John welcomes writer-directors Natalie Musteata and Alexandre Singh (Two People Exchanging Saliva) to ask, what happens when your short film is nominated for an Oscar? They look at each step from their initial idea to awards season to see how they positioned their short to be considered for an Academy Award.

We also reflect on the lessons learned from short films, and answer listener questions on how to give actors your script and finding representation after your Oscar heat has cooled.

In our bonus segment for premium members, we turn up the contrast on the many reasons for shooting in black and white.

Links:

• Two People Exchanging Saliva
• Taika Waititi's Two Cars One Night
• Andrea Arnold's Wasp
• Martin McDonagh's Six Shooter
• Damien Chazelle's Whiplash short film
• Jim Cummings' Thunder Road short film
• David F. Sandberg's Lights Out short
• Troy by Mike Donahue
• The New York Public Library's Picture Collection
• ReMarkable tablet
• Get your copy of the Scriptnotes book!
• Get a Scriptnotes T-shirt!
• Check out the Inneresting Newsletter
• Become a Scriptnotes Premium member, or gift a subscription
• Subscribe to Scriptnotes on YouTube
• Scriptnotes on Instagram and TikTok
• John August on Bluesky and Instagram
• Outro by Nick Moore (send us yours!)
• Scriptnotes is produced by Drew Marquardt and edited by Matthew Chilelli. Our Director of Photography is Jonathan Pope.

Email us at ask@johnaugust.com

You can download the episode here.

John and Craig gather our listeners' favorite news articles and ask, How Would This Be a Movie? Stories include an underground network delivering menstrual supplies in Minneapolis, a millennial travel group, how the US hacked ISIS, and a fake college squash team.

But first we follow up on modern comps, email issues, teaching screenwriting, and what it means to be undeniable. We also answer listener questions on querying reps with a published book and whether writers really need to repeat the plot for a second-screen audience.

In our bonus segment for premium members, what do we do with all our old CDs and DVDs? We weigh the pros and cons of physical media.

Links:

• How an errand for a 12-year-old immigrant in Minneapolis became an underground operation by Jasmine Garsd and Sarah Ventre for NPR
• I Went on a Package Trip for Millennials Who Travel Alone. Help Me. by Caity Weaver for The New York Times
• How the US hacked ISIS by Dina Temple-Raston for NPR
• Whitman College: The Best College Squash Team in History by James Zug for Squash Magazine
• Shipping Out by David Foster Wallace
• Email deliverability tester
• Disempowerment patterns in real-world AI usage by Cornell University and Anthropic
• The world's greatest song that simply shouldn't exist
• Get your copy of the Scriptnotes book!
• Get a Scriptnotes T-shirt!
• Check out the Inneresting Newsletter
• Become a Scriptnotes Premium member, or gift a subscription
• Subscribe to Scriptnotes on YouTube
• Scriptnotes on Instagram and TikTok
• John August on Bluesky and Instagram
• Outro by Gloom Canyon (send us yours!)
• Scriptnotes is produced by Drew Marquardt and edited by Matthew Chilelli.

Email us at ask@johnaugust.com

You can download the episode here.

John welcomes writer and director Joachim Trier (Sentimental Value, The Worst Person in the World) to ask, how do you introduce your characters and their world to the audience? Using the screenplay for Sentimental Value, Joachim lays out how he sets up his themes, characters, conflicts and narrative authority in the first few pages.

We also look at Joachim's process of developing stories with his co-writer Eskil Vogt, and answer listener questions on endings, casting, and work-life balance.

In our bonus segment for premium members, Joachim and John flip through how we present screenplays on screen, why Joachim translates his scripts in pre-production, and the one little detail you might not have noticed in Sentimental Value.

Links:

• Sentimental Value | Screenplay
• Joachim Trier
• Notorious (1946)
• The Lindy Effect
• Chris Ware
• Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth by Chris Ware
• Get your copy of the Scriptnotes book!
• Get a Scriptnotes T-shirt!
• Check out the Inneresting Newsletter
• Become a Scriptnotes Premium member, or gift a subscription
• Subscribe to Scriptnotes on YouTube
• Scriptnotes on Instagram
• John August on Bluesky and Instagram
• Outro by Jeff Hoeppner & Richard Kraft (send us yours!)
• Scriptnotes is produced by Drew Marquardt and edited by Matthew Chilelli.

Email us at ask@johnaugust.com

You can download the episode here.