John August

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.

Genuinely one of the biggest problems with politics today is that all the bad stuff is so, so funny

Disney+ cancellation notice reading “You have cancelled your plan, and your access will end on October 10, 2025. Any add-ons you've subscribed to will expire at the end of their monthly billing cycles.”

Streaming the hell out of Hulu until subscription runs out at the end of the month. Or better yet, Kimmel is back.

Can Jimmy Kimmel sue Brendan Carr, or other federal actors, for violating his First Amendment rights by coercing ABC to suspend his show, and maybe eventually to fire him?

To teal deer it, yes, but without an effective remedy.

/1

Capitulating to bad-faith people who are acting in bad faith is cowardice. It is also never, ever, ever, ever, ever a good idea.

ah, well

Robert Redford, RIP Robert Redford’s remarkable career as an actor and director enabled his biggest triumph, the Sundance Institute. I was lucky to be part of it.

Only met Redford a handful of times, but I greatly admire what he built with the Sundance Institute. johnaugust.com/2025/robert-...

Your conduct squarely constitutes tortious interference with contractual and business relations under New York law. New York courts recognize a claim for tortious interference where: (1) a valid employment relationship exists, (2) the defendant has knowledge of that relationship, (3) the defendant intentionally induces or causes a third party not to continue the relationship, and (4) damages result (see Guard-Life Corp. v. S. Parker Hardware Mfg. Corp., 50 N.Y.2d 183 (1980); NBT Bancorp Inc. v. Fleet/Norstar Fin. Group, Inc., 87 N.Y.2d 614 (1996)).

I just got the most unintentionally funny legal threat from a guy who sent me a harassing message on LINKEDIN (Lolol) and when I screencapped it and told his employer to “come get your guy” he sent me an email threatening to take me to court for tortious interference

An impulsive liar very obviously lied again and we’re going full CSI on his signature like he hasn’t been impulsively lying for literally decades.

The Dark Secret No Homeowner Will Tell You ...until it's too late

Owning a home means confronting your feelings about killing things. (Renters outsource the deadly decisions.) open.substack.com/pub/geoffrod...

Forget Save the Cat - Inneresting 264 How can a story show it has a strong, personal understanding of its audience? Should a story start from there, or find its way?

Today’s Inneresting looks at how heroes’ choices show us who’s a good boy. blog.quoteunquoteapps.com/264-whos-a-g...

Back-to-back slack notifications. The first reads, “Very exciting, and it works!” The second reads, “Got a crash. Sent the report."

Software development, in short.

Scriptnotes The ultimate guide to writing a great screenplay and building a screenwriting career. By John August and Craig Mazin.

More preorder choices here! scriptnotesbook.com

Scriptnotes: A Book About Screenwriting and Things That Are Interesting to Screenwriters|Hardcover The ultimate guide to writing a great screenplay and building a screenwriting career, from the creators of the hit podcast Scriptnotes—featuring contributions from film and TV legends Christophe...

The Scriptnotes book is available everywhere for pre-order! Through Sept 5th, when you preorder it, B&N Rewards and Premium Members get 25% off. (B&N Premium Members get an additional 10% off physical books.) Coupon code PREORDER25 www.barnesandnoble.com/w/scriptnote...

#BNPreorder

Trump Family Amasses $5 Billion Fortune After Crypto Launch The WLFI token traded far above its previous value, confirming—at least on paper—a huge windfall for the president and his sons.

This level of corruption is not normal or acceptable. Even if we are exhausted by each report of it going further and further, we can never grow numb to it.

Use this magic bullet to shoot yourself in the foot OR: Borg vibes

Why do some people hold on so tightly their hopelessness? What does it do for them? www.experimental-history.com/p/use-this-m...

It looks great! It’s a lot thicker than the one I’m using.

Love this. They’re awesome.

The Egyptian Theatre - Tim Burton: A Week of Woe A Celebration of the Visionary 'Wednesday' Director

Three of my movies with Tim Burton are playing next week at The Egyptian in Hollywood. Great chance to see them on the big screen if you haven't. www.egyptiantheatre.com/series/tim-b...

How Does the US Use Water? Water infrastructure often gets less attention and focus than other types of infrastructure.

Great overview of water usage in the US. Not surprisingly, golf courses use a ton of water. www.construction-physics.com/p/how-does-t...

They want lots of continuous cheap power, and nuclear does that. So does solar + batteries. Both are better and cheaper than fossil fuels.

What's the carbon footprint of using ChatGPT or Gemini? [August 2025 update] A new study from Google suggests its Gemini LLM uses around 0.24 Wh per text query. That's the same energy as using a microwave for one second.

Great update from @hannahritchie.bsky.social www.sustainabilitybynumbers.com/p/ai-footpri...

A Stuart special is the term we coined for when a script has an opening scene that is revealed to have been a flash forward. So on page two, you'll see something like: "Three days earlier."

My film Go opens with a Stuart special. It's not always a bad thing. It can just be cliché.

A comic about my dog theoatmeal.com/comics/how_w...

It looks great, ngl

Frame from Alien: Earth with crew member in MU/TH/UR control room surrounded by glowing white switches

Weyland-Yutani ships would be more reliable if they had actual controls, not a wall of glowing white switches.

Thanks for reviewing Birdigo!

Review | Birdigo: ‘A Word Game That’ll Ruffle Your Feathers’ (PC) No one said leading a flock across a trans-continental migration was easy. In Birdigo, success means crafting the right words, building your deck wisely, and adapting your strategy on the fly — all to help your birds reach their seasonal home. Birdigo is clever, it's colourful, and it's very, very hard — it also led me on path to redemption that I desperately needed.

“Birdigo is clever, it's colourful, and it's very, very hard — it also led me on path to redemption that I desperately needed.” 🐦

Read Tim’s review at QD now.

#VideoGames #Birdigo #IndieGames
@johnaugust.bsky.social @toboggan.work @johnaugust @gameteam_6 @gameteam6.com