Podcast Episodes

733 - Learning Comedy

Season 15 Episode 733

John welcomes five-time Emmy-winning writer Ali Barthwell (Last Week Tonight) to ask, can writers learn to be funny? Drawing from her time as a teach…

2 days, 1 hour ago

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732 - Something Very Bad is Going to Happen

Season 15 Episode 732

John welcomes writer/showrunner Haley Z. Boston for a post-mortem on her terrifying new series, Something Very Bad is Going to Happen. They look at…

1 week, 2 days ago

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731 - Avoidance and Other Anti-Quests

Season 15 Episode 731

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 a…

2 weeks, 2 days ago

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SC39 - Sidecast: The 2026 MBA

Season 15

There's a brand new agreement between the WGA and the AMPTP! And since John was the co-chair of the negotiating committee, he's excited to share all …

2 weeks, 6 days ago

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89 - Writing effective transitions (Encore)

Season 15 Episode 89

John and Craig connect the dots on transitions and how they can be just as important as the scenes themselves. They look at how to get your scenes fl…

3 weeks, 2 days ago

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730 - A Frank Conversation About Screenwriting

Season 15 Episode 730

John sits down with the Northwest Screenwriters Guild at an event to promote the Scriptnotes book, and ends up having a poignant conversation about h…

4 weeks, 2 days ago

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729 - Endings Compendium, Part II

Season 15 Episode 729

In our first sequel compendium, John and Craig revisit four of their best segments dedicated to crafting a satisfying and emotional ending to your st…

1 month ago

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728 - Beats to Scenes with Drew Goddard

Season 15 Episode 728

John welcomes back Drew Goddard (Project Hail Mary, High Potential) to ask, how do you turn the beats of your story into full scenes? Using Drew's sc…

1 month, 1 week ago

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197 - How do bad movies get made? (Encore)

Season 15 Episode 197

John and Craig revisit a favorite episode focused on a single topic: bad movies and how they happen. Using first-hand experience, they look at how ba…

1 month, 2 weeks ago

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727 - Free Work

Season 15 Episode 727

John and Craig tackle the scourge of free work and offer strategies to avoid it. They look at established norms, potential remedies, the things that …

1 month, 3 weeks ago

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