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Scriptnotes Podcast

704 - Places, Everyone

Scriptnotes Podcast

John August

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

4.8 • 2.7K Ratings

🗓️ 16 September 2025

⏱️ 58 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

John welcomes back Liz Hannah (The Post, The Girl from Plainville) to discuss how to construct and communicate setting in a script. They talk about the balance between establishing a sense of space while avoiding the beginner’s mistake of over-blocking.

We also follow up on accountability groups, last looks, and French composers. Then, we answer listener questions on revisions and getting your Hollywood Card revoked.

In our bonus segment for premium members, John and Liz consider how to explain screenwriting to your kids (and others).

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, and you're listening to Episode 704 of Script Notes.

0:06.8

It's a podcast about screenwriting and things that are interesting to screenwriters.

0:10.1

Today on the show, how do you construct and communicate the geography for where your story is taking place?

0:15.3

And how does that translate onto the screen? We'll look at examples from our own work and others.

0:20.3

Then we answer listener emails on a plethora of topics from imposter syndrome to visions to disappearing agents to help us do all this welcome back returning champion Liz Hannah. Oh my gosh, Liz is so nice to have you here. Thank you. Do I get a t-shirt? I feel like a five-timers club or something. That's necessary.

0:55.1

We're getting the robes made. It's going to be so good. Merch. Hey, Liz. How do you talk about yourself as a writer? Are you a feature writer or a TV writer at this point? Because you have several amazing feature credits. But the most recent two things I associate you with are limited series. Are you feature land and TV land? What do you think about yourself as?

0:55.1

I often just say writer. with our limited series. Are you feature land, TV land? What do you think about yourself as?

0:58.0

I often just say writer and then if anybody asks,

1:00.2

I'd say feature and television.

1:02.2

So I don't, I definitely avoid

1:03.9

defining myself in any way.

1:06.6

I don't know.

1:08.2

It's a really good question. I feel

1:09.9

bifurcated in my brain. I don't feel like one way or the other.

1:13.3

So when you talk to your team, to your agents, and I assume you have a manager as well, what is the split in terms of the projects you're pursuing?

1:21.1

Like, how are you talking to them about like bring me these things, reach out with these things?

1:26.3

What I look for in features is much smaller now in terms of what I feel like I want to do

1:32.5

that I haven't done.

1:33.8

Like I haven't done like a big four quadrant movie.

1:37.6

I've done rewrites on them, but I've never originated one.

1:41.1

And that's sort of like a bucket list type of at least for me my favorite movie

1:44.8

growing up in the movie that made me want to be a writer as raiders and so like wanting to do

...

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