John August

Transcribed

Death and feedback

Episode - 40

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Scriptnotes, Transcribed

Craig and John talk about Craig’s decision to abandon his once-bustling blog, while John weighs the pros and cons of comments and community.

How important is feedback? The Scriptnotes podcast gets overwhelmingly positive reviews — 99% are five stars — but how much of that is helpful or constructive?

We also go into follow-up about The Death of Screenwriting (as a career) and announce the first-ever Scriptnotes Live podcast, coming this October at the Austin Film Festival.

LINKS:

You can download the episode here: AAC.

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

Littlest Plot Shop

Scriptnotes, Story and Plot, Transcribed

Craig and John take a look at the difference between plot and story with some help from the Littlest Pet Shop and Game of Thrones.

Plot answers the “what” questions: What happens next? What is in the mysterious vault? What secret was the dowager keeping?

Story, however, is much more concerned with the “whos” and “hows” and “whys.” Characters have their own needs and impulses. The trick of good writing is to match up what the characters want to do (motivation) with what the screenwriter wants them to do (plot).

Mild spoiler alert: In the last few minutes, we discuss recent developments on Game of Thrones, but in a general-enough way that it’s not likely to impact your enjoyment if you’re behind. Still, caveat spectator.

Finally, two bits of housekeeping:

  • We post full transcripts of every show a few days after they air.

  • If you subscribe to us on iTunes, please leave us some feedback. For next week’s show, we’ll read the reviews ranked “most helpful” live, no matter what they say. Which may be a terrible idea. We’ll see.

LINKS:

You can download the episode here: AAC.

UPDATE 5-30-12: The transcript of this episode can be found here.

Let’s talk about dialogue

QandA, Scriptnotes, Transcribed

Screenwriters can learn story and structure, but the ability to create real, tangible characters is more elusive — and ultimately more important.

The best gauge of good writing is whether a screenplay’s characters feel distinct and alive. A lot of that comes from how the characters speak: what they say and how they say it.

John and Craig offer some tests to see if your screenplay’s dialogue works:

  • Could you take one character’s words and have another say them?
  • Can you picture a specific actor speaking each character’s lines? Or, even better, are there actors you can’t picture saying them?
  • Do the characters all sound like you, the writer? Or do they have distinct voices?

This week’s listener questions include recycling material, writing large-group action scenes, and possible novels. Craig then rants about the evils of Zynga and the wonder of 1Password.

How do you do an imitation of Denzel Washington? Find out on episode 37 of Scriptnotes.

LINKS:

You can download the episode here: AAC.

UPDATE 5-18-12: The transcript of this episode can be found here.

Writer’s block and other romantic myths

QandA, Scriptnotes, Transcribed, Writing Process

John and Craig open the 36th Scriptnotes with a brief discussion about contracts, and then face writer’s block head on.

“Writer’s block” is an overused term. When a writer claims to be suffering from it, he is usually wrestling with some combination of three common problems: procrastination, perfectionism, and fear. “Writer’s block” is a romanticized catch-all that distracts from these real issues.

Screenwriters can use a range of techniques to get over the hump, from setting a kitchen timer, to breaking work down into manageable chunks, to writing in an order that makes sense for the way you work.

They then take two quick listener questions before closing out the episode with this week’s One Cool Thing (TM).

It’s Tuesday! So head over to Panda Express and get yourself a celebratory meal to enjoy with episode 36 of Scriptnotes.

LINKS:

You can download the episode here: AAC.

UPDATE 5-9-12: The transcript of this episode can be found here.