John and Craig host an in-depth look at the 1987 classic, The Princess Bride, recorded live at the WGA Theatre in 2019.

They discuss how the “abridged” structure brings us only the best parts of the story and what this means for the characters and world. 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.

In our bonus segment for premium members, John and Craig discuss William Goldman’s famous (and often misapplied) quote abut Hollywood: “Nobody knows anything.”

Links:

• Episode 386 – The Princess Bride
• Episode 221 – Nobody Knows Anything (including what this quote means)
• The Princess Bride
• The Princess Bride: S. Morgenstern’s Classic Tale of True Love and High Adventure by William Goldman
• Adventures in the Screen Trade by William Goldman
• The Dread Pirate Roberts
• The Bechdel Test
• Get a Scriptnotes T-shirt!
• Check out the Inneresting Newsletter
• Gift a Scriptnotes Subscription or treat yourself to a premium subscription!
• Craig Mazin on Threads and Instagram
• John August on Threads, Instagram and Twitter
• John on Mastodon
• Outro by Cole Parzenn (send us yours!)
• This episode was originally produced by Megan McDonnell. Scriptnotes is produced by Drew Marquardt and edited by Matthew Chilelli.

Email us at [email protected]

You can download the episode here.