John and Craig host a live show at the WGA Theatre with a deep dive look at The Princess Bride. They discuss how the “abridged” structure brings us only the best parts of the story and what this means for the characters and world: less exposition and more time for the fire swamp, R.O.U.S., and the pit of despair. From the frame story to the myth of the Dread Pirate Roberts, The Princess Bride shaped decades of screenwriters but would be inconceivable to produce today.

William Goldman’s 1973 cult classic delighted audiences with a fresh take on fairy tale tropes, and also managed to convince viewers that storytelling is ultimately an act of love.

Links:

• The Seattle Live Show is on February 6th!
• You can now preorder Arlo Finch in the Lake of the Moon or come to the launch event on February 9th.
• Submit entries for The Scriptnotes Pitch Session here.
• The Princess Bride: S. Morgenstern’s Classic Tale of True Love and High Adventure novel
• The Princess Bride Trailer
• The Dread Pirate Roberts
• The Bechdel Test
• T-shirts are available here! We’ve got new designs, including Colored Revisions, Karateka, and Highland2.
• John August on Twitter
• Craig Mazin on Twitter
• John on Instagram
• Find past episodes
• Scriptnotes Digital Seasons are also now available!
• Outro by Cole Parzenn (send us yours!)

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You can download the episode here.