730 - A Frank Conversation About Screenwriting

About this episode

John discusses the evolution of screenwriting and shares insights from his career with the Northwest Screenwriters Guild.

John sits down with the Northwest Screenwriters Guild at an event to promote the Scriptnotes book, and ends up having a poignant conversation about how the career of screenwriting has changed, missteps John made throughout his career, and how his approach to screenwriting has evolved over time. He also answers questions on kicking bad writing habits, screenwriting careers outside of Hollywood, what to look for in the projects you choose, whether age matters in a screenwriting career, writing your calling card movie, the sidekick problem, and the real story behind the Prince of Persia movie. In our bonus segment for premium members, John has been hanging out with sketch writers for the last few weeks and is excited to share what he's learned about writing sketch comedy. Links: Northwest Screenwriters Guild Steven Soderbergh's Sex Lies and Videotape book Our episode with KPop Demon Hunters writers Danya Jimenez & Hannah McMechan Notes on Notes John's screenplay library Dennis Palumbo episodes, 99 – Psychotherapy for screenwriters and 676 – Writing while the World is on Fire LA Material Get your copy of the Scriptnotes book! Get a Scriptnotes T-shirt! Check out the Inneresting…

People in this episode

Host: John August

Topics covered

• screenwriting career
• writing habits
• Hollywood
• sketch comedy
• career evolution
• screenwriting projects

Keywords

• screenwriting
• career
• writing habits
• Hollywood
• sketch comedy
• Prince of Persia
• Northwest Screenwriters Guild

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Northwest Screenwriters Guild

Books & works: Sex Lies and Videotape, Prince of Persia

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