John August

Projects

Political Movies

Episode - 436

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Arlo Finch, Books, Follow Up, Scriptnotes, Stuart, Transcribed

John and Craig welcome back Liz Hannah to talk about her upcoming Netflix movie, All the Bright Places, and Hollywood’s often-frustrating reliance on IP. Particularly with non-fiction stories, has Hollywood warped journalistic ambitions?

All of which serves as setup for another round of How Would This Be a Movie? (00:41:54), where we look at the Jeff Bezos phone hack, Carlos Ghosn, and a romantic political showdown.

In our bonus segment for premium members (01:10:06), we discuss what is and is not okay to do with physical books, and situations where we’re willing to trade pixels for print.

Links:

Email us at ask@johnaugust.com

You can download the episode here.

UPDATE 2-9-2020 The transcript for this episode can be found here.

Casting a blind teenage actress

Directors, News, Projects

I’ve written a new movie that I’m planning to direct. It’s called The Shadows. It’s a thriller.

I wouldn’t normally announce something like this so far in advance, but casting is going to be a unique process that will require a major search.

The hero of the film is a 15-year-old girl named Abby. She’s stubborn, resourceful and anxious. She is also blind. I’m looking for a blind actress to play this role.

To learn more, you can read the casting announcement.

On Aladdin

Projects

So, Aladdin opened this weekend. It’s the #1 movie in the world, and audiences seem to love it. I share writing credit, which surprises many people because I barely talk about it. Here’s the deal.

In September 2015, I was meeting with producers about a different project when they mentioned they were talking with Disney about doing a live-action version of Aladdin, following upon the success of Cinderella. On the spot, I pitched my take. The next week, I went in to pitch at Disney complete with art boards that cribbed heavily from Game of Thrones. It was a charmed process through multiple drafts.

And then it wasn’t.

From 2017 on, my relationship with the movie was me giving notes on cuts. It was frustrating to have my name on something I had no control over, so I didn’t talk about it much, and didn’t do any press.

Here’s the happy news: The movie that came out this week? I honestly like it a lot. It’s goofy and big-hearted in ways I’d feared would be lost. I’m glad that so many people around the world are digging it.

Every screenwriter mourns the movie that existed only in their mind, but in this case I’m really happy with the finished film as well. That doesn’t always happen. So I’m glad my wish came true.

Seattle Live Show 2019

Arlo Finch, News, Scriptnotes, Transcribed

John and Craig head north to host Scriptnotes Live in Seattle. They welcome Emily Zulauf to discuss the process of pitching projects at Pixar, creating stories with heart out of pure misery, and when to admit you “don’t have it” and start over.

We also hold our own Open Writing Assignment and play a game with the audience to create two new movie pitches. Then we answer questions about theme and why you should move to LA.

Thank you to the Northwest Screenwriters Guild and TheFilmSchool for hosting us!

Links:

Email us at ask@johnaugust.com

You can download the episode here.

UPDATE 2-21-19: The transcript of this episode can be found here