John August

Geek Alert

Introducing jaWiki

Geek Alert, jaWiki, News

[[wiki logo]](http://johnaugust.com/jawiki)When I [redesigned the site](http://johnaugust.com/archives/2006/redesign-part-one) in February, the major goal was to allow better access to the archive information. Unlike most blogs, the bulk of the content on johnaugust.com is equally relevant today or four years from today — unlike celebrity marriages, the answers to screenwriting questions pretty much hold solid.

Although I think it’s worked out pretty well, the [Big Fat Footer](http://johnaugust.com/archives/2006/footnotes-on-the-footer) wasn’t my original plan.

I wanted to harness the power of the hive mind to create a user-organized repository of screenwriting-relating articles. See, I’m only one guy. A pretty busy guy at that. I’ll never be able to go back through and update old entries, fixing broken links and outdated references. But my readers? They’re screenwriters, with an overwhelming need to procrastinate. Some of them would likely jump at the chance.

Perhaps the answer was a wiki.

So I installed [Mediawiki](http://mediawiki.org), the same software which drives [Wikipedia](http://wikipedia.org). (Maybe you’ve heard of it?) Guess what: It’s complicated. Even as we added articlesChad Creasey and Howard Rabinowitz deserve props for getting a “critical mass” of articles written. Mucho thanks to the two of them., I started to dread the eventual launch. The software was so complex, and such a target for ne’er-do-wells, that I finally shelved it until the vaguely-defined timespace of “after The Movie.”

The wiki has been quietly sitting there, one slash away, for months. And now, finally, I’m ready to give it a go.

I’d slap a red “Beta” logo on it if it weren’t so Web Two-Point-Cheesy. But really, it’s beta. It could completely crash at any moment. The underlying software (not Mediawiki, btw) has many fans, but also many issues, and was honestly chosen for the ease with which articles could get yanked out of it should something more promising come along.

Right now, there’s almost no restriction on who can create or edit an entry. I’m holding on to the “delete” power for now, though I’d love to share that with some dedicated wikiers. You can create a profile for yourself by choosing “Login” and “Register.” By logging in, the community can see who is doing good work.

Early adopters, have at it. I urge you to look at it as I do — an experiment. It might be great; it might be a Really Bad Idea. But it might be worth your time. Have at it [here](http://johnaugust.com/jawiki).

Back from Austin

Geek Alert, News

Two flights, three panels and five beers later, I can say I had a good time at the Austin Film Festival. It was certainly the best time I’ve had in Austin, largely because I got off my ass and went to the parties and screenings. (Although some of the credit for that has to go to the amazing new [Google Maps for Treo](http://google.com/gmm), which made up for the notable lack of a map in the festival catalog.)

The strangest thing about a screenwriter-centric event is that for a few days I feel like a minor celebrity. Strangers recognize me, which [almost never happens](http://johnaugust.com/archives/2006/are-you-somebody) in Los Angeles. But in exchange for anonymity, I got lots of nice comments and even a t-shirt with my silhouette. Which kind of freaks me out, frankly. I don’t know that I’d wear it myself, and I’d be unnerved if I saw someone else wearing one.

Mike Curtis from HD for Indies [wrote up](http://www.hdforindies.com/2006/10/austin-film-festival-john-august-panel.html) what I talked about in my solo presentation yesterday, so props to him for the live-blogging. And best regards to all the panelists, organizers and attendees at the festival these next few days.

Previewing score with GarageBand

Geek Alert, The Nines

[Alex Wurman](http://imdb.com/name/nm0943391/) is busy writing the music for The Movie, which in this digital age means a lot of files shuttling back and forth. Rather than tapes, we have QuickTimes for each reel, with timecode burned in for reference. When Alex wants us to listen to a cue, he sends an mp3 with instructions for where it lines up.

This hand-off works great when we’re in the editorial office, with the Avid churning away. But since Alex is working on weekends and after hours, I wanted to be able to preview new tracks on my home computer (a MacBook Pro).

My first instinct was to fire up Final Cut Pro. It worked, but it was kind of grizzly. Neither the QuickTimes nor the mp3’s are native formats for FCP, which meant a lot of rendering or a lot of dropped frames. Plus, it felt like overkill to build a project with just two assets. Apple’s Soundtrack would be a more natural choice, but I hadn’t installed it.

Then I vaguely remembered that the most recent version of GarageBand — which came installed on the computer — had some sort of basic Soundtrack-like features designed to work with iMovie. It turned out to be exactly what I needed. The program happily churns through both QuickTime and mp3, making it easy to sync music to picture. The video preview window is a fixed size, but it’s fine for these purposes. Plus, it’s more or less free. In a market of $999 super-apps, it’s easy to overlook the gems that came with the computer.

It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia

Geek Alert, Los Angeles, Television

Probably my favorite comedy after The Office is FX’s It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. I developed a meta-appreciation for it this season, when I realized it’s shot at the Herald-Examiner building in downtown Los Angeles, using some of the same sets we used for The Movie.

Last I heard, there was talk of converting the Herald-Examiner building into condos, so who knows what they would do for a third season. If there is a third season.

iTunes has free featurette about the show, focusing on the logistical nightmare of shooting all of Danny DeVito’s scenes for the season in just 20 days. They had to write all ten scripts ahead of time, then found themselves shooting pieces from up to four episodes per day.

In watching the behind-the-scenes footage, I was surprised to see how puny the main cameras are for the show. They’re using Panasonic DVX-100A’s, long a staple of no-budget indie filmmaking. (We used it for b-roll.) It’s pretty ballsy to use it for a real TV show, where you’re spending millions of dollars and recording on a mini-DV tape.