Screenwriter and author John August

A Frank Conversation About Screenwriting

Episode - 730

March 31, 2026 Scriptnotes

John sits down with the Northwest Screenwriters Guild at an event to promote the Scriptnotes book, and ends up having a poignant conversation about how the career of screenwriting has changed, missteps John made throughout his career, and how his approach to screenwriting has evolved over time.

He also answers questions on kicking bad writing habits, screenwriting careers outside of Hollywood, what to look for in the projects you choose, whether age matters in a screenwriting career, writing your calling card movie, the sidekick problem, and the real story behind the Prince of Persia movie.

In our bonus segment for premium members, John has been hanging out with sketch writers for the last few weeks and is excited to share what he’s learned about writing sketch comedy.

Links:

Northwest Screenwriters Guild
Steven Soderbergh’s Sex Lies and Videotape book
Our episode with KPop Demon Hunters writers Danya Jimenez & Hannah McMechan
Notes on Notes
John’s screenplay library
Dennis Palumbo episodes, 99 – Psychotherapy for screenwriters and 676 – Writing while the World is on Fire
LA Material
Get your copy of the Scriptnotes book!
Get a Scriptnotes T-shirt!
Check out the Inneresting Newsletter
Become a Scriptnotes Premium member, or gift a subscription
Subscribe to Scriptnotes on YouTube
Scriptnotes on Instagram and TikTok
John August on Bluesky and Instagram
Outro by Nick Moore (send us yours!)
Scriptnotes is produced by Drew Marquardt and edited by Matthew Chilelli.

Email us at ask@johnaugust.com

You can download the episode here.

How I use Highland Fling

March 20, 2026 Apps, Highland

Fling is a brand new feature for Highland Pro that addresses a long-simmering frustration: getting feedback on what you’ve written.

Whenever I finish a draft, I want to give it to some trusted people to read — both for comments and general proofreading. In the old days, that generally meant printing and handing it to them, or emailing a PDF. In the case of my assistant, I’ll often Slack him the original Highland file and ask him to mark up typos in Revision Mode.

This works, but it’s not ideal. You end up with multiple copies of every document.

What I really longed for was something like Google Docs links. When my college-aged daughter wants me to read something she wrote, she’ll simply send me the URL. I can make my notes right there in the document.

That makes sense for Google Docs, because it’s already on the web. I wondered: could we do the same thing for a native app like Highland Pro?

Surprisingly, yes!

Highland Fling creates a temporary, online version of your document that you can share with anyone. Your readers can then easily leave their notes and comments, all of which appear immediately back in your original document.

Your readers don’t need Highland Pro. For them, it’s just a web page. The whole experience is kinda magic.

Here’s a video about it:

I use Fling all the time, both for screenwriting and all the other documents I write. It’s the best of both worlds: Highland Pro’s powerful native editing, and the simplicity of sharing a link. We made a step-by-step guide for using Highland Fling, but honestly you’re likely to immediately intuit it.

Fling’s short duration (either one hour, one day, or seven days) is a feature, not a bug. A Fling isn’t meant to last. You’re not publishing something for the ages, just right now when you need someone to read something.

Around the office, we still use Notion for items where multiple people are writing and editing, and for reference material we want to keep around. But for everything that’s “just read this please,” Fling is ideal.

An example: This spring, one of my jobs as WGA Negotiating Committee co-chair was writing a 30-minute speech to members about our priorities in this negotiation. I wrote the speech in Highland Pro, of course. Fling was the perfect way to share it with my collaborators. They could make their notes right in the document, and see each other’s notes.

This blog post you’re reading? I flung it to Drew for proofreading. It’s our default way of putting eyes on anything.

Fling is available for the Mac version of Highland Pro right now. I’m really proud of how it turned out. I suspect many writers will find it just as game-changing as I do.

What I did in 2025

December 23, 2025 Follow Up

This was a tough year. American democracy strained under authoritarian assault. Here in Los Angeles, friends lost homes in the fires while many in the industry struggled to find work.

But good things happened as well. Babies were born. Terrific movies and TV shows debuted. My family was happy and healthy.

My husband has a great memory when it comes to personal history — he can tell you when we last had dinner at a particular restaurant — whereas the past to me is a smeary blur. So this year, I decided to go through my calendar, photo roll, and Day One entries to piece together what the hell I actually did in 2025.

Here’s a slightly redacted version, with names of certain people and projects omitted. In these redactions, I’m always referring to the same title, person or place. “Studio” is the same studio throughout, for example.

January

Went skiing at Mammoth with our nephew, Ben. Finished script and score prep for a new Big Fish musical reading, now a one-act. Pitched remake of Tentpole Movie to Studio, which controlled the rights.

February

Big Fish 29-hour reading in New York, with Jerry Zaks directing and Patrick Wilson as Edward Bloom. Recorded interview for Corpse Bride’s 20th anniversary. Released Birdigo on Steam. Studio said yes on Tentpole Movie remake. Finished the D&D campaign (Bandits!) I’d been running for the past year.

March

Released Highland Pro after a lengthy beta. Delivered final edits on Wolf’s Belly, a graphic novel illustrated Simón Estrada. (It comes out July 2026). Met on an animated Riot Games movie that never went anywhere. Remodeled primary bathroom shower. Studio realized Tentpole Movie was too close to another movie in development, and passed.

April

Celebrated 25th anniversary with a 14-day trip to Jordan and Egypt. We flew in and out of Dubai, where a hotel gym weight bench smashed my left thumb. Placed third in Rachel Bloom’s birthday Spelling Bee.

May

Pitched a feature based on Mattel’s Little People to various buyers. Got no takers. Had a general meeting with president at Studio, which led to a protracted series of meetings about a remake of Classic Title with Famous Director and Movie Star.

June

Zoomed with various tabletop RPG designers about a potential heist game. Announced feature I’m writing for Laika — my first WGA-covered animated project. Participated in the first No Kings protest in Anchorage, Alaska, before a weeklong cruise along the coast with my extended family. Served as an advisor to the Sundance Screenwriters Lab online. Staycationed in Venice (CA) while contractors replaced 20 windows and doors in the house.

July

Visited our friends in Cambria on our way to San Francisco, where we ran the San Francisco Half Marathon.

August

Turned in first draft of Laika project. Received first printed galleys of Scriptnotes book. Took various meetings and zooms about Classic Title. Agreed to co-chair the WGA negotiating committee. Went to Bears in Space.

September

Met with potential designers for a new software project. Hired first international contractor. Finished construction at the house. Stayed two nights in West Hollywood during termite tenting. Hosted a pool party. Zoomed with International Director’s development team about Series. Studio said no to Classic Title.

October

Visited daughter in Australia, where she was studying for the semester. Traveled to Hamilton Island with friends. Saw the Great Barrier Reef and Blue Mountains. Attended the No Kings protest in Los Angeles. Pitched Series to streamers. Hosted two live Scriptnotes at the Austin Film Festival, where Highland Pro was a sponsor this year. Spoke with producer about moving Long-Dormant Project to a new home.

November

Visited the set of Indie Film shooting in Palm Springs. Attended first meeting of AI Coalition. Traveled to Las Vegas to see Kelly Clarkson, along with The Mob Museum, The Neon Museum, and Meow Wolf.

December

Launched the Scriptnotes book with a live show at Dynasty Typewriter. Turned in rewrite of Laika project. Finished office sound panel installation. Spent a week in Mexico City. The thumb I smashed in April has finally regrown its nail. Apple featured Highland Pro as one of its 26 Amazing Apps for 2026.

25 for 25

Last year, my husband and I made a list of goals for things we want to do together, which we called 24 for 2024. This year, we completed 17 of our 25 goals, including hosting three game nights, attending two sporting events, and seeing our first-ever opera.

Movies I saw in the theater

28 Years Later
After the Hunt
Captain America: Brave New World
F1
Knives Out: Wake Up Dead Man
Mickey 17
Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning
One Battle After Another
Opus
Predator: Badlands
Showgirls (revival screening)
Sinners
Suspicion (revival screening)
Superman
The Fantastic Four – First Steps
The History of Sound
The Naked Gun
Thunderbolts
Tron: Legacy
Twinless
Weapons
Wicked: For Good

Shows I saw on stage

Channing/Tatum
Cult of Love
Eureka Day
Mike Birbiglia’s The Good Life
Parade
Pump Up the Volume
Rent
Stereophonic
Sunset Boulevard
WEER

Books I read

Nine Princes in Amber by Roger Zelazny
Strange Houses by Oketsu
Colin Gets Promoted and Dooms the World by Mark Waddell
Darryl by Jackie Ess
If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies by Eliezer Yudkowsky, Nate Soares
More Everything Forever by Adam Becker
The Ideological Brain by Leor Zmigrod
Self-Sabotage by Jeffery Self
Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett
Four Thousand Weeks by Oliver Burkeman
The Keep by Jennifer Egan
The Scaling Era by Dwarkesh Patel
Antimemetics by Nadia Asparouhova

Other Stats

I ran 692 kilometers. I went to the gym 47 times. I played 39 sessions of D&D.

The Scriptnotes Book is out today!

December 2, 2025 Follow Up, News, Scriptnotes Book

Our Big Orange Book is finally available in bookstores around the world today. We’ve gotten a ton of preorders and some terrific reviews.

“Bound to be a staple, this guide, just like the podcast, is accessible, engaging, and informative” – Booklist

“August and Mazin’s volume stands out for its wealth of real-life examples taken from cinema and TV over the past decades, its humanizing tone, and its winning combination of the practical with the entertaining.” – Library Journal

“If you’re going to buy one book on screenwriting, then you should probably make it Scriptnotes by John August and Craig Mazin.” – Forbes

A few things you can do to help us out in this crucial first week:

→ Buy it wherever you buy books. Our official LA bookstore is Chevalier’s on Larchmont, which has some signed copies at least for the next few days. Signed copies are also available at Premiere Collectables for shipping worldwide.

→ Post about it on social media. Tag me (@johnaugust) and Scriptnotes (@scriptnotespodcast) on Instagram/Bluesky/Threads and we’ll repost ya.

→ Leave a review on Amazon or Goodreads. The early ones tend to set a tone.

We’re excited to see the book on shelves and in reader’s hands. Please enjoy it and share it with others!