John August

Adaptation

Love, Aptaker & Berger

Episode - 345

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Adaptation, Film Industry, Los Angeles, Producers, Scriptnotes, Television, Transcribed

John and Craig welcome Isaac Aptaker and Elizabeth Berger, the writing team that showruns This Is Us and just made history with Love, Simon.

We discuss their experience of breaking into the industry, writing with a partner, running a hit show, adapting YA novels for the screen, and the broccoli/marinara/pudding meals that got them here.

Links:

Email us at ask@johnaugust.com

You can download the episode here.

UPDATE 4-16-18: The transcript of this episode can be found here.

Call Me by Your Name

Adaptation, Directors, Film Industry, Indie, QandA, Scriptnotes, Transcribed

John and Aline welcome Peter Spears, producer of Call Me by Your Name, to discuss how the film came to be, from optioning the novel through its long development and multiple roadblocks.

Through the lens of Call Me by Your Name, we discuss the difficulties of preproduction for an indie film, the process of securing book rights, the opportunities that adaptation presents, and what this movie means in the Hollywood landscape.

Links:

Email us at ask@johnaugust.com

You can download the episode here.

UPDATE 2-6-18: The transcript of this episode can be found here.

Worst Case Scenarios

Adaptation, Directors, Film Industry, Follow Up, Scriptnotes, Transcribed, WGA

John and Craig ponder worst case scenarios that might usher the end of screenwriting as we know it. What are the odds that screenwriters lose work because an economic crash keeps movies from getting made? That screenwriting gets outsourced? That human screenwriters are replaced by AI? That film as a medium gets replaced? That the WGA falls apart?

We also answer listener questions about communicating with actors and waiting on optioned IP to get produced.

Links:

Email us at ask@johnaugust.com

You can download the episode here.

UPDATE 1-22-18: The transcript of this episode can be found here.

The End of the Beginning

Adaptation, Film Industry, Follow Up, Rights and Copyright, Scriptnotes, Transcribed, Videogames, WGA, Writing Process

John and Craig tackle that tricky stretch of screenplay between crystalizing what the story is going to be and the protagonist actually embarking upon it: the end of Act 1.

We also answer listener questions about writing for new media, why working outside of a WGA contract hurts everyone, what people want when asking for a “writing sample,” and adapting novels without the rights.

Links:

Email us at ask@johnaugust.com

You can download the episode here.

UPDATE 1-16-18: The transcript of this episode can be found here.