epic Battle for a Media Empire and the Redstone Family Legacy](https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/612741/unscripted-by-james-b-stewart-and-rachel-abrams/) by James B. Stewart and Rachel Abrams
* [The Romantics on Netflix](https://www.netflix.com/title/81617079)
* [Logitech Lift Vertical Mouse](https://www.logitech.com/en-us/products/mice/lift-vertical-ergonomic-mouse-mac.910-006471.html?&utm_source=Google&utm_medium=Paid-Search&utm_campaign=Dialect_FY23_Q4_USA_LO_Logi_DTX-Logitech-Mac_Google_na&gclid=CjwKCAiAu5agBhBzEiwAdiR5tNB44Kqgo3rP9iFY1dYBXRKyxkrUCdDT7nmVvN7TXM-p4SK6A6QlLBoCBy4QAvD_BwE)
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* [Craig Mazin](https://www.instagram.com/clmazin/) on Instagram
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* [Outro](http://johnaugust.com/2013/scriptnotes-the-outros) by Lex Kornelis ([send us yours!](http://johnaugust.com/2014/outros-needed))
* Scriptnotes is produced by [Drew Marquardt](https://www.instagram.com/marquardtam/) and edited by [Matthew Chilelli](https://twitter.com/machelli).
Email us at ask@johnaugust.com
You can download the episode [here](http://traffic.libsyn.com/scriptnotes/591standard.mp3).
**UPDATE 4-27-23:** The transcript for this episode can be found [here](https://johnaugust.com/2023/scriptnotes-episode-591-collective-narratives-transcript).