John August

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Creating a Visual Language

Episode - 464

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News, Scriptnotes, Transcribed

John talks with writer-director Lorene Scafaria and costume designer Mitchell Travers about their collaboration on Hustlers, and how to think visually about story.

We discuss locations, production design, cinematography, and choreography with a major focus on pre-production.

And in our bonus topic for premium members, John catches up with Mitchell seven months after our initial conversation.

Links:

* [Directors Close-Up: Tacky Fashion and the Visual Language of ‘Hustlers’ – Film Independent](https://www.filmindependent.org/blog/directors-close-up-tacky-fashion-and-the-visual-language-of-hustlers/)
* [Hustlers](https://www.hustlers.movie/)
* [Lorene Scafaria](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1032521/) and on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/lorenescafaria?lang=en)
* [Mitchell Travers](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm4095618/) and on [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/_mitchelltravers_/?hl=en)
* [Get a Scriptnotes T-shirt!](https://cottonbureau.com/people/scriptnotes-podcast)
* [John August](https://twitter.com/johnaugust) on Twitter
* [Craig Mazin](https://twitter.com/clmazin) on Twitter
* [John on Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/johnaugust/?hl=en)
* [Outro](http://johnaugust.com/2013/scriptnotes-the-outros) by Caden Brown ([send us yours!](http://johnaugust.com/2014/outros-needed))
* Scriptnotes is produced by Megana Rao and edited by Matthew Chilelli.

Email us at ask@johnaugust.com

You can download the episode [here](http://traffic.libsyn.com/scriptnotes/464standard.mp3).

**UPDATE 8-19-20** The transcript for this episode can now be found [here](https://johnaugust.com/2020/scriptnotes-episode-464-creating-a-visual-language-transcript).

Writing Action

Scriptnotes, Transcribed

John and Craig talk action! It’s an all-craft episode about how words on the page become high-adrenaline events on the screen.

We also follow up on WGA news and agency lay-offs.

In our bonus segment for premium members we try to discuss the Emmys but mostly talk about teenage girls’ obsession with Criminal Minds.

Links:

* [Action Scenes PDF](https://johnaugust.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Scriptnotes-463-action-samples-corrected.pdf) **←CORRECTED 8/20/2020**
* [Support Staff Emergency Relief Fund](https://actorsfund.org/am-i-eligible-help)
* [CAA Lays Off Agents and Employees](https://variety.com/2020/film/news/caa-major-layoffs-agents-staff-1234718628/)
* [WGA East and West members voted to approve the new contract](https://www.thewrap.com/wga-contract-ratified-with-overwhelming-approval-in-membership-vote/)
* [Good Sudoku](https://9to5mac.com/2020/07/23/good-sudoku-ios-app-launches-to-save-sudoku/)
* [Good Soduku App](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/id1489118195#?platform=iphone)
* [Ghosts of Tsushima](https://www.playstation.com/en-us/games/ghost-of-tsushima-ps4/)
* [Get a Scriptnotes T-shirt!](https://cottonbureau.com/people/scriptnotes-podcast)
* [John August](https://twitter.com/johnaugust) on Twitter
* [Craig Mazin](https://twitter.com/clmazin) on Twitter
* [John on Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/johnaugust/?hl=en)
* [Outro](http://johnaugust.com/2013/scriptnotes-the-outros) by Matthew Chilelli ([send us yours!](http://johnaugust.com/2014/outros-needed))
* Scriptnotes is produced by Megana Rao and edited by Matthew Chilelli.

Email us at ask@johnaugust.com

You can download the episode [here](http://traffic.libsyn.com/scriptnotes/463standard.mp3).

**UPDATE 8-10-20** The transcript for this episode can now be found [here](https://johnaugust.com/2020/scriptnotes-episode-463-writing-action-transcript).

Development Heck

Scriptnotes, Transcribed

John and Craig discuss the special purgatory that projects can get lost in and how to navigate your way out.

We also follow up on Assistant Pay, the 2020 WGA report, and Craig’s writing process for television.

Finally, in our bonus segment for premium members we discuss wine!

Links:

* [WME, Endeavor Content Increase Assistant Pay](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/wme-endeavor-content-increase-assistant-pay-1303933)
* [Nikki Finke in 2009 on WME Wages](https://deadline.com/2009/07/more-news-about-wme-assistant-pay-10760/)
* [The General, with Buster Keaton](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_General_(1926_film))
* [WGA 2020 Annual Report](https://www.wga.org/the-guild/about-us/annual-report)
* [Mythic Odysseys of Theros](https://bookshop.org/books/dungeons-dragons-mythic-odysseys-of-theros-d-d-campaign-setting-and-adventure-book/9780786967018)
* [Caddyshack 2](https://www.si.com/media/2020/07/24/caddyshack-2-worst-sequel-ever-inside-story)
* [Get a Scriptnotes T-shirt!](https://cottonbureau.com/people/scriptnotes-podcast)
* [John August](https://twitter.com/johnaugust) on Twitter
* [Craig Mazin](https://twitter.com/clmazin) on Twitter
* [John on Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/johnaugust/?hl=en)
* [Outro](http://johnaugust.com/2013/scriptnotes-the-outros) by Brendan Bergan ([send us yours!](http://johnaugust.com/2014/outros-needed))
* Scriptnotes is produced by Megana Rao and edited by Matthew Chilelli.

Email us at ask@johnaugust.com

You can download the episode [here](http://traffic.libsyn.com/scriptnotes/462standard.mp3).

**UPDATE 8-2-20** The transcript for this episode can now be found [here](https://johnaugust.com/2020/scriptnotes-episode-462-development-heck-transcript).

Getting TextExpander and WorkFlowy to play nicely

Geek Alert, Meta, Software

We use [WorkFlowy](http://workflowy.com) to outline Scriptnotes before we record. After 462 episodes, I finally decided to make a template for it so that I wasn’t typing it all from scratch every time. So I made a skeleton outline, which you can see [here](https://beta.workflowy.com/s/000-episode-title/9fdwp8NdYjZge65C).

Excited for the all time I was going to save, I copy-pasted the outline into [TextExpander](https://textexpander.com), the app I use for such things. ((TextExpander is fine, but I suspect there are other macro apps that work just as well or better. This technique should work with any of them.)) I assigned it an abbreviation and tried it in WorkFlowy.

It failed.

It pasted plain text, with none of the indentation and formatting I wanted.

Naturally, I tried to Google a solution, but nothing turned up. So I experimented with different options. It turns out the trick is to Export the template (using the three-dot menu on the left) and choose OMPL as the format.

workflowy export

You get text that looks like this:

workflowy opml

A mess, right? But it works.

Copy-paste it into TextExpander. When expanded into WorkFlowy, it’ll be properly indented and formatted.

For the record, the amount of time I spent figuring out and blogging this time-saving technique is now probably a wash.