Every writer has to pitch themselves, but how do you do it without sounding like a tool? John welcomes back Pamela Ribon (Nimona, My Year of Dicks) for a big talk about small talk and general meetings. They offer practical tips on what to expect, how to get people to open up, navigating NDAs, staying true to yourself, and organically moving the conversation away from the weather and towards your work.

We also look at a pernicious effect of underemployment (starting with a prompt from Ryan Knighton,) and answer listener questions on alternating POV, reusing adjectives, and giving your story beats cause and effect.

In our bonus segment for premium members, we get meta as we discuss the modern podcast landscape and next era of Scriptnotes.

Links:

• Scriptnotes Episode 700 – LIVE
• Pamela Ribon
• My Year of Dicks
• Rental Family trailer
• Japan’s Rent-A-Family Industry by Elif Batuman for The New Yorker
• 37 Seconds
• Good conversations have lots of doorknobs by Adam Mastroianni
• Real Time Lightning Map
• Students Engaged in Advancing Texas (SEAT)
• Who Is Watching All These Podcasts? by Joseph Bernstein for NYT
• Get a Scriptnotes T-shirt!
• Check out the Inneresting Newsletter
• Become a Scriptnotes Premium member, or gift a subscription
• Subscribe to Scriptnotes on YouTube
• Craig Mazin on Instagram
• John August on Bluesky and Instagram
• Outro by Nick Moore (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 and Craig descend into development hell to look at films that almost but never quite existed. Using both widely-publicized and little-known examples, they examine common patterns that keep movies frozen in script form.

We also follow up on solar storms, writer education and genres people should see at least one of. We then answer listener questions on writing empathetically, late-career stamina, non-English dialogue, multi-part movies, and the Scriptnotes theme itself.

In our bonus segment for premium members, if John and Craig were never paid to write in the screenplay format again, would they still do it?

Links:

• Preorder the Scriptnotes Book!
• Birdigo on Steam
• Aurora by David Koepp
• Pale Flower
• Deep Red
• Suspiria
• Hands on a Hard Body
• American Movie
• Wonderland
• Hands on a Hardbody the musical
• Cure
• Pulse
• Moft magnetic wallet stand
• Total Party Skill podcast
• Get a Scriptnotes T-shirt!
• Check out the Inneresting Newsletter
• Become a Scriptnotes Premium member, or gift a subscription
• Subscribe to Scriptnotes on YouTube
• Craig Mazin on Instagram
• John August on Bluesky and Instagram
• Outro by Steve Pietrowski (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.

The Scriptnotes Book is real, and now available for preorder! John and Craig take a look through its 335 pages to explore the topics, guests and deep-dives we’ve assembled from over 1,000 hours of this podcast, creating what is sure to be your favorite bathroom book.

Then it’s another round of How Would This Be a Movie?, where we look at four stories in the news to see whether they’re ripe for adaptation. Stories include a mother taking on the revenge porn industry, a wife navigating her husband’s longtime crush, a government worker who was secretly recorded on a date, and the potential destruction of solar storms. We also answer a listener question on current filmmaking technology.

In our bonus segment for premium members, what is kindness? John and Craig talk through what sets this undervalued quality apart from niceness and other traits we mistake for kind.

Link:

• Preorder the Scriptnotes book!
• Send your pre-order receipt to Drew at ask@johnaugust.com
• A Mother’s Revenge as told to Christina Cauterucci for SLATE
• Charlotte Laws’ fight with Hunter Moore, the internet’s revenge porn king by Carole Cadwalladr for The Guardian
• Help! My Husband’s Manic Pixie Past Has Become a Full-Blown Threat to My Sanity, Dear Prudence column for SLATE
• SNL’s What’s That Name
• An Offhand Remark About Gold Bars, Secretly Recorded, Upended His Life by Lisa Friedman for NYTimes
• The Unseen Fury of Solar Storms by Henry Wismayer for Noema
• TRMNL
• Steve Ballmer: Developers
• The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered
• Birdigo
• Get a Scriptnotes T-shirt!
• Check out the Inneresting Newsletter
• Become a Scriptnotes Premium member, or gift a subscription
• Subscribe to Scriptnotes on YouTube
• Craig Mazin on Instagram
• John August on Bluesky and Instagram
• Outro by Nick Moore (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.

In this compendium episode, John and Craig set their focus on directors — and how to work with them as a screenwriter. They look at the inner-workings of the writer-director relationship, etiquette on set, how to communicate notes from pre-production through post, and outline the qualities of the “perfect” director.

We also offer advice to a first time director, looking at how to prep a project, how to run a set, working with actors, and how to inspire a crew to make the best movie possible.

In our bonus segment for premium members, Drew joins John back in 2025 for advice about casting, and what to do when actors pass on your project.

Links:

• Episode 4 – Working with directors
• Episode 176 – Advice to a First-Time Director
• Scrappy
• HyperCard
• Mount Wilson Observatory
• John’s shorts God and The Remnants
• Get a Scriptnotes T-shirt!
• Check out the Inneresting Newsletter
• Become a Scriptnotes Premium member, or gift a subscription
• Subscribe to Scriptnotes on YouTube
• Craig Mazin on Instagram
• John August on Bluesky and Instagram
• Outro by Nick Moore (send us yours!)
• Segments produced by Stuart Friedel. Scriptnotes is produced by Drew Marquardt and edited by Matthew Chilelli.

Email us at ask@johnaugust.com

You can download the episode here.

John and Craig welcome back Scott Frank (The Queen’s Gambit, Dept. Q) to offer their best advice to film students and the people who teach them. They look at ways to improve how we educate writers, and offer advice to an aspiring development executive.

We also look at the intrinsic vs. extrinsic motivations of characters in Scott’s new series, Dept. Q, follow up on the decline of sex in movies, and ask, what genres of movies should people see at least one of?

In our bonus segment for premium members, John, Craig and Scott take a broader view of education in America to see what they’ve learned and what they would change.

Links:

• Dept. Q on Netflix
• Scott Frank
• Scott’s last time on Scriptnotes, Episode 476: The Other Senses
• Everyone Is Beautiful And No One Is Horny by RS Benedict for Blood Knife
• Scriptnotes 639: Intrinsic Motivation
• Antimemetics: Why Some Ideas Resist Spreading by Nadia Asparouhova
• Elmore Leonard’s Perfect Pitch by Anthony Lane for The New Yorker
• Richard Price’s Street Life by Kevin Lozano for The New Yorker
• McDonald’s AI Hiring Bot Exposed Millions of Applicants’ Data to Hackers Who Tried the Password ‘123456’ by Andy Greenberg for Wired
• Get a Scriptnotes T-shirt!
• Check out the Inneresting Newsletter
• Become a Scriptnotes Premium member, or gift a subscription
• Subscribe to Scriptnotes on YouTube
• Craig Mazin on Instagram
• John August on Bluesky and Instagram
• Outro by Nico Mansy (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 and Craig plant the idea for setups that have the most satisfying payoffs. Different from exposition, setups introduce ideas and concepts to an audience, priming them for a later revelation. They look at the sleight of hand required to have your setups deftly planted, take root in your audience’s mind, and grow into something delightful.

But first, we look at the new California tax credits, the 2025 WGA annual report, follow up on AI and VFX, postmodernism, and verticals. We also answer listener questions on music videos and outing yourself to potential employers.

In our bonus segment for premium members, John and Craig look at the New York Times’ new list of the 100 best movies of the 21st century. We all know Craig loves pitting movies against each other, so there’s definitely no umbrage here.

Links:

• The Best Movies of the 21st Century by NY Times
• California lawmakers approve expanded $750-million film tax credit program by Samantha Masunaga for LA Times
• WGA Annual Report – employment and earnings, residuals
• Michael Graves
• How ReelShort CEO Joey Jia Used a Chinese Trend to Disrupt the U.S. Entertainment Industry by Chad De Guzman for Time Magazine
• Sundance Labs
• Sabrina Carpenter – Manchild
• DJ Snake, Lil Jon – Turn Down for What
• Madonna – Vogue
• a-ha – Take On Me
• Riz Ahmed – The Long Goodbye
• Phil Collins – Don’t Lose My Number
• 30 minutes with a stranger by Alvin Chang for The Pudding
• Chris Perkins
• Mike Birbiglia’s top ten movies of the 21st century
• Get a Scriptnotes T-shirt!
• Check out the Inneresting Newsletter
• Become a Scriptnotes Premium member, or gift a subscription
• Subscribe to Scriptnotes on YouTube
• Craig Mazin on Instagram
• John August on Bluesky and Instagram
• Outro by Spencer Lackey (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.

In this craft compendium, John and Craig take a look at everything you need to make your bad guys compelling, memorable, and the perfect antagonist for your story. Using some favorite villains as examples, they look at the importance of understanding their motivations and offer seven tips for making a villain unforgettable.

We also take a look at lackeys, henchmen and making sure your evil organizations are believable.

In our bonus segment for premium members, John and Craig shift their focus to monsters, and why even though those scary creatures are dangerous, they’re not always the villain.

Links:

• Scriptnotes Episode 75 – Villains
• Scriptnotes Episode 590 – Anti-Villains
• Scriptnotes Episode 465 – The Lackeys Know What They’re Doing
• Scriptnotes Episode 257 – Flaws are Features
• Every Villain is a Hero
• Writing Better Bad Guys
• Screenwriting and the Problem of Evil
• Mama
• The 1000 Deaths of Wile E. Coyote by T.B.D.
• Why do good people do bad things? by Daniel Effron
• Why some people are willing to challenge behavior they see as wrong despite personal risk by Catherine A. Sanderson
• The Monsters Know What They’re Doing blog and book
• Austin Powers deleted scene, “Henchman’s Wife”
• Redshirt
• 7 Tips for Creating Unforgettable Villains
• How Christopher Nolan writes a movie on our YouTube!
• Get a Scriptnotes T-shirt!
• Check out the Inneresting Newsletter
• Become a Scriptnotes Premium member, or gift a subscription
• Subscribe to Scriptnotes on YouTube
• Craig Mazin on Instagram
• John August on Bluesky and Instagram
• Outro by Matthew Chilelli (send us yours!)
• Segments produced by Stuart Friedel, Megana Rao, and Drew Marquardt.
• Scriptnotes is produced by Drew Marquardt and edited by Matthew Chilelli.

Email us at ask@johnaugust.com

You can download the episode here.