John August

Transcribed

Screenwriting gurus and so-called experts

Episode - 15

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Books, Scriptnotes, Transcribed, Videogames

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.

It’s a rare podcast in which I sway Craig’s opinion whatsoever, but if you listen really carefully, I think he leaves the show just slightly less negative about screenwriting books than he started. It’s all about degrees with Craig.

Plus, we get a visit from the LAPD, follow-up on residuals, and a bit more about unionizing videogame writers.

LINKS:

(Note that none of the books listed above are actually recommended. But we talk about them, so it feels fair to provide links.)

You can download the episode here: AAC.

UPDATE 12-13-11: The transcript of this episode can be found here.

How residuals work

Scriptnotes, Transcribed, WGA

Craig and John take a look at awards-season screeners before diving 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.

Near the end of our discussion on residuals, I give some actual numbers on an actual movie. Percentages are abstract; money is money.

I chose Go because I had the most data on it, going back to 1999. It’s also useful because the movie was only moderately successful at the box office.

As you can see in the charts below, residuals taper off over the years — but that long tail still adds up:

go residuals

Keep in mind, there’s a possibility that residuals could spike if another home video medium takes off — digital downloads or rentals, for example.

I went into the podcast thinking I could easily reverse the math to figure out how much the studio has made off the movie, but as Craig points out, it’s more complicated than it appears at first. Most home video is calculated as 1.5% of 20% of gross earnings, so in order to get an accurate number I would need to sort out how much of Go’s residuals are coming from home video (and not television licensing).

But we can still get a sense of minimums: Go brought in at least $30 million in the aftermarket, and likely much, much more.

LINKS:

You can download the episode here: AAC.

UPDATE 11-30-11: The transcript of this episode can be found here.

Undervalued simplicity, and WGA coverage for videogames

Scriptnotes, Transcribed, Videogames, WGA

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

They also explain the fallacy of equating effort in with value out, discuss why the WGA should address sweepstake pitches and coverage for videogame writers, and offer a Kentucky-born 21+ cure for the common cold.

This and more on the thirteenth Scriptnotes.

LINKS:

You can download the episode here: AAC.

UPDATE 11-27-11: The transcript of this episode can be found here.

Follies, Kindles and Second-Act Malaise

Scriptnotes, Transcribed

Craig and John discuss musicals, split time lines, split personalities and the human brain.

How does your inner-screenwriter affect how you see plays? Why is writing the second act of a screenplay such a slog? And is hearing voices in your head an asset as a writer? All this and more in the twelfth episode of Scriptnotes.

We spend a good chunk of time talking about the iconic musical Follies, and while there are some good screenwriting lessons to learn, no one will judge you if you skip forward to our discussion of brain books (17:30) or second-act malaise (20:30).

If you haven’t Liked us and you like us, consider Liking us: facebook.com/scriptnotes.

LINKS:

You can download the episode here: AAC.

UPDATE 11-18-11: The transcript of this episode can be found here.