As we reach our 600th episode, John and Craig welcome back writer and director Christopher McQuarrie (Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning, Top Gun: Maverick, The Usual Suspects) to continue their decades-long argument on the future of the movies and the forces that power the entertainment industry.

Together they lead a wide-ranging debate on the corporate lure of AI, cultivating movie stars, the bad habits writers have to unlearn, the importance of making genre movies, feeding the Hollywood machine, and the false division between art and entertainment.

In our bonus segment for premium members, John, Craig and Chris discuss the best way to watch movies and the ideal exhibition of sound and picture.

Links:

• Chris McQuarrie on IMDb and Instagram
• The looming threat of AI to Hollywood, and why it should matter to you by Alissa Wilkinson for Vox
• Anker 3-in-1 Cube with MagSafe
• Signal
• GoodRx
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• Craig Mazin on Instagram
• John August on Twitter
• John on Instagram
• John on Mastodon
• Outro by Nico Mansy (send us yours!)
• Scriptnotes is produced by Drew Marquardt and edited by Matthew Chilelli.

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You can download the episode here.