John August

How-To

Screenplays on the Kindle, 2015 edition

Follow Up, Formatting, Fountain, Geek Alert, Highland, How-To, Weekend Read

A screenwriter friend just emailed me to ask how she could get one of her scripts to look good on the Kindle. She had Googled and discovered I’d written about reading screenplays [on the Kindle](http://johnaugust.com/2009/the-kindle-is-not-good-for-screenplays) [twice](http://johnaugust.com/2009/reading-scripts-on-the-kindle) back in 2009. (I was an early Kindle adopter.)

Back in 2009, I found there to be a lot of potential for reading screenplays on the Kindle, but a lot of frustration.

Six years later, what’s changed?

Nothing. Kindles and screenplays are still a bad fit.

Attempting to get screenplays to look screenplay-like on Kindle is a fool’s errand, so let me actively dissuade you from trying. Down this path lies futility and despair.

## It’s not the Kindle’s fault.

Kindles are designed for free-flowing text like books. They don’t know anything about how screenplays work, and they will fight you at every step. We know. We tried. That’s a large part of why we made [Weekend Read](https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/weekend-read/id502725173?mt=8).

If you’re starting with a PDF, the closest you can probably come on the Kindle is to run the script through [Highland](https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/highland/id499329572?mt=12) and save it as a Fountain file. That’s just plain text, so if you then import it into Kindle’s parser, you’ll get a rough approximation, with everything set on the left margin:

INT. HOUSE – DAY

Mary and Tom carry in groceries.

TOM
They oughta call it, “Whole Paychec—

— THWACK! Tom is impaled by a spear.

CUT TO:

I write in [Fountain](http://fountain.io), so this looks fine to me. But that’s not what my friend was looking for. She wanted something like a printed screenplay, and you’re just not going to get that on the Kindle.

But you can get closer. If you dig into the text file and carefully set tags for character names and transitions, you can have them centered or moved to the right margin. Or you can bail on the screenplay formatting. Dave Trottier has [instructions](http://blog.liberwriter.com/2011/08/18/formatting-a-screenplay-for-kindle/) you can follow to make something that looks more like a published stage play. It’s incredibly tedious, but it’s possible.

With a lot of work, you can make something that looks okay — but only okay. That’s the best you’re going to get, and it’s not worth the effort. So in 2015, I use my Kindle for books and my iOS devices for screenplays. Each is the right tool for the job.

Advice to a First-Time Director

Episode - 176

Go to Archive

Directors, Film Industry, How-To, News, Scriptnotes, Transcribed

John and Craig offer advice to a director taking the plunge, with guidance on both getting the work done and getting the performances you want. From there, we segue into a discussion of the Perfect Director, the next installment of our Perfect series.

We also pay a visit to the Logic Police, whose notes are often frustrating but sometimes correct.

But we couldn’t not talk about the messed-up situation with The Interview and North Korea. It’s a terrible precedent, but the mistake is putting the blame on any one studio. Without coordinated group action, it’s only going to get worse.

Links:

You can download the episode here: AAC | mp3.

UPDATE 12-29-14: The transcript of this episode can be found here.

Twelve Days of Scriptnotes

Film Industry, How-To, Scriptnotes, Television, Transcribed, Writing Process

Craig and John welcome special guests Aline Brosh McKenna, Rachel Bloom, B.J. Novak, Jane Espenson and Derek Haas to talk about writing books, movies and especially television.

Aline and Rachel just finished shooting a pilot called Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. We discuss the genesis of the project, and how sexism is just stupid.

B.J. tells us about the joy of reading Inglorious Basterds, and how the key to success is apparently editing your high school newspaper.

Jane and Derek teach us what really goes on in the writers room, from secret lingo to codes of silence.

Plus there are songs!

Recorded with a live audience at LA Film School as a benefit for the Writers Guild Foundation. Huge thanks to everyone who came and supported the show.

Links:

* [The Writers Guild Foundation](https://www.wgfoundation.org/)
* [Aline Brosh McKenna](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0112459/) on episodes [60](http://johnaugust.com/2012/the-black-list-and-a-stack-of-scenes), [76](http://johnaugust.com/2013/how-screenwriters-find-their-voice), [100](http://johnaugust.com/2013/scriptnotes-the-100th-episode), [101](http://johnaugust.com/2013/101-qa-from-the-live-show), [119](http://johnaugust.com/2013/positive-moviegoing), [123](http://johnaugust.com/2013/scriptnotes-holiday-spectacular), [124](http://johnaugust.com/2013/qa-from-the-holiday-spectacular) [152](http://johnaugust.com/2014/the-rocky-shoals-pages-70-90), and [161](http://johnaugust.com/2014/a-cheap-cut-of-meat-soaked-in-butter)
* [For Universal Pictures, Zero Blockbusters Equals Record Profits](http://www.forbes.com/sites/scottmendelson/2014/12/09/for-universal-pictures-zero-blockbusters-equals-record-profits/) on Forbes
* [Showtime Nabs Comedy With Musical Elements From Aline Brosh McKenna](http://deadline.com/2013/10/showtime-nabs-comedy-with-musical-elements-from-aline-brosh-mckenna-606927/) on Deadline
* [Rachel Bloom](http://www.racheldoesstuff.com/) and on [IMDb](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3417385/) and [YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCs8sqIPEhf8lqM2C8rTVfYg)
* [B.J. Novak](http://www.bjnovak.com/) and on [IMDb](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1145983)
* [The Book With No Pictures](http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00INIXTKE/?tag=johnaugustcom-20) and [One More Thing](http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00EGMQIIQ/?tag=johnaugustcom-20), both by B.J. Novak
* [Jane Espenson](http://www.janeespenson.com/) and on [IMDb](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0260870/)
* [Derek Haas](http://derekhaas.com/) and on [IMDb](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0351929/) and episode [83](http://johnaugust.com/2013/a-city-born-of-fire)
* [Aaron Sorkin sad that Newsroom writer’s objection to rape plot violated his privacy](http://www.avclub.com/article/aaron-sorkin-sad-newsroom-writers-objection-rape-p-212752) on A.V. Club
* [Intro](http://johnaugust.com/2013/scriptnotes-the-outros) by Scriptnotes editor Matthew Chilelli ([send us yours!](http://johnaugust.com/2014/outros-needed))

You can download the episode here: [AAC](http://traffic.libsyn.com/scriptnotes/scriptnotes_ep_175.m4a) | [mp3](http://traffic.libsyn.com/scriptnotes/scriptnotes_ep_175.mp3).

**UPDATE 12-19-14:** The transcript of this episode can be found [here](http://johnaugust.com/2014/scriptnotes-ep-175-twelve-days-of-scriptnotes-transcript).

The Tentpoles of 2019

Film Industry, Follow Up, Genres, How-To, Pitches, Projects, Rights and Copyright, Scriptnotes, Transcribed

Craig and John discuss the 31 superhero movies slated for the next few years. Is it good business or a trainwreck in the making?

How do you move from a vague idea to an actual pitch? We talk about what you say when you’re in the room pitching on a project, and why passion trumps plot in most cases.

We also look at copyright and how the current system is broken for everyone.

Next week will be Craig-less, because we’re recording live at the Austin Film Festival with a bunch of amazing guests.

Links:

* The new [iMac with 5k Retina display](http://www.apple.com/imac-with-retina/)
* [OSX Yosemite](https://www.apple.com/osx/)
* [Retina displays](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retina_Display) on Wikipedia
* [Comedy Bang Bang](http://www.comedybangbang.com/)
* John’s schedule at [the 2014 Austin Film Festival](http://austinfilmfestival2014.sched.org/speaker/john_august.1sssegfs?iframe=no&w=i:0;&sidebar=yes&bg=no#.VDMKbCldVjc)
* Help is on the way at [writeremergency.com](http://www.writeremergency.com/)
* If there is a problem with your shirt order, [reach out to Stuart](mailto:orders@johnaugust.com)
* The [31 scheduled superhero films](http://www.newsarama.com/21815-the-new-full-comic-book-superhero-movie-schedule.html)
* [Copywrong](http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/10/20/crooner-rights-spat) by Louis Menand, from the New Yorker
* [Dragonbox](http://www.dragonboxapp.com/) secretly teaches algebra to your children
* [Does Lockheed Martin really have a breakthrough fusion machine?](http://www.technologyreview.com/news/531836/does-lockheed-martin-really-have-a-breakthrough-fusion-machine/)
* [Tweet “help” to @writeremergency](https://twitter.com/writeremergency) for assistance
* Get premium Scriptnotes access at [scriptnotes.net](http://scriptnotes.net/) and hear our 1,000th subscriber special
* [Outro](http://johnaugust.com/2013/scriptnotes-the-outros) by Scriptnotes listener Jackie Ann ([send us yours!](http://johnaugust.com/2014/outros-needed))

You can download the episode here: [AAC](http://traffic.libsyn.com/scriptnotes/scriptnotes_ep_167.m4a) | [mp3](http://traffic.libsyn.com/scriptnotes/scriptnotes_ep_167.mp3).

**UPDATE 11-4-14:** The transcript of this episode can be found [here](http://johnaugust.com/2014/scriptnotes-ep-167-the-tentpoles-of-2019-transcript).