John August

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Weekend Read gains new powers, new scripts

Apps, Highland, Weekend Read

[product photo](http://highland.quoteunquoteapps.com/wr-blog) Weekend Read has an update in the App Store today. Version 1.0.2 greatly improves PDF reading and adds a lot of new content. It’s free, so [go get it.](https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/weekend-read/id502725173?mt=8)

[As promised](http://johnaugust.com/2014/weekend-read-learning-from-launch), this release tackles issues with screenplay PDFs originating in Celtx and Fade In, and has much better support for A4 paper sizes and international characters.

We also worked with The Black List ([blcklst.com](http://www.blcklst.com)) to allow members to read watermarked scripts inside the app.

If you have script that didn’t look right under the old build, delete it and load it back into your library. There’s a good chance it will work now.

Ripping apart and reassembling PDFs is an imperfect art, so we’ll never be able to read every screenplay PDF. ((Some PDFs are nothing but images, while others use watermarks that deliberately prevent text-parsing. And some are odd for their own odd reasons, such as Asghar Farhadi’s script for The Past. It looks normal to the human eye, but under the hood it’s anything but.)) But this build gets us closer than ever. And because Weekend Read shares code with [Highland](https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/highland/id499329572?mt=12), these improvements will carry over to the next build of our flagship Mac app, which should be out soon.

While bug fixes are great, I’m most excited about our new content.

###Filling the shelves

A great reader needs great writing, so we rebuilt the For Your Consideration section in a way that lets us add new material — new scripts, new outlines, entire new categories — in real time. We’ll use this ability to feature both established screenwriters and folks you’ve never heard of. And because so much of the best writing is happening in television, we will regularly include pilots and series as Featured Shows.

– Our first Featured Writer is Rian Johnson, who brings us his scripts for Brick, Looper and The Brothers Bloom.

– Our first Featured Show is Hannibal, offering all the scripts from the first season, courtesy of show creator Bryan Fuller.

– We’ve also included the transcripts for every episode of [Scriptnotes](https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/scriptnotes-podcast/id462495496?mt=2).

Our plan is to add and replace content frequently, so if you find something you like, make sure to add it to your library so it doesn’t disappear on you.

One final note: As a developer, one downside to frequent app updates is that each new build hides the reviews from earlier users. So if you love Weekend Read, please consider [leaving us a review](https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/weekend-read/id502725173?mt=8), even if you already did for version 1.0.1.

Thanks, and enjoy the read.

Outros needed

Follow Up

Every episode of Scriptnotes starts with the same five notes:

Beginning with episode 98, every episode ends with a new listener-created outro, each one a variation on that same five-note theme.

We’ve had some amazing outros, both because our listeners are geniuses and the basic melody is so adaptable. You can [hear all of them here](http://johnaugust.com/2013/scriptnotes-the-outros).

Our stockpile of outros has started to wane, so consider this an official call for entries. If you’d like to submit one of your own, send a link to ask@johnaugust.com. SoundCloud is terrific if you use it, but you can also attach an mp3. ((If you use SoundCloud, be sure to enable downloading. Also tag your entry as Scriptnotes so users can find it.))

While we’ve had a wide range of styles, I can think of a few variants no one has submitted:

– an Old West theme
– anything baroque
– Gregorian chanting
– something like [The Clapping Song](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=76EO3PQHzKw&list=RD76EO3PQHzKw#t=12)
– the style of Aaron Copland
– the style of Danny Elfman (surprising, really)

Some of my favorite outros are riffs on familiar movie themes. Matthew Chilelli has done two. The first one in the style of Close Encounters:

The second one was for our Frozen episode:

I can imagine some other promising movie-homage riffs, if anyone cares to try:

– the flute melody from Alien
– the violin theme from The Godfather
– “Everything is Awesome” from the LEGO movie
– the Downton Abbey theme
– the Harry Potter theme
– every James Bond title song

The best outros we get are short, usually about 30 seconds. They quickly establish the stylistic idea, then weave in the five-note melody, before getting to a smart conclusion. The endings are especially important. We avoid fading out if we can.

So Many Questions

Episode - 134

Go to Archive

Film Industry, QandA, Scriptnotes, Transcribed, Words on the page

John has questions about the questions Craig answered on his Reddit AMA, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg as we answer six great listener questions:

– What’s the deal with the “mystery insider” Twitter accounts?
– Can a screenwriter use the n-word?
– If we had to start from scratch, what would we do?
– What did we mean by “lens selection?”
– To CONT’D, or not to CONT’D?
– Starting over after big life events.

Also, a reminder to Oscar winners: if you’re going to thank the creative team, don’t neglect to thank the screenwriter.

LINKS:

* [If/Then](http://www.ifthenthemusical.com/), a new musical starring Idina Menzel
* The Wrap on [the rift between Steve McQueen and John Ridley](http://www.thewrap.com/oscars-rift-fight-john-ridley-steve-mcqueen-12-years-a-slave)
* [Craig’s AMA on Reddit](http://www.reddit.com/r/Screenwriting/comments/1z8m5z/im_craig_mazin_im_a_screenwriter_ama/)
* Accidental Tech Podcast [episode 54](http://atp.fm/episodes/54-goto-fail), in which they discuss our [Final Draft episode](http://johnaugust.com/2014/the-one-with-the-guys-from-final-draft), and their follow-up on [episode 55](http://atp.fm/episodes/55-dave-who-stinks)
* [Floppy Music (Tainted Love)](http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=nOMX3deeW6Q)
* [Spritz for speed-reading](http://www.spritzinc.com/#)
* [Outro](http://johnaugust.com/2013/scriptnotes-the-outros) by Scriptnotes listener Jakob Freudenthal

You can download the episode here: [AAC](http://traffic.libsyn.com/scriptnotes/scriptnotes_ep_134.m4a) | [mp3](http://traffic.libsyn.com/scriptnotes/scriptnotes_ep_134.mp3).

**UPDATE** 3-14-14: The transcript of this episode can be found [here](http://johnaugust.com/2014/scriptnotes-ep-134-so-many-questions-transcript).

Groundhog Day

Scriptnotes, Story and Plot, Transcribed

John and Craig pay their respects to Harold Ramis with an episode devoted entirely to Groundhog Day.

Ramis and co-writer Danny Rubin fashioned a deceptively simple story that upended expectations and essentially created a new genre of supernatural predicament comedies. Often imitated but never surpassed, Groundhog Day is smarter than you remember, cleverly side-stepping logic traps to explore deeper philosophical questions.

So grab your toaster and give Ned Ryerson a hug. It’s time to relive Groundhog Day.

Links:

* Chicago Tribune’s [Harold Ramis obituary](http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2014-02-24/entertainment/chi-harold-ramis-dead-20140224_1_harold-ramis-chicago-actor-second-city)
* Ramis on [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harold_Ramis)
* Groundhog Day on [Amazon](http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000SP1SH6/?tag=johnaugustcom-20) and [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Groundhog_Day_(film))
* [How to Write Groundhog Day](http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0072PEV6U/?tag=johnaugustcom-20) by Danny Rubin
* [Warner Bros. Logo Design Evolution](http://annyas.com/screenshots/warner-bros-logo/) compiled by Christian Annyas
* [Shogun](http://www.amazon.com/dp/0440178002/?tag=johnaugustcom-20) by James Clavell
* [Outro](http://johnaugust.com/2013/scriptnotes-the-outros) by Scriptnotes listener Jonas Bech

You can download the episode here: [AAC](http://traffic.libsyn.com/scriptnotes/scriptnotes_ep_133.m4a) | [mp3](http://traffic.libsyn.com/scriptnotes/scriptnotes_ep_133.mp3).

**UPDATE** 3-6-14: The transcript of this episode can be found [here](http://johnaugust.com/2014/scriptnotes-ep-133-groundhog-day-transcript).