John and Craig ask, how do you keep your period films from being a boring history lesson? They offer ten tips to keep your setting from taking over your story, defining the scope of your research, and how to balance the reality of the era with what’s relevant to audiences today.

We also follow up on navigating industry connections and answer three period-appropriate listener questions on transitions across time, accurate dialogue, and how to handle historical sensitivities on the page.

In our bonus segment for premium members, John and Craig get into some toil and trouble as they give their rankings of the most iconic witches.

Links:

• Apply for a student license for Highland Pro!
• Interested in being our new UI/UX designer? More info here!
• Mel Gibson rant at Joe Eszterhas caught on tape by Ben Child for The Guardian
• Episode 129: The One with the Guys from Final Draft
• Episode 314: Unforgiven
• Episode 674: The One vvith Robert Eggers
• Marielle Heller’s Episode 212 and Episode 394
• Standard Thermal (And a summary by CEO Austin Vernon)
• Panthalassa
• The Concept C Is the All-Electric Sports Car Kick-Starting Audi’s Design Future by Jason Barlow for Wired
• Countdown on Amazon Prime Video
• Rank these iconic witches!
• Preorder the Scriptnotes Book!
• Get a Scriptnotes T-shirt!
• Check out the Inneresting Newsletter
• Become a Scriptnotes Premium member, or gift a subscription
• Subscribe to Scriptnotes on YouTube
• Scriptnotes on Instagram
• John August on Bluesky and Instagram
• Outro by Whit Morliss (send us yours!)
• Scriptnotes is produced by Drew Marquardt and edited by Matthew Chilelli.

Email us at ask@johnaugust.com

You can download the episode here.

John and Craig welcome back producer Megana Rao, who has a question: how do you polish a script before sending it out? From obvious things like typos and title pages to tougher choices like cutting and transitions, they look at what to consider on a final pass so you can email your script with confidence.

Then it’s another round of the Three Page Challenge, where we look at three listener-submitted scripts to offer our honest feedback on what’s working and what could use another pass. We also follow-up on advice for general meetings.

In our bonus segment for premium members, what makes a great score? We look at the function of the soundtrack for feature films and how to work with composers.

Links:

• Follow along with our Three Page Challenge selections! The Thin Place – “Pilot” by Katie Seward, Sunset Paycheck by Holden Potter, and Levelling Up by Sylvia-Anne Parker
• Submit to the next Three Page Challenge
• Megana Rao on Instagram and X
• Fixed-do vs. movable do solfège
• How to Tell if Something is AI-Written by Hollis Robbins
• Mark Halpin 2025 Labor Day Extravaganza
• Pageant of the Masters
• Preorder the Scriptnotes Book!
• Get a Scriptnotes T-shirt!
• Check out the Inneresting Newsletter
• Become a Scriptnotes Premium member, or gift a subscription
• Subscribe to Scriptnotes on YouTube
• Scriptnotes on Instagram
• John August on Bluesky and Instagram
• Outro by NIck Moore (send us yours!)
• Scriptnotes is produced by Drew Marquardt and edited by Matthew Chilelli.

Email us at ask@johnaugust.com

You can download the episode here.

John and Craig examine how to best use your connections to help yourself and others. They look at ways to identify the strength of a connection, leverage them without being manipulative, the nitty-gritty of approaching others for a favor, and the important ways to be generous in return.

We also look at the good news in the WGA’s 2025 Screen Compensation Guide, follow-up on creator pay through streaming services, and answer listener questions on how to tell if you’re improving something, and whether having kids changes our storytelling.

In our bonus segment for premium members, John and Craig piece together their feelings on modern LEGO sets.

Links:

• Scriptnotes Book is now on Goodreads!
• Scriptnotes 700 on YouTube
• Episode 645 with Meredith Scardino
• Vimeo on Demand
• Kanopy
• WGAw Screen Compensation Guide
• NYT Connections
• Pips
• 50 Things I Know by Cate Hall
• Preorder the Scriptnotes Book!
• Get a Scriptnotes T-shirt!
• Check out the Inneresting Newsletter
• Become a Scriptnotes Premium member, or gift a subscription
• Subscribe to Scriptnotes on YouTube
• Scriptnotes on Instagram
• John August on Bluesky and Instagram
• Outro by Spencer Lackey (send us yours!)
• Scriptnotes is produced by Drew Marquardt and edited by Matthew Chilelli.

Email us at ask@johnaugust.com

You can download the episode here.