John August

Transcribed

Setting, perspective and terrible numbers

Episode - 45

Go to Archive

Challenge, Scriptnotes, Story and Plot, Three Page Challenge, Transcribed, WGA

It’s two parts craft and one part business as Craig and John discuss the alarming earnings report coming out of the WGA, plus a deeper look at setting and POV.

For feature screenwriters, it’s hard to find a silver lining in the WGA’s report on 2011 earnings. Numbers are down significantly, both in total dollars and the number of writers earning anything at all.

2011 earnings chart

Of course, you don’t have to be employed to write a script, so we spend the rest of the show talking about two crucial aspects of screenwriting: choosing effective settings and deciding on POV.

Setting is both a macro and micro decision. Early on, you need to figure out where your movie takes place. Everything about your story will be impacted by the world you choose. Then as you write individual scenes, you look for environments that provide opportunities and challenges for your characters — and for the director. Film is a visual medium, so smart screenwriters consider what settings will suit a big screen.

Perspective, or POV, is about figuring out which characters have storytelling power in your movie. Which characters can anchor a scene without the hero? Which characters can do voiceover? The choices you make greatly effect audience expectation, so it’s worth thinking about at the very start.

Finally, we talk about the Three Page Challenge. On an upcoming podcast, we’ll be critiquing three pages (and only three pages!) from listeners’ scripts. If you want to participate, visit johnaugust.com/threepage for details.

LINKS:

You can download the episode here: AAC.

UPDATE 7-12-12: The transcript of this episode can be found here.

Endings for beginners

Scriptnotes, Story and Plot, Transcribed

John and Craig look at how to write satisfying third acts. That doesn’t necessarily mean a happy ending, but rather one that feels earned.

If the first 10 pages of a script establish a contract between reader and writer — give me your undivided attention and I will make it worthwhile — the last 10 pages are where that contract is paid out. This is where screenwriters generally need to spend much more time, yet it’s often hurried and rushed.

Looking at the headlines, Craig fills us in on Hayden Christiansen’s lawsuit against USA Network’s Royal Pains and what it means for screenwriters. (Expect to be signing new forms.)

We also discuss a listener’s lament that studio execs have learned all the wrong lessons from the success of Avengers (and the failure of Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter).

All this and vocal fry in the new installment of Scriptnotes.

LINKS:

You can download the episode here: AAC.

UPDATE 7-6-12: The transcript of this episode can be found here.

Pen Names and Divine Intervention

QandA, Scriptnotes, Transcribed

This week, John is a bit under the weather, so Craig takes over moderator duties as they tackle four listener questions:

➤ When you spec a script based on a producer’s idea, who owns it?

➤ And on that topic, do producers ever really buy an idea?

➤ How much divine intervention — or other coincidence — can a movie support?

➤ How do pen names work for screenwriters?

In follow-up, Clive Barker is writing — but not directing — that Amazon Studios project. John regrets the error. And in verb-related news, metal can’t pound, but it can pound flat, oddly enough.

All this and two cool things in this week’s Scriptnotes.

LINKS:

You can download the episode here: AAC.

UPDATE 6-28-12: The transcript of this episode can be found here.

Getting to page one

Follow Up, Screenwriting Software, Scriptnotes, Transcribed

On the 41st Scriptnotes, John and Craig discuss screenwriting software, knowing when to start, and the Game of Thrones finale. But before moving on to new business, they update us on two topics of podcasts past.

Last we heard about Disney and Amazon Studios, there was a vacancy atop the former, and the latter had decided to become a WGA signatory. Now, Disney has hired Alan Horn as chief, and Amazon has announced its first project — but with no mention of the writer.

After they weigh in on these new developments, John tells us about the pros and cons of writing his most recent script in Scrivener, which opens up into a larger discussion about where screenwriting software seems to be heading.

Craig and John then adress a common frustration of beginning screenwriters: How do you know when you’re ready to move from the planning phase onto page 1? Diving into a script too quickly is a recipe for second-act problems, but overplanning can be just as dangerous. Where’s the sweet spot? What must you know about your story before you start, and how much familiarity is overkill?

They then move onto a listener-requested discussion of the Game of Thrones season finale, plus this week’s two One Cool Things.

Rawson Marshall Thurber, enjoy this Google alert made specially for you, courtesy of episode 41 of Scriptnotes.

LINKS:

You can download the episode here: AAC.

UPDATE 6-14-12: The transcript of this episode can be found here.