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Scriptnotes Podcast

601 - Side Quests

Scriptnotes Podcast

John August

Screenwriter, Tv & Film, Writing, John, Screenwriting, August, Craig, Screenplay, Mazin

4.82.7K Ratings

🗓️ 6 June 2023

⏱️ 48 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

John and Craig take a detour to discuss side quests: those smaller tasks that can serve as the building blocks of a character’s journey. How do side quests differ from your hero’s primary goal? What’s the best way to use them? And how can writers make them meaningful?

We then discuss the importance of failure to the artistic process. We also follow up on graphic design for writers, spacing out TV episodes, and a Scriptnotes love story.

In our bonus segment for premium members, John and Craig put on their headsets to to talk about VR.

Links:

Email us at [email protected]

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.

0:04.1

Hello and welcome. My name is Greg Maze.

0:08.3

And this is episode 601 of Script Notes, a podcast about screenwriting and things that are

0:12.6

interesting to screenwriters. Now, in screenwriting, we often talk about the hero's journey.

0:17.1

That one-time quest our main character undertakes, which transforms them and the world around them.

0:22.7

Today on the show, we're going to think smaller. We're going to talk about side quests,

0:26.5

which in many cases are the legal blocks of our stories. Then we'll talk about failure and

0:31.6

why it's so important. So important. And in our bonus segment for premium members, Craig,

0:35.3

let's talk about virtual reality because we are recording this days before the announcement

0:39.9

of Apple's new headset, which feels like the perfect time to document our experience of the world

0:44.6

before this new Apple headset debuted or maybe we'll look incredibly foolish as time passes.

0:50.9

We appear to be building a matrix for ourselves. We've got AI. Now we've got things we can

0:56.2

strap onto our eyeballs to send us into different worlds. We're inventing the matrix on ourselves.

1:02.4

Yeah, I think we need to next really work on some sort of like pod of goo that we can slide into

1:08.0

and be like stored in racks. And then we're all set. Right. Well, why wouldn't we? And by the way,

1:13.4

that goo did look actually fairly comforting. Like, you know, it seems warm. Yeah, people

1:21.1

aren't talking enough about like it wouldn't be so bad to be in the matrix.

1:24.7

Honestly, what is the problem? Yeah, like, you know, what's the problem? Yeah,

1:29.8

it's fine. Everything. Why I was just scared to admit it. The goo is good. The goo is good.

1:35.6

We are obviously representatives of machine city. It's the weirdest beginning to know

1:40.0

a podcast we've ever had. And you know what? You know what? I don't care because it's because we're

1:43.8

into our 601 time. We're into our our sixth century of podcasting. Yeah. So we can do whatever

...

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