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General meetings don’t have to be general

August 21, 2020 Film Industry, Pitch Session, Producers, Psych 101

I like this advice from Jeff Nathanson:

It took me well over a decade to realize that general meetings are only general if I allowed them to be. And so, I changed my approach. I figured as long as I’m putting on a clean shirt and meeting with people who have the ability to hire me, I might as well try like hell to get a job.

I started to prepare for every general as if it would be my last. I would tailor a short pitch for specific executives (even when I was told not to pitch an idea). I would do my research, find out what movies they had in production, what scripts they were struggling with.

I asked questions, tried to cut through the general conversation and discuss passion projects. I asked studio executives about obscure titles they had in their library. And suddenly I started walking out with scripts under my arms, books to read, magazine articles they had optioned.

This approach makes even more sense in the age of Zoom. You need to be able to move pretty quickly from chit-chat to what you’d like to write, be it a property they control or something of your own.

This isn’t the time for a full pitch, but rather to frame an idea. “I really love heist movies. I’m working on one set on a super tanker. I’ve gone deep down the rabbit hole of research on it.”

Splitting the Party

Episode - 383

Go to Archive

January 15, 2019 Adaptation, Arlo Finch, Big Fish, Film Industry, Follow Up, Genres, News, Producers, QandA, Rights and Copyright, Scriptnotes, Story and Plot, Transcribed, Travel, Treatments

John and Craig talk about the trope of “Never split the party,” and why, as a writer, you often want and need to divide up your characters to better explore relationships, propel the story forward, give actors something to do, and simply fit everyone in the frame.

We also follow up on screenwriting scams, sequences, websites, and liking things that others don’t.

Links:

  • Join us for the WGA’s Princess Bride screening on January 27th.
  • You can catch John on Studio 360.
  • “Let’s Split Up the Gang” and “Never Split the Party” are topical TV tropes.
  • Watch Patton Oswalt when he’s not being utilized in a big scene.
  • Scriptnotes, Ep 381: Double Ampersand with Fran Walsh, Peter Jackson and Philippa Boyens
  • Big Fish sequence outline
  • Sarah Silverman recording Slaughter Race, music by Alan Menken, lyrics by Phil Johnston and Tom MacDougall
  • TripIt
  • This Is Your Brain On Pot
  • You can now preorder the next Arlo Finch
  • T-shirts are available here! We’ve got new designs, including Colored Revisions, Karateka, and Highland2.
  • John August on Twitter
  • Craig Mazin on Twitter
  • John on Instagram
  • Find past episodes
  • Scriptnotes Digital Seasons are also now available!
  • Outro by Matthew Chilelli (send us yours!)

Email us at ask@johnaugust.com

You can download the episode here.

UPDATE 1-23-2019: The transcript of this episode can be found here.

Professional Realism

January 8, 2019 Arlo Finch, Books, Directors, Film Industry, Genres, How-To, Pitches, Producers, QandA, Scriptnotes, Story and Plot, Television, Transcribed, WGA, Words on the page, Writing Process

John welcomes Derek Haas (Chicago Fire, 3:10 to Yuma, 2 Fast 2 Furious) to talk about writing accurate portrayals of different jobs, and when to sacrifice reality for storytelling. They also share their time-management strategies in honor of those New Year resolutions to get writing done.

We also answer listener questions about the necessity of entertainment lawyers, how to keep your energy high pitch after pitch, Story By credits, and how to stay alive after that first staff writing job ends.

Links:

  • Thank you, Derek Haas!
  • Join us for the WGA’s Princess Bride screening on January 27th. Seating opens up to non-WGA members 15 minutes before showtime.
  • How Hollywood Gets the Publishing Industry Wrong by Sloane Crosley, author of I Was Told There’d Be Cake, for The New York Times
  • Is Grover swearing in this video? This is Christian DiCanio’s blog post about it.
  • David Kwong’s The Enigmatist
  • Holding down the spacebar on a text so you can move the cursor more accurately on an iPhone.
  • T-shirts are available here! We’ve got new designs, including Colored Revisions, Karateka, and Highland2.
  • John August on Twitter
  • Craig Mazin on Twitter
  • Derek Haas on Twitter
  • John on Instagram
  • Find past episodes
  • Scriptnotes Digital Seasons are also now available!
  • Outro by James Llonch and Jim Bond (send us yours!)

Email us at ask@johnaugust.com

You can download the episode here.

UPDATE 2-12-19: The transcript of this episode can be found here.

Double Ampersand

December 25, 2018 Adaptation, Books, Directors, Film Industry, Genres, Producers, QandA, Scriptnotes, Story and Plot, Transcribed, WGA, Writing Process

John sits down with Fran Walsh, Peter Jackson and Philippa Boyens to discuss their new film Mortal Engines, and their approach to writing as a team, worldbuilding, and rewriting through production, because one does not simply walk into Mordor.

We also answer audience questions about the difference between ideas for television and movies, and working through dialogue out loud.

Links:

  • Thanks to Fran Walsh, Peter Jackson and Philippa Boyens!
  • Mortal Engines is in theaters now.
  • Mortal Engines is based on the book series by Philip Reeve.
  • T-shirts are available here! We’ve got new designs, including Colored Revisions, Karateka, and Highland2.
  • John August on Twitter
  • John on Instagram
  • Find past episodes
  • Scriptnotes Digital Seasons are also now available!
  • Outro by Matt Davis (send us yours!)

Email us at ask@johnaugust.com

You can download the episode here.

UPDATE 1-2-19: The transcript of this episode can be found here.

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