John and Craig examine the foundation of every story: the premise. What is your story really about? What questions is it trying to answer? How does that differ from your logline? And what should writers do to make sure those things match up?

We also follow up on AI copyright, physical media, Esperanto and lingua franca. We then answer listener questions on the usefulness of “Fade in,” what studios actually do, and whether or not to put spec scripts on your website.

In our bonus segment for premium members, John and Craig reminisce about the highs and lows of going back to school.

Links:

• AI-Created Art Isn’t Copyrightable, Judge Says in Ruling That Could Give Hollywood Studios Pause by Winston Cho for The Hollywood Reporter
• Thaler v. Perlmutter
• The Mandalorian, Loki, And WandaVision Are Getting Limited Edition 4K And Blu-Ray Releases by Ryan Scott for Slash Film
• Lingua franca
• Where Story Begins – Premise by Michael Tabb for Script Magazine
• The premise, or what’s the point? by John August
• We Need to See More Parents Having Abortions in Film and Television by Danielle Campoamor for Marie Claire
• Dungeons & Dragons: Trials of Tempus
• Highland 2
• Writer Emergency Pack XL
• 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 Adam Pineless (send us yours!)
• Scriptnotes is produced by Drew Marquardt and is edited by Matthew Chilelli.

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You can download the episode here.