John August

Drew Marquardt

What Can You Even Do?

Episode - 665

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Scriptnotes, Transcribed

John and Craig explore character agency in everything from scenes to entire series. They look at what agency looks like on the page, which characters should have agency, and what to do when you feel your characters sleepwalking through the plot.

We also strategize ways to move forward after the recent US election, and answer listener questions on writing sign language, screenwriting software for the blind, and how writing credits work when your TV series gets turned into a movie.

In our bonus segment for premium members, John and Craig escape to a world where where the story is always on rails — Disneyland!

Links:

Email us at ask@dev.johnaugust.com

You can download the episode here.

UPDATE 11-22-24: The transcript for this episode can be found here.

Featured Friday: New Parents

Weekend Read

Weekend Read, our app for reading scripts on your phone, features a new curated collection of screenplays each week.

This week, we look at stories that explore the stress, anxiety, chaos and occasional joy that comes with being a new parent.

Our collection includes:

  • Bridget Jones’s Baby by Helen Fielding and Dan Mazer and Emma Thompson
  • Catastrophe – “Pilot” by Sharon Horgan & Rob Delaney
  • If Beale Street Could Talk by Barry Jenkins
  • Juno by Diablo Cody
  • Knocked Up by Judd Apatow
  • Modern Family – “Pilot” by Steven Levitan and Christopher Lloyd
  • Raising Arizona by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen
  • Raising Hope – “Happy Halloween” by Dan Coscino
  • SMILF – “Pilot” by Frankie Shaw
  • Tully by Diablo Cody
  • What to Expect When You’re Expecting by Heather Hach

Read these and other featured collections only on Weekend Read 2, available on all Mac and iOS devices. Download for free!

Hollywood Got Old

Scriptnotes, Transcribed

John and Craig look at how writers (and other humans) handle the anxiety of uncertainty, from election nights to green lights. We’ll talk through strategies for navigating situations where your circle of concern doesn’t match your circle of control.

Then we travel back to the 1980s and 90s, when many studios were run by ambitious strivers in their late 20s and early 30s. As the decades have passed, the players in these positions have held onto their posts, leaving the next generation stuck mid-ladder. We discuss what impact the aging of Hollywood has had on its output, and where the new guard might find an opening.

We also ask, is development wage theft? And answer listener questions on reusing material written for a different project, and the cost-plus model of production.

And in our bonus topic for premium members, what aspects of pandemic life have we incorporated into our daily routines?

Links:

Email us at ask@dev.johnaugust.com

You can download the episode here.

UPDATE 11-21-24: The transcript for this episode can be found here.

Featured Friday: Politics and Elections

Weekend Read

Weekend Read, our app for reading scripts on your phone, features a new curated collection of screenplays each week.

This week, we look at how elections and politics can be used across genres to test a character’s true convictions, and how their choices affect the citizens they serve.

Our collection includes:

  • All The President’s Men by William Goldman
  • Being There by Jerzy Kosiński
  • Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb by Stanley Kubrick and Terry Southern
  • Election by Alexander Payne & Jim Taylor
  • Gaslit – “Willpower” by Robbie Pickering
  • House of Cards – “Chapter 1” by Beau Willimon
  • In the Loop by Jesse Armstrong & Simon Blackwell & Armando Iannucci & Tony Roche
  • Lincoln by Tony Kushner
  • Madam Secretary – “Pilot” by Barbara Hall
  • Milk by Dustin Lance Black
  • Mr. Smith Goes to Washington by Sidney Buchman
  • Napoleon Dynamite by Jared Hess & Jerusha Hess
  • The American President by Aaron Sorkin
  • The Diplomat – “Lambs in the Dark” by Debora Cahn
  • The Front Runner by Matt Bai & Jay Carson & Jason Reitman
  • The Ides of March by George Clooney & Grant Heslov and Beau Willimon
  • The Politician – “Pilot” by Ryan Murphy & Brad Falchuk & Ian Brennan
  • The West Wing – “Pilot” by Aaron Sorkin
  • Veep – “Fundraiser” by Simon Blackwell and Armando Iannucci
  • Vice by Adam McKay

Read these and other featured collections only on Weekend Read 2, available on all Mac and iOS devices. Download for free!