John August

Library

This page contains .pdf versions of various projects I’ve written over the years. The best way to learn screenwriting is to read a bunch of scripts, so these are intended for educational purposes only. Obviously, don’t try to sell/stage/pilfer any of the material you find here, or the studios involved will send scary lawyer types after you. It’s not pleasant for anyone.

Important: If you want to link to any of the scripts here, please link to this page. Everything else you see here will inevitably move, and broken links suck.

Table of Contents

Produced projects:

Unproduced:

Things I’m hosting for others:

Go

  1. Original spec script
  2. Final shooting script
  3. Additional audition scene for ‘Mannie’

Big Fish

  1. Original one-page outline
  2. Revised full outline after first draft
  3. Final shooting script
  4. Introduction to paperback version

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

charlie poster

Here I’m including the production draft (white), along with the blue and pink revisions so you can see how they fit into the white draft. (Rather than release entirely new scripts, only the revised pages are printed and sent to departments, who can then insert them into their scripts.)

The final shooting script incorporates the blue and pink revisions.

  1. Production draft (white)
  2. Blue revisions
  3. Memo for blue revisions
  4. Pink revisions
  5. Memo for pink revisions
  6. Final shooting script

Frankenweenie

frankenweenie poster

  1. Production Draft. The original draft from July 2010 isn’t vastly different.
  2. Final Conformed Script. This draft reflects changes made during storyboarding, production and editing. In particular, notice how much the third act has been tightened.

The Nines

the nines poster

  1. Final shooting script. The original draft isn’t vastly different, save for two scenes added in reshoots.
  2. Shooting schedule. Pretty close to our final shooting schedule.
  3. Visual FX breakdown. Boards and descriptions for two of the more complicated sections.
  4. The audience questionnaire we used for our second test screening.

The Remnants

This is the web pilot I shot in February 2008. You can find it here.

God

This is the short film I made in 1998, a prequel to The Nines. You can find it here.

D.C.

  1. Pilot script
  2. Episode 2: Truth
  3. Episode 3: Justice
  4. The initial pitch I made to the WB
  5. The outline for the pilot
  6. A template for a “normal” episode
  7. And an exercise in which I look at God from each character’s perspective
  8. The pilot presentation script

In order to save money, the WB asked all its drama pilots to shoot a 30-minute “pilot presentation” of the show, rather than the whole hour. To do this, I had to omit a bunch of scenes, and rewrite some others so that it would all make sense.

Yes, if I had written Episode 4, it was supposed to titled, “The American Way.”

How to Eat Fried Worms

Note that this is not the script for the 2006 movie. It predates it by almost a decade. You can read more about the backstory here.

The Circle (a.k.a. Alaska)

  1. Initial write-up/pitch document/treatment
  2. Pilot script
  3. Episode 2: Gravedigger

Casting sides:

  1. Mathers
  2. Harper
  3. Prescott
  4. Vico
  5. Connie
  6. Elias
  7. Ivanhov
  8. Mary
  9. Valerie
  10. Van Der Kamp
  11. Bobby

More information about The Circle is here.

Ops

There are three versions of the pilot. The first is set in Afghanistan and Venezuela. The second, in Afghanistan and Iraq. The third, in Brazil and Uzbekistan. Since the first two pilots were both called “Blood and Oil,” they’ve been labeled here as “Venezuela,” “Iraq,” and “Uzbekistan.”

  1. Initial write-up/pitch document
  2. Venezuela beat sheet
  3. Venezuela outline
  4. Venezuela pilot
  5. Venezuela pilot, revised
  6. Iraq outline
  7. Iraq pilot
  8. Iraq pilot, revised
  9. Uzbekistan outline
  10. McGinty casting sides
  11. Vanowen casting sides

Station Eleven

station eleven poster

On Scriptnotes 553, Station Eleven showrunner Patrick Somerville joins us to talk through the writing of the 10-episode limited series. We discuss the script of the first episode, but Somerville agreed to share the entire series’ scripts for reference.

  1. Episode 101
  2. Episode 102
  3. Episode 103
  4. Episode 104
  5. Episode 105
  6. Episode 106
  7. Episode 107
  8. Episode 108
  9. Episode 109
  10. Episode 110

Chernobyl

poster for chernobyl

The acclaimed HBO/Sky miniseries written, created and produced by Scriptnotes co-host Craig Mazin debuted May 6, 2019. As promised, here are Craig’s scripts for the five episodes.

You should also listen to the excellent companion podcast co-hosted by Peter Sagal.

  1. Episode 1 – “1:23:45”
  2. Episode 2 – “Please Remain Calm”
  3. Episode 3 – “Open Wide, O Earth”
  4. Episode 4 – “The Happiness Of All Mankind”
  5. Episode 5 – “Vichnaya Pamyat”