Scriptnotes: A Book About Screenwriting and Things That Are Interesting to Screenwriters

by John August, Craig Mazin Narrated by Graham Rowat

Overview

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 Christopher Nolan, Greta Gerwig, Michael Schur, Rian Johnson, Aline Brosh McKenna, Ashley Nicole Black, Seth Rogen, and many more.

With decades of Hollywood experience, John August and Craig Mazin know what it takes to write a successful script for the screen. And over the past twelve years, they've analyzed generation-defining movies and shared their wisdom on their popular podcast Scriptnotes, inviting experts in the craft to discuss everything that makes a script shine.

Now, in their first book, August and Mazin draw on more than a thousand hours of Scriptnotes conversations, as well as their own storied careers, to help readers begin, refine, and sell their own scripts. Part writing class, part informational interview with the best creators in the business, this essential book shares tips on:

• The Basics-including the rules of screenwriting and when to break them
• The Craft-including how to create a compelling story with captivating protagonists, worthy antagonists, and a sound structure
• The Business-including how to pitch a script and the do's (and don'ts) of working collaboratively on a project

Perfect for screenwriters, film buffs, and anyone who enjoys analysis of iconic movies like Die Hard, this one-of-a-kind resource provides exclusive access to the screenwriting process-and will inspire anyone ready to pen their own successful screenplay.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

“[Scriptnotes] shatters some long-standing clichéd rules. . . . [and] stands out for its wealth of real-life examples taken from cinema and TV over the past decades, its humanizing tone, and its winning combination of the practical with the entertaining.”—Library Journal

Product Details

BN ID:	2940193442349
Publisher:	Penguin Random House
Publication date:	12/02/2025
Edition description:	Unabridged

Read an Excerpt

Introduction

HELLO AND WELCOME!

In 2011, we started recording Scriptnotes, a weekly podcast about screenwriting and things that are interesting to screenwriters. Like prototypical heroes answering a call to adventure, we really didn’t know what we were getting into.

At the time, both of us had screenwriting blogs in which we answered questions about the craft and the industry. Blog posts are like monologues. You get to say exactly what you want—no interruptions—but there’s no real-time feedback. You’re speaking into the void. When you’re done typing, you hit “publish” and wait to see if your ideas connect with anyone.

With Scriptnotes, we were looking to have an honest conversation about screenwriting—both the art and the business. Beyond that, we had no real expectations going in. Craig wondered if anyone would listen. John figured we might hit fifty episodes and call it a wrap.

More than fourteen years and seven hundred episodes later, the conversation continues. Every week, we discuss topics related to screenwriting, often with guests who bring new perspectives and challenge our assumptions. We’ve added recurring segments like “How Would This Be a Movie?” and the Three Page Challenge. We’ve sold out live shows across the country. We’ve advocated for higher assistant pay and called out charlatans trying to make a buck off aspiring writers. And we’ve watched as a string of listeners and Scriptnotes producers have gone on to successful writing careers in the industry.

We’re proud of the show we’ve made and how it’s resonated and connected. Craig is still amazed anyone is listening.

From the beginning, we’ve made transcripts of every episode available free online. In addition to being a resource for writers—particularly deaf and hearing-impaired writers—the transcripts help us remember the history of the show.

Have we done an episode on character names? A quick Google search reveals the answer: Yes, episode 151.

With this giant corpus of text just sitting there, many listeners have asked us if we’d ever publish a Scriptnotes book, but the scope of the work felt too daunting. Simply printing the transcripts would result in thirtyplus volumes, each more than five hundred pages.

Creating a proper Scriptnotes book required a massive amount of planning and editing to pare those transcripts down to a manageable size and shape. That work fell on Chris Csont, Drew Marquardt, and Megana Rao, who assembled the first drafts of most of the chapters in this book. That process turned our conversations back into monologues, where ideas aren’t attributed to John or Craig individually, but rather to a collective “we.”

When you see direct quotes from us or other guests, they’ve been lightly edited for concision and clarity. People speak differently than how they write. They repeat words and trail off. Just as screenplay dialogue is an optimized version of how people actually speak, quoted sections in the book are slightly improved versions of what was originally spoken.

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