Craig and John discuss conflict — why it’s bad in real life but essential in screenwriting. We define six forms of conflict common in movies, then look at ways to sustain conflict within a scene and throughout a story.

We also look briefly at Whiplash, both the conflict between its two main characters and the controversy over whether it should be considered an original or an adapted screenplay.

And in an all-new bonus segment for premium members, we discuss our relationships with the teachers in our lives.

This episode originally aired on January 13, 2015 here.

Links:

• Academy & WGA At Odds Over ‘Whiplash’ Screenplay on Deadline
• Snowpiercer: Left or Right on YouTube
• Star Trek: The Next Generation In 40 Hours by Max Temkin
• Weekend Read now has 21 award season scripts (and counting)
• Sous-vide cooking on Wikipedia
• Sansaire home sous-vide macine
• Slow-poached eggs from Momofuku
• Spoiled Brats: Stories by Simon Rich, and its short story Gifted
• Rate us on iTunes and help new listeners find Scriptnotes
• Get a Scriptnotes T-shirt!
• John August on Twitter
• Craig Mazin on Twitter
• John on Instagram
• Outro by Jason Young (send us yours!)
• Scriptnotes is produced by Megana Rao and edited by Matthew Chilelli.

Email us at ask@johnaugust.com

You can download the episode here.