Craig Mazin: delivering script notes and dropping science on the small and big screen (Chernobyl / The Last Of Us / Scriptnotes Podcast) #642
Distraction Pieces Podcast with Scroobius Pip
Scroobius Pip
4.7 • 2.6K Ratings
🗓️ 29 October 2025
⏱️ 75 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Welcome, welcome, welcome to the Distraction Pieces Podcast with Scroobius Pip!
This week Pip is joined by the incredible screenwriter, showrunner, producer and dungeon master CRAIG MAZIN!
Craig is a self proclaimed Pipster! Which bodes incredibly well as an opening gambit right there... This is such a treat of an episode which anyone possessing an interest in the making of television (and cinema in general) will get an immense kick out of. Chances are you will know Craig from his recent work on The Last Of Us, some of you may go back to the Chernobyl miniseries times, and some even further to the Hangover movies, but none of these can be considered pigeonholes. There is so much in the craft of these projects, and as viewers of them will know - the humanity is undeniable, and that's something that just cannot be faked or phoned-in. So what you hear here is a conversation with someone who makes incredible shows and movies, informed by a love of the work, the people involved, and life in general. To hear that he was once blamed by a critic for being "singularly responsible for degrading Western Civilization" will make absolutely negative sense by the time you've heard this. Oh and stay for the shared Barney story too, cos that rules. Basically - too much to sum up here - just listen and enjoy, it's a classic DPP right here!
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome, welcome, welcome. This is the distraction pieces podcast episode 642. And before I get |
| 0:07.9 | incredibly excited about today's guest and today's chat, this is such a good chat. At the |
| 0:13.4 | end of this chat, I said to the person I was chatting with that I'd had a bit of a rough week |
| 0:17.3 | and that this chat was exactly what I needed. So if you're having a rough week already |
| 0:22.4 | on this Wednesday, then hopefully this chat will do the same for you as it did for me. But before |
| 0:27.8 | we get into that, I want to thank everyone for all the lovely words of support and love on last |
| 0:32.6 | week's episode. It was an international stammering Awareness Day episode. I was discussing my disfluency with the wonderful Cherry Burns. |
| 0:40.9 | And it's just been a joy. |
| 0:42.5 | People seem to be really, really liking it and saying lovely things. |
| 0:46.3 | So huge love and thanks for that. |
| 0:48.5 | But today's guest is Craig Amazing. |
| 0:51.5 | Now, let me tell you about Craig. A lot of people will know Craig because he was |
| 0:56.9 | the writer and showrunner, or is the writer and showrunner on The Last of Us TV series. |
| 1:02.9 | Some will know he was the writer and showrunner on Chernobyl. Amazing series. One loads of |
| 1:08.7 | awards, just generally high praise and love. But I've known Craig |
| 1:12.5 | for years. And what some people don't know is Craig wrote like the hangover sequels and the |
| 1:19.6 | scary movie sequels and things like that. So it's such an interesting journey to go from |
| 1:25.0 | that kind of film to some of the most highly regarded and |
| 1:29.7 | big award-winning things in TV in recent history. So yeah, it's a really interesting chat and |
| 1:36.4 | we nerd out on a lot of stuff and we go really into our own insecurities at points as well. |
| 1:43.4 | So that's nice. |
| 1:44.8 | I know you always enjoy hearing that kind of thing. |
... |
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