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John August

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QandA

Keeping motivation after four drafts

January 14, 2005 QandA, Writing Process

Read it as if some other, lamer screenwriter wrote it. What would you do differently? Then, do that.

Character depth in a short film

January 13, 2005 QandA, Words on the page

Most successful shorts don’t spend much of their time filling in the details about their characters. Strive for economy.

Writing about what you don’t know

January 12, 2005 QandA, Writing Process

If screenwriters only wrote about subjects they knew intimately, most screenplays would be about Tetris, television or getting picked last for team sports.

Other interests and hobbies

December 30, 2004 First Person, QandA

Do you play guitar, or do some other type of hobby in order to get inspiration for your writing? — Jesse Leal I don’t play guitar, though I’ve always wanted to learn. I tried to teach myself on my father’s guitar, but never even mastered tuning it, which made the rest of the process painful […]

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