John August

HWTBAM

Big Money Movies with Marielle Heller

Episode - 659

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HWTBAM, Scriptnotes, Transcribed

John welcomes back Marielle Heller (Can You Ever Forgive Me?, A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood) to look at three stories of real people with too much money and ask, How Would This Be a Movie? Stories include strategies for dating Leonardo DiCaprio, the rise-fall-rise of inventor Palmer Luckey, and a council built to give away a fortune.

We also go feral over Marielle’s new movie Nightbitch, as she shares the joys of adapting something that feels personal and her tricks to directing dogs and children. But first, we take a look at a new study on which movies studios are developing, and share exciting news for those joining us at the Austin Film Festival.

In our bonus segment for premium members, Marielle and John remember the terror, nerves and euphoria of premiering your movie at film festivals.

Links:

Email us at ask@johnaugust.com

You can download the episode here.

UPDATE 11-19-24: The transcript for this episode can be found here.

Love and Money

HWTBAM, Scriptnotes, Transcribed

John and Craig look at four unbelievable stories in the news and ask, How Would This Be a Movie? Stories include a finance journalist who was scammed out of her savings, men who offer dating bounties, a franken-sheep made of cloned animal parts, and how standardized tests changed one woman’s life.

We also reveal which modern classics we’ve never seen (We meant to! We’re sorry!) to decide which – if any – we need to watch. But first, we follow up on D&D for kids, ESL, AI in reality TV, and Tiffany problems before answering listener questions on formats and recommending your spouse.

In our bonus segment for premium members, John and Craig look at new guidelines for AI and how they might affect our future.

Links:

* [Weekend Read 2](https://quoteunquoteapps.com/weekendread/)
* [“Creep” post by @davo_arid on Twitter](https://x.com/davo_arid/status/1772116369544233394?s=20)
* [Full list of movies we haven’t seen](https://johnaugust.com/2024/movies-we-havent-seen)
* [The Day I Put $50,000 in a Shoe Box and Handed It to a Stranger](https://www.thecut.com/article/amazon-scam-call-ftc-arrest-warrants.html) by Charlotte Cowles for The Cut
* [Wanted: True Love. Reward: $100,000](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/13/business/dating-bounty-roy-zaslavskiy.html) by Angela Chen for the NYT
* [Montana Man Pleads Guilty to Creating Massive Franken-Sheep With Cloned Animal Parts](https://gizmodo.com/franken-sheep-marco-polo-cloned-schubarth-hybrid-animal-1851330381) by Matt Novak for Gizmodo
* [How the SAT Changed My Life](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/27/opinion/sat-act-college.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare&ugrp=c&pvid=911CC030-627F-4AF1-B24E-5E95790BAA0B) by Emi Nietfeld for the NYT
* [D.C. – What It Is](https://johnaugust.com/downloads_ripley/dc-what-it-is.pdf)
* [Fighting Fantasy books](https://www.fightingfantasy.com/)
* [LA Hero Workshop](https://www.heroworkshop.org/)
* [Sodalitas](https://jdrcool.itch.io/sodalitas)
* OSR’s [Oz](https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/OZ/Andrew-Kolb/9781524873776) and [Neverland](https://publishing.andrewsmcmeel.com/book/neverland-a-fantasy-role-playing-setting/)
* [Questlings](https://www.letimangames.com/questlings.html)
* [Color My Quest](https://www.diceupgames.com/color-my-quest/)
* [WyrdScouts](https://www.wicked-clever.com/wyrdscouts/)
* [The Excellents](https://9thlevelgames.itch.io/the-excellents) and [Nancy Druid](https://towerofgames.com/miscellanous-rpgs-nancy-druid/)
* [Hero Kids](https://preview.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/106605/hero-kids-fantasy-rpg)
* [TTRPGkids](https://www.ttrpgkids.com/)
* [Hide’n’Treat](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08FY3396J?th=1&linkCode=sl1&tag=johnaugustcom-20&linkId=664c36ab94b508919d980f4a79782f7c&language=en_US&ref_=as_li_ss_tl) and [Snuffle Mat](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08X2H4DKQ?th=1&linkCode=sl1&tag=johnaugustcom-20&linkId=c293752a7f2ed5b4be1e6ef6b4e70c09&language=en_US&ref_=as_li_ss_tl)
* [Jaina Grey’s reviews for WIRED](https://www.wired.com/author/jaina-grey/)
* [Get a Scriptnotes T-shirt!](https://cottonbureau.com/people/scriptnotes-podcast)
* [Check out the Inneresting Newsletter](https://inneresting.substack.com/)
* [Gift a Scriptnotes Subscription](https://scriptnotes.supportingcast.fm/gifts) or [treat yourself to a premium subscription!](https://scriptnotes.supportingcast.fm/)
* Craig Mazin on [Threads](https://www.threads.net/@clmazin) and [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/clmazin/)
* John August on [Threads](https://www.threads.net/@johnaugust), [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/johnaugust/?hl=en) and [Twitter](https://twitter.com/johnaugust)
* [John on Mastodon](https://mastodon.art/@johnaugust)
* [Outro](http://johnaugust.com/2013/scriptnotes-the-outros) by Tim Brown ([send us yours!](http://johnaugust.com/2014/outros-needed))
* Scriptnotes is produced by Drew Marquardt and edited by [Matthew Chilelli](https://twitter.com/machelli).

Email us at ask@johnaugust.com

You can download the episode [here](http://traffic.libsyn.com/scriptnotes/637standard.mp3).

**UPDATE 4-2-24:** Listener Luke Rankin created a Letterboxd list of all the movies featured in this episode. [You can view it here](https://letterboxd.com/lukethatfilmguy/list/the-100s-of-the-past-4-decades-scriptnotes/).

**UPDATE 4-30-24:** The transcript for this episode can be found [here](https://johnaugust.com/2024/scriptnotes-episode-637-love-and-money-transcript).

Unbelievably Agentic

HWTBAM, Scriptnotes, Transcribed

John welcomes back Aline Brosh McKenna to look at how both you and your characters can become more “agentic.” What are the traps and pitfalls of going after what you want? How do you get people to engage with your protagonist, especially when the protagonist is yourself?

Then it’s another round of How Would This be a Movie? We look at stories about a harm-reduction hotline, countertop cancer, loyalty testers and a mathematician who exploited the lottery.

In our bonus segment for premium members, John and Aline talk about their strange new reality of being empty nesters.

Links:

* [How to be More Agentic](https://usefulfictions.substack.com/p/how-to-be-more-agentic) by Cate Hall
* [What’s Stopping You?](https://www.neelnanda.io/blog/44-agency) by Neel Nanda
* [Seven ways to become unstoppably agentic](https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/Tnpp3cyEHMGthjGAf/seven-ways-to-become-unstoppably-agentic) by Evie Cottrell
* [“Agency” needs nuance](https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/acyfmFTN3cNgwnYw6/agency-needs-nuance) by Evie Cottrell
* [The Woman on the Line](https://slate.com/human-interest/2023/09/overdose-drugs-fentanyl-opioid-never-use-alone.html) by Aymann Ismail and Mary Harris for Slate
* [California workers who cut countertops are dying of an incurable disease](https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-09-24/silicosis-countertop-workers-engineered-stone) by Emily Alpert Reyes and Cindy Carcamo for the LA Times
* [Would Your Partner Cheat? These ‘Testers’ Will Give You an Answer](https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/28/style/loyalty-test-infidelity-cheating.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare) by Gina Cherelus for the New York Times
* [The man who won the lottery 14 times](https://thehustle.co/the-man-who-won-the-lottery-14-times/) by Zachary Crockett for The Hustle
* [Musely](https://www.musely.com/)
* [So you wanna de-bog yourself](https://www.experimental-history.com/p/so-you-wanna-de-bog-yourself?publication_id=656797&post_id=140270094&isFreemail=true&r=3dw6x) by Adam Mastroianni
* [Aline Brosh McKenna](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aline_Brosh_McKenna)
* [Get a Scriptnotes T-shirt!](https://cottonbureau.com/people/scriptnotes-podcast)
* [Check out the Inneresting Newsletter](https://inneresting.substack.com/)
* [Gift a Scriptnotes Subscription](https://scriptnotes.supportingcast.fm/gifts) or [treat yourself to a premium subscription!](https://scriptnotes.supportingcast.fm/)
* Craig Mazin on [Threads](https://www.threads.net/@clmazin) and [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/clmazin/)
* John August on [Threads](https://www.threads.net/@johnaugust), [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/johnaugust/?hl=en) and [Twitter](https://twitter.com/johnaugust)
* [John on Mastodon](https://mastodon.art/@johnaugust)
* [Outro](http://johnaugust.com/2013/scriptnotes-the-outros) by Larry Douziech ([send us yours!](http://johnaugust.com/2014/outros-needed))
* Scriptnotes is produced by Drew Marquardt and edited by [Matthew Chilelli](https://twitter.com/machelli).

Email us at ask@johnaugust.com

You can download the episode [here](http://traffic.libsyn.com/scriptnotes/627standard.mp3).

**UPDATE 2-20-24:** The transcript for this episode can be found [here](https://johnaugust.com/2024/scriptnotes-episode-627-unbelievably-agentic-transcript).

How Would This Be a Biopic?

HWTBAM, Scriptnotes, Transcribed

John and Craig look at several notable figures in the news and ask, How Would This Be a Biopic? They examine the lives of Henry Kissinger, Sandra Day O’Connor, George Santos, Rosalynn Carter, and Sam Altman to see which are best suited for the big screen, and declare once-and-for-all the proper way to pronounce “biopic.”

We also follow up on VFX and AI, the two-column format, inner monologues, and Melissa Mazin sets the record straight on her role at Thanksgiving.

In our bonus segment for premium members, John and Craig speculate about which event in history had the biggest negative impact on human civilization.

Links:

* [Sandra Day O’Connor](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandra_Day_O%27Connor)
* [Henry Kissinger](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Kissinger)
* [Rosalynn Carter](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosalynn_Carter)
* [George Santos](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Santos)
* [Sam Altman](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Altman)
* [What happened at OpenAI? The Sam Altman saga, explained](https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2023/11/20/openai-sam-altman-ceo-oust/) by Rachel Lehman for The Washington Post
* [International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)](https://www.internationalphoneticalphabet.org/ipa-sounds/ipa-chart-with-sounds/)
* [Fallout – Trailer](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0kQ8i2FpRDk)
* [Get a Scriptnotes T-shirt!](https://cottonbureau.com/people/scriptnotes-podcast)
* [Check out the Inneresting Newsletter](https://inneresting.substack.com/)
* [Gift a Scriptnotes Subscription](https://scriptnotes.supportingcast.fm/gifts) or [treat yourself to a premium subscription!](https://scriptnotes.supportingcast.fm/)
* Craig Mazin on [Threads](https://www.threads.net/@clmazin) and [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/clmazin/)
* John August on [Threads](https://www.threads.net/@johnaugust), [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/johnaugust/?hl=en) and [Twitter](https://twitter.com/johnaugust)
* [John on Mastodon](https://mastodon.art/@johnaugust)
* [Outro](http://johnaugust.com/2013/scriptnotes-the-outros) by James Llonch ([send us yours!](http://johnaugust.com/2014/outros-needed))
* Scriptnotes is produced by Drew Marquardt and edited by [Matthew Chilelli](https://twitter.com/machelli).

Email us at ask@johnaugust.com

You can download the episode [here](http://traffic.libsyn.com/scriptnotes/621standard.mp3).

**UPDATE 12-18-23:** The transcript for this episode can be found [here](https://johnaugust.com/2023/scriptnotes-episode-621-how-would-this-be-a-biopic-transcript).