John August

Story and Plot

Development Emergencies

Follow Up, Producers, Story and Plot, Writer Emergency

[Vineet Dewan](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0223528/), who was nice enough to co-star in the Kickstarter video for Writer Emergency Pack, decided to film his own version pitched at [development executives](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0z4judce0H0):

So, yeah. Sigh. I can imagine Writer Emergency Pack being used this way, as a shortcut to actual notes about an actual script. But these wouldn’t be the worst notes I’ve gotten in a meeting. ((The worst note I got was, “She should be a flight attendant. Women aren’t airline pilots. It’s unrealistic.” This was from a female producer.))

If pulling a card from a deck fosters a good discussion about the script, at least it’s about the story and not useless minutiae.

Meanwhile, the real Writer Emergency Pack is [roaring ahead on Kickstarter](http://kck.st/1obEMOQ). With 10 days to go, it’s fully funded, with 2,400 backers. Huge thanks to everyone who’s joined us.

Austin Forever

Episode - 168

Go to Archive

Directors, Film Industry, QandA, Scriptnotes, Story and Plot, Television, Transcribed, Words on the page

John and guest host Susannah Grant sit down with Richard Kelly, Cary Fukunaga, Peter Gould, Dan Sterling and Mike Birbiglia to discuss the role of a writer/director, the wonder of television, and the purpose of table reads.

Then it’s questions from the audience: How do you know you’ve found your third act? How does one become confident? Does impostor syndrome ever go away?

This episode was recorded live at St. David’s Episcopal Church as a certified blasphemy-free part of the 2014 Austin Film Festival.

Links:

* The [Austin Film Festival](http://www.austinfilmfestival.com/)
* Susannah Grant [on IMDb](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0335666/), and Scriptnotes episodes [144](http://johnaugust.com/2014/the-summer-superhero-spectacular) and [145](http://johnaugust.com/2014/qa-from-the-superhero-spectacular)
* John’s picture of [St. David’s Episcopal Church](https://twitter.com/johnaugust/status/526058899796148224)
* Help is on the way at [writeremergency.com](http://www.writeremergency.com/)
* Richard Kelly [on IMDb](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0446819/), [Twitter](https://twitter.com/JRichardKelly), and Scriptnotes [118](http://johnaugust.com/2013/time-travel-with-richard-kelly), [123](http://johnaugust.com/2013/scriptnotes-holiday-spectacular) and [124](http://johnaugust.com/2013/qa-from-the-holiday-spectacular)
* Cary Fukunaga [on IMDb](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1560977/)
* Peter Gould [on IMDb](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0332467/) and [Twitter](https://twitter.com/petergould)
* Dan Sterling [on IMDb](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1003839/) and [Twitter](https://twitter.com/dansterl)
* Mike Birbiglia’s [site](http://birbigs.com/), and [on IMDb](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1898126/), [Twitter](https://twitter.com/birbigs) and Scriptnotes episode [121](http://johnaugust.com/2013/my-girlfriends-boyfriends-screenwriter)
* Charlie Kaufman’s [BAFTA speech](http://guru.bafta.org/charlie-kaufman-screenwriters-lecture), and Scriptnotes episode [18](http://johnaugust.com/2012/zen-and-the-angst-of-kaufman)
* [Birdman](http://www.foxsearchlight.com/birdman/) is in theaters now
* [Serial](http://serialpodcast.org/) is a new podcast from the creators of This American Life
* [Outro](http://johnaugust.com/2013/scriptnotes-the-outros) by Scriptnotes listener Peter Rinaldi ([send us yours!](http://johnaugust.com/2014/outros-needed))

You can download the episode here: [AAC](http://traffic.libsyn.com/scriptnotes/scriptnotes_ep_168.m4a) | [mp3](http://traffic.libsyn.com/scriptnotes/scriptnotes_ep_168.mp3).

**UPDATE 11-4-14:** The transcript of this episode can be found [here](http://johnaugust.com/2014/scriptnotes-ep-168-austin-forever-transcript).

Writer Emergency Pack, now in pre-launch

Story and Plot, Writer Emergency, Writing Process

As I mentioned on the podcast yesterday, we’re getting close to launching a new project called Writer Emergency Pack.

The cover looks like this:

header graphic

As the name suggests, it’s designed as a survival tool for writers. It’s not an app or a book. It’s more like a crowbar for getting unstuck. It’s for screenwriters, novelists, playwrights, students, writing teachers — anyone who deals with story.

We’ve actually been developing it on-and-off for four years, but it became real in the last six weeks. We’ve had a fun time showing prototypes to other writers and gathering feedback. It’s gonna be cool.

Because it’s a physical thing, we’ve had to plan and budget much more carefully than we do with our digital stuff. Atoms scale differently than bits. Make too few, and you run out. Make too many, and you’re sitting on boxes of inventory. Figuring out how to actually make and ship something like this is easily half the job.

When we launch — sometime after Halloween — there will be a short order window to get into the initial run. To make sure no one misses out, we’ve set up a mailing list to let writers know the moment it’s available.

If you’re at all curious, I’d advise you to sign up at [Writer Emergency](http://writeremergency.com) today.

You can also follow on Twitter, [@writeremergency](http://twitter.com/writeremergency). (Tweet ‘Help’ for a teaser.)

Ghost

Genres, Scriptnotes, Story and Plot, Transcribed

Craig loves the 1990 blockbuster Ghost. John? Ditto. Written by Bruce Joel Rubin and directed by Jerry Zucker, Ghost set the template for the modern romantic drama. It was Twilight before Twilight, Titanic before Titanic. It won hearts, weekends and Oscars, including best screenplay.

We tackle Ghost scene-by-scene, imagining all the terrible notes that must have come up in development, and how fixing some of the film’s shortcomings would have created new problems. Ghost isn’t perfect, but it’s remarkably good — and worth taking a closer look.

Links:

* Our episodes on [Raiders of the Lost Ark](http://johnaugust.com/2013/raiders-of-the-lost-ark), [The Little Mermaid](http://johnaugust.com/2013/the-little-mermaid), [Frozen](http://johnaugust.com/2014/frozen-with-jennifer-lee) and [Groundhog Day](http://johnaugust.com/2014/groundhog-day)
* New shirts are [available for pre-order now through September 30th in the John August Store](http://store.johnaugust.com/)
* [Get tickets now](http://www.slate.com/live/la-culturefest.html) for October 8th’s live Slate Culture Gabfest with guests John and Craig
* Planet Money’s [T-Shirt Project](http://www.npr.org/series/248799434/planet-moneys-t-shirt-project) and the [Planet Money Makes a T-Shirt web app](http://apps.npr.org/tshirt/#/title)
* Get premium Scriptnotes access at [scriptnotes.net](http://scriptnotes.net/) and hear our 1,000th subscriber special
* Ghost on [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghost_(1990_film)), [IMDb](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0099653/), [Netflix](http://www.netflix.com/WiMovie/60010395?strkid=619431081_0_0&trkid=222336&movieid=60010395), [Amazon](http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001B2CPH2/?tag=johnaugustcom-20) and [iTunes](https://itunes.apple.com/us/movie/ghost/id218725367)
* Ghost on [Box Office Mojo](http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=ghost.htm)
* Reviews by [Peter Travers](http://www.rollingstone.com/movies/reviews/ghost-19900713) and [Roger Ebert](http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/ghost-1990)
* [In the Blink of an Eye](http://www.amazon.com/dp/1879505622/?tag=johnaugustcom-20) by Walter Murch
* [Outro](http://johnaugust.com/2013/scriptnotes-the-outros) by Scriptnotes editor Matthew Chilelli ([send us yours!](http://johnaugust.com/2014/outros-needed))

You can download the episode here: [AAC](http://traffic.libsyn.com/scriptnotes/scriptnotes_ep_163.m4a) | [mp3](http://traffic.libsyn.com/scriptnotes/scriptnotes_ep_163.mp3).

**UPDATE 9-25-14:** The transcript of this episode can be found [here](http://johnaugust.com/2014/scriptnotes-ep-163-ghost-transcript).