John August

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Setups That Don’t Feel Like Setups

Episode - 693

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Scriptnotes

John and Craig plant the idea for setups that have the most satisfying payoffs. Different from exposition, setups introduce ideas and concepts to an audience, priming them for a later revelation. They look at the sleight of hand required to have your setups deftly planted, take root in your audience’s mind, and grow into something delightful.

But first, we look at the new California tax credits, the 2025 WGA annual report, follow up on AI and VFX, postmodernism, and verticals. We also answer listener questions on music videos and outing yourself to potential employers.

In our bonus segment for premium members, John and Craig look at the New York Times’ new list of the 100 best movies of the 21st century. We all know Craig loves pitting movies against each other, so there’s definitely no umbrage here.

Links:

Email us at ask@johnaugust.com

You can download the episode here.

UPDATE 7-23-25: The transcript for this episode can be found here.

Constructing a great action sequence

Formatting, Video, Words on the page

On Scriptnotes, we often explore craft topics, looking at the specific choices writers make on the page. But there’s an obvious challenge when discussing visual storytelling in an audio medium.

That’s why for the most recent Scripnotes video, I wanted to revisit my conversation with Christina Hodson on writing action sequences. In this new format, we can see both the finished scene and the script pages behind it:

Thanks to Sam Shapson and producer Drew Marquardt for putting this together!

Crafting the Perfect Villain

Scriptnotes, Transcribed

In this craft compendium, John and Craig take a look at everything you need to make your bad guys compelling, memorable, and the perfect antagonist for your story. Using some favorite villains as examples, they look at the importance of understanding their motivations and offer seven tips for making a villain unforgettable.

We also take a look at lackeys, henchmen and making sure your evil organizations are believable.

In our bonus segment for premium members, John and Craig shift their focus to monsters, and why even though those scary creatures are dangerous, they’re not always the villain.

Links:

Email us at ask@johnaugust.com

You can download the episode here.

UPDATE 7-16-25: The transcript for this episode can be found here.

Collaborative Storytelling and RPGs

Scriptnotes, Transcribed

John and Craig welcome author Stu Horvath to look at the rich history of tabletop role playing games. From Stu’s collection of over 2300 RPGs, they look at the evolution of collaborative storytelling, interactive narrative design, and the communities of players they inspire.

We also discuss the complicated influences of J.R.R. Tolkien and H.P. Lovecraft on the world of D&D, and how the need to escape their derivative influences pushed RPGs to new heights of world-building and storytelling.

In our bonus segment for premium members, Stu leads us down down down to discuss a surprisingly recent narrative staple: dungeons.

Links:

Email us at ask@johnaugust.com

You can download the episode here.

UPDATE 7-7-25: The transcript for this episode can be found here.