John August

Television

Making The Midnight Coterie of Sinister Intruders

Directors, Television

Saturday Night Live’s Alex Buono details how they shot one of my favorite bits this year, the Wes Anderson-ian parody trailer for “The Midnight Coterie of Sinister Intruders.” Good ideas [only get you so far](http://www.alex-buono.com/how-we-did-it-snl-the-midnight-coterie-of-sinister-intruders/):

> Wes Anderson is one of the most idiosyncratic filmmakers of our time; his style is so unique that you might think it would be easy to satirize. But here’s the problem: turns out everyone has a different opinion about what MOST distinguishes Wes Anderson’s style. Is it the limited color palette? Flat space camera moves? Symmetrical compositions? Snap-zooms? Twee, hand-crafted art direction? Slow-motion walking shots? Clearly it’s all of those things and more, but within the limited context of a trailer, which are the most important signatures to include? And within a subculture as film-literate as the writers and producers of SNL, we were surrounded by astute Wes Anderson connoisseurs. Suddenly this spot had morphed from something I was dying to shoot into something I was terrified to shoot!

It’s a great example of how an idea that starts with the writing (in this case by John Solomon, Rob Klein, Chris Kelly and Sarah Schneider) has to be matched by execution at every step. I always urge screenwriters to read American Cinematographer for how-they-did-it details. Buono’s recap provides a nice snapshot of how challenging it really is, particularly when you’re facing a hard deadline.

> If I haven’t adequately expressed how long and complicated this shoot had become, let me headline it: I was on stage at 10am Friday morning with Rhys (director) and Justus McLarty (producer) along with Andrea (art director) to walk through/tweak the sets as they were being painted. The animation unit started their day at 3pm and (somehow) had a finished shot by 3am. Meanwhile our night exterior crew arrived at 2pm, our stage crew arrived at 5pm and we all finally wrapped at 7am. Saturday morning. As in: the day of the show.

The final result is worth it:

Solitude and getting stuff written

Psych 101, Television, Writing Process

American Psycho screenwriter Guinevere Turner doesn’t want to talk to you, [not when she’s writing](http://www.filmmakingstuff.com/screenwriting-advice/):

> For me, it’s about morning, quiet, solitude and no Internet to plug me into the cacophony until I have written something. Also about not having a conversation with anyone. Which might be why I am single. I have often woken up to a person next to me who says in a sleepy affectionate way “Hey – what are you up today?” and I answer but all I am thinking is “You killed it! It’s over! Now I can’t write today.”

Kelly Marcel said something similar at AFF. She wants to go straight from bed to writing, no words spoken except on the page. If that helps, try it.

Turner points out that writing for TV forces you to rethink your process:

> Working in TV was great for me though, because I learned to get over myself and just get the damn thing done. In film, you can lie on your chaise lounge with a Garbo-esque hand to the forehead and claim that you “Just don’t feel inspired today” and get away with it for a bit – in TV you either finish the script when you are told to, or you are fired. And there’s a line of people around the block who are ready to do your job.

I know and adore Turner from Outfest Labs, where we advise screenwriters on their scripts. She’s in fundraising mode for her next project, [Creeps](http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/creeps-a-darkly-comedic-feature-by-guinevere-turner), for which she’s offering a range of perks including notes sessions. She’s smart, tough and thoughtful, exactly the kind of person you’d want reading your script.

Ender’s Game, one-hours and alt-jokes

Episode - 104

Go to Archive

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

John and Craig discuss the impact of author Orson Scott Card’s personal toxicity on Ender’s Game, and what it means for that movie and how it will affect studio decisions moving forward.

That, plus alternate jokes, One Cool Things, and a Golden Ticket-inspired discussion on one hour spec pilots.

LINKS:

* The [Ender’s Game](http://www.if-sentinel.com/) movie
* AV Club on [Orson Scott Card’s recent comments](http://www.avclub.com/articles/oh-hey-orson-scott-card-also-wrote-about-obama-bec,101703/)
* Big Fish’s Zachary Unger [sings the National Athem](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oEnK734bIpg) at this weekend’s Jets game
* [Happy Endings script pages](http://www.uproxx.com/tv/2013/07/a-happy-endings-writer-tweeted-a-bunch-of-rejected-jokes-after-the-show-officially-ended/) with alternate jokes
* [Portlandia](http://www.ifc.com/shows/portlandia) on IFC
* [Microsoft Sculpt](http://www.theverge.com/2013/8/13/4617468/microsoft-sculpt-keyboard-and-mouse-aim-for-ergonomic-cool) ergonomic keyboard (from [@jeremycohen](https://twitter.com/jeremymcohen/status/367453556967620609))
* If you’re coming to Big Fish on Broadway, [email](mailto:ask@johnaugust.com) or [tweet](https://twitter.com/johnaugust) us to let us know!
* And feel free to [Tweet Craig](https://twitter.com/clmazin), too. But no lists.
* Outro by Scriptnotes listener Olivia Neutron Bomb

You can download the episode here: [AAC](http://traffic.libsyn.com/scriptnotes/scriptnotes_ep_104.m4a) | [mp3](http://traffic.libsyn.com/scriptnotes/scriptnotes_ep_104.mp3).

**UPDATE** 8-22-13: The transcript of this episode can be found [here](http://johnaugust.com/2013/scriptnotes-ep-104-enders-game-one-hours-and-alt-jokes-transcript).

101: Q&A from the live show

Genres, QandA, Rights and Copyright, Scriptnotes, Story and Plot, Television, Words on the page, Writing Process

In this special bonus edition, John and Craig answer listener questions from the 100th episode with help from guests Rawson Thurber and Aline Brosh McKenna.

LINKS:

* [Scriptnotes, the 100th episode](http://johnaugust.com/2013/scriptnotes-the-100th-episode)
* [Aline Brosh McKenna](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0112459/) on IMDb, and her [first](http://johnaugust.com/2012/the-black-list-and-a-stack-of-scenes) and [second](http://johnaugust.com/2013/how-screenwriters-find-their-voice) appearances on Scriptnotes
* [Rawson Thurber](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1098493/) on IMDb
* Go see [We’re the Millers](http://werethemillers.warnerbros.com/) on August 7th!
* [Fair use](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_use) on Wikipedia
* The Slate [Political Gabfest](http://www.slate.com/articles/podcasts/gabfest.html)
* John on [Mohr Stories](http://mohrstories.libsyn.com/mohr-stories-53-john-august), [The Talk Show](http://www.muleradio.net/thetalkshow/7/) with John Gruber, Brett Terpstra’s [Systematic](http://5by5.tv/systematic/30), and Moisés Chiullan’s [Screen Time](http://5by5.tv/screentime/13)
* [The Winds of War](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Winds_of_War_(miniseries)) on Wikipedia
* Outro by Scriptnotes listener [Seth Podowitz](http://www.musictomedia.com/)

You can download the episode here: [AAC](http://traffic.libsyn.com/scriptnotes/scriptnotes_ep_101.m4a) | [mp3](http://traffic.libsyn.com/scriptnotes/scriptnotes_ep_101.mp3).

**UPDATE** 8-6-13: The transcript of this episode can be found [here](http://johnaugust.com/2013/scriptnotes-ep-101-qa-from-the-live-show-transcript).