John August

Follow Up

All About Family

Episode - 348

Go to Archive

Adaptation, Education, Film Industry, Follow Up, Formatting, News, Scriptnotes, Transcribed

John and Craig partake in another installment of How Would This Be a Movie? Which story is destined for the big screen: The millennial mother with her surprise, Youtube-guided childbirth? The couple that has the same fight for decades? The Japanese families-for-hire?

We also follow up on the logic of multi-cam formatting, Georgia’s success in diversifying crews through training programs, and effective character descriptions.

Tickets are now on sale for our next Scriptnotes Live Show on Tuesday, May 22nd at the ArcLight in Hollywood, with guests including Lisa Joy and Jonah Nolan of Westworld.

Links:

Email us at ask@johnaugust.com

You can download the episode here.

UPDATE 5-8-18: The transcript of this episode can be found here.

Scriptnotes Live in May

Follow Up, Los Angeles, News

Our next live Scriptnotes will be Tuesday, May 22nd at the ArcLight in Hollywood. [Tickets are on sale now](https://scriptnotes.brownpapertickets.com), with special guests to be announced soon.

All of our live shows are benefits for great LA charities. This one is for [Hollywood HEART](http://www.hollywoodheart.org), which runs special programs and summer camps for at-risk youth.

When we were trying to figure a venue for the event, I asked on Twitter for recommendations. Friend-of-the-show Eric Webb went way beyond, compiling a list of most of the major auditoriums in LA. I’m including it here for anyone else who finds themselves needing a venue.

| Seats | Venue |
|——-|——————————————————————–|
| 3156 | Dorothy Chandler Pavilion |
| 2703 | Pantages |
| 2345 | Million Dollar Theater |
| 2252 | Walt Disney Concert Hall |
| 2103 | Ahmanson Theatre |
| 2000 | Los Angeles Theatre |
| 1976 | Orpheum Theater |
| 1897 | Saban Theatre |
| 1850 | Wiltern Theatre |
| 1800 | Fred Kavli Theatre (Thousand Oaks PAC) |
| 1800 | Royce Hall (UCLA) |
| 1700 | Mayan Theatre |
| 1600 | Valley Performing Arts Center Great Hall (CSUN) |
| 1600 | Theatre at Ace Hotel |
| 1152 | Grauman’s Chinese Theatre |
| 1413 | Alex Theatre |
| 1400 | Riverside Municipal Auditorium |
| 1341 | Regency Village Theatre |
| 1300 | The Rose |
| 1270 | Wilshire Ebell Theatre |
| 1235 | Bovard Auditorium (USC) |
| 1200 | Ricardo Montalbán Theatre |
| 906 | Tower Theatre |
| 900 | Forest Lawn Museum/Hall of The Crucifixion-Resurrection (Glendale) |
| 739 | Mark Taper Forum |
| 686 | Pasadena Playhouse |
| 618 | Egyptian Theatre |
| 610 | Geffen Playhouse |
| 600 | DGA Theatre 1 |
| 600 | Leo S. Bing Theatre (LACMA) |
| 538 | Eli and Edythe Broad Stage |
| 551 | Bing Theatre (USC) |
| 500 | Bram Goldsmith Theater |
| 496 | Tom Bradley Theater (LATC) |
| 473 | WGA Theatre † |
| 430 | Colburn School Grand Building Auditorium |
| 425 | Aero Theatre |
| 400 | Janet and Ray Scherr Forum Theatre (Thousand Oaks PAC) |
| 400 | Vista Theatre |
| 390 | Campus Theatre (CSUN) |
| 360 | El Portal Theatre |
| 350 | Harmony Gold Theater |
| 341 | Eileen Norris Cinema Theatre Complex (USC) |
| 330 | LA Film School † |
| 303 | Nuart Theatre |
| 300 | Kirk Douglas Theatre |
| 300 | Landmark Theatre |
| 296 | Lupe Ontiveros Theatre (LATC) |
| 294 | The SilverScreen Theater (Pacific Design Center) |
| 280 | Alfred Newman Recital Hall (USC) |
| 278 | James Bridges Theatre |
| 270 | Roy and Edna Disney/Calarts Theater (REDCAT) |
| 222 | Downtown Independent Theatre |
| 220 | Annenberg Auditorium (USC) |
| 200 | Renberg Theatre (LA LGBT Center) |
| 155 | DGA Theater 2 |

† = previous Scriptnotes live show venue

Conflict of Interest

Film Industry, Follow Up, Formatting, Los Angeles, News, Producers, Scriptnotes, Television, WGA, Words on the page

John and Craig examine the myriad conflicts of interest that arise in Hollywood, from self-dealing studios to packaging fees to pilot season.

But it’s not just other people with issues. Writers grapple with their own conflicts of interest. We discuss what situations screenwriters might face and how to deal with them ethically.

We also answer listener questions on multicam formatting and elegantly establishing the time period in a historical piece.

Links:

* To win an invite to the Crazy Ex-Girlfriend event on Wednesday May 9th, send your lyrics to “The Other Side of the Velvet Rope” to ask@johnaugust.com
* Amazon Studios is no longer accepting [unsolicited submissions](http://variety.com/2018/digital/news/amazon-studios-shuts-down-open-script-submissions-1202753480/)
* The Deadline [article](http://deadline.com/2018/04/talent-agency-business-writers-guild-deal-proposal-shakeup-packaging-deals-1202373395/) that outlines the WGA’s proposal to renegotiate the Artists’ manager Basic Agreement
* [Dick Zanuck](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_D._Zanuck) and his [credits](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0005573/)
* Multicams are [formatted differently](https://screenwriting.io/how-are-multicamera-tv-scripts-formatted/). This clip of the [Big Bang Theory with the laugh track removed](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASZ8Hks4gko) shows how different the rhythm of a Multicam can be.
* Swedish company Svenska Biografteatern’s [footage of New York City](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aohXOpKtns0) as adjusted by Guy Jones
* [Assassin’s Creed Origins](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassin%27s_Creed_Origins)
* [The Scriptnotes Listeners’ Guide!](http://johnaugust.com/guide)
* [The USB drives!](https://store.johnaugust.com/collections/frontpage/products/scriptnotes-300-episode-usb-flash-drive)
* [AlphaBirds](http://alphabirdsgame.com) is our fun new word game!
* [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/)
* [Outro](http://johnaugust.com/2013/scriptnotes-the-outros) by Tim Garcia ([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_347.mp3).

**UPDATE 5-2-18:** The transcript of this episode can be found [here](http://johnaugust.com/2018/scriptnotes-ep-347-conflict-of-interest-transcript).

Comedy Geometry

Film Industry, Follow Up, Producers, Scriptnotes, Story and Plot, Television, Transcribed, Travel, Writing Process

Craig welcomes Alec Berg, executive producer of two current HBO comedies (Barry and Silicon Valley), to discuss balancing productivity and creative energy, “comedy geometry,” and identifying as a craftsman rather than an artist.

We also answer listener questions about committing to a genre, the necessity of act breaks, and how much writers actually get to keep of their paycheck.

Links:

* Thanks for joining us, [Alec Berg](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alec_Berg)! Check out his [credits](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0073688/).
* [Barry](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b09aJdWqVp4) is now on [HBO](https://www.hbo.com/barry?pid=googleadwords_int&c=Google|Search|MKL|IQ_ID_105710467-VQ16-c&camp=Google|Search|MKL|IQ_ID_105710467-VQ16-c)!
* [Silicon Valley](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silicon_Valley_(TV_series)) is in its [5th season](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7pYslGR6GU) on [HBO](https://www.hbo.com/silicon-valley?pid=googleadwords_int&c=Google|Search|MKL|IQ_ID_-VQ16-c&camp=Google|Search|MKL|IQ_ID_-VQ16-c).
* [Sharing your wifi password](https://ios.gadgethacks.com/how-to/instantly-share-wi-fi-passwords-from-your-iphone-other-ios-11-devices-nearby-0177972/)
* [The Last of Sheila](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_of_Sheila) by Anthony Perkins and Stephen Sondheim, directed by Herbert Ross. Here’s the [trailer](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPLgmD_RTLU).
* [The Scriptnotes Listeners’ Guide!](http://johnaugust.com/guide)
* [The USB drives!](https://store.johnaugust.com/collections/frontpage/products/scriptnotes-300-episode-usb-flash-drive)
* [Alec Berg](https://twitter.com/realalecberg) on Twitter
* [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/)
* [Outro](http://johnaugust.com/2013/scriptnotes-the-outros) by Rajesh Naroth ([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_344.mp3).

**UPDATE 4-11-18:** The transcript of this episode can be found [here](http://johnaugust.com/2018/scriptnotes-ep-344-comedy-geometry-transcript).