In light of the dust-up over Coverfly, John and Craig discuss why most screenwriting contests are essentially useless and should be avoided.

We then look at destructive fandom and ponder how today’s entitled enthusiasts might have responded to the classics.

Plus we answer listener questions about the “gutters” between scenes, whether an employer owns your idea, what the business of big talent-led production companies looks like, and how to maintain momentum after your first sale.

Links:

* Coverfly’s response to accusations in a now-deleted blog post. Here’s a conversation on the Screenwriting Reddit page about it. * In 2015’s Episode 191: The Deal with Scripped.com, we invited John Rhodes from ScreenCraft and Guy Goldstein from WriterDuet to investigate a data management crisis with Scripped.com. * Toxic Fandom Is Killing ‘Star Wars’ by Marc Bernardin for the Hollywood Reporter * Apple has made a deal with the WGA * Evan in Philadephia recommends Scott McCloud’s Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art for a great explanation of “gutters.” * JJ Abrams’ Bad Robot is an example of a big production company led by a creative. * The worst sex in the world is anglerfish sex, and now there’s finally video by Avi Selk for the Washington Post. This video’s upsetting animation shows what the process would look like for humans. * Bethesda’s Starfield has been announced * The Scriptnotes Listeners’ Guide! * The USB drives! * John August on Twitter * Craig Mazin on Twitter * John on Instagram * Find past episodes * Outro by Jeff Mooney (send us yours!)

Email us at ask@johnaugust.com

You can download the episode here.