John August

Also, help nudge Netflix to release more movies in theaters!

This movie is gorgeous on the big screen. Light plays a big role in this, and even the best TVs won’t give you the full experience.

We are in theaters TOMORROW!! See my pinned post for a theater finder link ❤️❤️💀⏰ #WakeUpDeadMan

We have, and it’s often in the context of career switchers. Anthony Sparks from our last Austin live show is a great example.

I’ve been blogging/podcasting about writing for 25 years. Every week there’s something new I hadn’t considered.

Emotional Hot Potato: Characters Pass on Negative Emotions How can a story show it has a strong, personal understanding of its audience? Should a story start from there, or find its way?

Great look at the hierarchy of how characters (and all of us) vent our frustrations. blog.quoteunquoteapps.com/274-emotiona...

Congrats and hooray!

Hooray!

Screenshot from macOS contacts entry field with popover of choices for username. Platform choices include Facebook, Gadu-Gadu, Google Talk, ICQ, Jabber, MSN, QQ, Skype, and Yahoo.

I love that macOS contacts still lets you set someone’s Jabber username. In case of time travel, I guess.

Email Drew! Ask@johnaugust.com

Getting Stuff Written Readers are crazy about our 13-page bonus chapter on writing productivity and self-care, exclusively for preorders of the Scriptnotes book.

Last week, we sent out a bonus chapter of the Scriptnotes book. You can read it today. johnaugust.com/2025/getting...

John August and Corey Martin join us at ThinkyCon 2025 to present the talk: "Adapting a Word Game: How Alphabirds Became Birdigo" Talk description: John and Corey discuss how AlphaBirds, a multiplayer physical card game, became Birdigo a single player deckbuilder video game. Topics include design c Adapting a Word Game: How Alphabirds Became Birdigo - John August and Corey Martin (ThinkyCon 2025)

At this year's ThinkyCon, Corey Martin and John August told the story of how a multiplayer physical card game became Birdigo!
@johnaugust.bsky.social
@toboggan.work

We would love to! It’s Craig’s hit show that’s the challenge.

It’s a solid color but not Scriptnotes orange.

Head in hands wondering how this could happen to me, the popular president who posted a video of myself shitting on everyone 2 weeks ago

orange scriptnotes book cover with headline Scriptnotes Live

Scripnotes Live Show in LA. November 30th at 3pm! Every ticket gets a signed copy of the Scriptnotes book. Special guests and surprises, too. www.dynastytypewriter.com/calendar-squ...

A screenshot from the ThinkyGames website shows the following text: John and Corey discuss how AlphaBirds, a multiplayer physical card game, became Birdigo a single player deckbuilder video game. Topics include design challenges, creative choices and long-distance collaborative workflows.

Join @johnaugust.bsky.social & i for a chat this wed at ThinkyCon!
Streamed live on @thinkygames.com youtube Nov 5th-7th
thinkygames.com/events/think...

I love how Rep. Joe Neguse reframed this question.

Crazy! If you visit the site directly in firefox (not following the link) is it still gibberish-y?

The President of the United States is so upset about his failed campaign for a Nobel Prize that he's now trying to claim someone else's prize as his own.

Pathetic.

Read the first 30 pages of the Scriptnotes book! Then preorder it so you’ll have it in your hands December 30th. scriptnotesbook.com

BONUS: John August Talks the 'Modern Family' Pilot Podcast Episode · 5AM StoryTalk · S1, E7 Bonus · 22m

The paywall has dropped on @johnaugust.bsky.social's 5AM StoryTalk bonus episode. The screenwriter and Scriptnotes co-host returns to break down a favorite piece of art from his life - the pilot episode of “MODERN FAMILY” (2009). How does it hold up 16 years later in Trump's America?

I wrote a weirdo horror/comedy short film that takes place entirely in a hacked TV Guide channel. Watch CHANNELVUE here: vimeo.com/1128909278

California invests big in battery energy storage — and leaves rolling blackouts behind Batteries that pair with clean solar and wind energy or just bolster electrical grids in general have completely taken off and are making a big difference on the California grid.

Battery storage has grown more than 3,000% in California. That's why we haven't had brown outs or flex alerts for the past few years. www.latimes.com/environment/...

Yeah, I think I see the problem here - it's not that the video store was good, it's that you miss being a teenager

Editor1: How should we handle kinda demented behavior from the leader of the free world, styling himself as a king dumping shit on his detractors?

Editor2: Mild bemusement?

Editor1: See that’s why you have the CSJ degree

Thanks for the question!

Apologies to all Scriptnotes premium subscribers who got spammed with emails. Supporting Cast, our provider, had a glitch where it treated back episodes as new ones for the last two seasons. They apologize, we apologize. Even Craig is aware this happened!

Thank you for being annoying OR: whack 'em if you got 'em

“The good kind of annoyance draws you in rather than driving you away. It’s that feeling you get when there’s something you *can* and *must* make right.” www.experimental-history.com/p/thank-you-...

Going independent has meant having the freedom to say that ICE is kidnapping people, to describe our government as authoritarian, and to say more directly when fascism is happening.

I hope we'll start to see this more in large newsrooms before it's too late.