John August

Drew Marquardt

Featured Friday: Haunted Houses

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 haunted houses trap your characters inside, force them to cozy up to some terrifying spirits, and use fear as a catalyst for change.

Our collection includes:

  • American Horror Story – “Pilot” by Ryan Murphy & Brad Falchuk
  • Barbarian by Zach Cregger
  • Beetlejuice by Warren Skaaren and Michael McDowell
  • Ghosts (US) – “Pilot” by Joe Port & Joe Wiseman
  • Insidious by Leigh Whannell
  • Poltergeist by Steven Spielberg
  • The Conjuring by the Hayes Brothers
  • The Haunting of Hill House – “Steven Sees a Ghost” by Mike Flanagan

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

Screenwriting is a Poorly Defined Problem

Episode - 661

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Scriptnotes, Three Page Challenge, Transcribed

Why is screenwriting so difficult, even for the smartest people? John and Craig look at the relationship between intelligence and wisdom, the kinds of problems writers attempt to solve, and the unmeasurable skills that screenwriters need to succeed.

Then it’s another round of the Three Page Challenge, where they give their honest feedback on three listener-submitted scripts. We also follow up on Moneyball, green envelopes, shorts, script coordinating, and what Craig means by writers being “calculating.”

In our bonus segment for premium members, how do you talk about movies and TV shows without spoiling them? John and Craig reason out how to dance around the twist that the two leads are actually the same perso– oh, shoot!

Links:

Email us at ask@dev.johnaugust.com

You can download the episode here.

UPDATE 11-20-24: The transcript for this episode can be found here.

Featured Friday: Sci-Fi Futurism

News

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

This week, we look at the many ways writers have imagined our future, and the astonishing new technology, fashion, problems and ethical dilemmas that might come to pass.

Our collection includes:

  • 2001: A Space Odyssey by Stanley Kubrick & Arthur C. Clark
  • Ad Astra by James Gray & Ethan Gross
  • Black Mirror – “San Junipero” by Charlie Brooker
  • Black Panther by Ryan Coogler & Joe Robert Cole
  • Blade Runner by Hampton Fancher and David Peoples
  • Blade Runner 2049 by Hampton Fancher and Michael Green
  • Dune by Jon Spaihts and Dennis Villenuve and Eric Roth
  • Futurama – “Space Pilot 3000” by David X. Cohen & Matt Groening
  • Gattaca by Andrew Niccol
  • Her by Spike Jonze
  • Interstellar by Jonathan Nolan and Christopher Nolan
  • Minority Report by Scott Frank
  • Star Trek: The Next Generation – “The Best of Both Worlds, Parts I & II” by Michael Piller
  • The Fifth Element by Luc Besson & Robert Mark Kamen
  • The Martian by Drew Goddard
  • Total Recall by Ronald Shusett & Dan O’Bannon
  • WALL-E by Andrew Stanton and Jim Reardon

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

Moneyball

Scriptnotes, Transcribed

John and Craig welcome back Taffy Brodesser-Akner (Fleishman is in Trouble) for a deep dive on 2011’s sports drama Moneyball.

What makes Moneyball work? Is it a traditional underdog movie, or does it break all the rules? Is Billy Beane a hero or a villain? What advantages do sports movies give you, and how much do you have to explain to your audience? How are movies like this developed? And how can you not be romantic about baseball?

In our bonus segment for premium members, John, Craig and Taffy dig further into the ways money is used to determine a person’s value.

Links:

Email us at ask@dev.johnaugust.com

You can download the episode here.

UPDATE 11-19-24: The transcript for this episode can be found here.