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Awards

Austin Live Show 2018

Episode - 373

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October 30, 2018 Awards, Citizenship, Film Industry, Follow Up, QandA, Scriptnotes, Television, Transcribed, Treatments, WGA

John and Craig invite Wendy Calhoun (Station 19, Empire), Phil Hay (The Invitation, Ride Along), Nicole Perlman (Guardians of the Galaxy, Captain Marvel), and Jason Fuchs (Wonder Woman, Ice Age: Continental Drift) to join them onstage for a discussion about the death of the writing middle class, why we get bored during a film or episode of television, and the consequences of handing over unpaid writing.

We also play a game called “Why is Craig So Mad?”

Recorded live from the Driskill Ballroom at the 2018 Austin Film Festival. Thanks to the Austin Film Festival for hosting us, and to a great audience!

Links:

  • Thanks for joining us, Wendy Calhoun, Phil Hay, Nicole Perlman, and Jason Fuchs!
  • And thank you, Beto, for the message! Check out the video from the audience.
  • The Death of Hollywood’s Middle Class by Nicole Laporte for Fast Company
  • This tweet by Nicola Prigg
  • Keep an eye on Weekend Read for screenplays this awards season.
  • T-shirts are available here! We’ve got new designs, including Colored Revisions, Karateka, and Highland2.
  • The USB drives!
  • Wendy Calhoun on Twitter
  • Phil Hay on Twitter
  • Nicole Perlman on Twitter
  • Jason Fuchs on Twitter
  • John August on Twitter
  • Craig Mazin on Twitter
  • John on Instagram
  • Find past episodes
  • Scriptnotes Digital Seasons are also now available!
  • Outro by Matthew Chilelli (send us yours!)

Email us at ask@johnaugust.com

You can download the episode here.

UPDATE 11-8-18: The transcript of this episode can be found here.

What Is a Movie, Anyway?

September 25, 2018 Awards, Film Industry, Follow Up, Indie, Scriptnotes, Stuart, Television, Transcribed, Videogames

John and Craig welcome Franklin Leonard to weigh in on the current definition of “movie.” In the age of streaming, this distinction is not only important for audiences and awards, but has a meaningful effect on how writers are paid.

We also take umbrage with Awards Season as a Hollywood fixture, and follow up on a five year-old prediction about iPads in movie theaters.

Links:

  • Scriptnotes, Episode 108: Are two screens better than one? addresses the fear of iPads in theaters
  • Become a premium subscriber in time for our bonus Q&A episode. Submit your questions here.
  • Show Us Your Room and the Instagram hashtag
  • Rusty Lake’s new game, Paradox, with video of actual people
  • Roma, written and directed by Alfonso Cuarón
  • Inneresting, a new John August newsletter. You can subscribe here.
  • T-shirts are available here! We’ve got new designs, including Colored Revisions, Karateka, and Highland2.
  • The USB drives!
  • Franklin Leonard on Twitter
  • John August on Twitter
  • Craig Mazin on Twitter
  • John on Instagram
  • Find past episodes
  • Scriptnotes Digital Seasons are also now available!
  • Outro by Matthew Chilelli (send us yours!).

Email us at ask@johnaugust.com

You can download the episode here.

UPDATE 9-28-18: The transcript of this episode can be found here.

We’re Back, Baby

February 20, 2018 Awards, Broadway, Film Industry, Follow Up, Formatting, Los Angeles, QandA, Scriptnotes, Story and Plot, Transcribed, Videogames, WGA, Writing Process

John and Craig reunite to answer our backlog of listener questions.

We follow up on what it means to utilize white space on a page, the conventions of musical numbers, the value of a victory lap, and what the hypothetical destruction of Los Angeles would mean for the industry.

We also answer listener questions on the rules of awards voting, what to consider when writing a proof-of-concept short for a feature, and what to do when a deadline approaches and the script just isn’t good.

Links:

  • WGA members, you can update your diversity details at my.wga.org. Don’t forget to “publish.”
  • John on Brian Koppelman’s podcast, The Moment
  • Common musical number types include the argument song (“Anything You Can Do, I Can Do Better” from Annie Get Your Gun, “Sue Me” from Guys & Dolls, “People Will Say We’re in Love” from Oklahoma!), the scheme song (“A Little Priest” from Sweeney Todd, “I Want the Good Times Back” from The Little Mermaid stage play), the philosophy song (“Poor Unfortunate Souls” from The Little Mermaid), the If Only song (“On My Own” from Les Miserables, “Memory” from Cats, “Send in the Clowns” from A Little Night Music), and the Eleven O’Clock Number (“Rose’s Turn” from Gypsy, “Being Alive” from Company) and the sidekick song (“Hakuna Matata” from the Lion King, “The Travel Song”).
  • Marty McFly’s victory lap
  • Awards scripts are available on Weekend Read
  • “The Bittersweet Beauty of Adam Rippon” by Richard Lawson for Vanity Fair
  • The Room: Old Sins
  • The Scriptnotes Listeners’ Guide!
  • The USB drives!
  • John August on Twitter
  • Craig Mazin on Twitter
  • John on Instagram
  • Find past episodes
  • Outro by Matthew Chilelli (send us yours!)

Email us at ask@johnaugust.com

You can download the episode here.

UPDATE 2-26-18: The transcript of this episode can be found here.

Logic and Gimmickry

July 18, 2017 Awards, QandA, Scriptnotes, Story and Plot, Tools, Words on the page

John and Craig step up to the whiteboard to look at the story logic in our scripts, then examine how tricks and gimmicks can help keep scenes interesting.

We also answer listener questions about paying experts for research help, and whether hiring a writing consultant ever makes sense.

Links:

  • Get your tickets now for the July 25th Scriptnotes Live Homecoming Show, with guests Liz Meriwether, Megan Amram and more!
  • Julie Buxbaum’s What to Say Next on Amazon
  • Fridge logic on TV Tropes
  • John on The perils of coincidence
  • The Fargo TV series makes a religion of coincidence
  • Gimmickry used in Kill Bill with split screens and animation, in (500) Days of Summer with musical numbers and alternate timelines, when talking to the dead in Iron Lady, when Love and Death becomes a silent film, and when flashbacks become childhood in The Hangover 2
  • Go and The Nines on Amazon Video
  • The LA Metro System
  • Hyperloop One and its successful first test
  • The Scriptnotes Listeners’ Guide!
  • The USB drives!
  • John August on Twitter
  • Craig Mazin on Twitter
  • John on Instagram
  • Find past episodes
  • Outro by Rajesh Naroth (send us yours!)

Email us at ask@johnaugust.com

You can download the episode here.

UPDATE 7-25-17: The transcript of this episode can be found here.

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