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''Scriptnotes'' is a weekly
podcast A podcast is a program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. For example, an episodic series of digital audio or video files that a user can download to a personal device to listen to at a time of their choosing ...
that began airing on August 30, 2011. It is billed as "a podcast about screenwriting, and things that are interesting to screenwriters." The podcast is hosted by
screenwriters A screenplay writer (also called screenwriter, scriptwriter, scribe or scenarist) is a writer who practices the craft of screenwriting, writing screenplays on which mass media, such as films, television programs and video games, are based. T ...
John August John August (born August 4, 1970) is an American screenwriter, director, producer, and novelist. He is known for writing the films '' Go'' (1999), ''Charlie's Angels'' (2000), '' Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle'' (2003), '' Big Fish'' (2003), ' ...
and
Craig Mazin Craig Mazin (born April 8, 1971) is an American screenwriter and film director. He is best known for creating the five-part HBO miniseries ''Chernobyl (miniseries), Chernobyl'', based on the Chernobyl disaster, nuclear disaster of the same name in ...
, with new episodes released every Tuesday. The podcast has featured appearances from many notable people in the world of film and TV, including
Rian Johnson Rian Craig Johnson (born December 17, 1973) is an American filmmaker. He made his directorial debut with the neo-noir mystery film ''Brick'' (2005), which received positive reviews and grossed nearly $4 million on a $450,000 budget. Transition ...
,
David Benioff David Friedman (; born September 25, 1970), known professionally as David Benioff (), is an American writer, director and producer. Along with his collaborator D. B. Weiss, he is best known as co-creator and showrunner of ''Game of Thrones'' (20 ...
and
D.B. Weiss Daniel Brett Weiss (; born April 23, 1971) is an American television writer, director, and producer. Along with his collaborator David Benioff, he is best-known as co-creator of '' Game of Thrones'' (2011–2019), the HBO adaptation of George R. ...
(the showrunners of ''
Game of Thrones ''Game of Thrones'' is an American fantasy drama television series created by David Benioff and D. B. Weiss for HBO. It is an adaptation of ''A Song of Ice and Fire'', a series of fantasy novels by George R. R. Martin, the first ...
''),
Aline Brosh McKenna Aline Brosh McKenna (born August 2, 1967) is an American screenwriter, producer and director. Her credits include writing '' The Devil Wears Prada'' (2006), ''27 Dresses'' (2008), ''Morning Glory'' (2010), ''We Bought a Zoo'' (2011) and co-cre ...
,
Dana Fox Dana Fox (born September 18, 1976) is an American screenwriter. She is best known as the writer of ''The Wedding Date'' (2005), ''What Happens in Vegas'' (2008), and the television comedy series ''Ben and Kate'' (2012–13). Career Fox graduated ...
,
Rachel Bloom Rachel Leah Bloom (born April 3, 1987) is an American actress, comedian, writer, singer, and producer. She is best known for co-creating and starring as Rebecca Bunch in The CW musical comedy-drama series ''Crazy Ex-Girlfriend'' (2015– ...
, Jennifer Lee,
Riki Lindhome Erika "Riki" Lindhome (born March 5, 1979) is an American actress, comedian, and musician. She is best known as a singer and songwriter for the comedy folk duo Garfunkel and Oates. After making her television debut in 2002 with minor roles in t ...
,
Natasha Leggero Natasha Leggero () (born March 26, 1974) is an American comedian, actress and writer. She rose to fame after appearing as the host of the MTV reality television series '' The 70s House'' in 2005, and as a regular roundtable panelist on Chelsea Ha ...
,
Alec Berg Alec Berg is an American television writer, director and executive producer. He wrote for the sitcom ''Seinfeld'' and is co-creator and executive producer of ''Barry Barry may refer to: People and fictional characters * Barry (name), including ...
,
Kelly Marcel Kelly Marcel (born 10 January 1974) is a British screenwriter, actress and television producer. She co-wrote the film '' Saving Mr. Banks'' (2013) and wrote the film ''Fifty Shades of Grey'' (2015), and created and served as executive producer o ...
,
Rawson Marshall Thurber Rawson Marshall Thurber (born February 9, 1975) is an American filmmaker and actor. Early life Thurber was born in San Francisco, California. He is the son of attorney Marshall Thurber. He is a 1997 graduate of Union College (Schenectady, New ...
, Richard Kelly,
Chris Nee Christine Nee is an American children's television screenwriter and TV producer, producer. Nee is best known as the creator of ''Doc McStuffins'', which she conceived as ''Cheers'' for preschoolers. She has previously worked as an associate produc ...
,
Malcolm Spellman Malcolm Spellman is an American screenwriter and producer best known for his work on ''Empire'' (2015) and ''The Falcon and the Winter Soldier'' (2021). Career In March 2010, Spellman started his career by writing the screenplay for the film ' ...
, David Wain, and
Jason Bateman Jason Kent Bateman (born January 14, 1969) is an American actor, director and producer known for his roles of Michael Bluth in the Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox/Netflix sitcom ''Arrested Development (TV series), Arrested Development'' and of Mart ...
. ''Scriptnotes'' episodes are available for free up to 20 weeks after their initial airing. Back episode archives and bonus episodes are available to premium subscribers a
scriptnotes.net
Transcripts of all back episodes are available for free, and are usually posted within one week of the episode's initial airing.


History

August, who had been writing his popular eponymous screenwriting blog since 2003, developed an interest in podcasting and its potential to extend the work he had been doing to help the screenwriting community. He approached Mazin via email in June 2011 with the idea of producing a screenwriting podcast together. Despite being largely unfamiliar with the medium, Mazin agreed out of a desire to talk about screenwriting without writing about it, as he had been doing for a number of years on his blog, The Artful Writer. The inaugural episode of the podcast was released 30 August 2011.


Recurring segments


Three-page challenge

Aspiring screenwriters are encouraged to send in three pages of their screenplay – almost always the first three – to be critiqued. The scripts vary widely in tone, style and genre. Links to the screenplays are provided in the show notes so listeners can read them and then listen to the critique. Typically three are tackled in one show. The three-page challenge is a particularly useful segment for screenwriters as it provides sharp insights into unproduced screenplays; lessons easily applied to a writer's own project. The segment was first announced with a call for submissions in episode 45 and the first critiques debuted the next week in episode 46.


One Cool Thing

One Cool Thing is a weekly segment that occurs at the end of each episode. August, Mazin and their guests will each give a plug to something or someone they deem cool. The cool things vary greatly. The segment dates back to May 2012, when August officially started it at the end of episode 35. Since then he has been a faithful participant. Mazin's participation was suspect for a time, most notably during a six-week stretch that began in August 2012, but since then he has overcome his umbrage-tinted glasses and regularly found something in the world worth praising every week.


How Would This Be a Movie?

In this newer segment of the show, August and Mazin pull a few current stories from the news and discuss if and how those stories could be adapted into feature films. The discussion often includes brainstorming possible genres and approaches a perspective writer could take with the story, discussing how to collapse or expand the details of the story to fit a feature film, and determining which of the week's stories, if any, have any serious potential as a future film. The segment debuted in episode 201, when the stories included scandals in FIFA, the
Large Hadron Collider The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is the world's largest and highest-energy particle collider. It was built by the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) between 1998 and 2008 in collaboration with over 10,000 scientists and hundred ...
, and sexual assault on college campuses.


Deep dives

A number of episodes have been dedicated to deep dive analyses of individual films. The first such episode, in January 2013, featured ''
Raiders of the Lost Ark ''Raiders of the Lost Ark'' is a 1981 American action-adventure film directed by Steven Spielberg and written by Lawrence Kasdan, based on a story by George Lucas and Philip Kaufman. It stars Harrison Ford, Karen Allen, Paul Freeman, Ronal ...
''. Subsequent episodes have looked at ''
The Little Mermaid "The Little Mermaid" ( da, Den lille havfrue) is a literary fairy tale written by the Danish author Hans Christian Andersen. The story follows the journey of a young mermaid who is willing to give up her life in the sea as a mermaid to gain a h ...
'', '' Frozen'', ''
Groundhog Day Groundhog Day ( pdc, Grund'sau dåk, , , ; Nova Scotia: Daks Day) is a popular North American tradition observed in the United States and Canada on February 2. It derives from the Pennsylvania Dutch superstition that if a groundhog emerges from ...
'', ''
Ghost A ghost is the soul or spirit of a dead person or animal that is believed to be able to appear to the living. In ghostlore, descriptions of ghosts vary widely from an invisible presence to translucent or barely visible wispy shapes, to rea ...
'', ''
Unforgiven ''Unforgiven'' is a 1992 American Revisionist Western film starring, directed, and produced by Clint Eastwood, and written by David Webb Peoples. The film tells the story of William Munny, an aging outlaw and killer who takes on one more job, ...
'' and ''
The Addams Family ''The Addams Family'' is a fictional family created by American cartoonist Charles Addams. They originally appeared in a series of 150 unrelated single-panel cartoons, about half of which were originally published in ''The New Yorker'' over a ...
''.


Recurring themes/characters

The podcast has a number of recurring themes, particularly in how the hosts interact with one another.


August's intro is professional while Mazin's intro is affected

At the beginning of every podcast, August uses a 'straight' introduction, while Mazin uses a silly or mechanical voice.


Mazin acts lazy and August does all the work

Mazin tells anecdotes about himself that emphasize how he is lazy, unprepared, and frequently late. In contrast, August appears productive, organized, and punctual.


John August as robot

In line with their personas of Mazin being the lazy one and August being the organized one, plus knowledgeable about technology, Mazin mocks August by calling him a robot. This includes accusations that August has no emotions and no heart.


Segue Man

Mazin is the more emotionally expressive of the two podcasts hosts. When Mazin delivers impassioned speeches, August will typically agree with Mazin on content and then transition into the next item on the agenda. Because of August's focus on pacing and transitions during the show, Mazin has christened August "Segue Man."


Sexy Craig

Mazin's deep-throated alter ego appears multiple times in the Scriptnotes catalogue; brought on by August's accidental double entendres. "Sexy Craig" is a master of the love-making arts and at making August notably uncomfortable.


Stuart

For five years up to episode 259,
Stuart Friedel Stuart may refer to: Names * Stuart (name), a given name and surname (and list of people with the name) Automobile *Stuart (automobile) Places Australia Generally *Stuart Highway, connecting South Australia and the Northern Territory Northe ...
was August's assistant, and the producer and original editor of the podcast. With the exception of episode 259, Friedel's voice was never heard on the podcast. The hosts would frequently talk about him, and the work that he did for the show, including reading and selecting scripts for the Three Page Challenge.


Notable episodes


Revelations about the ''Game of Thrones'' pilot

David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, the showrunners of
HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...
's fantasy drama ''
Game of Thrones ''Game of Thrones'' is an American fantasy drama television series created by David Benioff and D. B. Weiss for HBO. It is an adaptation of ''A Song of Ice and Fire'', a series of fantasy novels by George R. R. Martin, the first ...
'', appeared on a live version of the podcast in February 2016. They spoke about the poor reception to the show's original pilot episode, and how it was largely reshot following a screening of the episode to Mazin and other screenwriters.


The One with the Guys from Final Draft

On episode 129, August and Mazin welcomed Final Draft CEO and co-founder Marc Madnick and then-product manager Joe Jarvis. Their visit was in response to negative comments made about the software on previous episodes of ''Scriptnotes'', and came out of Madnick's desire to discuss what he perceived as misconceptions about both the software and the company. Instead, Madnick offered a revealing look into—as described by the Accidental Tech Podcast—the company's shortcomings, management's apparent feeling that they should make "
heir Inheritance is the practice of receiving private property, titles, debts, entitlements, privileges, rights, and obligations upon the death of an individual. The rules of inheritance differ among societies and have changed over time. Officiall ...
problems your problems," and the "severe technical debt" Final Draft has ignored for far too long, resulting in out of date, difficult to update, and unnecessarily expensive software. In response to the episode's controversy, filmmaker and software developer Kent Tessman pointed out that a possible reason many of Madnick's excuses were met with pushback is that, simply, "there might be technical people listening".


The She-Hulk controversy

As part of Scriptnotes's 2014 Summer Superhero Spectacular live show, August and Mazin played a game with guests
Andrea Berloff Andrea Berloff (born 1974) is an American screenwriter, actress, director, and producer. Berloff is best known for writing the 2006 Disaster film, disaster Drama (film and television), drama film ''World Trade Center (film), World Trade Center'' ...
,
Christopher Markus & Stephen McFeely Christopher Markus (born January 2, 1970) and Stephen McFeely (born February 24, 1970) are American screenwriters and producers. McFeely and Markus were the second and the third most successful screenwriters of all time in terms of U.S. box offic ...
and
David S. Goyer David Samuel Goyer (born December 22, 1965) is an American filmmaker, novelist and comic book writer. He is best known for writing the screenplays for several superhero films, including ''Nick Fury: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. (film), Nick Fury: Agent ...
. Each was randomly assigned a superhero and asked how they would adapt the character for TV or film. Talking about
She-Hulk She-Hulk (Jennifer "Jen" Walters) is a fictional Character (arts), character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist John Buscema, she first appeared in ''The Savage She-Hulk'' #1 (cov ...
, Goyer said:
I have a theory about She-Hulk. Which was created by a man, right? And at the time in particular I think 95% of comic book readers were men and certainly almost all of the comic book writers were men. So the Hulk was this classic male power fantasy. It’s like, most of the people reading comic books were these people like me who were just these little kids getting the shit kicked out of them every day... And so then they created She-Huk, right? Who was still smart... I think She-Hulk is the chick that you could fuck if you were Hulk, you know what I’m saying? ... She-Hulk was the extension of the male power fantasy. So it’s like if I’m going to be this geek who becomes the Hulk then let’s create a giant green porn star that only the Hulk could fuck.
The day after the episode's release, Alan Kistler of The Mary Sue wrote about these comments as well as Goyer's take on Martian Manhunter. His summation:
So to recap. She-Hulk is just a sex power fantasy rather than a character with agency who from the beginning went down a different path than her cousin, The Hulk. Martian Manhunter being the last survivor of a race which died out on Mars over a thousand years ago is goofy, but putting him Area 51 and using the same plot as many alien visitor movies is not. And God forbid superheroes embrace some goofiness and absurdity. 'sic''/blockquote> This prompted Michael Cavana from ''
The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
''s Comic Riffs to reach out to
She-Hulk She-Hulk (Jennifer "Jen" Walters) is a fictional Character (arts), character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist John Buscema, she first appeared in ''The Savage She-Hulk'' #1 (cov ...
co-creator
Stan Lee Stan Lee (born Stanley Martin Lieber ; December 28, 1922 – November 12, 2018) was an American comic book writer, editor, publisher, and producer. He rose through the ranks of a family-run business called Timely Publications which ...
for a response.
When Lee, as writer, co-created She-Hulk with artist John Buscema (the character debuted in February of 1980, in Savage She-Hulk #1), he was absolutely focused on his gamma-green superheroine having brains. Lee tells The Post’s Comic Riffs this evening, in response to Goyer’s words: “I know I was looking for a new female superhero, and the idea of an intelligent Hulk-type grabbed me.”


Mazin and Ted Cruz

During his freshman year at
Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...
, Mazin was roommates with future junior U.S. Senator and 2016 presidential candidate
Ted Cruz Rafael Edward "Ted" Cruz (; born December 22, 1970) is an American politician and attorney serving as the junior United States Senator from Texas since 2013. A member of the Republican Party, Cruz served as Solicitor General of Texas from ...
. Mazin has been open about his dislike for Cruz, and on episode 113 said:
And, you know, I want to be clear, because Ted Cruz is a nightmare of a human being. I have plenty of problems with his politics, but truthfully his personality is so awful that ninety-nine percent of why I hate him is just his personality. If he agreed with me on every issue, I would hate him only one percent less.
Mazin's comment was picked up by ''
The Daily Show ''The Daily Show'' is an American late-night talk and satirical news television program. It airs each Monday through Thursday on Comedy Central with release shortly after on Paramount+. ''The Daily Show'' draws its comedy and satire form from ...
'', ''
The Huffington Post ''HuffPost'' (formerly ''The Huffington Post'' until 2017 and sometimes abbreviated ''HuffPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and ...
'', ''
Texas Monthly ''Texas Monthly'' (stylized as ''TexasMonthly'') is a monthly American magazine headquartered in Downtown Austin, Texas. ''Texas Monthly'' was founded in 1973 by Michael R. Levy and has been published by Emmis Publishing, L.P. since 1998 and is ...
'', ''
The Telegraph ''The Telegraph'', ''Daily Telegraph'', ''Sunday Telegraph'' and other variant names are popular names for newspapers. Newspapers with these titles include: Australia * ''The Telegraph'' (Adelaide), a newspaper in Adelaide, South Australia, publ ...
'', '' The Sun Times'', and more.


Scriptshadow

Mazin does not hold back on his disdain for Carson Reeves and his Scriptshadow blog, which reviews both professional and amateur scripts, including one of August's rewrites of a possible tentpole movie for
20th Century Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm of Walt Dis ...
. Per August, though the review was positive, the studio went 'ballistic' and it was taken down. Mazin broached the topic again on episode 186 (March 3, 2015), citing Reeves' negative review of the '' Birdman'' screenplay as an example of why Reeves' opinions are misplaced, unnecessary and unwelcome, considering ''Birdman'' went on to win six Oscars at the 2015 ceremony, including
Best Director Best Director is the name of an award which is presented by various film, television and theatre organizations, festivals, and people's awards. It may refer to: Film awards * AACTA Award for Best Direction * Academy Award for Best Director * BA ...
and
Best Original Screenplay The Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay is the Academy Award for the best screenplay not based upon previously published material. It was created in 1940 as a separate writing award from the Academy Award for Best Story. Beginning with the ...
. Mazin broached the topic a third time on episode 291 (March 07/2017) after Reeves called out 2017 Oscar winners ''
Moonlight Moonlight consists of mostly sunlight (with little earthlight) reflected from the parts of the Moon's surface where the Sun's light strikes. Illumination The intensity of moonlight varies greatly depending on the lunar phase, but even the ful ...
'' ( Best Adapted Screenplay), and '' Manchester by the Sea'' (
Best Original Screenplay The Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay is the Academy Award for the best screenplay not based upon previously published material. It was created in 1940 as a separate writing award from the Academy Award for Best Story. Beginning with the ...
) as terrible screenplays that any of the 10,000 WGA members could have scripted. Mazin's issue was that Reeves should have written them himself if that's the case, then went on to call Reeves an 'idiot' suffering 'delusions of grandeur' since Reeves had expressed his views on a public blog and not in a private conversation.


Live shows

Live events for the podcast have been sponsored by
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS, often pronounced ; also known as simply the Academy or the Motion Picture Academy) is a professional honorary organization with the stated goal of advancing the arts and sciences of motion ...
, the
Austin Film Festival Austin Film Festival (AFF), founded in 1994, is an organization in Austin, Texas, that focuses on writers’ creative contributions to film. Initially, AFF was called the Austin Heart of Film Screenwriters Conference and functioned to launch the ...
, and the Writers Guild Foundation. ''Scriptnotes'' has also produced a crossover episode with The
Nerdist Nerdist Industries, LLC is part of the digital division of Legendary Entertainment. Nerdist Industries was founded as a sole podcast (The Nerdist Podcast) created by Chris Hardwick but later spread to include a network of podcasts, a premium conte ...
Writers Panel podcast. They also host a yearly live show to benefit the non-profit organization Hollywood Heart.


Reception

''Scriptnotes'' has received positive reviews. As of January 3, 2018, it has an average rating of 5 out of 5 stars on podbay.fm, with 1045 users weighing in. It was ranked as one of the 11 best movie podcasts by
MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...
. ''Esquire'' selected the podcast as one of its 13 favorite podcasts of 2016, writing "Whether you're an aspiring screenwriter or a plain old movie fan, ''Scriptnotes'' offers a unique insider's perspective into the business". It was listed among the week's best radio by ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'' in September 2017.
Vulture A vulture is a bird of prey that scavenges on carrion. There are 23 extant species of vulture (including Condors). Old World vultures include 16 living species native to Europe, Africa, and Asia; New World vultures are restricted to North and ...
called the show 'highly influential' for screenwriters. In a 2016 interview with ''
The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...
'', actor and director
Elizabeth Banks Elizabeth Banks (born Elizabeth Irene Mitchell; February 10, 1974) is an American actress and filmmaker. She is known for playing Effie Trinket in ''The Hunger Games'' film series (2012–2015) and Gail Abernathy-McKadden in the ''Pitch Perfe ...
revealed that ''Scriptnotes'' was her favorite podcast. The podcast has been discussed by '' Vanity Fair'' and ''
The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
'', among others.


Access to back episodes

The most recent 20 episodes of Scriptnotes are available for free on all podcast services, including iTunes, as well as vi
johnaugust.com
Back episodes and bonus segments are available throug
scriptnotes.net
for $4.99 per month.


References

{{Reflist


External links

* http://johnaugust.com/scriptnotes * http://www.scriptnotes.net/ Educational podcasts Film and television podcasts Audio podcasts 2011 podcast debuts