717 - The Screenwriting Life: The Craft Lessons That Matter Most

In a Christmas crossover event, John and Craig join Meg LeFauve (Inside Out) and Lorien McKenna (Tab Time) on their podcast, The Screenwriting Life.

We talk about why rigid structure can miss the point, how theme emerges from character, what fear and denial really look like on the page, and how writers can survive rejection without letting it define them.

In our bonus segment for premium members, John breaks Drew's heart with his lovely memories of Rob & Michele Reiner.

Links:

• The Screenwriting Life podcast
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• Check out the Inneresting Newsletter
• Become a Scriptnotes Premium member, or gift a subscription (now with fewer emails!)
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• John August on Bluesky and Instagram
• Outro by Mathew Chilelli (send us yours!)
• Scriptnotes is produced by Drew Marquardt and edited by Matthew Chilelli.

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You can download the episode here.

(20:00) Scriptnotes: A Book About Screenwriting and Things That Are Interesting to Screenwriters (Unabridged)