John August

Transcribed

The Live Call-In Show

Episode - 700

Go to Archive

Scriptnotes, Transcribed

To celebrate our 700th episode, John and Craig open the phone lines for a live late-night call-in show (recorded at 10 a.m. on a Wednesday). Through the power of Zoom (and YouTube), listeners ask questions about rewrites in post, avoiding traps as a production designer, changing characters in a rewrite, and advice on leaving the entertainment industry.

We also welcome back familiar faces from Scriptnotes history for a brand-new segment, “People, Places and Things,” where we look at movie stills and ask how we might describe them on the page.

Also for debate, what is the boundary between “spoiler” and “what’s happening in culture”?

In our bonus segment for premium members, we keep the videophone lines open for more listener questions on juggling multiple projects, preparing alt lines for production, and whether studios option projects just to kill them.

You can (and should!) watch the entire episode on our YouTube channel. Just search for Scriptnotes Podcast. While you’re there, give us a Like and a Follow.

Links:

Email us at ask@johnaugust.com

You can download the episode here.

UPDATE 9-10-25: The transcript for this episode can be found here.

How to Talk About Yourself

Scriptnotes, Transcribed

Every writer has to pitch themselves, but how do you do it without sounding like a tool? John welcomes back Pamela Ribon (Nimona, My Year of Dicks) for a big talk about small talk and general meetings. They offer practical tips on what to expect, how to get people to open up, navigating NDAs, staying true to yourself, and organically moving the conversation away from the weather and towards your work.

We also look at a pernicious effect of underemployment (starting with a prompt from Ryan Knighton,) and answer listener questions on alternating POV, reusing adjectives, and giving your story beats cause and effect.

In our bonus segment for premium members, we get meta as we discuss the modern podcast landscape and next era of Scriptnotes.

Links:

Email us at ask@johnaugust.com

You can download the episode here.

UPDATE 8-22-25: The transcript for this episode can be found here.

Movies that Never Were

Scriptnotes, Transcribed

John and Craig descend into development hell to look at films that almost but never quite existed. Using both widely-publicized and little-known examples, they examine common patterns that keep movies frozen in script form.

We also follow up on solar storms, writer education and genres people should see at least one of. We then answer listener questions on writing empathetically, late-career stamina, non-English dialogue, multi-part movies, and the Scriptnotes theme itself.

In our bonus segment for premium members, if John and Craig were never paid to write in the screenplay format again, would they still do it?

Links:

Email us at ask@johnaugust.com

You can download the episode here.

UPDATE 8-19-25: The transcript for this episode can be found here.

We Wrote a Book!

HWTBAM, Scriptnotes, Transcribed

The Scriptnotes Book is real, and now available for preorder! John and Craig take a look through its 335 pages to explore the topics, guests and deep-dives we’ve assembled from over 1,000 hours of this podcast, creating what is sure to be your favorite bathroom book.

Then it’s another round of How Would This Be a Movie?, where we look at four stories in the news to see whether they’re ripe for adaptation. Stories include a mother taking on the revenge porn industry, a wife navigating her husband’s longtime crush, a government worker who was secretly recorded on a date, and the potential destruction of solar storms. We also answer a listener question on current filmmaking technology.

In our bonus segment for premium members, what is kindness? John and Craig talk through what sets this undervalued quality apart from niceness and other traits we mistake for kind.

Link:

Email us at ask@johnaugust.com

You can download the episode here.

UPDATE 8-6-25: The transcript for this episode can be found here.