Screenwriter and author John August

All the One Cool Things

September 2, 2013 Follow Up

Almost every week on the Scriptnotes podcast, Craig and I each recommend a One Cool Thing: something we like that we think you’ll like. Often, it’s an app or a gadget. Other times, it’s a book or website.

At a listener suggestion, I asked my team to assemble all of the previous One Cool Things into a [single page](http://johnaugust.com/onecoolthings) for easy reference.

Stuart will be keeping this page updated each week.

If you have a suggestion for a One Cool Thing, the best way to tell us is Twitter. I am [@johnaugust](http://twitter.com/johnaugust). Craig is [@clmazin](http://twitter.com/clmazin).

Yank! makes it

August 29, 2013 Broadway, Follow Up

The [Kickstarter campaign](http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1046922831/yank-original-cast-album) for the Yank! cast album, which I [blogged about](http://johnaugust.com/2013/the-yank-cast-album-or-lets-do-this-for-craig) earlier this week, cleared its $35,000 target this morning. Thanks to everyone who contributed.

I promised that if Yank! made it, I’d sing a song from the show at Scriptnotes Live in NYC on September 23rd. So it’s off to the sheet music for me.

Scriptnotes Live in NYC

August 28, 2013 News

Tickets for the live episode of Scriptnotes in New York just went on sale. If you’re worried about missing out, [get one and come back.](https://www.telecharge.com/Off-Broadway/Scriptnotes-Live-with-John-August/Overview)

The show will be Monday, September 23rd at 8pm at New World Stages, on 50th between 8th and 9th. Tickets are $10 each. You can get them at the box office and save a $6 Telecharge fee. ((We had to use Telecharge because of theater contracts. Grumble.))

The LA show sold out in four minutes, but I doubt that’ll happen in New York.

Our very special guest will be Big Fish’s lyricist/composer Andrew Lippa, who will join us for a discussion of writing for the stage, writing with a partner, and John’s worst habits.

We’ll have special surprises and a cash bar around the corner, so join us if you can.

Big-screen dramas on stage

August 27, 2013 Big Fish, Broadway

USA Today’s Elysa Gardner interviewed me and Andrew Lippa about *Big Fish* and the influx of movie-based [dramas on Broadway this season](http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/theater/2013/08/26/fall-broadway-preview-focusing-on-musical-adaptations-of-dramatic-films/2676519/):

> “The musicals that have been very successful with audiences over time are generally the ones that traffic in big emotions,” notes Lippa, whose credits as a composer and lyricist range from Broadway’s *The Addams Family* to the darker, more reflective *The Wild Party*. “You don’t see a comedy a second time, because the jokes aren’t as funny, mostly. But people have gone back to see *Les (Miserables)* five, six times.”

Lord knows I hope he’s right. In Chicago, I met women who saw Big Fish five times in five weeks.

It’s usually comedies that get adapted for the stage: *The Producers, Legally Blonde, Priscilla Queen of the Desert.* This year, in addition to Big Fish, we have upcoming adaptions of *The Bridges of Madison County, Rocky, and A Time to Kill.*

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