John August

Highland

Craig Hates Dummies

Episode - 365

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Adaptation, Film Industry, Follow Up, Genres, Highland, News, Scriptnotes, Story and Plot, Transcribed, Travel, WGA

John and Craig are back at it with another installment of How Would This Be a Movie? They consider the story of a competitive mass Tinder date, a retirement home for ventriloquist dummies and the McDonald’s Monopoly heist.

We also revisit John’s WGA Corner for updates, follow up on the conflict within IATSE, and get a great sense of Craig’s passionate beef with ventriloquism.

Links:

* [Studios Back In Antitrust Spotlight As AMC Chain Loses Key Court Ruling](https://deadline.com/2018/08/amc-entertainment-antitrust-lawsuit-disney-paramount-sony-universal-warner-bros-spanish-language-theater-1202449780/) by Dominic Patten for Deadline
* [Class Struggle in Hollywood, 1930-1950: Moguls, Stars, Reds, and Trade Unionists](https://www.amazon.com/Class-Struggle-Hollywood-1930-1950-Unionists/dp/0292731388) by Gerald Horne
* [@bvdhai’s Twitter thread about the mass Tinder date](https://mobile.twitter.com/bvdhai/status/1031327009564225536)
* [Woman dupes dozens of dudes into weirdest Tinder date ever](https://nypost.com/2018/08/20/woman-dupes-dozens-of-dudes-into-weirdest-tinder-date-ever/) and [Tinder hottie dupes dozens of dopes, but it’s all a marketing stunt](https://nypost.com/2018/08/20/mass-tinder-date-was-actually-a-marketing-stunt/) by Ruth Brown for the NY Post
* [‘Tinder Trap’ model claims she’s the victim after duping guys](https://nypost.com/2018/08/23/tinder-trap-model-claims-shes-the-victim-after-duping-guys/) by Tamar Lapin and Ruth Brown
* [Monterey Jack’s Twitter thread about Vent Haven](https://mobile.twitter.com/Chan315/status/1030007153451511812)
* Vent Haven’s [official website](https://www.venthaven.org/history)
* [How an Ex-Cop Rigged McDonald’s Monopoly Game and Stole Millions](https://www.thedailybeast.com/how-an-ex-cop-rigged-mcdonalds-monopoly-game-and-stole-millions) Jeff Maysh for the Daily Beast
* [Behind Hollywood’s A-List Bidding War for a McDonald’s Monopoly Article](http://www.vulture.com/2018/08/behind-hollywoods-mcdonalds-monopoly-article-bidding-war.html) by Chris Lee for Vulture
* [In a Town of 11 People, Mysterious Disappearance Turns Neighbor Against Neighbor](https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/11/world/australia/larrimah-mystery.html) by Jacqueline Williams for the New York Times
* [McGill music student awarded $350,000 after girlfriend stalls career](https://montrealgazette.com/news/local-news/mcgill-music-student-awarded-350000-after-girlfriend-stalls-career) by René Bruemmer for the Montreal Gazette
* [US judge orders 30-year-old man to move out of his parents’ house](http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-05-23/judge-orders-30-year-old-man-to-move-out-of-his-parents27-house/9790312)
* Flat track roller derby, like [Angel City Derby](http://angelcityderby.com)
* [7 Billion Humans](https://tomorrowcorporation.com/7billionhumans)
* [The USB drives!](https://store.johnaugust.com/collections/frontpage/products/scriptnotes-300-episode-usb-flash-drive)
* [John August](https://twitter.com/johnaugust) on Twitter
* [Craig Mazin](https://twitter.com/clmazin) on Twitter
* [John on Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/johnaugust/?hl=en)
* [Find past episodes](http://scriptnotes.net/)
* [Scriptnotes Digital Seasons](https://store.johnaugust.com/) are also now available!
* [Outro](http://johnaugust.com/2013/scriptnotes-the-outros) by Timothy Vajda ([send us yours!](http://johnaugust.com/2014/outros-needed))

Email us at ask@johnaugust.com

You can download the episode [here](http://traffic.libsyn.com/scriptnotes/scriptnotes_ep_365.mp3).

**UPDATE 9-4-18:** The transcript of this episode can be found [here](http://johnaugust.com/2018/scriptnotes-ep-365-craig-hates-dummies-transcript).

Highland 2.1 adds a lot of new functionality

Apps, Highland

Highland 2.1 showed up on the [Mac App Store](https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/highland-2/id1171820258?mt=12) this afternoon. While it’s a “point one” release, it’s actually our tenth update since Highland 2 debuted in May.

The biggest change you’ll notice in 2.1 is our reorganized Preferences window, which now features four tabs.

general preferences

In General preferences, you can choose to exclude notes, synopses and boneyards from word counts in Statistics or the status bar.

documents prefs

In Document preferences, you can opt to have scene headers underlined.

Scene heading styles are a matter of personal taste. These days, most of my scripts are using single-spaced bold headings, but there’s no one right way.

We debated whether this pane should be “Document” or “Fountain” or “Screenplay.” We ended up going with Document with the expectation that there will likely be more document-focused settings to come, including ones that apply to Markdown.

international prefs

This is big news for screenwriters working in languages other than English. By default, Highland (and other Fountain-based apps) look for certain terms that have special meaning, including INT. and EXT. for scene headings and TO: for transitions. But of course, these are only conventions in English.

With Highland 2.1, writers can add to and amend these lists of terms, including times of day and MORE/CONT’D.

backup prefs

It’s always a good idea to backup your files in multiple locations and multiple ways. For me, the combination is Dropbox plus Time Machine.

In Highland 2.1, we added the ability to regularly back up your current documents in plain text. You can choose a backup folder — I created one on Dropbox — and rest assured that no matter what, there’s always a basic text version of your document stored somewhere.

It’s not an alternative to a consistent, system-wide backup plan, but it can provide a little extra peace of mind.

## Small bit of usefulness

While doing proofreading edits for the second Arlo Finch, I found myself needing to search for specific words a lot. Highland 2 uses the standard macOS Find and Replace system. It’s powerful, but it’s a little cumbersome for what I wanted. So we added **Quick Find**, which keeps your eyes on the screen and fingers on the keyboard.

quick find

We also added a similar **Jump To…** for quickly hopping around your document’s headers and markers.

Markers can also now be named. Just add a colon and a label: {{%m:label}} You’ll see more functionality with markers coming in future builds.

A few other bits of functionality were introduced in previous builds, some of which you might have missed.

{{SERIES}} inserts auto-incrementing numbers. This was really helpful for Arlo Finch, because I could write headers as

markup for SERIES directive

and have it automatically generate the chapter numbers.

screenshot of chapter in pdf

You can use {{SERIES}} for anything. For comic books, it’s a useful way to number panels.

{{TIMESTAMP}} inserts the date a document is previewed or printed (including in Fountain title pages). You can [customize the formatting](http://nsdateformatter.com).

We’ve also made two more templates available in the free Highland Basic version: Stage Play and MLA Report.

And if you’re a screenwriter, you owe it to yourself to download our free 40-page booklet on [Switching from Final Draft to Highland 2](https://quoteunquoteapps.com/highland-2/fd-to-h2-guide). It will quickly get you over any fears of leaving Final Draft, and show you some powerful techniques for getting the most out of Highland.

You can find Highland 2.1 on the [Mac App Store](https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/highland-2/id1171820258?mt=12). If you’re enjoying the app, please consider leaving us a review!

I’m on the App Store

Apps, Bronson, Highland, News, Weekend Read

app store article with photoThis morning, Apple posted a profile of me and my software company, Quote-Unquote Apps. If you’re on an iPhone or iPad, you can [read the piece here](https://itunes.apple.com/us/story/id1396871930).

Or just open the App Store app and I’m on the front page.

Yes, it’s a little frustrating that the article is accessible only through the App Store app. I get why they do it — they want exclusive content about apps available right where you get them, just like airlines have their own in-flight magazines. But it feels weird to have a link that only some readers can open.

When you agree to a profile like this, you don’t get a lot of control. I didn’t see the story or the photos until it posted. But I’m happy they emphasized the team that makes it possible. Nima Yousefi is our master coder. Dustin Bocks designs everything to pixel precision. Megana Rao keeps on top of support issues and finds new scripts each week for Weekend Read.

While this profile mostly focuses on Weekend Read, in reality it’s Highland 2 that occupies most of our time. Since it debuted in May, Highland 2 has become our biggest hit by far. It’s also the most important app for me as a writer, since I use it nonstop for scripts, books and blog posts like this one.

If you still haven’t checked out Highland 2, [today’s the day](https://quoteunquoteapps.com/highland-2/).

And if you’re a screenwriter nervous about making the jump, definitely check out our new PDF on [Switching from Final Draft to Highland 2](https://quoteunquoteapps.com/highland-2/library.php).

From Indie to Action Comedy

Directors, Film Industry, Genres, Highland, Producers, QandA, Scriptnotes, Software, Transcribed, Writing Process

John welcomes Susanna Fogel and David Iserson to talk about making their new movie, The Spy Who Dumped Me. They discuss the transition from TV and indie film to blockbuster, the collaboration involved in crafting a comic action sequence, and the fun of production overseas.

Susanna and David explain the advantages of spec scripts (this was one), and what it’s like writing with a partner.

Links:

Email us at ask@johnaugust.com

You can download the episode here.

UPDATE 8-7-18: The transcript of this episode can be found here.