The podcast is called Scriptnotes (it's also available through iTunes and other podcast apps), and as you might have guessed from the title, it centers on writing for movies and television. There are two hosts, John August and Craig Mazin, and they're both working Writers Guild members.
I love these two guys! They're interesting to listen to and even when they're talking about things that are solely issues that a scriptwriter would face, I'm riveted.
There are regular features like when they discuss news stories to decide whether or not it could be a movie. In the episodes I've listened to, the answer has mostly been no. They close out every episode with One Cool Thing--basically something they liked--and there are frequent guests. There's also a regular segment where they read the first three pages of scripts people have sent in and critique them. It's a tremendous opportunity for aspiring writers to get feedback from guys actually working in the industry they want to join.
The Three Pages segment is particularly interesting to me. Good storytelling is good storytelling, but as a new listener who doesn't aspire to write scripts, I honestly am still learning the terminology. It sounds as if there's a pretty large chasm between novel writing and scriptwriting and that's part of what's intriguing.
There have been episodes that have had me reaching for a pen to take notes, episodes that have made me laugh, but best of all, lots and lots of writing talk. When I moved to Atlanta from Minneapolis, I lost my writer friends. I wanted to go to local Romance Writer of America meetings here, but they were too far away from where I live and there is honestly no way I'm driving that far on a Saturday morning. For the last five years, my writer talk has been over the phone or the internet with my friends. Listening to writers talk to each other is a sweet joy for me.
I highly recommend this podcast to anyone who wants to write a script, but I think any writer will probably enjoy it. It might also be of interest to people who aren't writers, but are curious about how Hollywood does scripts.
I'm going to close with something said on the show that had me grabbing my pen and hurriedly taking notes:
"Write what gets you sitting at the computer every day." --Scriptnotes podcast
