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Transcribed

Our Take on Long Takes

Episode - 683

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April 15, 2025 Scriptnotes, Transcribed

John and Craig break out of coverage to look at oners and long shots, cutting through any directorial showboating to compare the pros and cons and cons and cons of those unbroken takes, offering ways to decide when they are necessary or purposeful, and how to recognize when it’s better to cut.

We also look at changes to Sundance and the Nicholl Fellowship, answer listener questions on house lights in movie theaters, Oscar voting, improv movies, and share a few horror stories from John and Craig’s early career.

In our bonus segment for premium members, John and Craig look at their relationship with their phones and consider dumbing down.

Links:

  • HBO’s The Last of Us Podcast
  • Sundance is moving to Boulder, Colorado!
  • Changes to the Academy Nicholl Fellowship
  • Adolescence | The Studio
  • Meryl Streep and Viola Davis in Doubt
  • The Alien RPG by Free League
  • Assassin’s Creed: Shadows
  • The Show 25
  • The DIY Dumbphone Method by Casey Johnston
  • Get a Scriptnotes T-shirt!
  • Check out the Inneresting Newsletter
  • Gift a Scriptnotes Subscription or treat yourself to a premium subscription!
  • Craig Mazin on Instagram
  • John August on Bluesky, Threads, and Instagram
  • Outro by Nick Moore (send us yours!)
  • Scriptnotes is produced by Drew Marquardt and edited by Matthew Chilelli.

Email us at ask@johnaugust.com

You can download the episode here.

UPDATE 5-2-25: The transcript for this episode can be found here.

The Second Season with Tony Gilroy

April 1, 2025 Scriptnotes, Transcribed

John and Craig welcome writer and showrunner Tony Gilroy (Andor, Michael Clayton) for an in-depth look at crafting a second season of a hit TV show. They look at ways to find your season’s structure, setting your production up for success, controlling the energy your audience spends on information, and how to wrap up your story before the show eats you alive.

They also answer listener questions on what to do when a movie that’s similar to yours is wildly successful, and whether being a movie critic could hurt your writing career.

In our bonus segment for premium members, Tony sticks around to ponder which words we wish existed in English, and how we’d use them in our scripts.

Links:

  • Tony Gilroy
  • Here’s a recap of Andor Season 1!
  • Andor Season 2: Trailer 1 | Trailer 2 | Special Look
  • Episode 680 – Writing Action Set Pieces with Christina Hodson
  • I’m Not a Robot short by Victoria Warmerdam
  • I’m Not a Robot short by Jason Speir
  • Stephen Schiff
  • Startpage
  • A History of Rock Music in 500 Songs
  • Raindrop
  • Get a Scriptnotes T-shirt!
  • Check out the Inneresting Newsletter
  • Gift a Scriptnotes Subscription or treat yourself to a premium subscription!
  • Craig Mazin on Instagram
  • John August on Bluesky, Threads, and Instagram
  • Outro by Spencer Lackey (send us yours!)
  • Scriptnotes is produced by Drew Marquardt and edited by Matthew Chilelli.

Email us at ask@johnaugust.com

You can download the episode here.

UPDATE 4-2-25: The transcript for this episode can be found here.

The Waiting Game

March 25, 2025 Scriptnotes, Three Page Challenge, Transcribed

John and Craig sit in project purgatory and ask, what do you do when the only answer you’re getting is “maybe”? They share advice on how to gently check in without annoying people, recognizing the soft pass, the unexpected benefits of patience, and what to do when you’re the person holding up the gears.

Then it’s another round of the Three Page Challenge, where John and Craig give their honest feedback on three listener-submitted scripts. We also follow up on script supervisors and the encroaching perils of AI production.

In our bonus segment for premium members, John and Craig spill the telltale signs that a movie or TV show has had reshoots.

Links:

  • Follow along with our Three Page Challenge Selections! SCRAMBLING by Tania Luna, LUMP by Leah Newsom, and THE DREAD PIRATE ROBERTS by J. Bryan Dick
  • The King of Tars
  • Sesame Street
  • The Goes Wrong Show on Prime
  • Get a Scriptnotes T-shirt!
  • Check out the Inneresting Newsletter
  • Gift a Scriptnotes Subscription or treat yourself to a premium subscription!
  • Craig Mazin on Instagram
  • John August on Bluesky, Threads, and Instagram
  • Outro by Nick Moore (send us yours!)
  • Scriptnotes is produced by Drew Marquardt and edited by Matthew Chilelli.

Email us at ask@johnaugust.com

You can download the episode here.

UPDATE 4-2-25: The transcript for this episode can be found here.

Writing Action Set Pieces

March 18, 2025 HWTBAM, Scriptnotes, Transcribed

John welcomes back Christina Hodson (The Flash, Bumblebee) to ask, how do you to construct a great action sequence? Using examples from three different movies, they discuss what good action looks like on the page, how to keep your reader from getting bored or confused, and why production can sometimes blow your plans to smithereens.

Then it’s a round of How Would This be a Movie?, where we take four stories from the news and pitch how we might adapt them for the screen. Stories include a mysterious painting, a train trapped in a blizzard, a teen who sued his parents, and zombie colleges.

We also follow up on director’s chairs and mammograms, and answer listener questions on side characters and creating a healthy work/life balance.

In our bonus segment for premium members, John and Christina examine the do’s and don’ts of introducing yourself to a stranger through email.

Links:

  • Christina Hodson
  • That New York Times article with John and Christina
  • Bamboo Director’s Chair
  • Birdigo on Steam
  • Action samples: Aliens, The Bourne Identity and Rise of the Planet of the Apes
  • David Koepp’s Jurassic Park screenplay
  • David Benioff’s Troy screenplay
  • A Man of Parts and Learning by Fara Dabhoiwala
  • When a Deadly Winter Storm Trapped a Luxury Passenger Train Near the Donner Pass for Three Days by Robert Klara
  • A U.K. Teen’s Parents Sent Him to Ghana. He Took Them to Court. by Lynsey Chutel
  • Zombie colleges? These universities are living another life online, and no one can say why by Chris Quintana
  • Mike Birbiglia
  • The Onion in print
  • Padraic Murphy’s Research Department
  • Get a Scriptnotes T-shirt!
  • Check out the Inneresting Newsletter
  • Gift a Scriptnotes Subscription or treat yourself to a premium subscription!
  • Craig Mazin on Threads and Instagram
  • John August on Bluesky, Threads, and Instagram
  • Outro by Vance Kotrla (send us yours!)
  • Scriptnotes is produced by Drew Marquardt and edited by Matthew Chilelli.

Email us at ask@johnaugust.com

You can download the episode here.

UPDATE 3-24-25: The transcript for this episode can be found here.

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