John and Craig define and discuss important terms for writers: backends, profits, scales, floors, ceilings, and minimums. They trace the flow of money from WGA contracts to residuals and the downstream impact on animation writers.

They also take a look at characters ‘finding themselves’ and harsh writing advice. Follow up includes Korean grammar, holiday movies, the phrase ‘fake it till you make it’ and whether you should introduce yourself as a writer.

In our bonus segment for premium members, John and Craig analyze why movie dialogue has become harder to understand.

• Endeavor sells its content side CJ Entertainment
• WGA Health Fund now eligible for infertility treatments.
• For tips on understanding your contract, check out episode 407
• A writer who moved off the grid and hates it advice by Blair Braverman
• Have You Considered Accountancy? How to Start Writing (and When to Stop): Advice for Writers By Wisława Szymborska (Edited and translated from Polish by Clare Cavanagh) review by Joanna Kavenna
• The Game Master’s Book of Non-Player Characters by Jeff Ashworth
• Canary Mail email service for MacOS and iOS
• Why Movie Dialogue is so Hard to Understand by Ben Pearson for Slashfilm
• Get a Scriptnotes T-shirt!
• Gift a Scriptnotes Subscription or treat yourself to a premium subscription!
• Craig Mazin on Twitter
• John August on Twitter
• John on Instagram
• Outro by Timothy Vajda (send us yours!)
• Scriptnotes is produced by Megana Rao and edited by Matthew Chilelli.

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You can download the episode here.