731 - Avoidance and Other Anti-Quests

About this episode

John and Craig explore character motivation through the lens of avoidance, discussing its impact on storytelling and addressing listener questions.

John and Craig flip the idea of motivation on its head and ask, what are your characters running from? Using examples across film and TV, they look at the psychological underpinnings of discomfort, and how to use avoidance as a driving force of character and story. We've also been away for a minute, so there's a lot to catch up on! We follow-up on where the heck we've been, locked pages, a Scottish rap duo, and a new scientific answer for whether one page of script really equals one minute of movie. We also answer listener questions on the afterlife of residuals and writing with a significant other. In our bonus segment for premium members, we go through their feedback on our first ever video podcast and announce our plans for the future of the show. Links: Does one page of a screenplay really equal one minute of screen time? by Stephen Follows California Schemin' trailer Indistractable by Nir Eyal Explanation of Disbursement of Residual Payments After Death from the WGA West Parseword Frankenstein's Regrets by Ben Tarnoff for The Nation The AI Paradox: How to Make Sense of a Complex Future by Virginia Dignum Indigo Girls Tour featuring Jessie Mazin! Get your copy of the…

People in this episode

Hosts: John August, Craig Mazin

Topics covered

• character motivation
• psychological underpinnings
• avoidance in storytelling
• listener questions
• residuals
• writing partnerships
• video podcast feedback

Keywords

• character motivation
• avoidance
• storytelling
• residuals
• writing
• psychology
• video podcast

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: WGA West, Indigo Girls, Scriptnotes

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