John August

Words on the page

First sale and funny on the page

Episode - 84

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News, QandA, Random Advice, Rights and Copyright, Scriptnotes, Transcribed, Words on the page

Craig and John look at two recent court decisions that could have a big impact on how movies get sold and resold — and how writers get paid. First-Sale Doctrine is one of those intractable issues that involves freedom and control, bits and atoms, creators and consumers.

From there, we take a look at whether comedy is necessarily funny on the page, and why jokes can work or fail based on tiny details. Then we tackle productivity and happiness, concepts that may not be as directly related as you believe.

LINKS:

* [First-sale doctrine](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First-sale_doctrine) on Wikipedia
* [Reselling Digital Goods Is Copyright Infringement, Judge Rules](http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2013/04/reselling-digital-goods/) from Wired
* [Capitol Records LLC vs ReDigi Inc.](http://www.scribd.com/doc/133451611/Redigi-Capitol)
* New York times on [the ReDigi ruling](http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/02/business/media/redigi-loses-suit-over-reselling-of-digital-music.html?\_r=0)
* [Carl Lewis “sings” The Star-Spangled Banner](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJLvCM4j2mg)
* Jonas Maxwell’s [tips for singing the national anthem](http://www.jonasmaxwell.com/pages/index.cfm?pg=298)
* [BioShock Infinite](http://www.amazon.com/dp/B003O6E6NE/?tag=johnaugustcom-20) on Amazon.com
* How to [ask a question](http://johnaugust.com/ask-a-question)
* OUTRO: Leslie Nielsen (as Enrico Palazzo) [sings the national anthem](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73ZsDdK0sTI)

You can download the episode here: [AAC](http://traffic.libsyn.com/scriptnotes/scriptnotes_ep_84.m4a).

**UPDATE** 4-15-13: The transcript of this episode can be found [here](http://johnaugust.com/2013/scriptnotes-ep-84-first-sale-and-funny-on-the-page-transcript).

How screenwriters find their voice

Scriptnotes, Three Page Challenge, Transcribed, Words on the page

Aline Brosh McKenna joins John and Craig for a conversation about what writers mean by a “voice,” and how it develops.

For some screenwriters, their voice develops long before their craft, leading people to label them as “promising” even though the scripts themselves are a mess. Other writers get all the technical stuff right from the start, but have a hard time finding something distinctive about how they write.

From there, we segue into a look at three new Three Page Challenges, easily our most contentious session yet, with wildly split opinions.

All this and Craig’s confession in the new episode of Scriptnotes.

LINKS:

* [Aline Brosh McKenna](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0112459/) on IMDb, and her [first appearance on Scriptnotes](http://johnaugust.com/2012/the-black-list-and-a-stack-of-scenes)
* [Spy: The Funny Years](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001KZHGR4/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B001KZHGR4&linkCode=as2&tag=johnaugustcom-20)
* [Recitative](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recitative) on Wikipedia
* Three pages by [James Topham](http://johnaugust.com/Assets/JamesTopham.pdf)
* Three pages by [Cheryl Laughlin](http://johnaugust.com/Assets/CherylLaughlin.pdf)
* Three pages by [Chris Vieira](http://johnaugust.com/Assets/ChrisVieira.pdf)
* OUTRO: [Robot Love](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RqLIl6-1ZEU) by some youth ministry conference

You can download the episode here: [AAC](http://traffic.libsyn.com/scriptnotes/scriptnotes_ep_76.m4a).

**UPDATE** 2-17-13: The transcript of this episode can be found [here](http://johnaugust.com/2013/scriptnotes-ep-76-how-screenwriters-find-their-voice-transcript).

Present tension

Words on the page

While most fiction is written in the past tense, screenwriting is all about the present tense — including the present progressive, a topic I’ve [blogged about](http://johnaugust.com/2009/present-tense).

But not all prose fiction is written in the past tense. Robert Jackson Bennett looks at the benefits and drawbacks of [writing in the present tense](http://robertjacksonbennett.wordpress.com/2013/01/02/on-the-present-tense):

> The past tense actually separates the audience from what’s happening in the work they’re reading by making it so that the story has already happened. While you might not think about it, the past tense actually sets works in the past – there is a division of time between the audience and the work, in the same manner that there is a division in time between me and World War II. If I read about World War II, I am not experiencing World War II, I am merely hearing about it. I will never experience World War II: I will only have someone tell me what it was like.

> The present tense, to a certain extent, bypasses this division, or it simulates the feeling of bypassing it: you are witnessing something happening right now. Everything is immediate.

> […] It bypasses the fixed, static feeling of an event that has already happened, being told from a fixed narrator’s voice, and instead feeds you an experience that is currently ongoing.

That’s exactly why screenplays are written in the present tense. It’s not about what *did* happen; it’s what’s right in front of the audience.

Still, for traditional fiction, the present tense often feels wrong — too insistent, to in-your-face.

Bennett compares it to shaky-cam, but to me closer analogies would include the 48 frames version of The Hobbit or the sniffily live-sung close-ups of Tom Hooper’s Les Misérables. The hyper-reality either works for you or it doesn’t.

The Next 117 Pages

Adaptation, Follow Up, Formatting, QandA, Scriptnotes, Three Page Challenge, Transcribed, Words on the page

John and Craig talk about everything that comes after the oft-discussed First Three Pages, speculating on the kinds of issues they’d spot if they were looking at full scripts.

They also answer listener questions on topics ranging from proper spacing protocol to novelists rewriting their screenplay adaptations.

LINKS:

* [“The exception that proves the rule”](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exception_that_proves_the_rule) on Wikipedia
* Stuart’s post, [Learning from the Three Page Challenge](http://johnaugust.com/2012/learning-from-the-three-page-challenge)
* [Brining](http://www.cookingforengineers.com/article/70/Brining) on Cooking for Engineers
* [Cook’s Illustrated](http://www.cooksillustrated.com/)
* [Ticket to Ride](https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/ticket-to-ride/id432504470?mt=8) for iOS
* [German-style board games](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German-style_board_game) on Wikipedia
* INTRO: [Folger’s “Peter Comes Home for Christmas”](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4kNl7cQdcU)
* OUTRO: [Train Song](https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/train-song/id303463575?i=303463582) by Feist and Ben Gibbard on iTunes

You can download the episode here: [AAC](http://traffic.libsyn.com/scriptnotes/scriptnotes_ep_65.m4a).

**UPDATE** 11-29-12: The transcript of this episode can be found [here](http://johnaugust.com/2012/scriptnotes-ep-65-the-next-117-pages-transcript).