Scriptnotes Podcast

John August and Craig Mazin
Scriptnotes Podcast

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.

  1. 4 DAYS AGO

    677 - Puzzle Box Storytelling

    John and Craig decipher mystery box shows, where the premise and audience experience involve solving the puzzle of what’s really happening. They look at strategies for revealing clues and information, being mindful of the audience’s expectations, and the importance of the emotional journey inside the labyrinth. We also announce a new video game, discuss what we can learn by revisiting old projects, follow up on unlocked pages and home automation, and answer listener questions on live instruments, pulling story from D&D campaigns, and where to draw the line between INT. and EXT. In our bonus segment for premium members, how do you set boundaries when you feel like you’re always supposed to be writing? That’s not rhetorical — we need help. Links: Birdigo on Steam Lutron HomeWorks and Home Assistant The Prisoner (1967) Scriptnotes, Ep 296: Television with Damon Lindelof Patrick Wilson, Jordan Donica Leading Industry Reading of Revised, Broadway-Aimed Big Fish on Playbill.com Falling Slowly scene in Once Life and Trust 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 BlueSky, Threads, and Instagram Outro by Spencer Lackey (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.

    1h 1m

  2. FEB 18

    676 - Writing while the World is on Fire

    How do you keep doing creative work when the world is falling apart around you? To sift through the despair and doubt, John welcomes back legendary Scriptnotes guest, writer-turned-psychotherapist Dennis Palumbo. They discuss the many feelings that catastrophic events can bring up in artists, the personal narratives that often inform those feelings, and how to keep moving forward when you feel like the band on the Titanic. We also follow up on AI, and answer listener questions on competing with brain trusts and how to support a friend embroiled in controversy. In our bonus segment for premium members, Dennis guides us through the best examples and worst mistakes of portraying therapists on screen. Links: “Am I Just Fiddling While Rome Burns?” by Dennis Palumbo for Psychiatric Times Scriptnotes 99 – Psychotherapy for Screenwriters ShotDeck River Runner Global At the Existentialist Café by Sarah Bakewell 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 BlueSky, Threads, and Instagram Outro by Spencer Lackey (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.

    47 min

  3. FEB 11

    675 - Say Nothing with Joshua Zetumer

    Craig welcomes writer and showrunner Joshua Zetumer, creator of the limited series Say Nothing, to explore the process of dramatizing real events — particularly when the subject matter can be volatile. They discuss how to keep a sprawling historical epic from feeling like a lecture, keeping a consistent tone, humanizing complicated people, and how not to get sued by the people who were really involved. They also answer listener questions on following up with people after the fires, charting the emotional journey of the audience, and whether writers need to cite their sources when writing about real events. In our bonus segment for premium members, Craig and Joshua pretend to be civil engineers and ask, how can we make Los Angeles function better? Links: Say Nothing Joshua Zetumer Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland by Patrick Radden Keefe Difficult Men by Brett Martin Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk 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 BlueSky, Threads, Instagram, and Mastodon Outro by Nick Moore (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.

    1h 1m

  4. FEB 4

    674 - The One vvith Robert Eggers

    Hearken well! John sitteth in discourse with the learned Robert Eggers, weaver of dreadsome visions (The Witch, The Lighthouse), whose latest labour bringeth forth Nosferatu from the mistes of antiquity. Together, they dost unravel the craft of breathing newe life into the ghastly count of olde, how Robert didst hone his vision through toil and cunning in his firste labours, and the summoning of terror moste unholy upon the silver’d screen. We do also taketh to hand the queries of our faithful listeners on the perils of o’ermuch detail in one’s scribings, on what may be done when one doth feel oneself a dullard, and whether those who spin tales be ill-fitted for matters of courtship and love. In our boon segment for those of premium patronage, Robert doth speak of his fervent love for the wheeled steed and pursuits beyond the shaping of moving pictures. Links: Robert Eggers Nosferatu | Screenplay Robert Eggers’ shorts Hansel and Gretel and The Tell-Tale Heart The Girl with the Needle Making School Cafeteria Pizza from the 1980s & ‘90s 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 BlueSky, Threads, Instagram, and Mastodon Outro by Guy Fee (send us yours!) Scriptnotes is produced by Drew Marquardt with help this week from Zoe Black, and edited by Matthew Chilelli. Email us at ask@johnaugust.com You can download the episode here.

    50 min

  5. JAN 28

    673 - Structure, and How to Enjoy a Movie

    Structure is the fundamental skeleton of every story ever told, so why does it flummox so many writers? John and Craig outline what structure really is, ways to find it in your story, and how to keep it from tying your brain in knots. We also look at ways to find nuance in our appreciation of movies, follow up on erotic fiction, and answer listener questions on how to work with a director and point of view shots. In our bonus segment for premium members, John and Craig measure the helpfulness of their wearable body monitors. Links: Weekend Read on the App Store Oscar nominations 2025 IVF Mixup movies: Parallel Mothers, Maybe Baby, Good Newwz, Daughter from Another Mother Manhunt The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood How to like everything more by Sasha Chapin Growing a Human: The First 30 Weeks by Maggie Appleton 2024 Player’s Handbook 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 BlueSky, Threads, Instagram, and Mastodon Outro by Guy Fee (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.

    1h 1m

  6. JAN 21

    672 - Navigating Loss with Jesse Eisenberg

    After a difficult few weeks in Los Angeles, John welcomes writer, director and actor Jesse Eisenberg to peel apart the complicated human reactions to grief and loss. They look at how both collective and personal grief inform the characters of Jesse’s latest film, A Real Pain, and reflect on the ongoing LA fires and the loss of David Lynch. They also explore Jesse’s evolution as a writer, directing himself as an actor, and answer listener questions on artistic signatures and simultaneous perspectives in action. In our bonus segment for premium members, Jesse and John look at the creative opportunities and frustrating restrictions of making radio dramas and audiobooks. Links: A Real Pain | Screenplay Jesse Eisenberg WGAW Wildfire Resources David Lynch Mongolia by Jesse Eisenberg, Tablet Magazine Jesse’s plays The Revisionist and The Spoils Network of Time Floyd Collins the Musical 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 BlueSky, Threads and Instagram Outro by Nico Mansy (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.

    49 min

  7. JAN 14

    547 - The Fires, and Good Energy (Encore)

    After a week of devastating fires in Los Angeles, we’re revisiting John’s conversation with Anna Jane Joyner and Quinn Emmett from Good Energy Stories on how to talk about climate change on screen. They discuss opportunities for writers to inspire change, raise awareness, and capture the environmental concerns of our time. We follow up on disability representation in Hollywood with the release of the Cost of Accommodations report from the Inevitable Foundation. In our bonus segment for premium members, we talk about asking people for money, whether it’s to finance a movie or launch a campaign to save the planet. Links: The Original Episode 547 and its transcript Stanislav Petrov, The Man Who Saved the World Documentary How Much Does it Really Cost to Make Hollywood More Accommodating for Disabled Talent? by Abbey White for The Hollywood Reporter Inevitable Foundation Good Energy Stories Playbook David Robert Ted Talk on Climate Change Years of Living Dangerously Clip with Anna and her Dad Subscribe to Important, Not Important First Reformed Dana Fox and The Lost City Russian Doll Season 2 Redactle Game Anna Jane Joyner and Good Energy on Instagram Quinn Emmett on Instagram 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 BlueSky, Threads, Instagram, and Mastodon Outro by Jade Carda (send us yours!) This episode was originally produced by Megana Rao. 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

  8. JAN 7

    671 - The Best/Worst it Will Ever Be

    John and Craig look at three extraordinary news stories and ask, How Would this be a Movie? Stories include the United Healthcare CEO assassination, a small town’s process for licensing fortune tellers, and a harrowing I.V.F. mixup. We also follow up on AI, Flightplan’s source material, Craig’s Belfast accent, and answer a listener question on the order of surnames for writing partners. In our bonus segment for premium members: Hey Alexa, play John and Craig’s conversation about home automation. I don’t think she heard– HEY ALEXA, PLAY JOHN AND CRAIG’S CONVERSATION ABOUT HOME AUTOMATION. Links: The Wheel Spins by Ethel Lina White The Conundrum of the Workshops by Rudyard Kipling OpenAI’s controversial Sora is finally launching today. Will it truly disrupt Hollywood? by Wendy Lee for LA Times I Went to the Premiere of the First Commercially Streaming AI-Generated Movies by Jason Koehler A timeline of the fatal shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson and search for his killer by Michael R. Sisal and Cedar Attanasio for Associated Press How do you license a fortune teller? by Paul Debole An I.V.F. Mix-Up, a Shocking Discovery and an Unbearable Choice by Susan Dominus for NYT Magazine Monsters, Aliens, and Holes in the Ground by Stu Horvath Your Consciousness Can Connect With the Whole Universe by Manasee Wagh for Popular Mechanics 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 BlueSky, Threads, Instagram, and Mastodon Outro by Matthew Chilelli (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.

    1h 15m
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Hosts & Guests

4.8
out of 5
2,361 Ratings

About

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.

Information

  • Creator
    John August and Craig Mazin
  • Years Active
    2011 - 2025
  • Episodes
    23
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Copyright 2020
  • Show Website
    Scriptnotes Podcast

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