John August

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The Black List, and a stack of scenes

Episode - 60

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QandA, Scriptnotes, Transcribed

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.

Next, screenwriter Aline Brosh McKenna (The Devil Wears Prada, We Bought a Zoo) joins us to talk about the difference between Movie Stories and A Stack of Scenes. She stays with us to answer live questions from the audience.

Big thanks to both of our guests — our first ones ever — and to AFF for hosting the event. We had a blast, and hope to do more live events in the future.

LINKS:

* [Austin Film Festival](http://www.austinfilmfestival.com/)
* [The Black List](http://blcklst.com/)
* [Aline Brosh McKenna](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0112459/) on IMDb
* [screenwriting.io](http://screenwriting.io/)
* [The Man Repeller](http://www.manrepeller.com) blog
* INTRO: [Walker, Texas Ranger](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKmJ-xD_Xt0) opening
* OUTRO: [The Yellow Rose of Texas](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LArGlfEVYqM)

You can download the episode here: [AAC](http://traffic.libsyn.com/scriptnotes/scriptnotes_ep_60.m4a).

**UPDATE** 10-25-12: The transcript of this episode can be found [here](http://johnaugust.com/2012/scriptnotes-ep-60-the-black-list-and-a-stack-of-scenes-transcript).

Final Draft Reader’s limited view

Apps, FDX Reader, Highland, Screenwriting Software

Late last week, Final Draft released a new version of [Final Draft Reader](https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/final-draft-reader/id497421221?mt=8), adding support for iPhones to their heretofore iPad-only app.

From a basic design standpoint, their iPhone implementation is almost identical to what we did with [FDX Reader](https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/fdx-reader/id437362569?mt=8), using a continuous scroll rather than page-flipping to accommodate the smaller screen. I won’t break out the old imitation-is-flattery bromide; it’s simply the right choice given the situation.

Unfortunately, you’re going to be scrolling a lot with Final Draft’s version, because they insist on using traditional Courier. It’s a mistake. You simply can’t fit very much on the screen using that font.

Compare [two screenshots](http://johnaugust.com/Assets/fd-v-fdx-72.jpg) from Frankenweenie:

iphone screenshots

Like FDX Reader, Final Draft Reader allows you to reduce the font size. By doing so, you can fit the same amount of Frankenweenie on the screen. But you probably wouldn’t like the [results](http://johnaugust.com/Assets/smaller-fd.jpg):

smaller final draft screenshot

Final Draft Reader isn’t trying to match printed pages like it does in portrait view on the iPad, so there’s simply no good argument for sticking with Courier for this “Reader View.” It’s just bad design.

Being an official product, the app provides “100% accurate Final Draft pagination, formatting and page breaking.” That’s like saying only Coca-Cola can provide pure Coke flavor, but fine.

Their app can do several things FDX Reader doesn’t even attempt, such as editing ScriptNotes and showing colored page revisions. You can link to your Dropbox account, but only for exporting files *from* the app, so it’s not particularly useful. That’s consistent with a lot of what I found: placeholders and possibilities rather than actual utility.

Final Draft Reader is now free. That makes sense; they want users to pay for the $50 Final Draft Writer app.

We’ll keep selling and supporting FDX Reader as an alternative, but as I wrote [back in February](http://johnaugust.com/2012/pricing-fdx-reader), we’re not actively developing it anymore. Our next projects include more ambitious efforts like [Highland](http://quoteunquoteapps.com/highland/).

On the new Black List

Film Industry, So-Called Experts

Franklin Leonard, creator of [The Black List](http://blcklst.com), has announced a new incarnation of his site that allows screenwriters to upload their scripts for review and rating — for a fee:

> Aspiring screenwriters will pay $25 a month to have their scripts hosted on The Black List’s website, accessible only by a closed community of Hollywood professionals. They can further pay $50 for evaluations by anonymous script readers hired by The Black List. Every read by industry professionals generated by those evaluations is entirely free.

> Moreover, The Black List will not claim a commission, finder’s fee, or producer credit on business generated by their service. “Writers retain all rights to sell and produce their work and are free to negotiate the best deal they can get. All we ask is an email letting us know of their success,” added Leonard.

Many readers (and podcast listeners) have asked for my take on it.

At first glance, it feels like an attempt to leverage the prestige of The Black List to create yet another service making money off aspiring screenwriters.

Yet Franklin Leonard knows what the hell he’s doing. This isn’t another Amazon Studios situation, where an outside entity boldly declares it can fix what’s wrong with the film industry. Leonard has already posted a [long list of answers](http://blog.blcklst.com/2012/10/the-what-how-and-why-of-the-black-list-the-long-answer-by-franklin-leonard/) to some of the immediate questions and feedback, showing he’s thought it through.

I can’t predict if this new Black List will succeed — or even if it’s a good thing for screenwriters and filmmakers — but I know it’s not done with naiveté or hubris. That makes it worth watching.

Craig Mazin and I will be discussing the new Black List in depth at Scriptnotes Live this Saturday in Austin, with the podcast episode scheduled to go up next Tuesday.

Plot holes, and the myth of perseveraversity

QandA, Scriptnotes, Story and Plot, Three Page Challenge, Transcribed

John and Craig discuss Frankenweenie and Superhero! before cracking open the mailbox to answer listener questions: What advice would they give to their younger selves? Is a spec with a similar high-concept premise doomed? Should Australian screenwriters use U.S. spelling conventions?

Then, a discussion of what constitutes a plot hole and to what degree screenwriters are to blame.

After that, two new Three Page Challenge entries. We’ve received more than 500 of these, which is crazy.

All this and what to name an Amanda Peet character in this week’s Scriptnotes. Next week, join us for the the first-ever Scriptnotes Live podcast from the Austin Film Festival.

LINKS:

* John’s [Frankenweenie thoughts](http://johnaugust.com/2012/some-first-thoughts-on-fifth)
* Craig’s [Superhero!](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superhero_Movie) movie
* [Movie Plot Holes](http://www.movieplotholes.com)
* John on [the perils of coincidence](http://johnaugust.com/2007/perils-of-coincidence)
* Three pages by [Greg from Liechtenstein](http://johnaugust.com/Assets/greg_l.pdf)
* Three pages by [Vance Kotrla](http://johnaugust.com/Assets/vance_kotrla.pdf)
* [Kindle Paperwhite](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007OZNZG0/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B007OZNZG0&linkCode=as2&tag=johnaugustcom-20)
* [Nogales, Arizona](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nogales,_Arizona) on Wikipedia
* INTRO: [PBS Intro](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCuqlLq1k7o)
* OUTRO: [There is No Arizona](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUSN3_3vhYs) covered by Mishavonna

You can download the episode here: [AAC](http://traffic.libsyn.com/scriptnotes/scriptnotes_ep_59.m4a).

**UPDATE** 10-19-12: The transcript of this episode can be found [here](http://johnaugust.com/2012/scriptnotes-ep-59-plot-holes-and-the-myth-of-perseveraversity-transcript).