John

##Who are you and what do you write?

I’m Josh Friedman. I created the TV show [Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles](http://www.thewb.com/shows/terminator-the-sarah-connor-chronicles/), co-wrote [War of the Worlds](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0407304/), and adapted the James Ellroy novel [The Black Dahlia](http://www.universalstudiosentertainment.com/black-dahlia/).

I used to have a blog called [I Find Your Lack of Faith Disturbing](http://hucksblog.blogspot.com/) but we broke up a couple years ago and I haven’t heard from it since.

I’m also working with the one and only John August on Chosen, a very cool pilot John’s writing for 20th TV and ABC.

##Where and when do you write?

I write almost exclusively in my office at 20th Century Fox. I have a TV deal there and with it comes a wonderful office in a building with a number of other writers.

It’s a perfect set-up for me — I love sitting at my desk with the door open so I can ensnare any of the other writers and suck them into a conversation. Any pee-break can easily turn into a fifteen minute rant about whichever network executive has given whichever one of us notes on this particular day; it’s a nice way to vent, procrastinate, bond, and, lest it get lost in the sentence, procrastinate.

I’m not a fan of writing in public spaces because it reminds me of when I used to write in public spaces. But I do like the constant distraction and stimulation I get from seeing other writers pacing in front of the Xerox machine trying to figure out how to cut twelve pages out of forty-three.

Perhaps due to these tendencies I tend to, as my co-showrunner on TSCC used to say, “burn a lot of daylight.” But I’m at peace with that: I get most of my actual typing done in the late afternoon and the evening. When I’m really working hard on a script I’m probably most productive from 7PM to 11PM. I like ordering in dinner, eating at my desk, and cranking out three hours of really focused writing. I’m a big believer in stopping when you’re on a roll so you can more easily pick it up the next day.

I listen to music all the time when I work; I think it’s because I used to do my homework in front of the television. But I can’t stand silence. I’d guess eighty percent of everything I’ve written has been accompanied by Bruce Springsteen bootlegs. Like Bruce, I believe there is no such thing as writer’s block.

##What software do you use?

[Final Draft](http://www.finaldraft.com/). I’ve never known anything else. I don’t even understand why people don’t like it. It’s better at its job than I am at mine. I choose to remain ignorant to its shortcomings.

##What hardware do you use?

MacBook Pro 13”, a big ol 27” iMac, and an iPad for reading scripts and emails and such.

I also use legal pads for early stages of doodling and asking myself questions. I like to put a question mark at the end of almost every sentence when I’m starting a project — it makes me feel like I’m not committing to anything and I have less anxiety. “He is a cop” will always be written as: “Is he a cop?”

The most important writing tools I use are my four whiteboards hung on my walls. I never used them when I wrote movies but since I started doing television I have become totally addicted to them. They’re on almost every surface of my office.

I have a swivelly chair in the middle so I can sit and spin round and round looking at the different boards. One board usually has all of the characters listed. One has ideas for scenes. One is near my desk and I use sort of as scrap paper. The fourth is reserved for the outline as I break the story. Eventually all of the boards will be covered with the outline and then I start writing my draft…

When I’m finished writing a draft, I read it backwards. I can’t explain why. It’s the same way I read magazines.

##What (if anything) would you change about how you work?

I would write more for myself. Either a screenplay on spec, or prose, or resurrect my blog. I’d write nonfiction, maybe. Just more writing in other genres, I guess.

Too many screenwriters tend to forget they were writers before they were screenwriters. Maybe some of them weren’t. But I was. I miss writing other types of things and I’d like to do that more.

Also, I wish I wouldn’t get so pissed off when people give me notes. I’m working on that one. Sort of.

##Who are you and what do you write?

We are Marianne and Cormac Wibberley (aka., “the Wibberleys” which is how we are now credited). When we first meet people in the business, sometimes they ask if we’re siblings. No, we are a married writing team. We’ve been married for decades and have been writing together almost as long.

Our most well known credits are the two [National Treasure](http://disneydvd.disney.go.com/national-treasure.html) movies, [Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle](http://www.sonypictures.com/homevideo/charliesangelsfullthrottle/index.html) (with John August), and [Bad Boys 2](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0172156/).

We are currently producing a project at Fox and writing the film adaptation of the video game [Uncharted](http://naughtydog.com/games/uncharted/) for Sony. Our daughter is a big fan of the game, so if we screw it up, we’re dead meat.

##Where and when do you write?

Everywhere. Anywhere. Because we’re married, there is no separation of work and personal life.

We have three dogs: a Jack Russell and two rescue German Shepherds. Our Jack Russell is easy, but the two German Shepherds run our lives.

They hang out in our office, and our writing schedule is geared around their schedule. We walk them at least two miles a day, and a lot of that time is spent spitballing and brainstorming while watching for cats, motorcycles, squirrels, skateboarders, other dogs, and the dreaded ninja cyclist.

Yeah, sure, they look nice, but they bite. If we’re on a deadline, we get stressed. And when we get stressed, they get stressed and then bad things happen in the house.

As for our process as a writing team, we do actually sit in our home office and write everything together. Not a word gets typed without us both agreeing on it. This means a lot of our time is spent trying to convince each other why his line of dialogue or her bit of action is better. We pitch feverishly, act out scenes badly, and when all else fails, we draw pictures to convince the other how awesome his/her idea is.

Here are some other things we keep around the office to inspire us.

A prop gun from our first big movie, [The 6th Day](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0216216/).

Han, Chewbacca, Sundance & Butch, and…a couple guinea pigs:

##What software do you use?

The most important software we use is coffee. What is our favorite Keurig cup flavor? We have it narrowed down to four (but suggestions are welcome).

For screenwriting, we use [MovieMagic Screenwriter](http://www.screenplay.com/p-29-movie-magic-screenwriter-6.aspx) (but we know how to use Final Draft as well).

Other software: iBooks, Kindle, and Dropbox. We just started using [Pages](http://www.apple.com/iwork/pages/), which is a surprisingly easy yet powerful word processor that you can use on your iPhone and iPad. We also like it because it uses the iCloud without us having to think about it.

##What hardware do you use?

We are a Mac family. We have Mac laptops, a desktop, iPads, and iPhones.

But really the best piece of hardware we use are [these giant Post-Its](http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000WUY67G/?tag=johnaugustcom-20). We started using them recently instead of index cards so we can stick our ideas and story beats to the wall, cabinets, and bookshelves. No corkboard necessary.

We outline using Post-Its and keep the three acts up on our wall while we outline and write the script. The cards are constantly changing, however. Most times, by the time we get to the third act, the story’s been rebroken a dozen times.

##What (if anything) would you change?

We’d like to be able to enjoy our time off, but instead, we just worry. If the phone’s not ringing, it means they hated the draft. And if we’re not trying to write something new, then we worry that like sharks who don’t swim we’ll die.