374 - Real-World Villains

John and Craig investigate actual villains in this installment of How Would This Be a Movie? From the eerily prescient writer of “How to Murder Your Husband” to the dark comedy of Jacob Wohl, sometimes reality provides the character — now you just need an actual story.

We also look at the craft behind writing for ensemble, plus follow-up on the end of FilmStruck, “No Writing Left Behind,” specifying character race in scripts and the hopeful resurgence of family-friendly Christmas movies.

Links:

FilmStruck is Shutting Down Aaron Sauerland’s tweet about writing for ensembles Novelist Who Penned ‘How To Murder Your Husband’ Essay Charged With Husband’s Murder by Laurel Wamsley for NPR Never Go Full Trump: The Lena Epstein Story by Josh Marshal for TPM The Humiliating Crash and Burn of Pro-Trump Media Star Jacob Wohl Is the Best Political Story of the Season by Dustin Rowles for Pajiba ‘Nicole From Last Night’: University Of Calgary Student Mass Emails 247 Nicoles by Maija Kappler for Huffington Post Meet the gallant all-black American female battalion that served in Europe during World War II by Elizabeth Ofosuah Johnson for Face 2 Face Africa. Mary McLeod Bethune 6 Tips for Getting Your Solo Play to Broadway by Mike Birbiglia Decrypto T-shirts are available here! We’ve got new designs, including Colored Revisions, Karateka, and Highland2. John August on Twitter Craig Mazin on Twitter John on Instagram Find past episodes Scriptnotes Digital Seasons are also now available! Outro by Matthew Chilelli (send us yours!)

Email us at ask@johnaugust.com

You can download the episode here.