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John welcomes back writer/performer Ashley Nicole Black (A Black Lady Sketch Show, Ted Lasso, The Amber Ruffin Show) to prove good things come in twos. They dive into her two Emmy nominations, joining a show in its second season, and the opportunities of both writing and acting in a series.

We follow up on the WGA East elections and ghosting producers. We also answer listener questions on problematic female character intros and writing sports scenes.

In our bonus segment we take a look at TV’s white guy problem.

Links:

• The Double-Nominated Emmy Contender Taking Over TV Comedy
• Industry News: Fran Drescher, Leads SAG-AFTRA, IATSE Contract Negotiation, WGA East Elections
• New Teeth by Simon Rich on Amazon or Bookshop
• Gifted short story by Simon Rich
• Highland 2 Student License
• A is For
• Estelle Colored Glass
• TV’s White Guys are in Crisis by Kathryn Vanarendonk
• My Abortion Story on John’s blog
• Ashley Nicole Black on Twitter
• Get a Scriptnotes T-shirt!
• Gift a Scriptnotes Subscription or treat yourself to a premium subscription!
• John August on Twitter
• John on Instagram
• Outro by Zach Lo (send us yours!)
• Scriptnotes is produced by Megana Rao and edited by Matthew Chilelli.

Email us at ask@johnaugust.com

You can download the episode here.

UPDATE 9-15-21 The transcript for this episode can be found here.

John and Craig take a look at the WGA East elections, specifically the debate over who the WGA should represent and how to prepare for new trends in digital media.

We revisit predictions we made about superhero movies and break down logical fallacies in a follow up to our conspiracy discussion. We also answer listener questions about ethical writing assignments, reading lists, and bored executives.

In our bonus segment for premium members, we talk about how life has gotten better in the past few decades. Craig highlights the technological improvements in diapers and car stereos.

Links:

• Episode 167, The Tentpoles of 2019 and transcript
• The Original Superhero Slate from 2013 from Newsarama
• Episode 512: There is No Conspiracy
• WGA East Election
• WGA East Considers Spinning Off Digital News Members Into New Union Amid “Existential Threat” by David Robb
• Adam Conover WGA East Twitter Thread
• University of Michigan Study: Evolution now accepted by majority of Americans
• What Remains of Edith Finch Game
• Improvements since the 1990s by Gwern Branwen
• Get a Scriptnotes T-shirt!
• Gift a Scriptnotes Subscription or treat yourself to a premium subscription!
• John August on Twitter
• John on Instagram
• Outro by Christiaan Mentz (send us yours!)
• Scriptnotes is produced by Megana Rao and edited by Matthew Chilelli.

Email us at ask@johnaugust.com

You can download the episode here.

UPDATE 9-3-21 The transcript for this episode can now be found here.

John and Craig examine why and how writers need to make bad things happen to their characters, and the ways in which hero suffering differs between features and television.

We also answer listener questions about WGA jurisdiction, becoming a signatory, timing a script for television, and why all scripts aren’t available online.

Then in our bonus segment for premium members, John and Megana discuss why she picked this episode to replay, what she’s learned from the archives, and how to follow up on a general meeting.

Links:

• The Team America: World Police puke scene, with some bad language
• The opening of Finding Nemo
• Aslan’s sacrifice in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
• Can We Stop Suicides? by Moises Velasquez-Manoff for the New York Times
• The environment in Red Dead Redemption 2
• Get a Scriptnotes T-shirt!
• Gift a Scriptnotes Subscription or treat yourself to a premium subscription!
• John August on Twitter
• John on Instagram
• Outro by Michael O’Konis (send us yours!)
• Scriptnotes is produced by Megana Rao and edited by Matthew Chilelli. And special thanks to Megan McDonnell, the original producer of this episode!

Email us at ask@johnaugust.com

You can download the episode here.

UPDATE 8-13-21 The transcript for this episode can be found here.