As part of the WGA’s negotiating committee, I’ve done a lot of work (and press) on behalf of the Guild’s proposal regarding AI, which seeks to regulate the use of AI on MBA-covered projects. Specifically, the proposal would ensure that AI-generated material is not considered “literary material” or “source material” — two terms with specific […]
Software
The Free Stuff
My friend Nima recently pointed out that most of the stuff our company makes is free. That’s probably not a great business model, but it’s always been our culture. We only charge for those things that have significant ongoing costs — like upkeep and hosting — or a per-unit cost to produce. If you’re a […]
A DM’s guide to Roll20
Since the start of the pandemic, our regular D&D game — which has always been in person — has shifted to online. We use Zoom to chat, and Roll20 to simulate the tabletop. I’m comfortable using Roll20 as a player, but when it came time to begin planning my own campaign as a DM, I […]
Let’s make a Fountain block for WordPress
Way back in 2008, I announced a plugin for WordPress that made it easy to insert short bits of screenplay-like material into a blog post. EXT. HOUSE -- DAY Max is checking his mail when he spots neighbor FRANK crossing the street, heading his way. Shaking his head... MAX I thought we talked about this, […]
Getting TextExpander and WorkFlowy to play nicely
We use WorkFlowy to outline Scriptnotes before we record. After 462 episodes, I finally decided to make a template for it so that I wasn’t typing it all from scratch every time. So I made a skeleton outline, which you can see here. Excited for the all time I was going to save, I copy-pasted […]
From Indie to Action Comedy
Episode - 361
John welcomes Susanna Fogel and David Iserson to talk about making their new movie, The Spy Who Dumped Me. They discuss the transition from TV and indie film to blockbuster, the collaboration involved in crafting a comic action sequence, and the fun of production overseas. Susanna and David explain the advantages of spec scripts (this […]
