John and Craig examine the myriad conflicts of interest that arise in Hollywood, from self-dealing studios to packaging fees to pilot season.

But it’s not just other people with issues. Writers grapple with their own conflicts of interest. We discuss what situations screenwriters might face and how to deal with them ethically.

We also answer listener questions on multicam formatting and elegantly establishing the time period in a historical piece.

Links:

* To win an invite to the Crazy Ex-Girlfriend event on Wednesday May 9th, send your lyrics to “The Other Side of the Velvet Rope” to ask@johnaugust.com * Amazon Studios is no longer accepting unsolicited submissions * The Deadline article that outlines the WGA’s proposal to renegotiate the Artists’ manager Basic Agreement * Dick Zanuck and his credits * Multicams are formatted differently. This clip of the Big Bang Theory with the laugh track removed shows how different the rhythm of a Multicam can be. * Swedish company Svenska Biografteatern’s footage of New York City as adjusted by Guy Jones * Assassin’s Creed Origins * The Scriptnotes Listeners’ Guide! * The USB drives! * AlphaBirds is our fun new word game! * John August on Twitter * Craig Mazin on Twitter * John on Instagram * Find past episodes * Outro by Tim Garcia (send us yours!)

Email us at ask@johnaugust.com

You can download the episode here.