John and Craig discuss the art of planning and forgetting. How do you stay present in a scene when you know where the story is going? The guys offer tips for making sure your characters are driving the story — but on roads you built.

We answer listener questions on setting the mood, manager requests, and insurance struggles for writing partners. We also follow up on the IATSE strike, the CAA-ICM acquisition, and streaming data.

In our bonus segment for premium members we discuss fame in 2021: one-sided relationships, attention vs. recognition, and advice for writers managing a public persona.

Links:

• Scarlett Johanssen and Disney Reach Agreement
• CAA Acquires ICM
• Academy Museum featuring Wizard of Oz Script Page
• Netflix Data Dump
• Caroline Graham and Kylie Stevenson’s podcast Lost in Larrimah and book, Larrimah
• Twitter Thread by Dylan Park
• How Blogs Broke the Web by Amy Hoy
• History of JohnAugust.com and John’s 1996 Blog
• Death Loop
• The Era of Mass Fame by Chris Hayes
• Wells for Boys SNL Sketch
• Get a Scriptnotes T-shirt!
• Gift a Scriptnotes Subscription or treat yourself to a premium subscription!
• John August on Twitter
• John on Instagram
• Outro by Owen Danoff (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.