John August

News

People still buy movies

Episode - 72

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News, Scriptnotes, Three Page Challenge, Transcribed

With last week’s news that home video stopped its free-fall and actually grew a little bit in 2012, John and Craig discuss whether studios might ease off on one-step deals and other development austerity measures.

But while one bloodbath has been averted, this week’s batch of Three Page Challenges is particularly gruesome — but also pretty good.

Craig is too stubborn to admit that John’s workflow for generating both starred and clean PDFs is vastly smarter and better, but since John writes these episode blurbs, he gets the last word. Victory!

John also has a shocking announcement that changes everything: He’s become a single-spacer.

All this plus Craig’s encomium to his new car in this week’s Scriptnotes.

SPECIAL NOTE: We’d love to know a bit more about you, so if you could please answer a few questions at [johnaugust.com/survey](http://johnaugust.com/survey), we’d be super-grateful.

LINKS:

* Digital Entertainment Group’s [Year-End 2012 Home Entertainment Report](http://www.dvdinformation.com/pressreleases/2013/Year_End_2012%20cover%20note_FINAL_1.8.13.pdf)
* [Frankenweenie](http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005LAIIA8/?tag=johnaugustcom-20) four-disc set on Amazon
* LA Times on Wal-Mart’s [disc-to-digital service](http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/entertainmentnewsbuzz/2012/04/disc-to-digital-at-wal-mart-is-simple-if-you-know-your-vudu.html)
* Three pages by [Al Ibrahim](http://johnaugust.com/Assets/AlIbrahim.pdf)
* Three pages by [Keith Groff & Jonathan White](http://johnaugust.com/Assets/KeithGroffJonathanWhite.pdf)
* Three pages by [Nick Keetch](http://johnaugust.com/Assets/NickKeetch.pdf)
* Three pages by [P.K. Lassiter](http://johnaugust.com/Assets/PKLassiter.pdf)
* Tesla [Model S](http://www.teslamotors.com/models)
* The WolframAlpha Blog on [what Craig can do with that hour John saved him](http://blog.wolframalpha.com/2012/11/02/what-could-you-do-with-an-extra-hour/)
* [The Scriptnotes Survey](http://johnaugust.com/survey): A minute of your day. A lifetime of good karma.
* OUTRO: [Electric Car](https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/here-comes-science/id328953349) by They Might Be Giants on iTunes

You can download the episode here: [AAC](http://traffic.libsyn.com/scriptnotes/scriptnotes_ep_72.m4a).

**UPDATE** 1-18-13: The transcript of this episode can be found [here](http://johnaugust.com/2013/scriptnotes-ep-72-people-still-buy-movies-transcript).

Big Fish announces Broadway plans

News

Today, we [officially announced](http://www.broadway.com/buzz/166623/big-fish-sets-fall-dates-at-broadways-neil-simon-theatre-kate-baldwin-bobby-steggert-and-more-join-cast/) more dates and details for the Big Fish musical.

For Broadway, Big Fish will begin performances September 5 at the Neil Simon Theatre. Opening night is set for October 6.

As [previously announced](http://johnaugust.com/2012/big-fish-in-chicago), we’re starting off with a five-week run in Chicago’s Oriental Theatre beginning April 2, with an official opening night on April 19. [Individual tickets](http://www.broadwayinchicago.com/shows_dyn.php?cmd=display_current&display_showtag=bigfish13) go on sale February 4th.

We also announced almost all of our cast today. Norbert Leo Butz, Kate Baldwin and Bobby Steggert play the central Bloom family, with a phenomenal group of actors surrounding them. I’m ridiculously happy with who we got, and everything they can bring to the show.

Obvious caveats: Long roads, many surprises and whatnot. As I said [last week](http://johnaugust.com/2013/sprints-marathons-and-migrations), writing a musical is a migration, not a sprint or a marathon. But I’m very excited for our next two stops on the trek.

Making and Remaking Karateka

Karateka, News, Video

Karateka began its life on personal computers — the Apple II, in fact — and completes the cycle with its launch on Steam today. (And it’s [on sale this week](http://store.steampowered.com/app/217270).)

To commemorate the making and remaking of the game, [Earl Newton](http://earlnewton.com) shot a terrific series of how-we-did-it videos, the first two of which are embedded below.

In the first video, I love the dust cover Jordan Mechner’s mom made for his Apple II, complete with cord flaps. In the second video, check out the Super-8 footage Jordan used for rotoscoping. Watching it, you realize how handmade digital things can be.

In some ways, these videos feel like a Kickstarter campaign for something that’s already available in the world. You don’t have to pledge for a dream. You can get it today on Steam and Xbox, and very soon for iOS and PS3.

### Part 1: Inspiration

(link: [Inspiration: Making and Remaking Karateka](http://www.youtube.com/embed/QDaFte42odA))

### Part 2: Animation

(link: [Animation: Making and Remaking Karateka](http://www.youtube.com/embed/Wnutf4XObWk))

We’re all Disney princesses now

News, QandA, Scriptnotes, Transcribed, Videogames

John and Craig discuss the big movie news of the week: Disney buying Lucasfilm, and with it, the rights to Star Wars.

Everyone’s already talked about what it means for fans and stock prices, but what does it mean for screenwriters? It could lead to new jobs creating extensions to the Star Wars universe — both in film and television — but does the reliance on giant brands make it harder to create the next culturally-defining franchise?

On the topic of new old things, John has his first-ever videogame coming out tomorrow on Xbox: Karateka, a reinvention of Jordan Mechner’s seminal fighting game from the 1980s. He talks about the challenges of making an indie game and what his role was as an executive producer.

From there, we answer listener questions. Is it okay to love your own writing? How young is too young to write a screenplay? What can be done about a 212 page script? And what does “going out wide” with a spec script really mean?

All this and more in episode 62 of Scriptnotes.

Special thanks to everyone who’s rated us and left comments in iTunes. They help new users find us, so if you haven’t left one recently, drop us a line.

LINKS:

* [Disney buys Star Wars](http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118061434)
* The [original Karateka](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karateka_(video_game))
* [Karateka](http://karateka.com) launches Nov. 7 on Xbox
* [Letterpress](https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/letterpress-word-game/id526619424?mt=8) game for iOS
* [Screenshot](http://johnaugust.com/Assets/johnvcraig.jpg) of John beating Craig in Letterpress
* [Red Cross](https://www.redcross.org/donate/index.jsp?donateStep=2&itemId=prod10002&utm_source=Disney_DayofGiving&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=Sandy) donations to Hurricane Sandy relief
* [Scriptnotes](https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/scriptnotes-podcast/id462495496) on iTunes
* INTRO: [Card Sharks theme song](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDugzjCJP6Y)
* OUTRO: [Star Wars Call Me Maybe](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBM7i84BThE)

You can download the episode here: [AAC](http://traffic.libsyn.com/scriptnotes/scriptnotes_ep_62.m4a).

**UPDATE** 11-9-12: The transcript of this episode can be found [here](http://johnaugust.com/2012/scriptnotes-ep-62-were-all-disney-princesses-now-transcript).