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===How Would This Be a Movie?===
===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 [[2015 FIFA corruption case|scandals in FIFA]], the Large Hadron Collider, and sexual assault on college campuses.<ref>http://johnaugust.com/2015/how-would-this-be-a-movie</ref>
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 [[2015 FIFA corruption case|scandals in FIFA]], the Large Hadron Collider, and sexual assault on college campuses.<ref>http://johnaugust.com/2015/how-would-this-be-a-movie</ref>

===Female Reproductive Health===
While both are successful screenwriters, Mazin and August are also exceedingly knowledgeable about issues related to female reproductive health, with August stating "if there’s one thing we know even more than screenwriting, it’s women’s reproductive health."<ref>http://johnaugust.com/2011/scriptnotes-ep-2-how-to-get-an-agent-andor-manager-transcript</ref> Mazin went so far to say that "I wish we [as a podcast] were just about vaginal issues."<ref>http://johnaugust.com/2012/scriptnotes-ep-35-the-disney-dilemma-transcript</ref> The topic has been discussed on various episodes with varying degrees of depth, culminating with Mazin delivering a three-minute lecture on [[Bacterial vaginosis|vaginosis]] in Episode 232: Fun With Numbers.<ref>http://johnaugust.com/2016/scriptnotes-ep-232-fun-with-numbers-transcript</ref>


== Notable Episodes ==
== Notable Episodes ==

Revision as of 15:57, 12 April 2016

Scriptnotes
Presentation
Hosted byJohn August, Craig Mazin
GenreTV & Film
LanguageEnglish
Length35 - 120 minutes
Production
No. of episodes245 (as of April 12, 2016)
Publication
Original releaseAugust 30, 2011

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.

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]

Female Reproductive Health

While both are successful screenwriters, Mazin and August are also exceedingly knowledgeable about issues related to female reproductive health, with August stating "if there’s one thing we know even more than screenwriting, it’s women’s reproductive health."[17] Mazin went so far to say that "I wish we [as a podcast] were just about vaginal issues."[18] The topic has been discussed on various episodes with varying degrees of depth, culminating with Mazin delivering a three-minute lecture on vaginosis in Episode 232: Fun With Numbers.[19]

Notable Episodes

Revelations about the Game of Thrones pilot

The showrunners of Game of Thrones went on the Scriptnotes podcast and broke news about the poor condition of the original pilot. According to them, 90% of the pilot had to be reshot following a screening of the episode to Craig Mazin, and other fellow screenwriters.[20]

The One with the Guys from Final Draft

On episode 129, August and Mazin welcomed Final Draft CEO and co-founder Marc Madnick, along with then product manager Joe Jarvis. Their visit was in response to negative comments made about the software on previous episodes, and Marc's desire to clear up what he perceived as misconceptions about both the software and the company.[21]

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 "[their] 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.[22]

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."[23]

The She-Hulk controversy

As part of 2014's Summer Superhero Spectacular, August and Mazin randomly assigned superheroes to panelists Andrea Berloff, Christopher Markus & Stephen McFeely, and David S. Goyer, and asked each to discuss how they would go about adapting said superhero for TV or film.

Talking about She-Hulk, 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.[24]

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 Mahunter. 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.[25]

This prompted Michael Cavana from The Washington Post's Comic Riffs to reach out to She-Hulk co-creator Stan Lee 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.””[26]

Mazin and Ted Cruz

During their freshman year at Princeton, Mazin was roommates with junior U.S. Senator and 2016 presidential hopeful Ted Cruz. Mazin has been open about his dislike for Cruz,[27] 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 has since been picked up by The Daily Show,[28] The Huffington Post,[29] Texas Monthly,[30] The Telegraph,[31] The Sun Times,[32] and more[33][34][35]

Reception

Scriptnotes has had positive reviews.[36][37] As of March 10, 2016, it has an average rating of 5 out of 5 stars on iTunes, with 838 users weighing in.[38]

Access to episodes

The last 20 episodes of Scriptnotes are available for free on iTunes[39] and on the official Scriptnotes website.[40] If you want to listen to earlier shows (which go back to August 2011), there is a premium option run through the Mylibsyn[41] service that costs $1.99 a month. Premium subscribers can access old shows either through the Scriptnotes website or a Scriptnotes app, for iOS[42] and Android[43] 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).[44]

References

  1. ^ August, John. "Scriptnotes". johnaugust.com. Retrieved March 9, 2016.
  2. ^ "Scriptnotes, Ep 235: The one with Jason Bateman and the Game of Thrones guys — Transcript". johnaugust.com. February 4, 2016. Retrieved March 9, 2016.
  3. ^ "The Daily Show - Nobody Likes Ted Cruz". cc.com. December 3, 2015. Retrieved March 22, 2016.
  4. ^ "Game of Thrones Show-Runners Get Extremely Candid About Their Original "Piece of Sh—t" Pilot". Vanity Fair.
  5. ^ Halperin, David (February 3, 2016). "Dear God Do Not Leave America Alone with Ted Cruz". huffingtonpost.com. Retrieved March 22, 2016.
  6. ^ 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.
  7. ^ "The Nedist Podcast".
  8. ^ "SCRIPTNOTES AT THE ACADEMY".
  9. ^ "Austin Film Festival: Podcast People". The Austin Chronicle.
  10. ^ "THE SCRIPTNOTES SUMMER SUPERHERO SPECTACULAR".
  11. ^ "THE SCRIPTNOTES HOLIDAY SPECTACULAR".
  12. ^ Evry, Max (November 25, 2013). "11 Must-Download Podcasts for Movie Lovers". mtv.com. Retrieved March 22, 2016.
  13. ^ http://johnaugust.com/2012/setting-perspective-and-terrible-numbers
  14. ^ http://johnaugust.com/2012/mistakes-development-executives-make
  15. ^ http://johnaugust.com/2012/the-disney-dilemma
  16. ^ http://johnaugust.com/2015/how-would-this-be-a-movie
  17. ^ http://johnaugust.com/2011/scriptnotes-ep-2-how-to-get-an-agent-andor-manager-transcript
  18. ^ http://johnaugust.com/2012/scriptnotes-ep-35-the-disney-dilemma-transcript
  19. ^ http://johnaugust.com/2016/scriptnotes-ep-232-fun-with-numbers-transcript
  20. ^ "Game of Thrones Show-Runners Get Extremely Candid About Their Original "Piece of Sh—t" Pilot". Vanity Fair.
  21. ^ "Scriptnotes, Ep 129: The One with the Guys from Final Draft — Transcript". johnaugust.com. February 6, 2014. Retrieved March 16, 2016.
  22. ^ "54: GOTO FAIL;". atp.fm. Retrieved March 16, 2016.
  23. ^ Tessman, Kent (February 8, 2014). "Notes on Scriptnotes". kenttessman.com. Retrieved March 16, 2016.
  24. ^ O'Neal, Sean (May 21, 2014). "She-Hulk is a sex fantasy for virgins, and other David S. Goyer thoughts". avclub.com. Retrieved March 16, 2016.
  25. ^ Kistler, Alan (May 21, 2014). "Man of Steel Sequel Writer David Goyer Calls Marvel's She-Hulk "A Giant Green Porn Star," Insults Geeks". avclub.com. Retrieved March 16, 2016.
  26. ^ 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.
  27. ^ Bruni, Frank (December 2, 2015). "Anyone but Ted Cruz". nytimes.com. Retrieved March 22, 2016.
  28. ^ "The Daily Show - Nobody Likes Ted Cruz". cc.com. December 3, 2015. Retrieved March 22, 2016.
  29. ^ Halperin, David (February 3, 2016). "Dear God Do Not Leave America Alone with Ted Cruz". huffingtonpost.com. Retrieved March 22, 2016.
  30. ^ Solomon, Dan (December 8, 2015). "Ted Cruz's Headlines May Be Mundane, But He's Still Rising In The Polls - See more at: http://www.texasmonthly.com/the-daily-post/ted-cruzs-headlines-may-be-mundane-but-hes-still-rising-in-the-polls/#sthash.FQZS4myi.dpuf". texasmonthly.com. Retrieved March 22, 2016. {{cite web}}: External link in |title= (help)
  31. ^ Allen, Nick (January 26, 2016). "Why do so many people hate Ted Cruz?". telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved March 22, 2016.
  32. ^ Merda, Chad (February 10, 2016). "Cruz's college roommate is on an epic 10-month Twitter rant". suntimes.com. Retrieved March 22, 2016.
  33. ^ Millstein, Seth (March 2016). "Ted Cruz & Craig Mazin's Feud As Former College Roommates Might Be The Best Part Of The 2016 Election". bustle.com. Retrieved March 22, 2016.
  34. ^ Givner, Ari (February 8, 2016). "To My Fellow Republicans: Beware The Siren Calls of Cruz and Trump". theodysseyonline.com. Retrieved March 22, 2016.
  35. ^ Merlan, Anna (December 4, 2015). "Fuckin' Craig Mazin: An Appreciation of Ted Cruz's College Roommate". jezebel.com. Retrieved March 22, 2016.
  36. ^ Hart, Hugh (April 8, 2013). ""American Idol" For Screenwriters: Hit Movie Scribes Podcast Weekly From The Belly Of The Hollywood Beast". fastcocreate.com. Retrieved March 10, 2016.
  37. ^ Evry, Max (November 25, 2013). "11 Must-Download Podcasts for Movie Lovers". mtv.com. Retrieved March 22, 2016.
  38. ^ "Scriptnotes Reviews". podbay.fm. March 10, 2016. Retrieved March 10, 2016.
  39. ^ https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/scriptnotes-podcast/id462495496?mt=2
  40. ^ http://scriptnotes.net/
  41. ^ https://my.libsyn.com/
  42. ^ https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/scriptnotes/id739117984?ls=1&mt=8
  43. ^ https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.johnaugust.android.scriptnotes
  44. ^ http://johnaugust.com/2016/heroes-villains-and-two-handers
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