John and Craig discuss their personal philosophies and how writers can approach philosophical questions in terms of theme (central dramatic question) and character (moral codes and motivation).

Then we cover virtual pitches and listener questions on eight-sequence structure and how to read a script. We also follow up on the agency campaign, failed insurrections, and bad IP.

Finally in our bonus segment for premium members, we revisit our disagreement in episode 481 about whether it’s okay to lie.

Links:

• WGA Rejects WME Deal, Judge Rejects Injunction
• Rubik’s Cube
• Mr. Clean: a sailor? A genie? Both?
• Eight Sequence Structure
• John’s 2020 Year in Review
• There is No Game
• Get a Scriptnotes T-shirt!
• Gift a Scriptnotes Subscription or treat yourself to a premium subscription!
• John August on Twitter
• Craig Mazin on Twitter
• John on Instagram
• Outro by Rajesh Naroth (send us yours!)
• Scriptnotes is produced by Megana Rao and edited by Matthew Chilelli.

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You can download the episode here.