• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

John August

  • Arlo Finch
  • Scriptnotes
  • Library
  • Store
  • About

One Cool Things

Almost every week on the Scriptnotes podcast, John and Craig share a One Cool Thing: something they like that they think you’ll like. This page provides an updated listing of all the cool things to date.

Some links go to products on Amazon. For those, we get a small affiliate payment, which helps pay for transcripts and hosting costs.


372: No Writing Left Behind

  • John The Confidence Gap by Claire Shipman, Katty Kay and JillEllyn Riley for The New York Times.
  • Craig Youtube TV

371: Writing Memorable Dialogue

  • John You Might Be the Killer, written by Brett Simmons and Thomas P. Vitale and directed by Simmons, born from this Twitter thread between Chuck Wendig and Sam Sykes.
  • Craig Evercast allows Craig to be in the Chernobyl edit from home

370: Two Things at the Same Time

  • John Mark Rober’s video, “How to Beat Any Escape Room”
  • Craig iOS 12’s password handoff feature

369: What Is a Movie, Anyway

  • Craig Rusty Lake’s new game, Paradox, with video of actual people
  • Franklin Roma, written and directed by Alfonso Cuarón
  • John Inneresting, a new John August newsletter. You can subscribe here.

368: Advice for a New Staff Writer

  • John Succession on HBO
  • Ryan Be My Eyes app
  • Alison Improv classes for TV writers

367: One Year Later

  • John An iPad stand
  • Craig Awards Are Stupid, Jerry Seinfeld’s acceptance speech for his HBO Comedian Award

366: Tying Things Up

  • John Erin Gibson: Throwing Shade podcast, Gay of Thrones, and her new book, Feminasty: The Complicated Woman’s Guide to Surviving the Patriarchy Without Drinking Herself to Death.
  • John Phoebe Waller-Bridge: Killing Eve, Fleabag, and she’s the robot, L3-37, in Solo
  • Craig The Witcher 3: Blood And Wine DLC

365: Craig Hates Dummies

  • John Flat track roller derby, like Angel City Derby
  • Craig 7 Billion Humans

364: Netflix Killed the Video Store

  • John My Life as a Goddess by Guy Branum
  • Kate Tees-En-Scène sells shirts that highlight and support female writer/directors.

363: Best Popular Screenwriting Podcast

  • John Antihero game for iOS.
  • Craig Mark Halpin’s puzzles for The Nation

362: The One with Mindy Kaling

  • John The Visitors by Ragnar Kjartansson at The Broad
  • Mindy The End of the Fucking World and Godless on Netflix

361: From Indie to Action Comedy

  • John Natalie Walker’s Twitter Auditions
  • Susanna American Kingpin by Nick Bilton
  • David Banvard’s Folly by Paul Collins

360: Relationships

  • John Images of America Book Series, Larchmont by Patricia Lombard, African-Americans in Los Angeles by Karin L. Stanford
  • Craig Lindsay Doran’s Ted Talk – Saving the World vs. Kissing the Girl

359: Where Movies Come From

  • John Who We Are and How We Got Here: Ancient DNA and the New Science of the Human Past by David Reich
  • Craig GamePigeon
  • Liz Overlooked, by the New York Times, adds obituaries for remarkable people that were overlooked in their time.

358: Point of View

  • John Bubble, a podcast by Jordan Morris
  • Craig Alleys, an immersive escape mobile game

357: This Title is an Example of Exposition

  • John American Animals, written and directed by Bart Layton
  • Craig Isoland 2: Ashes of Time for iOS and Android

356: Writing Animated Movies

  • John Climate Central is an independent organization of leading scientists and journalists researching and reporting the facts about our changing climate and its impact on the public. It helps localize reports of the effects of climate change.
  • Linda Shanghai Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean ride is amazing. This POV video of the ride is definitely a spoiler.

355: Not Worth Winning

  • John The worst sex in the world is anglerfish sex, and now there’s finally video by Avi Selk for the Washington Post. This video’s upsetting animation shows what the process would look like for humans.
  • Craig Bethesda’s Starfield has been announced

354: Upgrade

  • Craig Matthew Lillard’s company, Beadle & Grimm’s Pandemonium Warehouse, is releasing a luxury Dungeons and Dragons campaign called Platinum Edition Dungeons & Dragons: Waterdeep: Dragon Heist.
  • Leigh I’ll Be Gone in the Dark by Michelle McNamara

353: Bad Behavior

  • John No Thanks!, a game by Thorsten Gimmler
  • Craig Faraway 3, a puzzle game for iOS

351: Full Circle

  • John 21 Things to Know Before Losing Your Gay Virginity by Alexander Cheves
  • Craig Moodnotes is an app that tracks your mood

349: Putting Words on the Page

  • John Welcome to Southern California includes a 1953 pronunciation of “Los Angeles”
  • Craig Less by Andrew Sean Greer

348: All About Family

  • John Choir!Choir!Choir! is a choir in Toronto that meets weekly for drop-in singing events.
  • Craig QTAKE Monitor is an app that lets you watch shots on set from your own device.

347: Conflict of Interest

  • John Swedish company Svenska Biografteatern’s footage of New York City as adjusted by Guy Jones
  • Craig Assassin’s Creed Origins

346: Changing the Defaults

  • John Mothers of Sparta by Dawn Davies
  • Christina Female writer friends, like Frances Marion

345: Love, Aptaker & Berger

  • Craig Queer Qrosswords rewards your donation to an LBGTQ+ charity with crossword puzzles.
  • John Taking Twitter off your phone while you’re on vacation
  • Elizabeth Not being on one’s phone while waiting for someone
  • Isaac Headspace guided meditation app

344: Comedy Geometry

  • Craig The Last of Sheila by Anthony Perkins and Stephen Sondheim, directed by Herbert Ross. Here’s the trailer.
  • Alec Sharing your wifi password

343: The One with the Indie Producer

  • John LiarTown: The First Four Years 2013-2017 by Sean Tejaratchi.
  • Keith Eco-Cha Tea Club

342: Getting Paid for It

  • John Champions on NBC, created by Charlie Grandy and Mindy Kaling, directed by Michael Spiller
  • Craig An ambiguously threatening advertisement for British pork from 1984

341: Knowing vs. Discovering

  • John Everybody Wants to Be Famous by Superorganism
  • Craig Alto’s Odyssey

340: What’s the Plan, Anyway?

  • John What the Font? site and app
  • Craig Weird Al Yankovic’s Hamilton Polka

339: Mostly Terrible People

  • John Bridge Constructor Portal and A Very Fatal Murder
  • Craig The Good Place on NBC.

338: We’re Back, Baby

  • John “The Bittersweet Beauty of Adam Rippon” by Richard Lawson for Vanity Fair
  • Craig The Room: Old Sins

337: The One with Stephen Schiff

  • John Bookstore staff recommendations, which led John to The End We Start From by Megan Hunter
  • StephenGoogle Ngram Viewer

334: Worst Case Scenarios

  • John The USS Callister episode of Black Mirror written by Charlie Brooker & William Bridges
  • Craig Megan Ganz

333: The End of the Beginning

  • John Bathe in my Milk and the NY Post article about it
  • Craig The Apple Pencil works pretty well! You can use it with Notability

332: Wait for It

  • John Flipflop Solitaire by Zach Gage, who also made Really Bad Chess
  • Craig Slate’s podcast, Slow Burn

331: We Had the Same Idea

  • John Google Maps’s Moat by Justin O’Beirne
  • Craig Nokia Thermo

328: Pitching Television, or Being a Passionate Widget

  • John The Tangle Teezer hair brush as recommended on Kevin Kelly’s Cool Tools
  • Craig Sleep Cycle Alarm Clock

327: Mergers and Breakups

  • John Merriam-Webster Time Traveler will show you the words that were added in any given year, and the Google n-gram viewer graphs frequency of word use

325: (Adjective) Soldier

  • John The Adelante Shoe Co.
  • Craig South Park: The Fractured but Whole, the video game.

324: All of It Needs to Stop

  • John An interactive piece about Hamilton’s rhyme schemes by Joel Eastwood and Erik Hinton
  • Craig Tens dice game app

322: The Post-Weinstein Era

  • John Dropbox Version History to recover documents
  • Craig Rihanna can’t wink
  • Dara The Disneyland Half Marathon
  • Daley The CIA’s twitter account (feat. dogs)

321: Getting Stuff Written

  • John The Last Invention of Man: How AI might take over the world by Max Tegmark
  • Grant I’m Your Man: The Life of Leonard Cohen by Sylvie Simmons

320: Should You Give Up?

  • John The BBC adds Nigerian Pidgin
  • Craig Google’s Pixel Buds, or the real-life Babel Fish

319: Movies Dodged a Bullet

  • John Conversations with Friends by Sally Rooney
  • John Meet Cute by Ben Smith, Directed by Ben Smith & Megan McDonnell

318: Writing Other Things

  • John Out on the Wire by Jessica Abel
  • Craig Mark Halpin Puzzles
  • Aline Insecure on HBO

317: First Day on the Job

  • John Sword Guys Are a Thing and I’ve Had Sex With All of Them
  • Craig 3,700-Year-Old Babylonian Stone Tablet Gets Translated, Changes History

316: Distracted Boyfriend Is All of Us

  • John The Living New Deal map
  • Craig The new 7,541-piece Lego Millennium Falcon is the biggest and most expensive set ever

315: Big Screens, Big Money

  • John Party of One by Dave Holmes
  • Craig Hellblade, and on Steam

313: Well, It Worked in the 80s

  • John BuzzFeed News Trained A Computer To Search For Hidden Spy Planes. This Is What We Found.
  • Craig The Maze of Games by Mike Selinker

312: The Magic Word Is In This Episode

  • John Every Three Hours and Mouth Time
  • Craig The House of Da Vinci

310: What’s in the WGA Deal

  • John Poly Bridge
  • Chris Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz

309: Logic and Gimmickry

  • John The LA Metro System
  • Craig Hyperloop One and its successful first test

308: Chekhov’s Ladder

  • John Domino Toppling
  • Craig Submachine Escape Room Game

307: Teaching Your Heroes to Drive

  • John McMansion Hell
  • John Yoink
  • Craig Matt Gaffney’s Weekly Crossword Contest

306: DRAMA!

  • John Computational Video Editing for Dialogue-Driven Scenes
  • Craig Clear

305: Forever Young and Stupid

  • John Sarah Silverman – A Speck of Dust
  • Craig Mark Gatiss

304: Location Is Where It’s At

  • John Paris Circle Map
  • John Roman Roads
  • Craig Monument Valley 2
  • Craig Human Resource Machine

303: 75% of Nothing

  • John Rebecca Solnit: The Loneliness Of Donald Trump
  • Craig Faraway Puzzle Escape

302: Let’s Make Some Oscar Bait

  • John Dear Mr Darcy

301: The Addams Family

  • John Master of None – Season 2 | Official Trailer
  • Craig New Paint Colors Invented by Neural Network

300: From Writer to Writer-Director

  • John AutoDraw
  • Chris Zip Zap
  • Chris Fidget Cube

298: How Characters Move

  • John A Large-Scale Analysis of Technical Support Scams
  • Craig Kent Handmade Moustache Comb

297: Getting the Details Wrong

  • John Jonathan Coulton – All This Time
  • Craig Every Noise At Once

296: Television with Damon Lindelof

  • John City Girl
  • Damon Occupied
  • Damon Only Child

295: The Return of Malcolm

  • Craig MLB The Show 17
  • Malcolm Fantastic Negrito

294: Getting the Details Wrong

  • John Jonathan Coulton – All This Time
  • Craig Every Noise At Once

293: Underground Railroad of Love

  • John Couch to 5K
  • John 5K to 10K
  • Craig You Had Us At Hello
  • Irene I Don’t Feel at Home in This World Anymore

292: Question Time

  • John “The Cunning “American Bitch” Episode of “Girls””
  • Craig Stop

291: California Cannibal Cults

  • John Beat The Boss 3-in-1 J8 phone
  • Craig Jack Thorne

290: The Social Media Episode

  • John Archive.org
  • John Ballotpedia
  • Craig Rusty Lake: Roots

289: WGA Negotiations 101

  • John Greece
  • Craig Fran Bow

288: Betty, Veronica and Craig

  • John Eurostar Snap
  • Craig Spare-A-Rose Campaign

287: Hollywood is Always Dying

  • John Go IMDb Thread
  • Craig New York Times

286: Script Doctors, Dialogue and Hacks

  • John How to #StayOutraged Without Losing Your Mind
  • Craig Women

285: Sinbad and the Sea-Monkeys

  • John Young Thug – Wyclef Jean
  • Craig Potassium Iodide

283: Director Disorientation

  • John The Glossary of Happiness
  • Craig Search Party
  • Kelly Sony Contact Lenses

282: The One from Paris

  • John Weapons of Math Destruction

281: Holiday Homeopathy Spectacular

  • John French Pharmacists
  • Craig Quackwatch

280: Black List Boys Don’t Cry

  • John TransferWise
  • Craig Venmo

279: What Do They Want?

  • John The Evolution of ‘Like’
  • Craig Brookstone App-Controlled Bluetooth Alarm Clock

278: Revenge of the Clams

  • John The Good Place on NBC
  • John Mike August on Join Us in France
  • Craig Watch Dogs 2 Trailer

277: Fantasy and Reality

  • John Duolingo
  • Craig How to carve a turkey

276: Mammoths of Mercy

  • John Seasonal Flu Shot
  • Craig USB-C
  • Chris Rise of the Boogeyman

275: English is not Latin

  • John Time Travel: A History by James Gleick on Amazon
  • Craig Maanasa Mendu

274: Welcome to Gator Country

  • John The Americans on FX
  • Craig UGG Ascot Slippers on Amazon

273: What is a Career in Screenwriting Like?

  • John Gil Elvgren’s Pin-Up Girls
  • Craig Erin Hallagan on Twitter

271: Buckling Down

  • John Wikitravel
  • Craig Writers Guild Foundation Poker

270: John Lee Hancock

  • Craig Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria

269: Mystery Vs. Confusion

  • John Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind
  • Craig Jeff Probst

268: (Sometimes) You Need a Montage

  • John Invasive by Chuck Wendig
  • Craig The Marvel Symphonic Universe

267: Dig Two Graves

  • John How to Tell a Mother Her Child is Dead
  • Craig Obduction

266: Stranger Things and Other Things

  • John Angelo Badalamenti on writing “Laura Palmer’s Theme”
  • Craig HD 164595

265: Sheep Crossing Roads

  • John Sara Benincasa: Why Am I So Fat?
  • Craig Nuka World!

264: The One With the Agent

  • John Dynasty: The Rise and Fall of the House of Caesar
  • Craig Uppercut Deluxe Beard Balm

263: Frequently Asked Questions about Screenwriting

  • JohnThe Greenland Shark
  • Craig The Suicide Molecule

262: Tidy Screenwriting

  • JohnDifficult People on Rotten Tomatoes
  • Craig Severed

261: Don’t Think Twice

  • Craig FING
  • Mike Landmark Theatres

260: Anthrax, Amnesia and Atomic Veterans

  • John Phased by Joe Capra
  • Craig macOS Sierra

259: The Exit Interview

  • John My Dad Wrote a Porno
  • Craig Do irrational numbers like pi disprove humanity being a simulation? on Quora
  • Godwin Pastor Evan Mawarire on Twitter, and #ThisFlag
  • Stuart Fiddler’s Bistro chicken kabobs and red pepper dip

258: Generic Trigger Warning

  • John Common MythConceptions
  • Craig Patrick Patterson saved a life with Be The Match

257: Flaws are features

  • John The Blackbird, from The Mill
  • Craig Tanzania’s game changing giant helium field

256: Aaron Sorkin vs. Aristotle

  • John Steve Yedlin On Color Science
  • Craig Codenames

255: New and Old Hollywood

  • John TV Tropes on Mary Sues, and “Too Good To Be True”: 150 Years Of Mary Sue by Pat Pflieger
  • Billy The Last Tycoon pilot is available now on Amazon Prime Video

254: The One with the Kates

  • John Mini Metro and Human Resource Machine
  • Craig Sunspring, a short film written by Benjamin
  • Kate Hunt for the Wilderpeople is playing at Arclight Hollywood starting June 23
  • Kate Cope St Collective’s Bjorn on how to do blackface

253: Television Economics for Dummies

  • John Sex Criminals by Matt Fraction and Chip Zdarsky, on Amazon
  • Craig Fallout 4’s Far Harbor DLC on Steam
  • Jonathan Travel abroad!

252: An Alliance with House Mazin

  • John Vox’s Rapping, deconstructed: The best rhymers of all time on YouTube
  • Craig Martin Panchaud’s Star Wars: A New Hope in infographic form

251: They Won’t Even Read You

  • John ABC’s 1979 Still The One TV stars promo on YouTube
  • Craig Lodge 12-inch cast iron skillet on Amazon, and thekitchn.com on cast iron care

250: The One with the Austin Winner

  • John Hollywood jumps without CGI
  • Craig The Empty Cup Awards
  • Amanda Hamilton: The Revolution on Amazon

248: Pitching an Open Writing Assignment

  • John Hands In Wheat on Twitter, and Women laughing alone with salad, Women struggling to drink water, and Baby CMO
  • Craig Students Invented Gloves That Can Translate Sign Language Into Speech And Text

246: The One with the Idiot Teamster

  • John Thanks For Ruining Another Game Forever, Computers, by Jeff Atwood
  • Craig Film Dialogue from 2,000 screenplays, Broken Down by Gender and Age, A Polygraph Joint
  • Lorene Los Angeles Times on Escape Rooms, and Escape Room LA

245: Outlines and Treatments

  • John Watch the performances from MCC’s Miscast 2016
  • Craig Tesla Model 3

244: The Invitation, and Requels

  • John William Powers on The Difficult, Delicate Untangling of Our Parents’ Financial Lives
  • Craig The blood test that could change the way we diagnose concussions
  • Phil Vinyl Me, Please
  • Matt Ideal Cap Company

242: No More Milk Money

  • John Tresalto Drain Cleaning Snake
  • Craig Fast Company on Ford’s GoPark app
  • Aline American Crime Story: The People v O.J. Simpson, episode 6: Marcia, Marcia, Marcia, and Parade’s brief interview with Sarah Paulson

241: Fan Fiction and Ghost Taxis

  • John Ingrid Sundberg’s The Color Thesaurus, and The Walk of Life Project
  • Craig Hardcore Henry trailer

240: David Mamet and the producer pass

  • John Brent Underwood looks at what it takes to become a “best-selling author”
  • Craig Father Ted on Hulu and Wikipedia, and Frank Kelly

239: What is good writing?

  • John Creatures avoiding planks
  • Craig AskMen on beard oil

238: The job of writer-producer

  • John Modern Farmer on Cow Tipping: Fake or Really Fake?
  • Craig Sky Guide
  • Dana Spectra S1 breast pump, on Amazon

237: Sexy But Doesn’t Know It

  • John Christians Against Dinosaurs
  • Craig mberry Miracle Fruit Tablets

236: Franchises and Final Draft

  • John The Katering Show, and the Craig-recommended third episode
  • Craig Shut Up & Sit Down’s spoiler-free review of Pandemic Legacy

235: The one with Jason Bateman and the Game of Thrones guys

  • John crysknife007’s Ambient Scifi Sleep Sounds Playlist on YouTube
  • Craig Outlook for iOS, and The Office Blog on Outlook’s new look

234: The Script Graveyard

  • John Music Memos
  • Craig Withings Thermo

233: Ocean’s 77

  • John Priceonomics on How Mickey Mouse Evades the Public Domain
  • Craig Do I Sound Gay?

232: Fun with Numbers

  • John Ghost Streets of Los Angeles on BLDGBLOG
  • Craig Vilmos Zsigmond on Wikipedia, IMDb and remembered in Variety

231: Fun with Numbers

  • John Compose Yourself
  • Aline The Hunting Ground on IMDb and Wikipedia
  • Rawson Tom Clancy’s The Division

229: Random Advice 2015

  • John How the Western Diet Has Derailed Our Evolution
  • Craig Throw pillows on Amazon, Pier 1, Overstock, Target and Google
  • Chris Sign up for Be The Match and save a life

228: Scriptnotes Holiday Show 2015

  • John KRUPS F23070 Egg Cooker
  • Craig Kitchen Hacks: How Clever Cooks Get Things Done
  • Riki Hamilton, the Original Broadway Cast Recording on iTunes and on Amazon
  • Natasha AlanMYang on Instagram
  • Malcolm Postmates will deliver you stuff

227: Feel the Nerd Burn

  • John The Wall Street Journal on How Cyndi Lauper Wrote Her First No. 1 Hit, ‘Time After Time’, and Secret Hitler is now on Kickstarter
  • Craig Amazon Prime Now offers one hour delivery

226: The Batman in the High Castle

  • John EcoLog 590D
  • Craig Scriptnotes Outro from Episode 225, by Jon Spurney

225: Only haters hate rom-coms

  • John The New Yorker on Nick Bostrom
  • Craig Fallout 4
  • Tess The Vista Theatre

224: Whiplash, on paper and on screen

  • John what3words
  • Craig Sunnybrook doctor first to perform blood-brain barrier procedure using focused ultrasound waves

223: Confusing, Unlikable and On-The-Nose

  • John Herman Melville’s Bartleby, the Scrivener on Project Gutenberg, and the interactive, annotated version from Slate
  • Craig The Room Three from Fireproof Games

222: Live from Austin 2015

  • John Glif tripod phone mount
  • Craig Thync
  • Nicole Cosmonauts: Birth of the Space Age at the London Science Museum
  • Steve The Man Who Planted Trees, on Wikipedia and Netflix DVD

221: Nobody Knows Anything (including what this quote means)

  • John Tessy and Tab
  • Craig BuzzFeed Crosswords, and logic-puzzles.org

220: Writers Rooms, Taxes, and Fat Hamlet

  • John Computer Show with Adam Lisagor
  • Craig Tesla Autopilot First Ride: Almost as Good as a New York Driver

219: The One Where Aline’s Show Debuts

  • John Use gift cards from other countries to make purchases in foreign iTunes stores
  • Craig Games Magazine
  • Aline Bola Ogun, and the full cast and crew of Crazy Ex-Girlfriend on IMDb

218: Features are different

  • John A24, and Slate on The Distributor as Auteur
  • Craig Hamilton, the Original Broadway Cast Recording on iTunes and on Amazon

217: Campaign statements and residual statements

  • John Reaper Miniatures, and Miniature Painting 101 on YouTube
  • Craig Melissa Mazin will be at the Austin Film Festival 2015 Screenwriting Conference

216: Rewrites and Scheduling

  • John You’re the Worst on FXX, and on Hulu
  • Craig Escape Room LA

215: PG13: Blood, Boobs and Bullcrap

  • John I Asked Atheists How They Find Meaning In A Purposeless Universe, from BuzzFeed
  • Craig Didi Gregorius making a name for himself with Yankees on ESPN.com, and Didi on Twitter, Wikipedia and baseball-reference.com

214: Clerks and recreation

  • John Hell’s Club, a mashup from AMDSFILMS
  • Craig Use Ice Cubes and Your Dryer to Steam Out Wrinkles on Lifehacker

213: NDAs and other acronyms

  • John Mr. Robot on USA
  • Craig Dead Synchronicity

212: Diary of a First-Time Director

  • John I’m Sorry I Didn’t Respond to Your Email, My Husband Coughed to Death Two Years Ago by Rachel Ward
  • Craig VHS Camcorder
  • Marielle The Wonder Weeks App

211: The International Episode

  • John Microsoft Translator for iOS and Apple Watch
  • Craig XMarks Bookmark Sync

210: One-Handed Movie Heroes

  • John Logan Paul has conquered the internet, but he can’t figure out how to conquer the world by Caroline Moss
  • Craig Thync

209: How to Not Be a Jerk

  • John Vacation, by the Textones, and Madonna’s Vogue, B-Roll and Outtakes
  • Craig Smooth McGroove on YouTube

208: How descriptive audio works

  • John Bathsheba Sculptures
  • Craig MacID

207: Why movies have reshoots

  • John Let’s Talk about Genre, with Neil Gaiman and Kazuo Ishiguro
  • Craig Capitals for iOS, and Bloom County on Wikipedia and Berkeley Breathed on Facebook

206: Everything but the dialogue

  • John A World Without Work by Derek Thompson
  • Craig A World Without Work by Derek Thompson

205: The One with Alec Berg

  • John Crenshaw/LAX Tunnel Boring Machine
  • Craig Rex Parker Does The NY Times Crossword Puzzle

204: No one makes those movies anymore

  • John Neil Gaiman’s advice for getting idea on paper
  • Craig Supreme Court Ruling Makes Same-Sex Marriage a Right Nationwide

203: Nobody Eats Four Marshmallows

  • John The “Some Guy” Anthem, by Jonathan Mann
  • Craig Minecraft Hololens demo at E3

202: Everyman vs. Superman

  • John The Fallen of World War II by Neil Halloran, and fallen.io
  • Craig CellarTracker for iOS

201: How would this be a movie?

  • John Traveling back into the past to trade for present gain by Tyler Cowen
  • Craig Game of Thrones by Telltale Games

200: The 200th Episode Live Show

  • John Everybody Calm Down About Breastfeeding on FiveThirtyEight
  • Craig Ultrasound Restores Memory to Mice with Alzheimer’s on Popular Science
  • Aline The New York Times Magazine on A 12-Hour Window for a Healthy Weight, EaterLA on Korean bone broth soups and where to get them in LA, and Han Bat Sul Lung Tang on Yelp

199: Second Draft Doldrums

  • John Silicon Valley: Read every card on the Let Blaine Die SWOT board
  • Craig Oxenfree from Night School Studio

197: How do bad movies get made?

  • John Copyright, Exceptions, and Fair Use: Crash Course Intellectual Property
  • Craig Fallout 4 Rumor Puts Reveal at Bethesda’s E3 Conference on IGN

196: The long and short of it

  • John The MacBook’s new trackpad will change the way you click on Macworld
  • Craig Rocketbook: Cloud-Integrated Microwavable Notebook on Indiegogo

195: Writing for Hollywood without living there

  • John The For Dummies series and Google AdWords for Dummies
  • Craig LootCrate
  • Ryan Lovage on Wikipedia

194: Poking the bear

  • John More on Internet Neologisms: Rage Quitting is a Thing by Chi Luu
  • Craig Kano is a computer you build and code yourself

193: How writing credits work

  • John WGAw residuals look up
  • Craig RSVP here for the April 25 WGAw screenings of Ghost and Jacob’s Ladder, featuring a Q+A with Bruce Joel Rubin moderated by John August

192: You can’t train a cobra to do that

  • John Play Reimagining ‘Three’s Company’ Wins Case from The New York Times
  • Craig Forbes on Duke’s Polio Virus Trial Against Glioblastoma

190: This Is Working

  • John Lexicon Valley episode 56 asks, Is “Try And” an Acceptable Substitute for “Try To”?
  • Craig Reddit’s r/writeresearch subreddit
  • Franklin Follow @theblcklst on Twitter for tomorrow’s announcement

189: Uncluttered by Ignorance

  • John u/temptotosssoon’s story of waking up and realizing he’d dreamt the past decade of his life on Reddit

188: Midseason Finale

  • John Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt on Netflix, and FiveThirtyEight on Draftback for Google Docs
  • Craig Laughing Squid on VeinViewer

187: The Coyote Could Stop Any Time

  • John Vox’s video on Why Kevin Spacey’s accent in House of Cards sounds off
  • Craig Enigma Variations contest

186: The Rules (or, the Paradox of the Outlier)

  • John My Cyborg Ear: How a Surgeon and Titanium Cured My Lifelong Deafness by Adam Clark Estes, and Mike Tyson Mysteries on adult swim
  • Craig I’m no fool with a bicycle

185: Malcolm Spellman, a Study in Heat

  • John The Mysterious Case of Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys by Marvin Heiferman and Carole Kismaric
  • Craig The SNL 40 app
  • Malcolm Voice therapy vs speech therapy

184: Go Set a Spider-Man

  • John Broad City on Comedy Central and Hulu
  • Craig Fantastic Negrito, Winner of NPR’s 2015 Tiny Desk Concert Contest

183: The Deal with the Gravity Lawsuit

  • John The AI Revolution: The Road to Superintelligence and The AI Revolution: Our Immortality or Extinction, from Wait But Why
  • Craig The Illustrated Man by Ray Bradbury

182: The One with Rebel Wilson and Dan Savage

  • John Alex Blumberg on How to Create a Blockbuster Podcast
  • Craig Be My Eyes

181: INT. THE WOODS – NIGHT

  • John Things to Make and Do in the Fourth Dimension: A Mathematician’s Journey Through Narcissistic Numbers, Optimal Dating Algorithms, at Least Two Kinds of Infinity, and More by Matt Parker
  • Craig Lumino City, and how it’s made

180: Bad Teachers, Good Advice and the Default Male

  • John Evernote Scannable
  • Aline The Comeback on HBO, and Jason Hall in WGAw’s Written By

179: The Conflict Episode

  • John Spoiled Brats: Stories by Simon Rich
  • Craig Sansaire home sous-vide macine

178: Doing, not thinking

  • John D20 Critical Hit Mini Cake Pan and Death Star Ice Mold on Think Geek, and Smarf L’Héroïque on Shirt.Woot
  • Craig Vitamin D3

177: Cutting Pages and Fixing Holes

  • John Craig The Year of Outrage

176: Advice to a First-Time Director

  • John Interesting Ball by DANIELS
  • Craig Skype Translator

174: Hacks, Transference and Where to Begin

  • John Endless Alphabet on the iTunes Store
  • Craig Google ReCAPTCHA from Wired

173: The Perfect Reader

  • John A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night by Ana Lily Amirpour
  • Craig Bread Stuffing with Bacon, Apples, Sage, and Caramelized Onions from The New Best Recipe

172: Franz Kafka’s brother, and the perfect agent

  • John High Maintenance, and on Vimeo and Wikipedia
  • Craig The Worst Line in Scriptwriting History from Mortal Kombat: Annihilation

171: Finishing a script, and the Perfect Studio Executive

  • John Transparent on Amazon Prime
  • Craig Heritage turkeys on Wikipedia, and the Heritage Turkey Foundation

170: Lotteries, lightning strikes and twist endings

  • John Tim and Susan Have Matching Handguns by Joe Callander
  • Craig Too Many Cooks by Casper Kelly, and his interview in Entertainment Weekly

169: Descending Into Darkness

  • John Aesop’s Fables in Google Fonts
  • Craig Family Sharing on iOS 8

168: Austin Forever

  • John Serial is a new podcast from the creators of This American Life
  • Susannah Birdman is in theaters now

167: The Tentpoles of 2019

  • John Dragonbox secretly teaches algebra to your children
  • Craig Does Lockheed Martin really have a breakthrough fusion machine?

166: Critics, Characters and Business Affairs

  • John Indie Game: The Movie
  • Craig Jalopnik on the Tesla Model S P85D

165: Toxic Perfection Syndrome

  • John Blade Buddy
  • Craig Drone delivery has begun

164: Guardians of the Galaxy’s Nicole Perlman

  • John Steven Soderbergh’s silent, black and white Raiders of the Lost Ark, and Star Wars Episodes 1: Jedi Party, 2: The Friend Zone and 3: Revenge of Middle Management recut and re-voiced by Auralnauts
  • Craig Two-step verification is the seatbelt of the digital world
  • Nicole The Science and Entertainment Exchange connects scientists with entertainment industry professionals

162: Luck, sequels and bus money

  • John Every Insanely Mystifying Paradox in Physics: A Complete List
  • Craig Gillette Fusion ProGlide with FlexBall

161: A Cheap Cut of Meat Soaked in Butter

  • John This Movie Will Require Dinosaurs by C. W. Neill, and details on the September 15th live read
  • Craig N3TWORK is the first personal TV network
  • Aline The Honourable Woman on Sundance.tv

160: A Screenwriter’s Guide to the End of the World

  • John Waze gets you there with real-time help
  • Craig Boxed Water is better

159: The Mystery of the Disappearing Articles

  • John Please Like Me on ABC, Pivot, and iTunes
  • Craig Fix that thing with Sugru

158: Putting a price on it

  • John The Anonymous Production Assistant’s Crew Call Podcast with guest Stuart Friedel
  • Craig Robin Williams’s obituary from The New York Times, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline and National Alliance on Mental Illness

157: Threshers, Mergers and the Top Two Boxes

  • John How Jesus Became God by Bart D. Ehrman
  • Craig A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder

155: Two Writers, One Script

  • John What Writers Can Learn From Goodnight Moon by Aimee Bender
  • Craig The Total Film-Maker, by Jerry Lewis on cinearchive.org

154: Making Things Better by Making Things Worse

  • John The Answer to the Riddle is Me by David Stuart MacLean
  • Craig In Dreams Begin Responsibilities and Other Stories by Delmore Schwartz

153: Selling without selling out

  • John The Fermi paradox on Wikipedia, Wait But Why and Praxtime
  • Craig David Kwong at TED2014: Two nerdy obsessions meet — and it’s magic

152: The Rocky Shoals (pages 70-90)

  • John They Came Together and Mutual Friends are available now on iTunes
  • Aline Bandolier hands free crossbody iPhone accessory

151: Secrets and Lies

  • John How Not to Be Wrong: The Power of Mathematical Thinking by Jordan Ellenberg
  • Craig @SavedYouAClick on Twitter

150: Yes, screenwriting is actually writing

  • John James Ward Byrkit’s Coherence
  • Craig Quackwatch is your guide to quackery, health fraud, and intelligent decisions

148: From Debussy to VOD

  • John Introducing Swift
  • Craig Life Is from Zorba

147: To Chase or To Spec

  • John A Guerilla Filmmaker’s Guide to After Effects
  • Craig The New York Times Crossword for iOS

146: Wet Hot American Podcast

  • John Hopscotch, a coding for kids app for iOS
  • Craig Black List Live! reading of Stephany Folsom’s 1969: A Space Odyssey, or How Kubrick Learned to Stop Worrying and Land on the Moon on June 14th, part of the LA Film Fest
  • David Voice Dream, a text to speech app for iOS

143: Photoplays and archetypes

  • John WorkEZ Executive Laptop Stand
  • Craig Sometimes You Die for iOS

141: Uncomfortable Ambiguity, or Nobody Wants Me at their Orgy

  • John Under the Skin on Wikipedia
  • Craig CarboLite nutrition facts on MyFitnessPal and Yelp on where to find it in Los Angeles

140: Falling back in love with your script

  • John Monument Valley is available now for iOS, and soon for Android
  • Craig Nomad, makers of Charge Key (and Charge Card)

139: The Crossover Episode

  • John Alternative Movie Posters: Film Art from the Underground by Matthew Chojnacki
  • Craig Fight jet lag with Entrain
  • Ben Sex Criminals by Matt Fraction

138: The Deal with the Deal

  • John The Way to Go by Kate Ascher
  • Craig Lilly Onakuramara on the Pitch Perfect wiki, and a YouTube compilation of some of her best moments)

137: Draw Your Own Werewolf

  • John Slack
  • Craig Caffeine for OSX

136: Ghosts Laughing at Jokes

  • John BioLite Woodburning Camp Stove and the BioLite KettlePot
  • Craig Lost Treasures of Infocom for iOS

135: World-building

  • John Fiasco by Jason Morningstar
  • Craig Airmail for OSX

134: So Many Questions

  • John Floppy Music (Tainted Love)
  • Craig Spritz for speed-reading

132: The Contract between Writers and Readers

  • John Threes! on the App Store
  • Craig The XStat syringe by RevMedx

131: Procrastination and Pageorexia

  • John The Fog Horn, and Ellen Page’s coming out speech at HRC’s Time to Thrive conference
  • Craig Wallace Matthews on Derek Jeter announcing 2014 will be his final season, and Jeter’s career on Baseball-Reference.com

130: Period Space

  • John One More Thing: Stories and Other Stories by B. J. Novak
  • Craig SuperCook.com tells you recipes to cook with what you have on hand

129: The One with the Guys from Final Draft

  • John Ciclavia
  • Craig @chuckpalahniuk

127: Women and Pilots

  • John Organize your brain with WorkFlowy
  • Craig Shakespeare for iPhone and iPad
  • Carolyn The Orphan Master’s Son by Adam Johnson

126: Punching the Salty Ocean

  • John Debt: The First 5,000 Years by David Graeber, and Hyperbole and a Half by Allie Brosh
  • Craig Global Entry is worth your time

125: Egoless Screenwriting

  • John Lego Mindstorms and Crazy Action Contraptions
  • Craig her is in theaters now

122: Young Billionaire’s Guide to Hollywood

  • John Skitch and Evernote are great together
  • Craig The Room Two is available now

121: My Girlfriend’s Boyfriend’s Screenwriter

  • John Download the Scriptnotes app now for iOS and Android devices
  • Craig Singtrix home karaoke
  • Mike The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

120: Let’s talk about coverage

  • John Screenflow for Mac, and John’s video and post on why he likes writing in Fountain
  • Craig Writers in Treatment

119: Positive Moviegoing

  • John Shady Characters: The Secret Life of Punctuation, Symbols, and Other Typographical Marks by Keith Houston
  • Craig Scroobius Pip and You Will See Me
  • Aline The TreadDesk

118: Time Travel with Richard Kelly

  • John Hotel Tonight
  • Craig Coin for all your cards
  • Richard The Science and Entertainment Exchange

117: Not Just Dialogue

  • John Knock to Unlock lets you unlock your Mac by knocking your iPhone
  • Craig Register as an organ donor today. And register for the Be The Match bone marrow database, too.

116: Damsels in distress

  • John Planet Money podcast
  • Craig John August

115: Back to Austin with Rian Johnson and Kelly Marcel

  • John The Victorinox 40003 Wavy Edge Utility Knife with 4-3/4″ Blade
  • Craig Fade In and Writer Duet should collaborate
  • Rian Timecrimes
  • Kelly Letters of Note

114: Blockbusters

  • John Internet killed the Video Store: An Abandoned Industry
  • Craig GTA V Mythbusters

113: Not Safe for Children

  • John Meaty: Essays by Samantha Irby
  • Craig Nest Protect smoke and carbon monoxide monitor

112: Let me give you some advice

  • John John’s 2011 blog post on Blue Valentine and adoption
  • Craig WinesTilSoldOut

111: What’s Next

  • John Box by Bot & Dolly
  • Craig Big Fish’s Ryan Andes, and on Twitter @AndesRyan

109: Scriptnotes Live from New York

  • John Bid now for a Big Fish backstage tour with John and Andrew (and support a Los Angeles public school)
  • Craig Let us know if you’re in Vienna and willing to meet up with Craig
  • Andrew Recette restaurant

108: Are two screens better than one?

  • John Shakespeare with its original pronounciation
  • Craig Tim Minchin’s Storm

107: Talking to actors

  • John John and Dan Jinks on KCRW’s The Business
  • Craig Writerduet.com lets you collaborate in real-time

106: Two ENTJs walk into a bar (and fix it)

  • John One Cool Things from Scriptnotes
  • Craig Slow Ass Jolene

105: Adventures in semi-colons

  • John Matthew Butterick’s Practical Typography
  • Craig Gone Home, from the Fullbright Company

104: Ender’s Game, one-hours and alt-jokes

  • John Portlandia
  • Craig Microsoft Sculpt ergonomic keyboard

103: Disaster Porn, and Spelling Things Out

  • John Use discount code SCRIPT for a deal on select Big Fish on Broadway tickets
  • Craig David Kwong’s crossword puzzle magic

102: Hits, misses and hedge funds

  • John The Spectacular Now
  • Craig Coravin lets you enjoy your wine without ever pulling the cork

100: Scriptnotes, the 100th episode

  • John The classic Pilot G2 and the brand new erasable Pilot Frixion
  • Aline Makers: Women Who Make America
  • Rawson Scriptnotes: A podcast about screenwriting and things that are interesting to screenwriters

99: Psychotherapy for screenwriters

  • John The Imposter
  • Craig Paper Karma helps you control your mailbox
  • Dennis The Secret in Their Eyes

98: Long movies, producer credits and price-fixing

  • John Velib bike sharing in Paris
  • Craig Tesla battery swap is worth watching

97: Is 15 the new 30?

  • John The Hero’s Journey by Glove and Boots
  • Craig Popehat.com and their posts on Prenda Law

95: Notes on the death of the film industry

  • John Feedbin: A fast, simple RSS feed reader
  • Craig Cicada Mania is dedicated to cicadas

94: 10 Questions, 10 Answers

  • John Mission Log Podcast’s archive of discovered Star Trek documents is fantastic
  • Craig Fitbit One

93: Let’s talk about Nikki Finke

  • John Kingdom Rush Frontiers
  • Craig f.lux adjusts your displays for the time of day

91: Bechdel and Batman

  • John Wikipedia’s list of common misconceptions
  • Craig Esha Khare’s twenty-second phone charger (via Ryan Conroy)

89: Writing effective transitions

  • John Scandal Revealed episode 221 featuring Matt Byrne, Chad & Dara Creasey are on Mistresses, The Hollywood Reporter Comedy Class of 2013’s writeup on Dana Fox (and John Hamburg), Rawson Thurber’s We’re the Millers, and new dad Sean Smith on IMDb
  • Craig The Los Angeles Times on Studios donating film set materials to Habitat for Humanity, and Joe Nienalt and Daniel Vang’s will-read-your-script fundraiser for the American Heart Association

88: Ugly children and cigarettes

  • John FilmCraft Screenwriting by Tim Grierson on Amazon

87: Moving On is not Giving Up

  • John Stag’s Leap by Sharon Olds
  • Craig ITER: The way to new energy

86: Taking notes

  • John Internet K-Hole (Warning: NSFW!)
  • Craig Slacker Radio

85: Another Time and Place

  • John Ulysses III for Mac
  • Craig That Mitchell and Webb Look BBC Two site and on Hulu

84: First sale and funny on the page

  • John Jonas Maxwell’s tips for singing the national anthem
  • Craig BioShock Infinite on Amazon.com

83: A city born of fire

  • John Lifehacker Australia on using multiple audio inputs and outputs in OSX
  • Craig The life-saving Animal Specialty Group
  • Derek Chicago City Pass is worthwhile

82: God doesn’t need addresses

  • John Big Data: A Revolution That Will Transform How We Live, Work, and Think, by Viktor Mayer-Schonberger & Kenneth Cukier
  • Craig The Tesla Motors Forum and the very helpful FlasherZ

81: Veronica Mars Attacks

  • John StageWrite for iPad at the Mac App Store
  • Craig Give a loan and change a life with Kiva

80: Rhythm and Blues

  • John Unfinished Scripts
  • Craig Play EyeWire and help map the brain

79: Rigorous, structured daydreaming

  • John Waking Mars for iOS
  • Craig Homeland on Amazon Instant and Blu-ray

78: The Germans have a word for it

  • John AppleTV

77: We’d Like to Make an Offer

  • John Dungeon World RPG
  • Craig Canker sore drug helps mice lose weight without diet, exercise

75: Villains

  • John Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
  • Craig Easton-Bell Sports unveils pitcher’s helmet

74: Three-Hole Punchdrunk

  • John Casting director Pat Moran from The Credits

72: People still buy movies

  • John Starred changes
  • Craig Tesla Model S

71: Unless they pay you, the answer is no

  • John Coffeescript
  • Craig Poutine on Wikipedia

69: Eggnog and Dreadlock Santa

  • John Karateka for iOS, and Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore
  • Craig Seth Rudetsky’s Seth TV and Seth on Wikipedia

67: The air duct of backstory

  • John Soulver helps you solve on iOS and OSX
  • Craig Scanadu

66: One-step deals, and how to read a script

  • Craig Don’s cancer blog, Let’s Radiate Don

65: The Next 117 Pages

  • John Ticket to Ride for iOS
  • Craig Brining on Cooking for Engineers

63: The Mystery of the Js

  • John Reach Gum Care Soft Woven Mint Floss, the best floss in the world

62: We’re all Disney princesses now

  • John Letterpress game for iOS
  • Craig Red Cross donations to Hurricane Sandy relief

61: Alt-universe panels

  • John What If? from xkcd

60: The Black List, and a stack of scenes

  • John screenwriting.io
  • Craig Austin Film Festival
  • Aline The Man Repeller blog

59: Plot holes, and the myth of perseveraversity

  • John Kindle Paperwhite
  • Craig Nogales, Arizona on Wikipedia

58: Writing your very first screenplay

  • John Moom for Mac
  • Craig The Room for iOS

57: What is a movie idea?

  • John Jordan Mechner’s The Last Express for iOS

56: Gorilla City and the Kingdom of Toads

  • John NewerTech Voyager Q Quad Interface Dock and WD Green 2TB hard drives

55: Producers and pitching

  • John Tejava iced tea

54: Eight Reasonable Questions about Screenwriting

  • John HealthMap Vaccine Finder
  • Craig The Words

53: Action is more than just gunfights and car chases

  • John Sleepwalk With Me

52: Grammar, guns and butter

  • John Trailer for Derek Haas’s The Right Hand, and the book itself
  • Craig Gizmodo on the simplex algorithm

51: Dashes, ellipses and underground monsters

  • John Los Angeles Public Library

50: How to Not Be Fat

  • John Jambox
  • Craig Big Jambox

49: Losing sleep over critics

  • John AquaNotes
  • Craig Inrix traffic app

48: Craig dreams of sushi

  • John PRI’s The World in Words podcast
  • Craig Jiro Dreams of Sushi

47: What script should you write?

  • John Google’s Nexus 7 tablet
  • Craig Joyetech 510 and Johnson Creek Smoke Juice

46: Mistakes development executives make

  • John Hooktheory for iBooks
  • Craig Audio Essentials

45: Setting, perspective and terrible numbers

  • John Cambridge Ivory Wirebound Notebook
  • Craig PB2 Peanut Butter Powder

43: Pen Names and Divine Intervention

  • John ScanCafe
  • Craig The Baseball Codes: Beanballs, Sign Stealing, and Bench-Clearing Brawls by Jason Turbow

42: Verbs are what’s happening

  • John NYC Subway by Embark, the transit app for iOS
  • Craig MacBook Pro with Retina Display

41: Getting to page one

  • John Stencyl
  • Craig Flight trailer, and on Amazon

40: Death and feedback

  • John UC Verde Buffalo Grass

39: Littlest Plot Shop

  • John Key Ring Thing puts all your bar codes on one card
  • Craig Joe Nienalt and Daniel Vang’s Will-Read-Your-Script Fundraiser for the American Heart Association

37: Let’s talk about dialogue

  • John Ski Safari
  • Craig 1Password

36: Writer’s block and other romantic myths

  • John Old Jews Telling Jokes
  • Craig iScore

35: The Disney Dilemma

  • John Musicnotes version of Jar of Hearts
  • Craig Craig’s first computer, the Franklin Ace 1000

Primary Sidebar

Newsletter

Inneresting Logo A Quote-Unquote Newsletter about Writing
Read Now

Explore

Projects

  • Aladdin (1)
  • Arlo Finch (27)
  • Big Fish (87)
  • Charlie (39)
  • Charlie's Angels (16)
  • Chosen (2)
  • Corpse Bride (9)
  • Dead Projects (18)
  • Frankenweenie (10)
  • Go (30)
  • Karateka (4)
  • Monsterpocalypse (3)
  • One Hit Kill (6)
  • Ops (6)
  • Preacher (2)
  • Prince of Persia (13)
  • Shazam (6)
  • Snake People (6)
  • Tarzan (5)
  • The Nines (118)
  • The Remnants (12)
  • The Variant (22)

Apps

  • Bronson (14)
  • FDX Reader (11)
  • Fountain (32)
  • Highland (72)
  • Less IMDb (4)
  • Weekend Read (34)

Recommended Reading

  • First Person (87)
  • Geek Alert (147)
  • WGA (123)
  • Workspace (19)

Screenwriting Q&A

  • Adaptation (66)
  • Directors (90)
  • Education (49)
  • Film Industry (487)
  • Formatting (129)
  • Genres (90)
  • Glossary (6)
  • Pitches (29)
  • Producers (59)
  • Psych 101 (117)
  • Rights and Copyright (96)
  • So-Called Experts (47)
  • Story and Plot (170)
  • Television (164)
  • Treatments (21)
  • Words on the page (238)
  • Writing Process (178)

More screenwriting Q&A at screenwriting.io

© 2023 John August — All Rights Reserved.