The Curious Engineer

John August

2008–2014

1,347 posts

← 2003–2007 2015–2026 →

2014 196

December 2014

  1. Don’t use “thought” verbs
  2. Cutting Pages and Fixing Holes
  3. Scriptnotes, Ep 176: Advice to a First-Time Director — Transcript
  4. Advice to a First-Time Director
  5. Left or Right
  6. Scriptnotes, Ep 175: Twelve Days of Scriptnotes — Transcript
  7. Shipping 8,000 Kickstarter rewards in one minute
  8. Twelve Days of Scriptnotes
  9. Scriptnotes, Ep 174: Hacks, Transference and Where to Begin — Transcript
  10. Scriptnotes, Ep 173: The Perfect Reader — Transcript
  11. Hacks, Transference and Where to Begin
  12. The Perfect Reader
  13. Scriptnotes, Ep 172: Franz Kafka’s brother, and the perfect agent — Transcript
  14. Mapping and scribbling

November 2014

  1. Scriptnotes, Ep 171: Finishing a script, and the Perfect Studio Executive — Transcript
  2. Franz Kafka’s brother, and the perfect agent
  3. Finishing a script, and the Perfect Studio Executive
  4. Scriptnotes, Ep 170: Lotteries, lightning strikes and twist endings — Transcript
  5. Lotteries, lightning strikes and twist endings
  6. Scriptnotes, Ep 169: Descending Into Darkness — Transcript
  7. In praise of flat adverbs
  8. Development Emergencies
  9. Scriptnotes, Ep 168: Austin Forever — Transcript
  10. Writer Emergency Pack, and the secret history thereof
  11. Scriptnotes, Ep 167: The Tentpoles of 2019 — Transcript
  12. Descending Into Darkness

October 2014

  1. Highland is great for novels
  2. Austin Forever
  3. Writer Emergency Pack, now in pre-launch
  4. The Tentpoles of 2019
  5. Scriptnotes, Ep 166: Critics, Characters and Business Affairs — Transcript
  6. Highland works great with Yosemite
  7. Critics, Characters and Business Affairs
  8. Scriptnotes, Ep 165: Toxic Perfection Syndrome — Transcript
  9. Toxic Perfection Syndrome
  10. Scriptnotes, Ep 164: Guardians of the Galaxy’s Nicole Perlman — Transcript

September 2014

  1. Guardians of the Galaxy’s Nicole Perlman
  2. Scriptnotes, Ep 163: Ghost — Transcript
  3. Ghost
  4. Scriptnotes, Ep 162: Luck, sequels and bus money — Transcript
  5. On Being Somebody
  6. Dressing like a screenwriter
  7. Luck, sequels and bus money
  8. Scriptnotes, Ep 161: A Cheap Cut of Meat Soaked in Butter — Transcript
  9. A Cheap Cut of Meat Soaked in Butter
  10. Scriptnotes, Ep 160: A Screenwriter’s Guide to the End of the World — Transcript
  11. Unlikable heroes and genre expectations
  12. Should we make more Scriptnotes t-shirts?
  13. A Screenwriter’s Guide to the End of the World

August 2014

  1. Scriptnotes, Ep 159: The Mystery of the Disappearing Articles — Transcript
  2. The Mystery of the Disappearing Articles
  3. Scriptnotes, Ep 158: Putting a price on it — Transcript
  4. On trust, drama and corporations
  5. Less IMDb gets unbroken
  6. Putting a price on it
  7. Texting in film and television
  8. Secrets of Highland’s Dark Mode
  9. One-Star Amazon Reviews
  10. Scriptnotes, Ep 157: Threshers, Mergers and the Top Two Boxes — Transcript
  11. No one cares about manufacturing costs
  12. Threshers, Mergers and the Top Two Boxes
  13. Summer Re-run: Psychotherapy for Screenwriters
  14. Scriptnotes, Ep 155: Two Writers, One Script — Transcript

July 2014

  1. Two Writers, One Script
  2. Scriptnotes, Ep 154: Making Things Better by Making Things Worse — Transcript
  3. Disney’s corporate synergy, 1957 and today
  4. Getting 2-Up preview in Highland
  5. Making Things Better by Making Things Worse
  6. Impostor Syndrome, and unknown unknowns
  7. Scriptnotes, Ep 153: Selling without selling out — Transcript
  8. Highland and other screenwriting apps on sale
  9. Selling without selling out
  10. Scriptnotes, Ep 152: The Rocky Shoals (pages 70-90) — Transcript
  11. Hiring a UI designer
  12. The Rocky Shoals (pages 70-90)
  13. Puppet update
  14. Scriptnotes, Ep 151: Secrets and Lies — Transcript
  15. Internationalizing Bronson
  16. Audio illusions, and the importance of set-up
  17. Adapting The Wizard of Oz
  18. Why did Weekend Read spike?
  19. Secrets and Lies

June 2014

  1. Scriptnotes, Ep 150: Yes, screenwriting is actually writing — Transcript
  2. Yes, screenwriting is actually writing
  3. Scriptnotes, Ep 149: The Long-Lost Austin Three Page Challenge — Transcript
  4. How to Write a Scene, now in handy two-page form
  5. The Long-Lost Austin Three Page Challenge
  6. Scriptnotes, Ep 148: From Debussy to VOD — Transcript
  7. Storyboarding your film using Fountain
  8. From Debussy to VOD
  9. Scriptnotes, Ep 147: To Chase or To Spec — Transcript
  10. Scriptnotes, Ep 146: Wet Hot American Podcast — Transcript
  11. To Chase or To Spec

May 2014

  1. Bronson Watermarker, rebooted
  2. Scriptnotes, Ep 145: Q&A from the Superhero Spectacular — Transcript
  3. Wet Hot American Podcast
  4. Scriptnotes, Ep 144: The Summer Superhero Spectacular — Transcript
  5. Q&A from the Superhero Spectacular
  6. Green Umbrage, or That Escalated Quickly
  7. The Summer Superhero Spectacular
  8. Scriptnotes, Ep 143: Photoplays and archetypes — Transcript
  9. Find and Replace, a screenwriter’s best friends
  10. Beware of miserable success
  11. Why do people buy apps some days and not others?
  12. Checking batches of PDFs
  13. Photoplays and archetypes
  14. Which apps are screenwriters using?
  15. The ruins of Spectre
  16. Voting for the Three Page Challenge
  17. On error messages
  18. How to Write a Photoplay
  19. Wait for it
  20. Highland as a bona fide screenwriting app
  21. The Angeles Crest Fiasco
  22. Me on Mac Power Users
  23. Full Whedoncé
  24. Writing in another writer’s style
  25. Scriptnotes, Ep 141: Uncomfortable Ambiguity, or Nobody Wants Me at their Orgy — Transcript

April 2014

  1. Try to open this PDF, cont’d
  2. Superhero music
  3. TV writer on set
  4. Try to open this PDF
  5. Uncomfortable Ambiguity, or Nobody Wants Me at their Orgy
  6. The General Meeting
  7. Subscribing to app developers
  8. The accidental set-up
  9. Scriptnotes, Ep 140: Falling back in love with your script — Transcript
  10. Making the App Store better
  11. Falling back in love with your script
  12. Writing the music before shooting the film
  13. Weekend Read knows what page you’re on
  14. Scriptnotes, Ep 139: The Crossover Episode — Transcript
  15. Highland 1.7: faster, leaner, smarter
  16. The Scriptnotes Summer Superhero Spectacular
  17. Fountain for coders, or the joy of writing
  18. The Crossover Episode
  19. Scriptnotes, Ep 138: The Deal with the Deal — Transcript
  20. The Grimm side of marriage
  21. Writing an album in two weeks
  22. Assembling the billing block
  23. Old Projects
  24. The Deal with the Deal
  25. Michael Arndt on setting a story in motion
  26. Scriptnotes, Ep 137: Draw Your Own Werewolf — Transcript
  27. Creative Hours
  28. Making a short film when you’re actually a writer
  29. Draw Your Own Werewolf

March 2014

  1. Scriptnotes, Ep 136: Ghosts Laughing at Jokes — Transcript
  2. Folders, tags, and keeping things tidy
  3. Ghosts Laughing at Jokes
  4. Opening a script from in Mail in Weekend Read
  5. Scriptnotes, Ep 135: World-building — Transcript
  6. Pepperoni, parenthood, and the zone of solitude
  7. On Rotation
  8. World-building
  9. How modern English got that way
  10. Highland 1.6 uses the force
  11. Scriptnotes, Ep 134: So Many Questions — Transcript
  12. Weekend Read gains new powers, new scripts
  13. Outros needed
  14. So Many Questions
  15. Scriptnotes, Ep 133: Groundhog Day — Transcript
  16. Groundhog Day

February 2014

  1. Scriptnotes, Ep 132: The Contract between Writers and Readers — Transcript
  2. Weekend Read: Learning from Launch
  3. The Contract between Writers and Readers
  4. Scriptnotes, Ep 131: Procrastination and Pageorexia — Transcript
  5. When you think someone stole your idea
  6. Scanning scripts on your iPhone with Weekend Read + Prizmo
  7. How do you define television?
  8. Procrastination and Pageorexia
  9. Scriptnotes, Ep 130: Period Space — Transcript
  10. The trap of being good at something
  11. Long takes and realism
  12. Introducing Weekend Read
  13. Period Space
  14. When post-production never ends
  15. Scriptnotes, Ep 129: The One with the Guys from Final Draft — Transcript
  16. Final Draft and WGA registration
  17. The One with the Guys from Final Draft
  18. Scriptnotes, Ep 128: Frozen with Jennifer Lee — Transcript

January 2014

  1. Fountain 1.1 — “Use The Force”
  2. Frozen with Jennifer Lee
  3. My First Mac
  4. Scriptnotes, Ep 127: Women and Pilots — Transcript
  5. Final Draft, software and people
  6. Getting paid on time
  7. Women and Pilots
  8. Scriptnotes, Ep 126: Punching the Salty Ocean — Transcript
  9. What it’s like to nominate movies
  10. Punching the Salty Ocean
  11. Final Draft’s Reformat dialog box
  12. Scriptnotes, Ep 125: Egoless Screenwriting — Transcript
  13. Source code on screen
  14. Netflix, Nikita, and the sense of an ending
  15. Egoless Screenwriting

2013 192

December 2013

  1. Scriptnotes, Ep 124: Q&A from the Holiday Spectacular — Transcript
  2. Q&A from the Holiday Spectacular
  3. Scriptnotes, Ep 123: Scriptnotes Holiday Spectacular — Transcript
  4. Scriptnotes Holiday Spectacular
  5. Scriptnotes, Ep 122: Young Billionaire’s Guide to Hollywood — Transcript
  6. Young Billionaire’s Guide to Hollywood
  7. Highland wins 2013 Macworld Eddy
  8. Scriptnotes, Ep 121: My Girlfriend’s Boyfriend’s Screenwriter — Transcript
  9. Comparing a scene as written and as shot
  10. The Scriptnotes App
  11. My Girlfriend’s Boyfriend’s Screenwriter
  12. Scriptnotes, Ep 120: Let’s talk about coverage — Transcript
  13. Frankenweenie and autism
  14. Writing in Fountain on the iPad, using Editorial
  15. Let’s talk about coverage
  16. Shift-return, Highland’s little helper
  17. Lessons from God
  18. Scriptnotes, Ep 119: Positive Moviegoing — Transcript

November 2013

  1. Why I like writing in Fountain
  2. Positive Moviegoing
  3. Scriptnotes, Ep 118: Time Travel with Richard Kelly — Transcript
  4. Screenwriting.io moves out of beta
  5. The Scriptnotes Holiday Live Show
  6. PDF to FDX
  7. Time Travel with Richard Kelly
  8. Making The Midnight Coterie of Sinister Intruders
  9. Scriptnotes, Ep 117: Not Just Dialogue — Transcript
  10. How to convert a PDF to Final Draft
  11. Puppet person needed
  12. Not Just Dialogue
  13. Scriptnotes, Ep 116: Damsels in distress — Transcript
  14. Shirts back in the Store
  15. Damsels in distress
  16. How we record Scriptnotes
  17. Scriptnotes, Ep 115: Scriptnotes: Back to Austin with Rian Johnson and Kelly Marcel — Transcript

October 2013

  1. Scriptnotes: Back to Austin with Rian Johnson and Kelly Marcel
  2. Solitude and getting stuff written
  3. Big Fish, Jimmy Buffet, and seeing shows on a budget
  4. Scriptnotes, Ep 114: Blockbusters — Transcript
  5. Blockbusters
  6. Scriptnotes, Ep 113: Not Safe for Children — Transcript
  7. Save to Dropbox
  8. Storing stuff in other people’s houses
  9. Not Safe for Children
  10. Screenwriters hate cell phones
  11. The challenge of filming inside a theater
  12. Scriptnotes, Ep 112: Let me give you some advice — Transcript
  13. Let me give you some advice
  14. Escaping the activation server loop
  15. Scriptnotes, Ep 111: What’s Next — Transcript
  16. Live To Write Another Day, A Survival Guide for Screenwriters and Creative Storytellers
  17. Scriptnotes, Ep 110: Putting your pain second — Transcript
  18. What’s Next

September 2013

  1. How screenwriting style changed movies
  2. Putting your pain second
  3. Scriptnotes, Ep 109: Scriptnotes Live from New York — Transcript
  4. Scriptnotes Live from New York
  5. Scriptnotes, Ep 108: Are two screens better than one? — Transcript
  6. Highland 1.5 ships
  7. Are two screens better than one?
  8. Scriptnotes, Ep 107: Talking to actors — Transcript
  9. Talking to actors
  10. Scriptnotes, Ep 106: Two ENTJs walk into a bar (and fix it) — Transcript
  11. Two ENTJs walk into a bar (and fix it)
  12. Risky Business, and the choices you make
  13. All the One Cool Things

August 2013

  1. Yank! makes it
  2. Scriptnotes Live in NYC
  3. Scriptnotes, Ep 105: Adventures in semi-colons — Transcript
  4. Adventures in semi-colons
  5. Big-screen dramas on stage
  6. The Yank! cast album, or let’s do this for Craig
  7. Let’s make Katy Perry’s ‘Roar’ better
  8. Scriptnotes, Ep 104: Ender’s Game, one-hours and alt-jokes — Transcript
  9. Ender’s Game, one-hours and alt-jokes
  10. Big Fish on Broadway, iteration and why I’d love to see you in September
  11. Scriptnotes, Ep 103: Disaster Porn, and Spelling Things Out — Transcript
  12. Disaster Porn, and Spelling Things Out
  13. Scriptnotes, Ep 102: Hits, misses and hedge funds — Transcript
  14. Big Fish box office opens
  15. Scriptnotes, a look back and ahead
  16. Scriptnotes, Ep 101: Q&A from the live show — Transcript
  17. Hits, misses and hedge funds
  18. Scriptnotes, Ep 100: Scriptnotes, the 100th episode — Transcript
  19. 101: Q&A from the live show

July 2013

  1. Scriptnotes, the 100th episode
  2. Scriptnotes, Ep 99: Psychotherapy for screenwriters — Transcript
  3. Psychotherapy for screenwriters
  4. Scriptnotes, Ep 98: Long movies, producer credits and price-fixing — Transcript
  5. Long movies, producer credits and price-fixing
  6. Scriptnotes, Ep 97: Is 15 the new 30? — Transcript
  7. Highland updated to 1.03
  8. Is 15 the new 30?
  9. Scriptnotes, Ep 96: Three Page Challenge, Live Edition — Transcript
  10. Three Page Challenge, Live Edition
  11. Building shotlists from Fountain screenplays
  12. The Origins and Formatting of Modern Screenplays
  13. Eating dessert first
  14. Scriptnotes 100 tickets now available

June 2013

  1. Scriptnotes, Ep 95: Notes on the death of the film industry — Transcript
  2. Notes on the death of the film industry
  3. Scriptnotes, Ep 94: 10 Questions, 10 Answers — Transcript
  4. 10 Questions, 10 Answers
  5. Previz for screenwriters
  6. Scriptnotes, Ep 93: Let’s talk about Nikki Finke — Transcript
  7. Rationality vs. Umbrage
  8. T-Shirts and Transcripts
  9. Let’s talk about Nikki Finke
  10. Scriptnotes, Ep 92: The Little Mermaid — Transcript
  11. Apocalypse Now That Wasn’t So Bad
  12. End today’s writing with a plan for tomorrow’s
  13. Scriptnotes Live in LA
  14. Topping the charts and racing to the bottom
  15. The Little Mermaid
  16. Sounds teenagers make
  17. Shotgun marriages and terrible roommates
  18. Mason and Finley
  19. Scriptnotes, Ep 91: Bechdel and Batman — Transcript

May 2013

  1. Use whatever camera works
  2. Bechdel and Batman
  3. Scriptnotes, Ep 90: 50 Random Questions — Transcript
  4. The life of the unknown screenwriter
  5. 50 Random Questions
  6. Scriptnotes, Ep 89: Writing effective transitions — Transcript
  7. Highland sings
  8. Scriptnotes Off-Topic
  9. Writing effective transitions
  10. Scriptnotes, Ep 88: Ugly children and cigarettes — Transcript
  11. Storytelling in the digital age
  12. Ugly children and cigarettes
  13. Scriptnotes, Ep 87: Moving On is not Giving Up — Transcript

April 2013

  1. Moving On is not Giving Up
  2. Scriptnotes, Ep 86: Taking notes — Transcript
  3. Writing vs. Speaking
  4. Taking notes
  5. Scriptnotes, Ep 85: Another Time and Place — Transcript
  6. Another Time and Place
  7. Scriptnotes, Ep 84: First sale and funny on the page — Transcript
  8. First sale and funny on the page
  9. Highland 1.01 in Mac App Store
  10. Scriptnotes, Ep 83: A city born of fire — Transcript
  11. A city born of fire
  12. Big Fish Rush

March 2013

  1. Scriptnotes, Ep 82: God doesn’t need addresses — Transcript
  2. God doesn’t need addresses
  3. Scriptnotes, Ep 81: Veronica Mars Attacks — Transcript
  4. Tales from Development Hell
  5. Veronica Mars Attacks
  6. Highland ships
  7. Tech Starts, Time Stops
  8. From book to movie to musical to commercial
  9. Blunt notes and Blade Runner
  10. Scriptnotes, Ep 80: Rhythm and Blues — Transcript
  11. Big Fish previews, and special unlock code
  12. Rhythm and Blues
  13. Scriptnotes, Ep 79: Rigorous, structured daydreaming — Transcript
  14. Writing comics in Fountain
  15. Secret and metaphors in Titan A.E. revealed
  16. Rigorous, structured daydreaming
  17. Writing a scene in 11 steps
  18. Scriptnotes, Ep 78: The Germans have a word for it — Transcript

February 2013

  1. The Germans have a word for it
  2. Scriptnotes, Ep 77: We’d Like to Make an Offer — Transcript
  3. Outlining scripts in Fountain
  4. Subtitling for screenwriters
  5. We’d Like to Make an Offer
  6. Scriptnotes, Ep 76: How screenwriters find their voice — Transcript
  7. How screenwriters find their voice
  8. Scriptnotes, Ep 75: Villains — Transcript
  9. Type on the radio
  10. Villains
  11. Scriptnotes, Ep 74: Three-Hole Punchdrunk — Transcript

January 2013

  1. Three-Hole Punchdrunk
  2. Introducing Courier Prime
  3. Scriptnotes, Ep 73: Raiders of the Lost Ark — Transcript
  4. The hyenas got a raw deal
  5. Raiders of the Lost Ark
  6. Scriptnotes, Ep 72: People still buy movies — Transcript
  7. The second letter in R&D stands for development
  8. So you’re applying for a job
  9. People still buy movies
  10. Big Fish announces Broadway plans
  11. Do I get residuals? A flowchart
  12. Today’s trends are tomorrow’s clichés
  13. Scriptnotes, Ep 71: Unless they pay you, the answer is no — Transcript
  14. Sprints, marathons and migrations
  15. Frankenweenie on video today
  16. Unless they pay you, the answer is no
  17. Eric Goes West
  18. Scriptnotes, Ep 70: Best of Outlines, Agents and Good Boy Syndrome — Transcript
  19. Present tension
  20. Best of Outlines, Agents and Good Boy Syndrome

2012 227

December 2012

  1. Scriptnotes, Ep 69: Eggnog and Dreadlock Santa — Transcript
  2. Eggnog and Dreadlock Santa
  3. Punching the Hawk
  4. Scriptnotes, Ep 68: Talking Austen in Austin — Transcript
  5. A Hollywood Christmas Story
  6. Talking Austen in Austin
  7. Scriptnotes, Ep 67: The air duct of backstory — Transcript
  8. The air duct of backstory
  9. Scriptnotes, Ep 66: One-step deals, and how to read a script — Transcript
  10. One-step deals, and how to read a script
  11. Making and Remaking Karateka
  12. Frankenweenie scripts now online

November 2012

  1. Scriptnotes, Ep 65: The Next 117 Pages — Transcript
  2. The Next 117 Pages
  3. Screenplays and the iPad mini
  4. Scriptnotes, Ep 64: Dramedy, deadlines and dating your writing partner — Transcript
  5. Learning from the Three Page Challenge
  6. Dramedy, deadlines and dating your writing partner
  7. Scriptnotes, Ep 63: The Mystery of the Js — Transcript
  8. Workspace: Leo Chu & Eric S. Garcia
  9. The Mystery of the Js
  10. Scriptnotes, Ep 62: We’re all Disney princesses now — Transcript
  11. Moving past micro-budget
  12. Punching the Hawk: Karateka 2.0
  13. Workspace: Cherry Chevapravatdumrong
  14. We’re all Disney princesses now
  15. Scriptnotes, Ep 61: Alt-universe panels — Transcript

October 2012

  1. Alt-universe panels
  2. Scriptnotes, Ep 60: The Black List, and a stack of scenes — Transcript
  3. Another look at junkets
  4. Big Fish in Chicago
  5. Amazon Studios at AFF
  6. The Black List, and a stack of scenes
  7. Final Draft Reader’s limited view
  8. Scriptnotes, Ep 59: Plot holes, and the myth of perseveraversity — Transcript
  9. On the new Black List
  10. Plot holes, and the myth of perseveraversity
  11. Winning marriage in Washington State
  12. Workspace: Josh Friedman
  13. Scriptnotes, Ep 58: Writing your very first screenplay — Transcript
  14. Workspace: The Wibberleys
  15. Writing your very first screenplay
  16. Frankenanswers
  17. Some first thoughts on fifth
  18. Scriptnotes, Ep 57: What is a movie idea? — Transcript
  19. Ask me anything about Frankenweenie
  20. Workspace: Brian K. Vaughan
  21. What is a movie idea?

September 2012

  1. Scriptnotes, Ep 56: Gorilla City and the Kingdom of Toads — Transcript
  2. Workspace: Malcolm Spellman
  3. Praise Be New Holland
  4. Gorilla City and the Kingdom of Toads
  5. Workspace: John Gatins
  6. The forgotten fine print
  7. WGA Election results
  8. Workspace: Michael Chabon
  9. Getting rid of books
  10. Scriptnotes, Ep 55: Producers and pitching — Transcript
  11. Chosen, or Hey I’m Doing a TV Show!
  12. Producers and pitching
  13. Scriptnotes, Ep 54: Eight Reasonable Questions about Screenwriting — Transcript
  14. Eight Reasonable Questions about Screenwriting
  15. Fountain for Sublime Text
  16. Scriptnotes, Ep 53: Action is more than just gunfights and car chases — Transcript
  17. Action is more than just gunfights and car chases
  18. Some voting suggestions for the WGA board

August 2012

  1. Scriptnotes, Ep 52: Grammar, guns and butter — Transcript
  2. Grammar, guns and butter
  3. John August, balloon acrobat of the early 1900s
  4. A few words on passwords
  5. Scriptnotes, Ep 51: Dashes, ellipses and underground monsters — Transcript
  6. My Mac Pro problem, revisited
  7. Dashes, ellipses and underground monsters
  8. Scriptnotes, Ep 50: The Somewhat Healthy Screenwriter — Transcript
  9. Selling a script, but holding on to the characters
  10. Scriptnotes, Ep 49: Losing sleep over critics — Transcript
  11. The Somewhat Healthy Screenwriter
  12. Death and advertising
  13. Lego story rules
  14. On blasting and drafting
  15. Losing sleep over critics
  16. Women, screenwriting and confidence
  17. Scriptnotes, Ep 48: Craig dreams of sushi — Transcript

July 2012

  1. Better yet, don’t write anything at all
  2. Craig dreams of sushi
  3. How the summer movie season expanded
  4. Bronson Watermarker 1.6 gets customized
  5. Scriptnotes, Ep 47: What script should you write? — Transcript
  6. Why the story doesn’t work in Diablo III
  7. Writing better bad guys
  8. What script should you write?
  9. Writing screenplays with Scrivener and iA Writer
  10. Scriptnotes, Ep 46: Mistakes development executives make — Transcript
  11. HERE, on DVD on iTunes
  12. Mistakes development executives make
  13. Falling in love with plain text
  14. Let’s just say we were #51
  15. My Mac Pro problem
  16. Scriptnotes, Ep 45: Setting, perspective and terrible numbers — Transcript
  17. Getting less for your 10%
  18. Writing big movies for little screens
  19. In which Stuart reads the Save the Cat! books and tells you what he thought
  20. Setting, perspective and terrible numbers
  21. Phil Coulson and the failure of IMDb
  22. Standing up for ticket-takers
  23. Scriptnotes, Ep 44: Endings for beginners — Transcript
  24. Highland and the Kindle are friends
  25. Basic cartographic concepts to understand when first setting foot in New York City
  26. Endings for beginners

June 2012

  1. Scriptnotes, Ep 43: Pen Names and Divine Intervention — Transcript
  2. Pen Names and Divine Intervention
  3. Highland adds Quick Look previews
  4. Fountain, 10x faster
  5. Scriptnotes, Ep. 42: Verbs are what’s happening — Transcript
  6. Adam Davis, year five
  7. Verbs are what’s happening
  8. Scriptnotes, Ep. 41: Getting to page one — Transcript
  9. Getting to page one
  10. Scriptnotes, Ep. 40: Death and feedback — Transcript
  11. Less IMDb: Faster and cleaner than ever
  12. Death and feedback
  13. Highland update fixes .fdx, adds Snow Leopard support
  14. House-sitting for ghosts
  15. Amazon Studios and the free option

May 2012

  1. Scriptnotes, Ep. 39: Littlest Plot Shop — Transcript
  2. Highland updates
  3. Littlest Plot Shop
  4. Scriptnotes, Ep. 38: 20 Questions with John and Craig — Transcript
  5. Highland for all
  6. FDX Reader turns one
  7. Is screenwriting dead?
  8. 20 Questions with John and Craig
  9. Scriptnotes, Ep. 37: Let’s talk about dialogue — Transcript
  10. Leaning into the weirdness
  11. Let’s talk about dialogue
  12. Scriptnotes, Ep. 36: Writer’s block and other romantic myths — Transcript
  13. Spending a year on Ringer
  14. Writer’s block and other romantic myths
  15. Scriptnotes, Ep. 35: The Disney Dilemma — Transcript
  16. The Disney Dilemma

April 2012

  1. Confessions of a trust-fund screenwriter
  2. Scriptnotes, Ep. 34: Umbrage Farms — Transcript
  3. Academy screenwriters talk about the craft
  4. Escape from Age of Monsters
  5. How cost-cutting hurt movies
  6. Umbrage Farms
  7. Planning for opening titles
  8. Scriptnotes, Ep. 33: Professional screenwriting, and why no one really breaks in — Transcript
  9. On Procrastination
  10. Professional screenwriting, and why no one really breaks in
  11. When you don’t get the job
  12. Scriptnotes, Ep. 32: Amazon’s new deal for writers — Transcript
  13. Amazon’s new deal for writers
  14. Understanding house styles
  15. Why you can’t get HBO Go by itself
  16. The scorpion and the frog
  17. Scriptnotes, Ep. 31: All Apologies — Transcript
  18. All Apologies

March 2012

  1. The pressure of PG-13
  2. Scriptnotes, Ep. 30: How to be the script department — Transcript
  3. How to be the script department
  4. Dialogue and dialog
  5. Breaking down Big Fish
  6. Scriptnotes, Ep. 29, MacGruber, McGarnagle, McBain — Transcript
  7. Copyright Math
  8. Bronson Watermarker 1.5 adds image support and new styles
  9. MacGruber, McGarnagle, McBain
  10. Scriptnotes, Ep. 28, How to cut pages — Transcript
  11. How to cut pages
  12. Year of Citizenship
  13. Scriptnotes, Ep. 27, Let’s run a studio! — Transcript
  14. Selling apps in bulk, cont’d
  15. In defense of shiny discs
  16. Let’s run a studio!
  17. Getting more women writing TV
  18. Anatomy of a script
  19. Scriptnotes, Ep. 26, Etiquette for screenwriters — Transcript

February 2012

  1. What does a reality producer do?
  2. Go, while you can get it
  3. Etiquette for screenwriters
  4. Selling apps in bulk
  5. Scriptnotes, Ep. 25: Optioning a novel, and the golden age of television — Transcript
  6. Optioning a novel, and the golden age of television
  7. The downside of TV’s golden age
  8. Scriptnotes Ep. 24: The Brotherhood of Screenwriters — Transcript
  9. Say hello to Highland
  10. All the easy answers
  11. Hollywood by the numbers
  12. Convert old Final Draft files, in five clever-but-tedious steps
  13. The Brotherhood of Screenwriters
  14. In defense of Liz Lemon
  15. Pricing FDX Reader
  16. Scriptnotes Ep. 23: The Happy Funtime Smile Hour — Transcript
  17. Introducing Fountain
  18. The Happy Funtime Smile Hour
  19. What free gets you on Kindle
  20. How to write Groundhog Day
  21. Two views of videogame writing
  22. Spelunking the Kindle market, cont’d.
  23. Scriptnotes Ep. 22: Six figure advice — Transcript

January 2012

  1. Six figure advice
  2. Warners adds 28 days of hassle
  3. Scriptnotes Ep. 21: Casting and positive outcomes — Transcript
  4. Shine on, you Kubrick theorists
  5. Casting and positive outcomes
  6. Smug ignorance
  7. How long is Rope?
  8. Ownership in a digital age
  9. Scriptnotes Ep. 20: How credit arbitration works — Transcript
  10. How credit arbitration works
  11. Standardization and differentiation, or why UltraViolet is probably doomed
  12. What it’s like when your show gets cancelled
  13. Using a wiki to outline a screenplay
  14. Unprecedented, just like last year
  15. First-sale doctrine
  16. Scriptnotes, Ep. 19: 56 Days Later — Transcript
  17. 56 Days Later
  18. Scriptnotes, Ep. 18: Zen and the Angst of Kaufman — Transcript
  19. Pitching a show
  20. The further angst of Kaufman
  21. Downton Abbey, season two
  22. Scriptnotes, Ep. 17: What do producers do? — Transcript
  23. Resenting your audience
  24. Introducing Bronson Watermarker
  25. Zen and the Angst of Kaufman
  26. More posts, more visitors
  27. 2011, by the numbers

2011 202

December 2011

  1. Sun-Dragon Eyes
  2. Redbox’s arbitrary winners
  3. Workspace: Eric Heisserer
  4. No podcast today
  5. Wishing Pixar were braver
  6. What do producers do?
  7. Observations on the evolution of screenwriting based upon reading one script from 1974
  8. Intercutting within a musical sequence
  9. New Big Fish cover
  10. Scriptnotes, Ep. 16: Thirteen questions by Daniel Barkeley — Transcript
  11. How residuals get divided between writers
  12. Artwork inspired by Big Fish
  13. Workspace: Chris Sparling
  14. Scriptnotes, Ep. 15: On screenwriting gurus — Transcript
  15. Thirteen questions about one thing
  16. Casting Go
  17. More than 76 Trombones
  18. Comment holiday
  19. No trombones
  20. FDX Reader updated, on sale
  21. More on Archer’s odd pre-laps
  22. Screenwriting gurus and so-called experts
  23. Archer’s semi-pre-laps
  24. Workspace: Christine Boylan
  25. Scriptnotes, Ep. 14: How residuals work — Transcript

November 2011

  1. How residuals work
  2. From Captain Trips to Bowden’s Malady
  3. Scriptnotes, Ep. 13: Undervalued simplicity, and WGA coverage for videogames — Transcript
  4. Workspace: Phil Hay
  5. Help Stuart with AdWords
  6. Undervalued simplicity, and WGA coverage for videogames
  7. From thesis script to feature film
  8. His, hers and ours
  9. Scriptnotes, Ep. 12: Follies, Kindles and Second-Act Malaise — Transcript
  10. Workspace: Heather Hach
  11. Scriptnotes Ep. 11: How movie money works — Transcript
  12. Follies, Kindles and Second-Act Malaise
  13. More on movie money
  14. New questions, new answers
  15. Workspace: Gary Whitta
  16. How movie money works
  17. Scriptnotes Ep. 10: Good actors and bad writing partners — Transcript
  18. Why France exhausts me
  19. Your projectionist and you
  20. Good actors and bad writing partners
  21. Workspace: Chris Nee

October 2011

  1. Introducing Screenwriting.io
  2. First look at Frankenweenie
  3. Scriptnotes Ep. 9: Five figure advice — Transcript
  4. Scriptnotes Ep. 8: The Good Boy Syndrome, and whether film school is worth it — Transcript
  5. Five figure advice
  6. Who killed the mystery?
  7. Scriptnotes Ep. 7: Firing a manager, and trying new software — Transcript
  8. Age of Monsters
  9. The Good Boy Syndrome, and whether film school is worth it
  10. Workspace: Erin Gibson and Bryan Safi
  11. Dear Cindy in Blue Valentine
  12. Motion picture film cameras, 1888-2011
  13. Workspace: Beth Schacter
  14. Dennis Ritchie, 1941-2011
  15. Getting ahead of copyright battles
  16. Firing a manager, and trying new software
  17. Scriptnotes Ep. 6: How kids become screenwriters — Transcript
  18. The Spelling Bee used to be so much easier
  19. My daily writing routine
  20. Roaring, just a little more quietly
  21. Steve Jobs, 1955-2011
  22. How kids become screenwriters

September 2011

  1. Scriptnotes Ep. 5: WGA, copyright and musicals — Transcript
  2. How The Sopranos killed The Godfather
  3. WGA, copyright and musicals
  4. Scriptnotes Ep. 4: Working with directors — Transcript
  5. Scriptnotes Ep. 3: Kids, cards, whiteboards and outlines — Transcript
  6. Final Cut Pro updated
  7. Working with directors
  8. The Screenwriter’s Bible
  9. Kids, cards, whiteboards and outlines
  10. Hipster terrorism
  11. Scriptnotes Ep. 2: How to get an agent and/or manager — Transcript
  12. Getting a job in videogames
  13. Missed opportunities and second chances
  14. How to get an agent and/or manager
  15. Scriptnotes Ep. 1: Pitching a take, and the WGA elections — Transcript
  16. FCP 7: Not quite dead yet
  17. Timely vs. timeless

August 2011

  1. Pitching a take, and the WGA elections
  2. Stay away from this girl
  3. Aline Brosh McKenna and the BlackBerry 3
  4. WGA Elections, 2011 Edition
  5. Writing and decision fatigue
  6. What a flop feels like
  7. Still suing
  8. Rob Corddry on getting stuff written
  9. Final Cut Pro and Con
  10. TV reboots have a bad track record
  11. The Writer’s Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers
  12. Oh, they’ll remember his name
  13. Ye Olde Shoppe never existed
  14. From pixel-pusher to TV writer
  15. Formatting notes in a screenplay
  16. Endless producer notes
  17. Writing Faster
  18. Pronunciation jokes
  19. Symphonies and screenplays
  20. The two kinds of endings

July 2011

  1. R-rated comedies to the rescue
  2. Cinematic geography and the problem of genius
  3. The 101 Habits of Highly Successful Screenwriters
  4. Happy Birthday to Lawyers
  5. FDX Reader, now on iPhone
  6. Writing fight scenes
  7. Hollywood interns aren’t essential
  8. Javier Grillo-Marxuach on craft
  9. Final Draft and Lion, friends again
  10. Writing Movies for Fun and Profit
  11. Final Draft won’t work under Lion
  12. Newly arrived in Los Angeles
  13. Best commenters on the internet
  14. Suing to get an agent, cont’d
  15. I’m not in Transformers 3
  16. H.P. Lovecraft’s Commonplace Book
  17. Plot Device, and cheap VFX

June 2011

  1. Starting a career from Puerto Rico
  2. Get better flashlights
  3. Harry Potter and the Well of Red Ink
  4. Formatting an interview montage
  5. Suing to get an agent
  6. Everything is a remix, but you can still get sued
  7. Stuart is the new Matt
  8. Outlines, treatments and numbered pages
  9. Outlines aren’t essential
  10. Big Fish, the musical
  11. FDX Reader 1.0.2
  12. Two App Stores is one too many
  13. How do you read a script?
  14. You are the host of your own talk show

May 2011

  1. Get a manager
  2. We made an app
  3. Watch this space
  4. The only ache should be in your soul
  5. That’ll teach her
  6. Okay to use bold for scene headers?
  7. Animation scripts aren’t always short
  8. Self-taught and self-doubting
  9. Born on the Fourth of The Nines
  10. Write the way you speak
  11. Staying indie after getting big

April 2011

  1. Can my script be as short as Somewhere?
  2. Raising movie funds on Kickstarter
  3. Bossypants
  4. Fucking pilots, cont’d
  5. Fucking pilots
  6. Sales figures for The Variant
  7. Never can say goodbye
  8. The 4-hour Staffing Season
  9. The podcast with me in it
  10. All fiction is fan fiction

March 2011

  1. From Greenlight back to page one
  2. Spring Cleaning results
  3. Spring cleaning
  4. One sample, cont’d
  5. Making the original Prince of Persia
  6. When you only have one sample
  7. Transitioning from comics to TV
  8. Movie titles in movies
  9. If we played by the rules right now we’d be in gym
  10. Screenwriters don’t simply adapt, they adopt
  11. Juggling paid work and specs
  12. New dates for Anatomy of a Script
  13. Revenge of the snarky script-reader
  14. Married showrunners
  15. Young vs. new

February 2011

  1. Looking for more First People
  2. Writing for Hollywood without living there
  3. Don’t send him everything
  4. Married and moving to Hollywood
  5. Getting clearances
  6. Seriously, pick up The New Yorker
  7. Two things I liked about Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark
  8. Any printer will do
  9. Talking over a black screen
  10. You can’t copyright titles
  11. When to talk about your idea
  12. Anatomy of a script series
  13. Handling IMs in screenplays

January 2011

  1. Pitching Star Trek
  2. What happened in August
  3. Amazon Studios now slightly less terrible
  4. Pardon the interruption
  5. Surviving the director’s rewrite
  6. No one stole your idea
  7. I sing this song for you. For free.
  8. On Google, and evil
  9. Are music videos worth the bother?
  10. All yourselves belong to us
  11. How much screen time does the hero get?
  12. Premise pilots
  13. Whatever happened to litter?
  14. Giving up on Blu-ray
  15. What audiences know
  16. How Less IMDb came to be
  17. On babies

2010 137

December 2010

  1. To live and not die in LA
  2. The Variant and Snake People
  3. 2010, the year in film
  4. Upgrading to the Air. Or not.
  5. Less IMDb, now for Chrome and Firefox
  6. This guy really loves scripts
  7. Dick jokes for classy producers
  8. A visit from the ghost of coverage past
  9. What you see vs. what you say

November 2010

  1. Less IMDb updated
  2. Amazon Studios, round three
  3. Getting paid late
  4. The Amazon film thing, ctd
  5. A reminder on comments
  6. On the Amazon film thing
  7. We love our pastor’s wives
  8. On Dogfooding, and scratching your own itch
  9. Introducing Less IMDb
  10. Which draft should I read?
  11. Why Harry Can’t Spell
  12. On film schools, and the business of education
  13. Oh, Jessica
  14. Cut a character, save a scene
  15. When is it okay to write for free?

October 2010

  1. One dash, two dashes
  2. Are parentheticals overused, cont’d
  3. Those who can’t write, teach seminars
  4. The One-Month Manager
  5. Are parentheticals over-used?
  6. My schedule for Austin
  7. How many times can a meeting get pushed?
  8. Why email addresses matter
  9. Price of Persia, original screenplay
  10. Oblivio Accebit from The Nines
  11. Angles, spacing and monikers
  12. How to write romance
  13. What belongs on a title page?

September 2010

  1. Notes on the DV Expo
  2. How to write on the spine of a script
  3. Advice for Canadian criminals
  4. In praise of unsheets
  5. Election results announced
  6. Rewriting from a blank page?
  7. Stressing out in dialogue
  8. The revamp
  9. Step one: Make a playlist

August 2010

  1. In Go, would Todd have shot Ronna?
  2. WGA election time again
  3. Writing better dialogue
  4. Hope springs eternal
  5. Writing off the page
  6. Math advice for paranoid aliens
  7. Is machinima worthwhile?

July 2010

  1. The dark tyranny of crickets
  2. Three directors, no money for rent
  3. WTF is a beat sheet?
  4. La historia es gratis
  5. Do novelists get more for successful adaptations?
  6. Denialism, and Toy Story 3
  7. Hitchcock on MacGuffins
  8. All of the other reindeer
  9. Story is free

June 2010

  1. Should a screenwriter pay for notes?
  2. Why must we have board-game movies?
  3. On protagonists
  4. Credits referendum overwhelmingly approved
  5. Can you include emotion in character description?
  6. Clueless at Outfest
  7. Monsterpocalypse, and why some projects get announced (and others don’t)
  8. Producers, managers and deals
  9. Same site, new metal
  10. Women in film

May 2010

  1. WGA credits proposals on the ballot
  2. Formatting the faux-documentary
  3. Big and little screens
  4. So you’re moving to Hollywood
  5. Worst-case thinking for the screenwriter
  6. Desperate punchlines
  7. Writing from theme
  8. Get out of there
  9. Do you tip studio valets?

April 2010

  1. Don’t make the feature version of your short
  2. Readers as customers
  3. Backpacking through Africa, cont’d
  4. Writing for 3-D
  5. Numbers in dialogue
  6. Academy’s Film Noir series
  7. Picking a last name
  8. Backpacking through Africa
  9. Should she take anxiety medication?
  10. What’s the big deal with fonts?
  11. Getting things done
  12. Fix or ditch the car?
  13. Should I leave the island?
  14. On Golden Handcuffs
  15. The rules of engagement rings
  16. Where do I eat lunch?
  17. Advice on anything
  18. Screenwriting and the problem of evil
  19. Unpaid internships in the crosshairs
  20. What’s real, then what’s funny
  21. Where should Ryan live?
  22. Snake People for iPad
  23. Reading scripts on the iPad
  24. When two characters are played by the same actor

March 2010

  1. Snake People
  2. The Variant, free this weekend
  3. How to leave an agent
  4. Making and releasing the micro-budget indie
  5. (cont’d) vs. CONTINUOUS
  6. One Too Many Mornings screening
  7. How to logline a dual-plot story
  8. Free ebooks correlated with increased print-book sales
  9. Hiring complete
  10. How much should ebooks cost?

February 2010

  1. On Alice in Wonderland
  2. Can I base a character on a real asshole?
  3. Should I mention the script was optioned?
  4. Update on the job
  5. Fake tears
  6. Upon further reflection, it’s a bit overused
  7. Tales from the script
  8. Prepping for the Directors Close-Up panels
  9. 10 hints for index cards
  10. On Amazon, Apple and dick moves
  11. Update on the job

January 2010

  1. Are online film classes worth it?
  2. How screenwriters will use the iPad
  3. Hiring a new person
  4. Watching OTMM
  5. Sitting in on the Prop 8 trial
  6. One Too Many Mornings
  7. Writing while at a studio
  8. Directors Close-up
  9. Why the Netflix/WB deal isn’t a bad thing
  10. It’s all a bunch of piles
  11. How nominations work

2009 221

December 2009

  1. On 2010
  2. On the physics of space battles
  3. Seven writer’s rules for survival in animation
  4. Handling repeating sequences
  5. How ScriptShadow hurts screenwriters, cont’d
  6. Living room rules
  7. How ScriptShadow hurts screenwriters
  8. Startups and slippery facts
  9. Reading scripts on a MacBook, book-style
  10. Reading scripts on the Kindle

November 2009

  1. Zombie-class situations
  2. Script-a-scene contest
  3. Burn it down
  4. WGAw screenwriter survey
  5. When characters say the name of the movie
  6. Sundance Roadshow
  7. How to handle a meeting
  8. Prince of Persia, full trailer
  9. Every villain is a hero

October 2009

  1. Narcopalabras
  2. Hulu is not dead to me
  3. Final Draft update adds highlighting, quicker PDFs
  4. Netflix streaming to PlayStation 3
  5. The wall of newspaper clippings
  6. Breathe, damnit!
  7. Making Christian movies
  8. Taking indie films on the road
  9. Please take your finger out of your ear
  10. What’s wrong with the business
  11. Pitching Prince of Persia
  12. Kindle, international edition
  13. Why do the machines need humans?
  14. New interview up

September 2009

  1. Can I use a book without permission?
  2. Finding movies online, legally
  3. “No signal” is the new air duct
  4. Should I include a list of characters?
  5. Show your stats
  6. Adobe Story, an early look
  7. Principles of Hybrid Distribution
  8. WGA election results
  9. How I Became…on NPR
  10. The Nines on SciFi
  11. WGA members: please vote
  12. Last looks
  13. Blogs and baked goods
  14. How to do college
  15. What an undergrad degree is worth
  16. On the WGA elections

August 2009

  1. Is it fair use to perform one scene?
  2. Subtitled success stories
  3. Are studios open on Saturdays?
  4. Habits, heavy lifting, and the possibility of suck
  5. Groundhog Day and Unexplained Magic
  6. Why some folks got The Variant free
  7. Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue
  8. How I Became a Famous Novelist

July 2009

  1. Quoting books in a script
  2. Setting is not story
  3. Popcorn Fiction
  4. Challenge results
  5. Superheroic scene challenge
  6. Playing to the core
  7. June figures for The Variant
  8. Now that’s a gunfight
  9. Scene challenge ahead
  10. Variant cover artwork
  11. Cablevision and the Supreme Court
  12. On rich plumbers and eggheads
  13. On adaptations and picking projects

June 2009

  1. I’d like to thank the Academy
  2. Per-screen average
  3. When is it brown-nosing?
  4. Go on Blu-ray
  5. The labs, day four
  6. A hard time to be an indie
  7. Notes from Sundance
  8. Merlin Mann on getting creative stuff done
  9. NPR on Twitter and The Variant
  10. Learning story as a director
  11. Variant mid-month sales figures
  12. The only one who has seen the movie
  13. Scrippets 1.3
  14. What does a showrunner’s assistant do?
  15. Greeks
  16. Terminated
  17. States in which I’m married
  18. 40 reviews in 24 hours
  19. How to format an on-screen note
  20. Spelunking the Kindle market
  21. How much does a short story earn in a magazine?
  22. Welcome, NY Times readers
  23. Those purple trees
  24. A week of The Variant

May 2009

  1. Mapping The Variant
  2. Pixar
  3. Kurtzman and Orci on Trek and writing together
  4. Kindle formatting for web geeks
  5. The Variant, a new short story
  6. Leftover questions
  7. Live interview tonight
  8. Take away the questions
  9. Same script, different day
  10. When do you move on?
  11. Jerome Schwartz, first person
  12. How to include sign language
  13. Final Draft 8, briefly
  14. Not my problem
  15. States in which I’m probably married
  16. Writing on demand

April 2009

  1. Writing better scene openings
  2. What does “execution dependent” mean?
  3. Video from Rancho Mirage Q&A
  4. You only have to destroy the Death Star
  5. When writing partners disagree
  6. Spanish or Mandarin
  7. Simple English Wikipedia
  8. Inspiration, creativity and showing up
  9. Inner struggle is not plot
  10. Looking back on #amazonfail
  11. Are glossaries a good idea?
  12. Why aren’t adaptations ok for competitions?
  13. Pilot School
  14. Twitchforks
  15. Crowdediting The Nines
  16. Speaking in Rancho Mirage
  17. Writing better action
  18. On accident, by accident
  19. Referring to famous people
  20. Not great news at Blockbuster
  21. States in which I’m probably married, revised
  22. Gender-specific douchery
  23. On the present tense
  24. Writing better scene description
  25. States in which I’m probably married
  26. Adam Davis, year two

March 2009

  1. Redbox, video and economics
  2. On square miles
  3. Let the right subtitles in
  4. Should I write a straight-to-DVD knockoff?
  5. Why do LA people suck?
  6. Aliens abroad
  7. Nicholl screenwriting competition begins
  8. Script Frenzy 2009
  9. Los Angeles myths, answered
  10. Preschool, NYC edition
  11. Do you remember newspapers?
  12. Growing sentences
  13. Cams, rips and release dates
  14. How to handle a body-switching protagonist
  15. Are writing groups a good idea?
  16. Show your work, pt. 2
  17. Show your work
  18. Alternate with water
  19. Based on an idea by…
  20. Use master lists for groceries and packing
  21. You can wash shoes
  22. Getting your kid into preschool
  23. Tony Gilroy in The New Yorker
  24. When you move, change the lightbulbs
  25. Random Advice
  26. Fansubbing
  27. Raiders story conference
  28. What should I do in a general meeting?
  29. Kindle for iPhone
  30. Movie speak
  31. The Kindle is not good for screenplays
  32. Answer Finder

February 2009

  1. Notes on the state of the industry
  2. Authors’ Guild vs. Kindle
  3. Script to greenlight panel
  4. The new Kindle is pretty solid
  5. On being here or there
  6. When writing teams break up
  7. Can I go beyond DAY and NIGHT?
  8. How to handle unknown narrators
  9. Pride and Predator
  10. Which project should I write?
  11. Snopes plugin
  12. Official badasses
  13. Los Angeles myths
  14. Top 10 movie bad-asses
  15. Horses and books
  16. iMovie 09 is much better, still maddening
  17. Nice to meet you. Again. Maybe.
  18. The biggest TiVo in the world
  19. Comic book grammar
  20. The rat is dead
  21. The Duluth Dilemma

January 2009

  1. Follow-Up Week
  2. Be like MacGyver
  3. Alaska: The Satchel Boy
  4. Kim Manners
  5. Preacher
  6. More Remnants
  7. Best Mac Ever
  8. Presidential punctuation
  9. 10 Sundance shorts on iTunes
  10. Slumdog Coincidentalist
  11. Audition scenes
  12. Why no one is buying your indie film
  13. Like banging a chainsaw against a tree
  14. How do I show simultaneity?
  15. How do I include animated sequences?
  16. Do I need a caveat?
  17. No, really, everything is fine.
  18. Cablevision and the infinite TiVo
  19. Today’s word: Oleaginous
  20. The Visitor
  21. WEHT Sophocles?
  22. The Remnants, in full
  23. Why is joining the WGA mandatory?
  24. Writers Guild Award nominees
  25. ‘Wherefore’ does not mean where
  26. iMovie 09: Almost certainly maddening
  27. Postmodernism will eat itself
  28. The Nines on Netflix
  29. Shazam! It ain’t happening.
  30. Scrippets for Habari
  31. The Nines on Amazon VOD
  32. Terminator Forever

2008 172

December 2008

  1. Charlie Brown, advertising, and whatever comes after postmodernism
  2. VHS, RIP
  3. Money 101 for screenwriters
  4. Go on Hulu
  5. Six week bug
  6. USC at Sundance/Slamdance
  7. Rewriting the rewriter
  8. On the radio
  9. How long should it take to write a script?

November 2008

  1. Trifecta
  2. France, finished
  3. Bailing on an idea
  4. Including an important symbol
  5. Sending out to multiple agents
  6. Paris, days 1 and 2
  7. Outta here
  8. Vote no matter what

October 2008

  1. Splinter, tonight
  2. The Nines, recut
  3. Insomnia 2008
  4. I voted
  5. Prince of Projects
  6. Going to France
  7. Indie film, cont’d
  8. Your first time
  9. My schedule in Austin
  10. Two from the file
  11. The Remnants, in script form
  12. The Remnants
  13. Oscar grouchiness
  14. One. Million. Dollars.

September 2008

  1. Things We Think About Games
  2. On creating emotion
  3. Scrippets for vBulletin
  4. WGA West board elected
  5. The purpose of drama, and its relationship to Cameron Diaz’s ass
  6. A fork, a phobia, a friggin’ lot of entries
  7. Scrippets for Blogger
  8. A fork, a phobia and a photograph
  9. Scene Challenge coming
  10. How to handle a phone meeting
  11. Working on the feeds [u]
  12. Scrippets 1.0
  13. New server, some issues
  14. Shouldn’t I get credit for the outline?

August 2008

  1. Scrippets are go
  2. What do you do when the buzz fades?
  3. Scrippets available for testing
  4. Scrippets, a call to coders
  5. Keeping track of time
  6. Aquaman is a Pescepublican
  7. Time jumps and oil drilling
  8. I will never forget Barack Obama’s birthday
  9. WGA membership approves credit proposals

July 2008

  1. Handling a character’s POV shot
  2. Why it’s called “Go,” and not “Call”
  3. Using a pseudonym
  4. A bunch of marriage news
  5. Packing light
  6. Zombies, Bridesmaids and Assassins
  7. Vote yes on credit proposals
  8. Five quick questions
  9. WGA Board election preview
  10. Stupid MySQL server. Be less crash-y.
  11. Simple is better than accurate
  12. A look back at Go
  13. Dr. Horrible is pretty damn great
  14. Making unnecessary and possibly horrible changes
  15. Writers need actors
  16. Short questions, short answers
  17. Self-distributing an indie feature
  18. I never told Robert Redford to suck it
  19. Writing unspoken things

June 2008

  1. Sundance, The Nines, and the death of independent film
  2. I got married
  3. Characters for an epic tale
  4. A good time, despite the dead children
  5. Me sick
  6. How to cut pages
  7. If film studios developed videogames
  8. Looking at the credit proposals
  9. The triumph of product integration
  10. Question sprint
  11. Lessons of the summer, so far

May 2008

  1. Are animated specs worth the time?
  2. Writing silent scenes
  3. I’m getting married
  4. Does a screenwriter have to be well-read?
  5. How not to choose a movie title
  6. New Nines stuff in the Library
  7. Picking names popular in their time
  8. Scene challenge winners
  9. Judging begins
  10. Does a working writer keep improving?
  11. A somewhat derivative challenge
  12. Secret history of the Kleinhardt Gambit

April 2008

  1. Off-topic tweaks
  2. Screenwriting 101
  3. Time spent thinking
  4. The six-hour scene
  5. Grand Theft Auto
  6. Uggh
  7. When friends read your script
  8. Were I to seek examples of the subjunctive…
  9. How to Meet
  10. Return to Spectre
  11. Foot Clutter
  12. The Nines on iTunes
  13. James Cameron on 3-D
  14. Quick! Give me a name
  15. Hbo
  16. Northeaster
  17. Maine
  18. Two-hander
  19. One-sided dialogue

March 2008

  1. Script frenzy
  2. Rethinking motivation
  3. Shot an indie pilot. What’s next?
  4. Anthony Minghella
  5. How to explain quantum mechanics
  6. Failed his last saving throw

February 2008

  1. Test screening questionnaires
  2. Post-strike update
  3. Scripting a short film
  4. When a character has two names
  5. Saturn Award nomination
  6. You know, like in that other movie
  7. Pack-saddles to listen
  8. Facebook, a hive mind question
  9. Changing horses mid-stream
  10. Back to work
  11. And I barely know who she is now
  12. The vote
  13. The meeting
  14. The deal
  15. Strike, days 94 and 95; Production, day 3
  16. The Nines drinking game
  17. Condition: Marginal
  18. Thursday picketing
  19. Strike, day 93; Production, day 2
  20. Strike, day 92; Production, day 1
  21. Picketing tomorrow
  22. Seeing other people
  23. Shucks

January 2008

  1. Strike, day 88
  2. Thursday picketing
  3. The Nines on DVD
  4. The Nines, Unboxed
  5. Manhunter = awesome
  6. This week’s picketing
  7. Upswing
  8. Charlie on ABC
  9. The Nines quiz on Facebook
  10. Strike, day 81
  11. Strike, day 80
  12. Strike, day 79
  13. MLK Day
  14. Tabula Rasa
  15. Mysteries of Pittsburgh
  16. Day 74, revised
  17. More on the torrents
  18. Strike, days 73 and 74
  19. I’m not there
  20. The Nines on BitTorrent
  21. Strike, day 72
  22. Strike, day 71
  23. Recapping this week
  24. Early show
  25. DVDs, and the paradox of choice
  26. Blu-ray on a cold day
  27. Benazir Bhutto on Parade
  28. Back to the picket factory

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