John August

Drew Marquardt

Featured Friday: First Features

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 those first screenplays that broke through, got made, and launched some of our favorite writers’ careers.

Our collection includes:

  • 28 Days Later by Alex Garland
  • A Few Good Men by Aaron Sorkin
  • Badlands by Terrence Malick
  • Blood Simple by Joel and Ethan Coen
  • Bottle Rocket by Wes Anderson and Owen Wilson
  • Cloverfield by Drew Goddard
  • Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story by Rawson Marshall Thurber
  • Eighth Grade by Bo Burnham
  • Following by Christopher Nolan
  • Fruitvale Station by Ryan Coogler
  • Get Out by Jordan Peele
  • Go by John August
  • Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
  • Hereditary by Ari Aster
  • Juno by Diablo Cody
  • Kids by Harmony Korine
  • Little Miss Sunshine by Michael Arndt
  • Palm Springs by Andy Siara
  • Pariah by Dee Rees
  • Promising Young Woman by Emerald Fennell
  • Reservoir Dogs by Quentin Tarantino
  • Rocky by Sylvester Stallone
  • Sense and Sensibility by Emma Thompson
  • sex, lies and videotape by Steven Soderbergh
  • Shaun of the Dead by Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright
  • Sicario by Taylor Sheridan
  • Sorry to Bother You by Boots Riley
  • Submarine by Richard Ayoade
  • Swingers by Jon Favreau
  • The Babadook by Jennifer Kent
  • The Post by Liz Hannah
  • The Virgin Suicides by Sofia Coppola
  • The Wedding Date by Dana Fox
  • The Witch by Robert Eggers
  • Whiplash by Damien Chazelle

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

Conflict and Stakes Compendium

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Scriptnotes, Transcribed

In this compendium episode, John and Craig look at two of the most fundamental building blocks of compelling stories – conflict and stakes.

We define six forms of conflict common in movies, and explore ways to sustain conflict within a scene and throughout a story. We also look for ways to find the root of your character’s stakes, pick the right stakes for the world around them, and the importance of making everything personal.

In our bonus segment for premium members, John and Craig look at Whiplash and how it finds conflict at the perfect tempo.

Links:

Email us at ask@dev.johnaugust.com

You can download the episode here.

UPDATE 10-21-24: The transcript for this episode can be found here.

Featured Friday: Back to School

News

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

This week, it’s back to school! We look at stories that articulate the excitement and ease the pain of starting another academic year.

Our collection includes:

  • 10 Things I Hate About You by Karen McCullah Lutz & Kirsten Smith
  • Big Little Lies – “Somebody’s Dead” by David E. Kelley
  • Bottoms by Rachel Sennott & Emma Seligman
  • Clueless by Amy Heckerling
  • Dead Poets Society by Tom Schulman
  • Dear White People by Justin Simien
  • Easy A by Bert V. Royal
  • Fast Times at Ridgemont High by Cameron Crowe
  • Friday Night Lights – “Its Different For Girls” by Andy Miller
  • Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by Steve Kloves
  • Lady Bird by Greta Gerwig
  • Mean Girls by Tina Fey
  • Napoleon Dynamite by Jared Hess & Jerusha Hess
  • Never Have I Ever – “Pilot” by Mindy Kaling & Lang Fisher
  • Rushmore by Wes Anderson and Owen Wilson
  • School Daze by Spike Lee
  • Sex Education – “Episode One” by Laurie Nunn
  • The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
  • Wednesday – “Wednesday’s Child Is Full Of Woe” by Alfred Gough & Miles Millar

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

How to Watch Bad Movies

Scriptnotes, Transcribed

John and Craig stand waist-deep in rotten tomatoes and ask, what can we learn from bad movies? Resisting the urge to walk out, they explore ways to evaluate a movie’s problems, interrogate your taste, and turn a real stinker into an opportunity to grow as a writer.

We also follow up on Lifetime movies, colored pages and AI screenwriting, and answer listener questions on weirdo characters and the validity of a ghostwriter.

In our bonus segment for premium members, when is it okay to bail on something you no longer enjoy? We look at when to bounce on books, friendships and more.

Links:

Email us at ask@dev.johnaugust.com

You can download the episode here.

UPDATE 10-7-24: The transcript for this episode can be found here.