Today, we welcome longtime fantasy guest, Aaron Sorkin (A Few Good Men, The West Wing, The Social Network) to talk through his writing process and tease his upcoming film, The Social Reckoning.

Does Aaron Sorkin use outlines? Where does he begin? And does he have any more ideas? All these questions and more will be answered. John also presents a couple of Sorkin's own scenes as a case study on writing conflict.

In our bonus segment for premium subscribers, we discuss Sorkin's projects that never got produced. Now you see it… now you don't.

Links:

• The West Wing – Donna & Josh Conversation
• The Social Network – Do I have your full attention?
• Surf Dracula

Download the episode here!

Get your copy of The Scriptnotes Book and become a Scriptnotes Premium member today! For more content on the craft of writing check out Inneresting our weekly-ish newsletter about screenwriting and things that are interesting to screenwriters.

Scriptnotes is produced by Meredith Stedman and edited by Matthew Chilelli. Our coordinator is Lauren Loesberg.

Outro by Matthew Chilelli (send us yours!)

Email us at ask@johnaugust.com

John welcomes Lucia Aniello and Paul W. Downs to talk about the emotional and logistical process of closing out their five-season series, Hacks.

Paul and Lucia also step up as guest readers for the Three Page Challenge, a segment where we look at the first three pages of a listener-submitted script and give honest feedback.

In our bonus segment for premium subscribers, John, Lucia and Paul talk about cameos. How do they happen? What's the real deal behind the scenes?

Scripts:

• Dying to Love You
• You're Dead to Me
• Monster Law

Links:

• You Can Just Do Things by Cate Hall
• State and Local Election Alliance
• @luciaaniellosetfits
• @paulwdowns
• Cherlato Gelato

Get your copy of The Scriptnotes Book and become a Scriptnotes Premium member today! For more content on the craft of writing check out Inneresting our weekly-ish newsletter about screenwriting and things that are interesting to screenwriters.

Scriptnotes is produced by Meredith Stedman and edited by Matthew Chilelli. Our Coordinator is Lauren Loesberg.
Outro by Nick Moore (send us yours!).

Email us at ask@johnaugust.com

Think of this as a crash course in general meetings.

In this compendium, John, Craig and Scriptnotes intern, Lauren, mine previous episodes for advice on the bewildering "general." They aim to answer every question you've had about general meetings, over the years: What are they? What's discussed? And how do you get one?

In our bonus segment for premium subscribers, John and Craig swap stories about their best, worst, and first general meetings.

Get your copy of The Scriptnotes Book and become a Scriptnotes Premium member today! For more content on the craft of writing check out Inneresting our weekly-ish newsletter about screenwriting and things that are interesting to screenwriters.

Scriptnotes is produced by Meredith Stedman and edited by Matthew Chilelli. Our coordinator is Lauren Loesberg.

Outro by Nick Moore (send us yours!)

Email us at ask@johnaugust.com