Scriptnotes

Craig and John take a look the week’s news, including the WGA nominations, Warner’s shift to a 56-day video window, the folly of SOPA and the launch of Bronson Watermarker.

Craig and John discuss the year ahead, from resolutions (we don’t have any) to reunions (20th!). Along the way, we discuss archery, piano and left-hand weakness. The bulk of the episode is a discussion of Charlie Kaufman’s BAFTA speech about screenwriting and screenwriters, artistry and artifice.

Craig and John explain what producers do — at least, what they’re supposed to do — and discuss the myriad subclasses of producers that litter the opening titles of many movies.

Craig and John plug a book by their very first sponsor and discuss elective brain surgery, before tackling an exhaustive but illuminating list of questions from listener Daniel Barkeley.

Craig and John look at why the books and seminars purporting to teach screenwriting are generally terrible, trying to reduce the hard work of the craft to a series of formulas and templates.

Craig and John take a look at awards-season screeners before going deep into a discussion of how residuals work and why they’re so important to screenwriters. Plus, a visit from Craig’s cleaning lady, who thinks he’s insane.

John and Craig tackle reader questions about self distribution, pseudonyms, separated rights, and studios’ feelings about international versus domestic box office.

On episode 12 of Scriptnotes, Craig and John discuss musicals, split time lines, split personalities and the human brain.

When you read articles claiming every Hollywood movie loses money, an obvious question arises: “Why do they keep making them, then?” In this installment, John and Craig explain how the film industry spends and makes money.

Craig and John go through the mailbox to answer listener questions. Can great actors save bad writing? What happens when writing partners split up? Are flashbacks always a bad idea? Should a young British comedy writer move to America?

Craig and John tackle a listener question about the early stages of a screenwriting career: deciding which meetings to take, which projects to pursue, and how not to go broke in the process.

John and Craig discuss why screenwriters want to please people — and how it often hurts them and the movie they’re writing — before a lengthy discussion of the pros and cons of going to film school.

John and Craig answer a listener’s question about whether (and how) to ditch an ineffective manager, then discuss daily work habits, hardware and software.

John and Craig discuss the new fall shows and how little kids become screenwriters, with discussion of D&D, Malcolm Gladwell and daisy-wheel printers.

In episode five of Scriptnotes, Craig and I dive deep into the esoterica of the WGA, copyright and separated rights as prelude to a discussion of two ongoing lawsuits: Jessica Bendinger vs. the Bring It On musical and Harlan Ellison vs. In Time.

In episode four of Scriptnotes, Craig and I discuss migraines and zombie apocalypse preparations before we segue to the main topic: how screenwriters work with directors, from the first meeting to on-set etiquette to giving notes in post.

This week in the podcast, Craig and I follow up on our earlier comment about kids being the death of screenwriters, then dive into the process of outlining a script, from index cards to whiteboards to spreadsheets. Along the way, we discuss Curious George, Torchwood and V.