Scriptnotes is a weekly podcast that began airing on August 30, 2011.[1]. It is billed as "a podcast about screenwriting, and things that are interesting to screenwriters."[2] The podcast is hosted by screenwriters John August and Craig Mazin, with new episodes released every Tuesday.
| Scriptnotes | |
|---|---|
| Presentation | |
| Hosted by | John August, Craig Mazin |
| Genre | TV & Film |
| Language | English |
| Length | 35 - 120 minutes |
| Production | |
| No. of episodes | 240 (as of March 8, 2016) |
| Publication | |
| Original release | August 30, 2011 |
The podcast has been discussed by The Daily Show [3], Vanity Fair[4], The Huffington Post[5], and The Washington Post[6]. Scriptnotes has also been featured by the Nerdist podcast[7], and live events for the podcast have been sponsored by The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences[8], the Austin Film Festival[9], and the Writers Guild Foundation[10][11].
It was ranked as one of the 11 best movie podcasts by MTV.com[12].
The podcast has featured appearances from many notable people in the world of film and TV, including Rian Johnson, David Benioff & D. B. Weiss (the showrunners of Game of Thrones), Aline Brosh McKenna, Dana Fox, Rachel Bloom (star of Crazy-Ex Girlfriend), Jennifer Lee, Riki Lindhome, Natasha Leggero, Alec Berg, Kelly Marcel, Rawson Marshall Thurber, Richard Kelly, Chris Nee, Malcolm Spellman, David Wain, and Jason Bateman.
Scriptnotes episodes are available for free up to twenty weeks after their initial airing. Back episode archives and bonus episodes are available to premium subscribers at scriptnotes.net. Transcripts of all back episodes are available for free, and are usually posted within one week of the episode's initial airing.
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 their comments. Typically three are tackled in one show. Those that have had their screenplays subjected to John and Craig's critical eyes have typically thanked them from the feedback, which has ranged from congratulatory to despairing. The three-page challenge is a particularly useful segment for screenwriters as it provides sharp insights into unproduced screenplays; lessons easily applied to your own project. The segment was first announced with a call for submissions in episode 45[13] and the first critiques debuted the next week in episode 46.[14]
One Cool Thing
One Cool Thing is a weekly segment that occurs at the end of each episode. John, Craig, and their guests will each give a plug to someone or something they deem cool. The cool things vary greatly. The segment dates back to May 2012, when John officially started it at the end of episode 35.[15] Since then he has been a faithful participant. Craig'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, John and Craig 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 several different genres and approaches a perspective writer could take on 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, and sexual assault on college campuses.[16]
Access to episodes
The last 20 episodes of Scriptnotes are available for free on iTunes[17] and on the official Scriptnotes website[18]. If you want to listen to earlier shows (which go back to August 2011), there is a premium option run through the Mylibsyn[19] service that costs $1.99 a month. Premium subscribers can access old shows either through the Scriptnotes website or a Scriptnotes app, for iOS[20] and Android[21] devices.
The hosts have not revealed how many premium subscribers they have. They did highlight that they may change the approach in a poll launched on March 29, 2016 when they asked readers to describe how they access the show and whether they would be interested in purchasing a USB devices with all old episodes on (for $10)[22].
- ^ August, John. "Scriptnotes". johnaugust.com. Retrieved March 9, 2016.
- ^ "Scriptnotes, Ep 235: The one with Jason Bateman and the Game of Thrones guys — Transcript". johnaugust.com. February 4, 2016. Retrieved March 9, 2016.
- ^ "The Daily Show - Nobody Likes Ted Cruz". cc.com. December 3, 2015. Retrieved March 22, 2016.
- ^ "Game of Thrones Show-Runners Get Extremely Candid About Their Original "Piece of Sh—t" Pilot". Vanity Fair.
- ^ Halperin, David (February 3, 2016). "Dear God Do Not Leave America Alone with Ted Cruz". huffingtonpost.com. Retrieved March 22, 2016.
- ^ Cavana, Michael (May 21, 2014). "SHE-HULK co-creator Stan Lee weighs in on David Goyer debate: 'Only a nut would even think of that'". washingtonpost.com. Retrieved March 16, 2016.
- ^ "The Nedist Podcast".
- ^ "SCRIPTNOTES AT THE ACADEMY".
- ^ "Austin Film Festival: Podcast People". The Austin Chronicle.
- ^ "THE SCRIPTNOTES SUMMER SUPERHERO SPECTACULAR".
- ^ "THE SCRIPTNOTES HOLIDAY SPECTACULAR".
- ^ Evry, Max (November 25, 2013). "11 Must-Download Podcasts for Movie Lovers". mtv.com. Retrieved March 22, 2016.
- ^ http://johnaugust.com/2012/setting-perspective-and-terrible-numbers
- ^ http://johnaugust.com/2012/mistakes-development-executives-make
- ^ http://johnaugust.com/2012/the-disney-dilemma
- ^ http://johnaugust.com/2015/how-would-this-be-a-movie
- ^ https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/scriptnotes-podcast/id462495496?mt=2
- ^ http://scriptnotes.net/
- ^ https://my.libsyn.com/
- ^ https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/scriptnotes/id739117984?ls=1&mt=8
- ^ https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.johnaugust.android.scriptnotes
- ^ http://johnaugust.com/2016/heroes-villains-and-two-handers