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  • Best of Outlines, Agents and Good Boy Syndrome
    Episode – 70 | Jan 1, 2013
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    Craig and John start the year with a look back at three very early episodes not currently on iTunes, discussing outlines, agents and the Good Boy Syndrome.

  • Eggnog and Dreadlock Santa
    Episode – 69 | Dec 25, 2012
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    It’s Christmas, so John and Craig are exchanging the gift of answers, tackling listener questions on topics ranging from musical books to punch-up sessions.

  • Talking Austen in Austin
    Episode – 68 | Dec 18, 2012
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    Craig and John chat with Lindsay Doran, a producer and former studio exec who’s made terrific movies, ranging from Sense and Sensibility to Stranger than Fiction.

  • The air duct of backstory
    Episode – 67 | Dec 11, 2012
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    John and Craig talk about perspective — both within a scene and the overall story. It’s not always obvious to the reader which characters are in the driver’s seat, so it falls on the screenwriter to make that clear.

  • One-step deals, and how to read a script
    Episode – 66 | Dec 4, 2012
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    Craig and John look at the logic and fallacies of one-step deals for screenwriters, along with advice on reading screenplays and enjoying Skyfall.

  • The Next 117 Pages
    Episode – 65 | Nov 27, 2012
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    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.

  • Dramedy, deadlines and dating your writing partner
    Episode – 64 | Nov 20, 2012
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    Screenwriters Abby Kohn and Marc Silverstein sit down with John and Craig to talk about writing movies, writing television and writing together.

  • The Mystery of the Js
    Episode – 63 | Nov 13, 2012
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    Craig and John dive back into the Three Page Challenge entries, along with an overview of the 500+ contenders that have been submitted.

  • We’re all Disney princesses now
    Episode – 62 | Nov 6, 2012
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    John and Craig discuss the big movie news of the week: Disney buying Lucasfilm, and with it, the rights to Star Wars.

  • Alt-universe panels
    Episode – 61 | Oct 30, 2012
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    Craig and John ret-con the Austin Film Festival, placing themselves on panels in which they didn’t participate. It’s a chance to give the answers they would have given without the bother of moderators (and other people’s opinions).

  • The Black List, and a stack of scenes
    Episode – 60 | Oct 23, 2012
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    Recording live at the Austin Film Festival, John and Craig take a look at The Black List’s pivot to a paid site, and what it means for screenwriters and the industry. Black List creator Franklin Leonard joins us for questions and criticism, as well as screenwriter Aline Brosh McKenna.

  • Plot holes, and the myth of perseveraversity
    Episode – 59 | Oct 16, 2012
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    John and Craig discuss Frankenweenie and Superhero! before cracking open the mailbox to answer listener questions.

  • Writing your very first screenplay
    Episode – 58 | Oct 9, 2012
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    In the spirit of Looper, Craig and John take a journey back in time, looking at the first scripts they read, the first scripts they wrote, and the common pitfalls of many first screenplays.

  • What is a movie idea?
    Episode – 57 | Oct 2, 2012
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    John and Craig discuss what makes an idea a movie idea, and how those differ from TV ideas, book ideas, and other narrative forms.

  • Gorilla City and the Kingdom of Toads
    Episode – 56 | Sep 25, 2012
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    John and Craig talk about the new show John sold to ABC, which leads to a conversation about the differences between studios and networks, and how writers end up having relationships with both.

  • Producers and pitching
    Episode – 55 | Sep 18, 2012
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    What’s the difference between a reader and a producer? Much more than one high-profile online reader seems to believe. John and Craig discuss what producers do, and how one plausibly gets started.

  • Eight Reasonable Questions about Screenwriting
    Episode – 54 | Sep 11, 2012
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    John and Craig tackle eight questions on the profession of screenwriting, ranging from studio execs to sharing credit to pitching via video.

  • Action is more than just gunfights and car chases
    Episode – 53 | Sep 4, 2012
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    John and Craig are all action this week, looking at how screenwriters write those things characters do in a movie.

  • Grammar, guns and butter
    Episode – 52 | Aug 28, 2012
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    Craig and John celebrate one year of the podcast by going H.A.M. on the passive voice, the present progressive and reductive nonsense rules.

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    Each week, screenwriters John August and Craig Mazin discuss screenwriting and things that are interesting to screenwriters, everything from the craft to the business to the best ways to get yourself writing.

    The most recent 20 episodes are available for free on this site and Apple Podcasts. The entire 430+ episode back catalog, plus bonus content and episodes, are available to Premium Subscribers.

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