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The One with Patton Oswalt

Episode - 589

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February 28, 2023 Books, Film Industry, Scriptnotes, Talk

John and Craig welcome comedian, actor, writer and Jeopardy! champion Patton Oswalt to discuss joke structure and building standup specials. Patton pulls back the curtain on his writing process, how he develops a comedic premise, and earning an audience’s trust.

We also dissect M.O.D.O.K., punching up other people’s scripts, and the art of adaptation. We then answer a listener’s question about writing films that include standup comedy.

In our bonus segment for premium members, we discuss characters who keep secrets for no reas– there’s no time to explain!

Links:

  • Patton Oswalt on IMDb, Twitter and Instagram
  • “Wackity Schmackity Doo!” from Patton Oswalt’s Werewolves and Lollipops
  • Animation of Patton’s “Christmas Shoes” joke
  • “The Ham Incident” from Patton Oswalt’s Finest Hour
  • M.O.D.O.K. on Hulu
  • Silver Screen Fiend by Patton Oswalt
  • Clinical Practice Guideline for the Evaluation and Treatment of Children and Adolescents With Obesity by the American Academy of Pediatrics
  • Dracula: The Evidence by Beehive Books
  • Melanie Lynskey answers questions for Dear Prudence
  • Murderers’ Row – Melanie Lynskey by Scout Tafoya
  • The Unloved by Scout Tafoya for RogerEbert.com
  • Get a Scriptnotes T-shirt!
  • Check out the Inneresting Newsletter
  • Gift a Scriptnotes Subscription or treat yourself to a premium subscription!
  • Craig Mazin on Instagram
  • John August on Twitter
  • John on Instagram
  • John on Mastodon
  • Outro by Timothy Lenko (send us yours!)
  • Scriptnotes is produced by Drew Marquardt and edited by Matthew Chilelli.

Email us at ask@johnaugust.com

You can download the episode here.

Staying indie after getting big

May 2, 2011 Film Industry, Indie, Talk

Jay Duplass and John August Prompted by a recent post about Kickstarter, writer/director Jay Duplass (The Puffy Chair, Baghead, Cyrus) emailed me about an indie documentary he’s putting together through the crowdfunding site.

His email suggested a larger discussion about why filmmakers continue to pursue indie projects after they’ve found studio success. I certainly do it, with both The Nines and The Remnants, along with other experiments like The Variant.

None of them are a good use of time, at least in a monetary sense.

I’d make more money simply writing more screenplays. If I want to direct something, it should be a studio feature. My agent tells me this. It’s his job to tell me this.

And yet Jay and I still find ourselves drawn towards the little, difficult, uncategorizable things. Is it boredom? Fear of failure? The appeal of new frontiers? A desire to reclaim our scrappy youth?

Rather than keep the conversation between us, I suggested to Jay that we record it. He was game, so he came by the office today.

This is our half-hour conversation, un-edited:

https://johnaugust.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/jay_duplass_john_august_kickstarter.mp3

Some links to things we mention:

  • Jay’s documentary Kevin, on Kickstarter
  • Jay’s credits
  • The Remnants
  • Topspin
  • A Thousand True Fans
  • Lena Dunham’s Tiny Furniture

Runtime is 30 minutes. You can also download this as an MP3.

My thanks to Jay. Check out his doc.

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