John August

QandA

Advice for a New Staff Writer

Episode - 368

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Film Industry, Follow Up, Scriptnotes, Television, Transcribed, Writing Process

John welcomes Alison McDonald (American Dad!, Nurse Jackie, the remake of Roots) and Ryan Knighton (In the Dark) to talk through the basics of the TV writers room, covering how they got in, how much to talk, how to make a living, what to wear and what’s for lunch.

In follow up, we look at disappearing digital purchases and the further fallout from Les Moonves.

We have new Scriptnotes T-shirts available — Colored Revisions! Thanks to Alison, Ryan now knows about magenta.

Links:

* T-shirts are available [here](https://cottonbureau.com/people/john-august-1)! We’ve got new designs, including [Colored Revisions](https://cottonbureau.com/products/colored-revisions), [Karateka](https://cottonbureau.com/products/karateka), and [Highland2](https://cottonbureau.com/products/highland2).
* Anders G Da Silva’s [tweet](https://twitter.com/drandersgs/status/1039270646243414016) about missing movies from his iTunes library
* [‘Designing Women’ Creator Goes Public With Les Moonves War: Not All Harassment Is Sexual](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/designing-women-creator-les-moonves-not-all-harassment-is-sexual-1142448), a guest column by Linda Bloodworth Thomason for the Hollywood Reporter
* [Succession](https://www.hbo.com/succession?pid=googleadwords_int&c=Google%7CSearch%7CMKL%7CIQ_ID_-VQ16-c&camp=Google%7CSearch%7CMKL%7CIQ_ID_-VQ16-c) on HBO
* [Be My Eyes](https://www.bemyeyes.com) app
* Improv classes for TV writers
* [The USB drives!](https://store.johnaugust.com/collections/frontpage/products/scriptnotes-300-episode-usb-flash-drive)
* [Ryan Knighton](https://twitter.com/ryanknighton) on Twitter
* [Alison McDonald](https://twitter.com/shegotproblems) on Twitter
* [John August](https://twitter.com/johnaugust) on Twitter
* [Craig Mazin](https://twitter.com/clmazin) on Twitter
* [John on Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/johnaugust/?hl=en)
* [Find past episodes](http://scriptnotes.net/)
* [Scriptnotes Digital Seasons](https://store.johnaugust.com/) are also now available!
* [Outro](http://johnaugust.com/2013/scriptnotes-the-outros) by Rajesh Naroth ([send us yours!](http://johnaugust.com/2014/outros-needed)).

Email us at ask@johnaugust.com

You can download the episode [here](http://traffic.libsyn.com/scriptnotes/scriptnotes_ep_368.mp3).

**UPDATE 9-27-18:** The transcript of this episode can be found [here](http://johnaugust.com/2018/scriptnotes-ep-368-advice-for-a-new-staff-writer-transcript).

You can’t have my back and yours at the same time

Film Industry, Television

Writing for The Hollywood Reporter, Rebecca Sun and Jonathan Handel look at the controversy over agencies [investing in TV and movies][hollywoodreporter]:

> “The headline is that it’s bad for creators,” declares The Good Fight co-creator Robert King, who, notably, is a client of Paradigm, one of the agencies not moving into ownership (yet). “This is a black-and- white situation where agencies should not be a boss to clients.”

> Even some agents are puzzled: “Who are you representing? Do you have [the writer’s] back or your back?” says Verve co-founder and partner Bryan Besser. “How do you have both backs?”

The article is one of the first I’ve read that gets agents on the record, but either the journalists didn’t ask or couldn’t get an answer to Besser’s fundamental question: How can agencies defend the conflict of interest inherent in employing their own clients?

The closest anyone gets to addressing the issue comes as simple whataboutism:

> Agencies say they remain mystified as to why the WGA is beating up on them when talent management firms — an adjacent business — have been free to produce and own content for decades.

*Officer, why is it a problem for **us** to run red lights when **ambulances** have been doing it forever?*

Agents and managers aren’t the same thing, and agents know it. Agencies are defined under California law, with specific restrictions on what they can do and how much they can charge. They’re supposed to have a fiduciary responsibility to their clients. That means putting the interests of their clients before their own interests.

If we can’t expect that from our agents, we need better agents.

If they can’t earn enough off of 10% of our income, they should focus on getting us paid more.

[hollywoodreporter]: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/features/talent-agencies-push-production-rankles-wga-some-clients-1142009

One Year Later

Citizenship, Film Industry, Follow Up, Los Angeles, News, Producers, Scriptnotes, Strike, Transcribed

Aline Brosh McKenna joins John and Craig to discuss the progress made in the year following the Weinstein revelations. Have the systems for reporting and preventing sexual harassment improved, or are we still just dealing with hurricanes?

We also follow up on The Academy’s decision to nix the Popular Film category, the IATSE agreement, missing movies, and Craig’s distaste for ventriloquism. And Final Draft teaches us that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

Links:

* [The Academy decided against adding the Popular Film Category this year](https://deadline.com/2018/09/oscars-most-popular-film-category-scrapped-academy-board-1202458508/).
* [Site supporting the IATSE Basic Agreement](https://www.iatsebasicagreement.com)
* A listener let us know when he saw a [familiar looking typewriter](https://twitter.com/dtsarmento/status/1037520618898374657), but [Final Draft apologized](https://twitter.com/johnaugust/status/1037773489510305792).
* Matt followed up with insight on [how murky rights keep movies in limbo](http://johnaugust.com/2018/its-mostly-about-underlying-rights).
* Even [Shari Lewis and Lamb Chop](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WxoYKt65vSQ), [12-year old Darcy Lynne on America’s Got Talent](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=rk_qLtk0m2c#) and [Avenue Q](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXnM1uHhsOI) can’t change Craig’s mind about ventriloquism.
* An [iPad stand](http://www.amazon.com/dp/B06XVFKYL5/?tag=johnaugustcom-20)
* [Awards Are Stupid](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8u-dxn8IgQo), Jerry Seinfeld’s acceptance speech for his HBO Comedian Award
* [The USB drives!](https://store.johnaugust.com/collections/frontpage/products/scriptnotes-300-episode-usb-flash-drive)
* [Aline Brosh McKenna](https://twitter.com/alinebmckenna) on Twitter
* [John August](https://twitter.com/johnaugust) on Twitter
* [Craig Mazin](https://twitter.com/clmazin) on Twitter
* [John on Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/johnaugust/?hl=en)
* [Find past episodes](http://scriptnotes.net/)
* [Scriptnotes Digital Seasons](https://store.johnaugust.com/) are also now available!
* [Outro](http://johnaugust.com/2013/scriptnotes-the-outros) by Luke Davis ([send us yours!](http://johnaugust.com/2014/outros-needed)).

Email us at ask@johnaugust.com

You can download the episode [here](http://traffic.libsyn.com/scriptnotes/scriptnotes_ep_367.mp3).

**UPDATE 9-19-18:** The transcript of this episode can be found [here](http://johnaugust.com/2018/scriptnotes-ep-367-one-year-later-transcript).

WGA Elections 2018

Citizenship, Film Industry, Scriptnotes, Transcribed, WGA

John and Craig discuss their choices for WGA Board Elections and misinformation about proposed revisions to the Screen Credits Manual.

Links:

* [WGA East Elections](https://www.wgaeast.org/for-members/2018-council-elections/2018-candidate-statements/)
* [Jonathan Fernandez](http://jonathanfwritersguildboardofdirectors.blogspot.com/)
* [Patti Carr](https://wgasolidarity.squarespace.com/patti-carr)
* Patric Verrone
* [Betsy Thomas](https://www.betsyt4wga.com/)
* [Travis Donnelly](https://www.donnellyforwga.com/)
* [Dante W. Harper](https://www.danteharperwga.com/)
* [Eric Heisserer](https://heisserer4wga.com/)
* [Deric Hughes](https://wgasolidarity.squarespace.com/deric-a-hughes)
* [David Slack](https://wgasolidarity.squarespace.com/david-slack)
* [Ashley Gable](https://wgasolidarity.squarespace.com/ashley-gable)
* [Spiro Skentzos](https://spiroskentzosforwga.wixsite.com/2018)
* [VJ Boyd](https://twitter.com/vjboyd?lang=en)
* [Deborah Amelon](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1pdYtGz-d8KV6-6qtFRIb3XHZSDxx3Fmq_8-sBShW68g/edit?ts=5b57d7ec)
* [WGA Sets Referendum On Proposed Changes To Its Screen Credits Manual – Update](https://deadline.com/2018/08/wga-screen-credits-manual-referendum-on-changes-1202453690/)
* [The USB drives!](https://store.johnaugust.com/collections/frontpage/products/scriptnotes-300-episode-usb-flash-drive)
* [John August](https://twitter.com/johnaugust) on Twitter
* [Craig Mazin](https://twitter.com/clmazin) on Twitter
* [John on Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/johnaugust/?hl=en)
* [Find past episodes](http://scriptnotes.net/)
* [Scriptnotes Digital Seasons](https://store.johnaugust.com/) are also now available!
* [Outro](http://johnaugust.com/2013/scriptnotes-the-outros) by Matthew Chilelli ([send us yours!](http://johnaugust.com/2014/outros-needed)).

Email us at ask@johnaugust.com

You can download the episode [here](http://traffic.libsyn.com/scriptnotes/scriptnotes_extra_WGA_elections_2018.mp3).

**UPDATE 9-18-18:** The transcript of this episode can be found [here](http://johnaugust.com/2018/scriptnotes-extra-WGA-Board-Elections-2018-transcript).