John August

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Final Draft, software and people

Rant, Screenwriting Software

On a recent episode of Scriptnotes, Craig Mazin and I discussed Final Draft 9. Short version: while I was disappointed by the update, Craig went Full Umbrage, because well…Craig.

Craig hates Final Draft — the app, and some of the company’s business practices, but not the people themselves. He doesn’t know the people. In my experience, Craig doesn’t actually hate anyone (except maybe his college roommate). Craig has strong opinions but a friendly nature.

Today I got on the phone with two of the people who run Final Draft and learned that since the episode aired, their customer service reps have gotten abusive calls and emails from listeners apparently motivated by Craig’s tirade. According to Final Draft, some of what folks were saying was so alarming that people working there felt unsafe.

That’s never acceptable. Never.

As Craig [tweeted](https://twitter.com/clmazin/status/426479055244771328) [today](https://twitter.com/clmazin/status/426479379460263936):

> clmazin: Not liking software is one thing. Making threatening or harassing calls to human beings is entirely another. It’s not cool.

> clmazin: Please don’t treat fellow human beings (many of whom are just working an hourly gig) poorly because you don’t like the company or product.

The Final Draft folks have agreed to come on a future episode so we can talk about this incident, their app, and the state of screenwriting software. I’m excited to dig in and discuss.

But I didn’t want another day to go by without making it clear that Craig and I never mean to give cover to assholish behavior.

Women and Pilots

Episode - 127

Go to Archive

Directors, News, Scriptnotes, Television, Transcribed

Carolyn Strauss, executive producer of Game of Thrones, joins John and Craig to discuss female directors and the death of pilot season. In one short hour, they solve all the intractable problems facing the film and television industry. (Not true. Not even remotely.)

Craig and John also recount the previous Sunday’s inaugural all-screenwriter dungeon crawl. It was Craig’s first D&D ever, and John’s first time DM’ing in 20 years.

Links:

* [Dungeon World](http://www.dungeon-world.com/)
* Carolyn Strauss on [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carolyn_Strauss) and [IMDb](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1865467/)
* Lexi Alexander’s [blog post on the underrepresentation of women in Hollywood](http://www.lexi-alexander.com/blog/2014/1/13/this-is-me-getting-real)
* [AV Club](http://www.avclub.com/article/fox-at-the-tca-press-tour-kevin-reilly-kills-pilot-106902) on Fox’s announcing they are moving away from pilot season
* [Shakespeare](https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/shakespeare/id285035416?mt=8) for iPhone and iPad
* Organize your brain with [WorkFlowy](https://workflowy.com/)
* [The Orphan Master’s Son](http://www.amazon.com/dp/0812982622/?tag=johnaugustcom-20) by Adam Johnson
* [Outro](http://johnaugust.com/2013/scriptnotes-the-outros) by Scriptnotes listener Matthew Chilelli

You can download the episode here: [AAC](http://traffic.libsyn.com/scriptnotes/scriptnotes_ep_127.m4a) | [mp3](http://traffic.libsyn.com/scriptnotes/scriptnotes_ep_127.mp3).

**UPDATE** 1-24-14: The transcript of this episode can be found [here](http://johnaugust.com/2014/scriptnotes-ep-127-women-and-pilots-transcript).

Punching the Salty Ocean

Scriptnotes, Three Page Challenge, Transcribed

John and Craig took a look at Final Draft 9 and the futility of Twitter arguments before launching into three brand-new Three Page Challenges.

Links:

* Business Insider on [the responses from Hollywood CCs who should have been BCCs](http://www.businessinsider.com/hollywood-assistant-accidentally-ccd-a-listers-and-their-responses-were-amazing-2014-1)
* Final Draft 9 is [now for sale](http://store.finaldraft.com/final-draft-9.html)
* Three Pages by [Billiam Coronel](http://johnaugust.com/Assets/BilliamCoronel.pdf)
* Three Pages by [Jeff Pulice](http://johnaugust.com/Assets/JeffPulice.pdf) and the [Q&A from the Holiday Spectacular](http://johnaugust.com/2013/qa-from-the-holiday-spectacular)
* Three Pages by [Steven Arvanites](http://johnaugust.com/Assets/StevenArvanites.pdf)
* [How to submit your Three Pages](http://johnaugust.com/threepage), and [Stuart’s post on lessons learned from the early batches](http://johnaugust.com/2012/learning-from-the-three-page-challenge)
* [Debt: The First 5,000 Years](http://www.amazon.com/dp/1612191290/?tag=johnaugustcom-20) by David Graeber
* [Hyperbole and a Half](http://www.amazon.com/dp/1451666179/?tag=johnaugustcom-20) by Allie Brosh
* [Global Entry](http://www.globalentry.gov/) is worth your time
* An extremely limited number of shirts are back in the [John August Store](http://store.johnaugust.com/)
* [Outro](http://johnaugust.com/2013/scriptnotes-the-outros) by Scriptnotes listener Kim Atle

You can download the episode here: [AAC](http://traffic.libsyn.com/scriptnotes/scriptnotes_ep_126.m4a) | [mp3](http://traffic.libsyn.com/scriptnotes/scriptnotes_ep_126.mp3).

**UPDATE** 1-17-14: The transcript of this episode can be found [here](http://johnaugust.com/2014/scriptnotes-ep-126-punching-the-salty-ocean-transcript).

Egoless Screenwriting

Film Industry, News, Psych 101, Scriptnotes, Transcribed, WGA

It’s a week of big egos as Craig and John take a look at when (or whether) filmmakers will be able to pull a Beyoncé and surprise-release a feature film, and what Mrs. Carter’s tussle with Amazon and Target means for the future of retail DVD.

Then we dust off an old blog post on “egoless programming” and find it has a lot to recommend for screenwriters. Finally, we look at the lawsuit over The Expendables because it’s crazy town.

Links:

* [BEYONCÉ by Beyoncé](https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/beyonce/id780330041) on iTunes
* [The Ten Commandments of Egoless Programming](http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/2006/05/the-ten-commandments-of-egoless-programming.html)
* The Hollywood Reporter on [The Expendables lawsuit](http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr-esq/expendables-writers-guild-tribunal-evolves-667599)
* Lego [Mindstorms](http://www.lego.com/en-us/mindstorms/?domainredir=mindstorms.lego.com) and [Crazy Action Contraptions](http://www.amazon.com/dp/1591747694/?tag=johnaugustcom-20)
* [European green](http://carsihaveseen.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/IMG_0175.jpg)
* [her](http://www.herthemovie.com/#/home) is in theaters now
* A bad her review in [The Village Voice](http://www.villagevoice.com/2013-12-18/film/her-movie-review/) and the [very few other bad reviews](http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/her/reviews/?sort=rotten) on Rotten Tomatoes
* [Outro](http://johnaugust.com/2013/scriptnotes-the-outros) by Scriptnotes listener Matthew Chilelli

You can download the episode here: [AAC](http://traffic.libsyn.com/scriptnotes/scriptnotes_ep_125.m4a) | [mp3](http://traffic.libsyn.com/scriptnotes/scriptnotes_ep_125.mp3).

**UPDATE** 1-10-14: The transcript of this episode can be found [here](http://johnaugust.com/2014/scriptnotes-ep-125-egoless-screenwriting-transcript).