John August

Film Industry

Moving On is not Giving Up

Episode - 87

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Film Industry, Scriptnotes, Transcribed

John and Craig discuss when to stop rewriting a project and accept that it’s just not going to become a movie. Then we go bigger to look at when to give up on the dream of being a screenwriter — which starts with a hard look at why people seek out the career in the first place.

Also in this episode, we talk reviews and the virtues of not reading them, plus a look at Zach Braff’s Kickstarter situation.

LINKS:

You can download the episode here: AAC.

UPDATE 5-5-13: The transcript of this episode can be found here.

Taking notes

Apps, Film Industry, Formatting, QandA, Screenwriting Software, Scriptnotes, Transcribed, Treatments

Craig leads the discussion on how to survive a notes meeting. As screenwriters, our instinct is to defend, deny and debate — but these are almost always the wrong choice. By reframing the discussion about the movie rather than the script, you can often end up at a better place.

From there, John opens the listener mailbag so we can answer questions about cheating scene description and romantic obsession. Plus we talk about Slugline, Highland, Final Draft and the plethora of screenwriting apps available to screenwriters today.

LINKS:

You can download the episode here: AAC.

UPDATE 4-28-13: The transcript of this episode can be found here.

A city born of fire

Broadway, Film Industry, Scriptnotes, Television, Transcribed, Writing Process

Writer Derek Haas (Wanted, 3:10 to Yuma) joins John and Craig to discuss gay slurs, refrigerator logic and his TV show, Chicago Fire.

In addition to writing for big and small screens, the extraordinarily prolific Haas writes books, including The Right Hand and The Silver Bear. He also created the short story site Popcorn Fiction.

LINKS:

You can download the episode here: AAC.

UPDATE 4-4-13: The transcript of this episode can be found here.

Veronica Mars Attacks

Film Industry, Follow Up, Highland, News, Scriptnotes, Story and Plot, Transcribed

Craig and John discuss the big Veronica Mars/Kickstarter news in one of the more contentious podcasts to date. If you like umbrage, this is the show for you.

Next up, Highland has finally shipped. The plaintext screenplay editor (and PDF melter) raises questions about the assumption of security-through-laboriousness and the monoculture around Final Draft.

Finally, we discuss three of the points in Emma Coats’s Pixar Story Rules that are easy to forget but too important to ignore.

LINKS:

You can download the episode here: AAC.

UPDATE 3-24-13: The transcript of this episode can be found here.