20 episodes

Screenwriters John August and Craig Mazin discuss screenwriting and related topics in the film and television industry, everything from getting stuff written to the vagaries of copyright and work-for-hire law.

Scriptnotes Podcast John August and Craig Mazin

    • TV & Film
    • 5.0 • 1 Rating

Screenwriters John August and Craig Mazin discuss screenwriting and related topics in the film and television industry, everything from getting stuff written to the vagaries of copyright and work-for-hire law.

    636 - Whispering Loudly

    636 - Whispering Loudly

    John welcomes back Pamela Ribon (Nimona, My Year of Dicks) to quietly ask: what’s with all the whispering in movies these days? They discuss trends and techniques in voice and volume, picking the right moment to whisper, and the value of voices across decibel levels.
    We also revisit Pamela’s work on Moana to look at what you can learn from reading early drafts, ponder the threat of TikTok and YouTube, follow-up on vetting potential co-workers, and answer a listener question on writing animation.
    In our bonus segment for premium members, Pam shares all her star-studded stories from sitting in the 5th row at this year’s Oscars.
    Links:
    Pamela Ribon on Instagram Listen to Sassy My Year of Dicks Nimona on Netflix Hire Survivors Hollywood Dune: Part Two Clip ‘Fundie Baby Voice’ Seems To Be Everywhere Now. Here’s What You Should Know by Caroline Bologna for Huffpost In a World – Smoothie Natural Born Killers 1990 Draft Natural Born Killers 1993 Draft Lin-Manuel Miranda on ‘I Want’ Songs, Going Method for ‘Moana’ and Fearing David Bowie More (Outtake) from Moana How Far I’ll Go from Moana How Bad Can It Get for Hollywood? by Mark Harris for NYT This Sitcom Got WEIRD When Nobody Watched It by David Friedman Researching An Old Sitcom With AI by David Friedman Coucou French classes Get a Scriptnotes T-shirt! Check out the Inneresting Newsletter Gift a Scriptnotes Subscription or treat yourself to a premium subscription! Craig Mazin on Threads and Instagram John August on Threads, Instagram and Twitter John on Mastodon Outro by Vincent DeVito (send us yours!) Scriptnotes is produced by Drew Marquardt with help from Chris Csont, and edited by Matthew Chilelli. Email us at ask@johnaugust.com
    You can download the episode here.

    • 1 hr 8 min
    635 - Is This Person Going to Ruin Everything?

    635 - Is This Person Going to Ruin Everything?

    John and Craig wring their hands and ask, how do you make sure the person you’re hiring isn’t a monster? They look at best practices for vetting colleagues, sussing out problematic people, and managing your own emotions when you’re the person with power.
    We also discuss writing for non-native English speakers, using three examples to illustrate the importance of syntax, musicality and authenticity. But first, we answer listener questions on giving notes and kids playing D&D.
    In our bonus segment for premium members, we spill the kool-aid on our fears and fascinations with cults.
    Links:
    Strands from the New York Times Anatomy of a Fall – Clip Past Lives by Celine Song Irma Vep – Clip Is This Hollywood’s #MeanToo Moment? by David Mack for Slate How to play Dungeons and Dragons for kids RuPaul Doesn’t See How That’s Any of Your Business by Ronan Farrow for The New Yorker Recursion – Glitch Games Get a Scriptnotes T-shirt! Check out the Inneresting Newsletter Gift a Scriptnotes Subscription or treat yourself to a premium subscription! Craig Mazin on Threads and Instagram John August on Threads, Instagram and Twitter John on Mastodon Outro by Eric Pearson (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.

    • 1 hr 9 min
    634 - What If? Hollywood Edition

    634 - What If? Hollywood Edition

    John and Craig explore the counterfactuals of Hollywood history — the relatively small moments that, if the coin toss had gone the other way, would have massive ramifications on the world as we know it.
    What if Edison was allowed to keep his monopoly on motion pictures? What does our industry look like without the Paramount Consent Decree? What if George Lucas died in his car accident? Would superhero movies have dominated our culture if Iron Man had bombed? What studios would have gone down if Titanic had sunk? And what if Netflix had stayed with its DVD-only model?
    In our bonus segment for premium members, John and Craig talk capitalism and solve its problems once and for all.
    Links:
    What If? by Robert Cowley Thomas Edison: The Unintentional Founder of Hollywood by Garrett O’Brien for the Saturday Evening Post United States v. Paramount Pictures, Inc. on Wikipedia George Lucas: The Car Wreck That Changed His Life and Led Him to ‘Star Wars’ by Tim Ott for Biography When ‘Titanic’ Was Expected to Be a Huge Flop by Jake Rossen for Mental Floss ‘John Carter’ Changed Hollywood, but Not in the Way Disney Hoped by Richard Newby for THR Financial Interest and Syndication Rules Post-Quantum Cryptography S’more! S’more! His artisanal marshmallows were the greatest. Then he tried to scale them. by Adam Rogers Get a Scriptnotes T-shirt! Check out the Inneresting Newsletter Gift a Scriptnotes Subscription or treat yourself to a premium subscription! Craig Mazin on Threads and Instagram John August on Threads, Instagram and Twitter John on Mastodon Outro by Zach Lo (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.

     

    • 1 hr 7 min
    633 - Reviving a Dormant Project

    633 - Reviving a Dormant Project

    John welcomes back John Gatins (Flight, Coach Carter) to talk about reviving a dormant project and actually getting it made – like he just did with his new film Little Wing. They look at how films die, what brings them back to life, and go deep into the mechanics of sports movies.
    We also follow up on flu tests, the Tiffany problem and pet names before answering listener questions on professionalism, mid-credit scenes, and work ethic.
    In our bonus segment for premium members, John Gatins talks abut transitioning into a writing team and reveals his process of negotiating credits.
    Links:
    Little Wing – On Paramount+ March 13th John Gatins on Wikipedia and IMDb Little Wing by Susan Orlean for the New Yorker LUCIRA by Pfizer COVID-19 & Flu Home Test Merlin Bird ID The Facts of Life – Attempted Spin-offs Get a Scriptnotes T-shirt! Check out the Inneresting Newsletter Gift a Scriptnotes Subscription or treat yourself to a premium subscription! Craig Mazin on Threads and Instagram John August on Threads, Instagram and Twitter John on Mastodon Outro by Alee Karim (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.

     

    • 51 min
    632 - Mystery and Suspense

    632 - Mystery and Suspense

    John has the flu (or does he?) and Craig is missing, so we’re going back through the vaults to look at the mechanics of mystery and suspense. How do writers exploit the audience’s curiosity? What builds and breaks their trust? How do you use suspense across genres? And what do these techniques look like on the page?
    But first, we look at the current agency shakeups and share our thoughts on OpenAI’s new engine, Sora.
    In our bonus segment for premium members, John and Drew talk about their experience with the Apple Vision Pro.
    Links:
    Scriptnotes 269 – Mystery vs. Confusion Scriptnotes 332 – Wait for It A3 Artists Agency Shuts Down by Aaron Couch and Rebecca Sun for The Hollywood Reporter Verve CEO and Co-Founder Bill Weinstein Leaves Agency After 14 Years by Cynthia Littleton for Variety A few thoughts on Sora by John August GOODY-2 Meet the Pranksters Behind Goody-2, the World’s ‘Most Responsible’ AI Chatbot by Will Knight for Wired Claire Keegan Contextual computing with Vision Pro: My Writing Cabin by David Sparks Get a Scriptnotes T-shirt! Check out the Inneresting Newsletter Gift a Scriptnotes Subscription or treat yourself to a premium subscription! Craig Mazin on Threads and Instagram John August on Threads, Instagram and Twitter John on Mastodon Outro by Eric Pearson (send us yours!) Segments originally produced by Godwin Jabangwe and Megan McDonnell. Scriptnotes is produced by Drew Marquardt and edited by Matthew Chilelli. Email us at ask@johnaugust.com
    You can download the episode here.

     

    • 1 hr 13 min
    631 - Adapting for Television

    631 - Adapting for Television

    John welcomes writer and showrunner Francesca Sloane (Mr. & Mrs. Smith, Atlanta) to talk about her process of bringing a big-screen property to television. She shares how she and Donald Glover found their way into the story, how it evolved in development, building a room that was all women of color, re-writing on set, and the many lessons she learned as a first time showrunner.
    We also follow up on writing partners and phonetic alphabets before answering listener questions on writing samples, casting on the page and why some screenplays are free to read.
    In our bonus segment for premium members, we dig into the benefits (and drawbacks) of film schools and fellowships.
    Links:
    Francesca Sloane on Instagram Mr. & Mrs. Smith on Amazon Prime Video ISPA: Inter-Species Phonetic Alphabet for Transcribing Animal Sounds by Masato Hagiwara, Marius Miron and Jen-Yu Liu Bluets by Maggie Nelson A Unified Theory of F-cks by Mandy Brown Get a Scriptnotes T-shirt! Check out the Inneresting Newsletter Gift a Scriptnotes Subscription or treat yourself to a premium subscription! Craig Mazin on Threads and Instagram John August on Threads, Instagram and Twitter John on Mastodon Outro by Eric Pearson (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.

    • 53 min

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