Scriptnotes Podcast

372 - No Writing Left Behind

John and Craig discuss the dangers of leave-behinds. The “writing before the writing” is an important part of the craft, but giving it away for free is bad for everyone. We also answer a listener question about character wants versus needs, and why that distinction has become such a guru staple. Links: Hope to see you this weekend at the <a href="https://www.austinfilmfestival.com/aff/live/">Austin Film Festival</a>! You can also catch John at the <a href="https://www.texasbookfestival.org/">Texas Book Festival</a> and the <a href="https://www.boulderbookstore.net/event/john-august-arlo-finch-valley-fire"> Boulder Book Store Event</a> <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_GhZMFTtags">No Writing Left Behind</a> <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/01/well/family/confidence-gap-teen-girls-tips-parents.html"> The Confidence Gap</a> by Claire Shipman, Katty Kay and JillEllyn Riley for The New York Times <a href="https://tv.youtube.com/welcome/">Youtube TV</a> T-shirts are available <a href="https://cottonbureau.com/people/john-august-1">here</a>! We’ve got new designs, including <a href="https://cottonbureau.com/products/colored-revisions">Colored Revisions</a>, <a href="https://cottonbureau.com/products/karateka">Karateka</a>, and <a href="https://cottonbureau.com/products/highland2">Highland2</a>. <a href="https://store.johnaugust.com/collections/frontpage/products/scriptnotes-300-episode-usb-flash-drive"> The USB drives!</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/johnaugust">John August</a> on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/clmazin">Craig Mazin</a> on Twitter <a href="https://www.instagram.com/johnaugust/?hl=en">John on Instagram</a> <a href="http://scriptnotes.net/">Find past episodes</a> <a href="https://store.johnaugust.com/">Scriptnotes Digital Seasons</a> are also now available! <a href="http://johnaugust.com/2013/scriptnotes-the-outros">Outro</a> by Luke Brown (<a href="http://johnaugust.com/2014/outros-needed">send us yours!</a>) Email us at ask@johnaugust.com You can download the episode <a href="http://traffic.libsyn.com/scriptnotes/scriptnotes_ep_372.mp3">here</a>.

Screenwriters John August and Craig Mazin discuss screenwriting and related topics in the film and television industry, everything from getting stuff written to the vagaries of copyright and work-for-hire law.