Scriptnotes Podcast

A replayed compendium on crafting satisfying endings, focusing on rooting finales in character and the power of the denouement. Short segments explore wants versus needs in climaxes, Pixar-style tests that reveal change, and goodbye scenes that linger. They stress writing the last pages early, using full-circle callbacks, and how endings can shift during production.

Drew Goddard, writer-director behind The Martian and Project Hail Mary, talks craft and adaptation. He explains turning story beats into full scenes, using beat sheets to free creativity, translating book moments into silent visual sequences, and the tough choices of cutting material when adapting novels. He also shares practical writers' room and production-minded advice.

A lively dive into how questionable ideas and powerful personalities push strange films into production. They trace studio economics, sunk-cost thinking, market pressure and IP deadlines that force bad choices. Timing, miscasting, editing tweaks and mismarketing get spotlighted as pathways from strong concepts to disappointing releases.

They dig into the problem of unpaid work in writing and outline industry rules, power dynamics, and practical ways to avoid being exploited. They debate when unpaid drafts become usable and tradeoffs early in a career. Side topics include AI’s limits for creative work, whether to keep or donate DVDs, and a quirky trophy-name cultural sensitivity question.

Alexandre Singh, writer-director who co-created Two People Exchanging Saliva, and Natalie Mustiata, writer-director and festival strategist, talk about their film’s visual choices, black-and-white decision, festival path, and turning a short into larger career momentum. They cover fast writing, multilingual drafting, production logistics, festival breakthroughs, networking, and developing a feature from a short.

They imagine news stories as movies, from an underground network delivering menstrual supplies to a millennial package trip ripe for comedy. They debate how to dramatize US cyberoperations against ISIS and riff on a fake college squash team as sport-comedy material. Technical tangents include email deliverability and an AI paper on disempowerment risks. Bonus: a nostalgic debate about old CDs and DVDs.

Joachim Trier, Norwegian writer-director behind The Worst Person in the World, talks craft and character lighting. He describes collaborating with Eskil Vogt, shaping ideas into structure, and opening a story with tone-setting contrasts. Conversations cover introducing a lead through extremes, editing choices that trim setup, and how endings inform the middle.

They debate what makes a comparison useful in pitching and when comparisons do more harm than good. They explore orality vs. written speechcraft and unpack director and possessive film credits. Practical tips include attaching a name to a microbudget feature and when AI feedback is appropriate. They also share a quirky discovery called Fuller Regrets and remember Catherine O'Hara.

They debate whether screenplays are basically spoken storytelling captured on the page and run an orality tester on scripts. They compare movie and TV production rhythms and argue for more editor time in post. They unpack humility and help through Steve Jobs and Kevin Kelly links. They highlight an intriguing cartilage-regeneration study and a quantum computing primer.

In this discussion with Eva Victor, an actor, writer, and director of the indie film 'Sorry, Baby', we dive into her journey preparing to direct. Eva shares her year-long bootcamp experience, from reverse shot-listing to shadowing established directors. She talks about making tough editing choices to maintain her protagonist's perspective and the importance of communication styles when working with actors. Eva also reflects on how her early career in short-form video shaped her skills for directing, emphasizing collaboration and respect on set.