574 - Difficult Scenes
Scriptnotes Podcast
John August
4.8 • 2.8K Ratings
🗓️ 15 November 2022
⏱️ 57 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
John and Craig investigate why some scenes are so much harder to write than others, with strategies for tackling (or surrendering) to the difficulty.
We also follow up on virtual rooms, act breaks, and diversity workshops. Listener questions this week include introducing twists, getting elbowed out of your project, and whether it’s possible to be too meta?
In our bonus segment for premium members, Megana shares her experiences attending the Austin Film Festival for the first time.
Links:
- MoviePass Executives Charged with Fraud
- Warner Bros. Discovery Says It Will Keep Writers and Directors Workshops Alive, But Evolve to Conglomerate-Wide DEI Oversight
- The Six Hour Scene from John’s Blog
- Doug McGrath Austin Film Society Honoree Speech
- The Past Within – Rusty Lake
- The Fablemans
- Get a Scriptnotes T-shirt!
- Check out the Inneresting Newsletter
- Gift a Scriptnotes Subscription or treat yourself to a premium subscription!
- Craig Mazin on Twitter
- John August on Twitter
- John on Instagram
- Outro by Holly Overton (send us yours!)
- Scriptnotes is produced by Megana Rao and edited by Matthew Chilelli.
Email us at ask@johnaugust.com
You can download the episode here.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Hello and welcome. My name is John August. |
| 0:04.0 | Craig Mason is my name. |
| 0:05.0 | And this episode 574 of Script Notes. |
| 0:08.0 | It's a podcast about screenwriting |
| 0:10.0 | and things that are interesting to screen writers. |
| 0:12.0 | Today on the show, what do you do when you just can't crack a scene? |
| 0:15.0 | We'll discuss why some scenes are harder to write than others |
| 0:18.0 | and what do you want to throw your laptop out the wall? |
| 0:20.0 | We'll also answer listener questions on twists, |
| 0:24.0 | scene headers, and getting elbowed out to plus. |
| 0:27.0 | Can something be too meta-creg? |
| 0:29.0 | No. |
| 0:30.0 | No. |
| 0:31.0 | And our bonus statement from our premium members. |
| 0:32.0 | We'll talk with Megana about what she learned |
| 0:34.0 | for her first time attending the Austin Film Festival. |
| 0:37.0 | Yes. |
| 0:38.0 | Yes. |
| 0:39.0 | Yes. |
| 0:40.0 | Wait, that was not Megana's first time. |
| 0:41.0 | That was? |
| 0:42.0 | It was. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from John August, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of John August and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.