John and Craig talk dialogue. How characters speak is an optimized version of real speech — but if you optimize too much you risk making your characters feel artificial. We listen to clips of real conversations to pick out patterns and tendencies you can incorporate to help improve written dialogue. Then we dive into the […]
Assistants
Uncredited writing by a script coordinator
On Scriptnotes episode 432, a listener asked what could be done when a writers room assistant or script coordinator was doing actual writing but not getting writing credit. This morning, another listener wrote in with their own tales of uncredited work and how they pushed back. As this listener makes clear, writing credit and low […]
Early progress on assistant pay
We continue to get email about assistant pay, including a few like this one that show some potential for change.
Doing right by assistants
This letter by a writers room PA who had to pay out of pocket for others’ lunches struck a nerve. Scriptnotes producer Megana Rao has been reading many similar horror stories from assistants, but she’s also come across a few emails that demonstrate writers stepping up for their assistants. Jordan writes: Back in 2016 I […]