John welcomes back Mike Schur (The Good Place, Parks and Recreation) to ask, how do you fix an overwritten script? They discuss ways to rebuild scenes and restore muddy characters that have become burdened by too many notes, all while making sure your script retains its voice.

We also look at the new IATSE deal with the AMPTP, the WGA’s back-pay settlement with CBS, Skydance purchasing Paramount, and follow-up on our idea of keeping pages un-locked.

In our bonus segment for premium members, John and Mike listen to the AI generated songs named in the RIAA’s current lawsuit and wonder, did they really steal from copyrighted material? (The answer is yes.)

Links:

• Mike Schur on Wikipedia
• Weekend Read 2
• IATSE tentative basic agreement
• David Ellison’s Skydance Taking Over Paramount After $8 Billion Investment by Dade Hayes for Deadline
• WGA West Reaches $3 Million Settlement With CBS Studios Over Writer Fees and Benefit Payments by Cynthia Littleton for Variety
• Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
• Alphabirds
• Should We Go Extinct? by Todd May
• 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 Vance Lovett (send us yours!)
• Scriptnotes is produced by Drew Marquardt with help from Jonathan Wigdortz. It is edited by Matthew Chilelli.

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You can download the episode here.