Scriptnotes Podcast

In a Christmas crossover event, John and Craig join Meg LeFauve (Inside Out) and Lorien McKenna (Tab Time) on their podcast, The Screenwriting Life. We talk about why rigid structure can miss the point, how theme emerges from character, what fear and denial really look like on the page, and how writers can survive rejection without letting it define them. In our bonus segment for premium members,...

John and Craig celebrate the release of the Scriptnotes Book with a sold-out show full of arguments, games and holiday cheer at Dynasty Typewriter in LA. Slate’s Julia Turner returns to interview John and Craig about the fifteen year journey towards creating the book, and challenges Craig’s dismissal of critics. We also welcome back Ashley Nicole Black (Shrinking, Ted Lasso) to help us get through...

John and Craig gather a congregation of writers in St. David’s Episcopal Church for a live round of the Three Page Challenge. They look at three listener-submitted scripts to offer them their honest feedback, face-to-face. They offer suggestions on world building in the apocalypse, making military characters specific, building mystery and suspense, and crafting con-artist logic. In our bonus segme...

John welcomes Danya Jimenez & Hannah McMechan, the writing team behind KPop Demon Hunters, to chart their path from film school to first feature. They look at navigating early career difficulties like finding your voice and trying to get reps, their method of building a writing partnership, and how a bad pitch led them to writing one of the biggest movies of the year. We also follow up on brea...

John and Craig welcome back Dana Fox (Wicked, The Lost City) for a magical flight through everything that went into adapting Wicked and its upcoming sequel, Wicked: For Good. They look at the history of the project, why it was split into two movies, the process for writing when you’re shooting two movies at the same time, and the exhausting effort it takes for big movies to defy gravity. We also c...

John and Craig return to Texas for their 11th show at the Austin Film Festival. They welcome writer Pamela Ribon (Nimona, My Year of Dicks) and showrunner Anthony Sparks (Queen Sugar, Bel-Air) to look at what makes character relationships compelling, and how to build a writing career later in life. We also answer lister questions on getting un-stuck in a script, how podcasting has made us better w...

John and Craig invite Aline Brosh McKenna back to celebrate the third anniversary of Scriptnotes. It’s a jam-packed, glass-and-a-half of wine, listener-favorite episode. They look at ways to breathe new life into scenes and characters that aren’t working, box office journalism and how Hollywood is always dying, scene geography, and the role of emotional intelligence (or EQ) in a writer’s career. I...

John and Craig discuss short films: what makes a great short, when should you make one, and what should you realistically expect out of it? We also update our predictions on whether the career of “screenwriter” can survive potential global catastrophes. We then answer listener questions on staff writer wages and using URLs in a script. In our bonus segment for premium members, John and Craig talk...

John welcomes back Liz Hannah (The Post, The Girl from Plainville) to discuss how to construct and communicate setting in a script. They talk about the balance between establishing a sense of space while avoiding the beginner’s mistake of over-blocking. We also follow up on accountability groups, last looks, and French composers. Then, we answer listener questions on revisions and getting your Hol...

John and Craig ask, how do you keep your period films from being a boring history lesson? They offer ten tips to keep your setting from taking over your story, defining the scope of your research, and how to balance the reality of the era with what’s relevant to audiences today. We also follow up on navigating industry connections and answer three period-appropriate listener questions on transitio...

John and Craig welcome back producer Megana Rao, who has a question: how do you polish a script before sending it out? From obvious things like typos and title pages to tougher choices like cutting and transitions, they look at what to consider on a final pass so you can email your script with confidence. Then it’s another round of the Three Page Challenge, where we look at three listener-submitte...

John and Craig examine how to best use your connections to help yourself and others. They look at ways to identify the strength of a connection, leverage them without being manipulative, the nitty-gritty of approaching others for a favor, and the important ways to be generous in return. We also look at the good news in the WGA’s 2025 Screen Compensation Guide, follow-up on creator pay through stre...

To celebrate our 700th episode, John and Craig open the phone lines for a live late-night call-in show (recorded at 10 a.m. on a Wednesday). Through the power of Zoom (and YouTube), listeners ask questions about rewrites in post, avoiding traps as a production designer, changing characters in a rewrite, and advice on leaving the entertainment industry. We also welcome back familiar faces from Scri...

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 w...

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 stami...

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 ada...

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, an...

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, t...

John and Craig welcome author Stu Horvath to look at the rich history of tabletop role playing games. From Stu’s collection of over 2300 RPGs, they look at the evolution of collaborative storytelling, interactive narrative design, and the communities of players they inspire. We also discuss the complicated influences of J.R.R. Tolkien and H.P. Lovecraft on the world of D&D, and how the need to...

New forms of video creation are coming to disrupt the entertainment industry, but will they succeed? John and Craig look at verticals and Veo 3 to see where we might be heading, and what our industry’s past innovations might tell us about about the future. We also look at Memorial Day’s banner box office, and answer listener questions on bereavement during production, momentum, scene geography and...

John and Craig welcome back writer, director, and comedian Mike Birbiglia (Don’t Think Twice, Sleepwalk with Me) to take a look at several true news stories and ask, how would this be a joke? Stories include run-club haters, a conflicted bone marrow donor, and the coyotes roaming San Francisco. We also look at how Mike developed his new Netflix special, The Good Life, and answer listener questions...

John and Craig look at how writers and their characters handle the obstacles they encounter. They outline proven techniques for solving problems both in life and on the page, why it’s important to see characters solving problems in a story, and how taking big swings can open up exciting possibilities. We also follow up on episodes that focus on a single character, long takes, making your phone les...

John welcomes writer, director and playwright Leslye Headland (The Acolyte, Russian Doll) to ask, why are stage plays so challenging for screenwriters? Using her recent Broadway play Cult of Love, they look at different approaches to scene description, heightened and simultaneous dialogue, and strategies for adapting stage plays to film. We also chart Leslye’s career from theater kid to auteur fil...

John welcomes writer and showrunner Eric Kripke (The Boys, Supernatural) to look at planning out a multi-season series. They chart Eric’s early career from shorts to showrunner, how he developed Supernatural, his process for structuring seasons of The Boys, and how great TV shows stick the landing. We also answer listener questions on lone character episodes and emulating comic panels on screen. I...

John and Craig welcome back Aline Brosh McKenna to tackle the issue of idea management. What do you do with all those half-formed ideas and how do you decide which ones to pursue? They share best practices and their approach to middle-of-the-night inspiration. We also discuss how screenwriters’ quotes are determined and answer some listener questions on alternatives to D&D, crediting improv an...