Scriptnotes Podcast

John welcomes back Susanna Fogel and David Iserson (The Spy Who Dumped Me) to steal their secrets on creating an original tone in their new series PONIES. They look at how the writers room was built to match their sensibilities, using characters to anchor the audience, and what it takes to sell and produce an original period TV series in 2026.
We also talk about the pros and cons of filming in Budapest, and answer listener questions on trusting your judgement, recognizing your talent, differentiating character voices, and whether spec pilots are out of fashion.
In our bonus segment for premium members, Susanna and David look at how our taste develops, including what we can learn about taste from The Beatles.
Links:
PONIES Trailer | On Peacock January 15th
Susanna Fogel and David Iserson
The last time Susanna and David were on the show (Episode 361)
The Work of Art by Adam Moss
So You Want to De-Bog Yourself by Adam Mastroianni
Procreate emulators True Grit and Retro Supply Co.
International Society of Character Artists' character resolution 2026
The Plague (2025)
The Taste Gap by Ira Glass
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John August on Bluesky and Instagram
Outro by Matthew Chilelli (send us yours!)
Scriptnotes is produced by Drew Marquardt and edited by Matthew Chilelli.
Email us at [email protected]
You can download the episode here.

John and Craig consider all the words they have to write and ask, how do you know when something deserves your best effort? They offer a useful rubric for deciding when something is worth perfecting, and when over-optimization is a waste of time.
We also follow up on compulsive writing habits, industry euphemisms, back issues, and the impact and legacy of the WGA's 2019 agency negotiations.
In our bonus segment for premium members, it's a new year! John looks back at things he accomplished in 2025 and his goals for 2026, while Craig sighs and gestures in the direction of The Last of Us.
Links:
Jamie Lee Curtis says "Trauma"
Concept Creep: Psychology's Expanding Concepts of Harm and Pathology by Nick Haslam
Young Connor Storrie on YouTube
Steve Jobs introduces the iPhone
Elon Musk announces the Cybertruck
Valentina Vee on TikTok and Instagram
Birth by Madison Karrh
John's What I Did in 2025
Get your copy of the Scriptnotes book!
Get a Scriptnotes T-shirt!
Check out the Inneresting Newsletter
Become a Scriptnotes Premium member, or gift a subscription
Subscribe to Scriptnotes on YouTube
Scriptnotes on Instagram
John August on Bluesky and Instagram
Outro by Eric Pearson (send us yours!)
Scriptnotes is produced by Drew Marquardt and edited by Matthew Chilelli.
Email us at [email protected]
You can download the episode here.

John and Craig circle back on all the euphemisms and stock phrases that float around Hollywood. Using some favorite examples, they attempt to define and demystify the current industry-speak so everyone is looped in when we come up for air after the holidays.
We also wrap-up 2025 with a look at Scriptnotes by the numbers, check-in on Disney's deal with OpenAI, follow up on that director who scammed Netflix out of $11 million, and answer listener questions on the guilds' involvement in video podcasts and reps who won't send out co-written scripts.
In our bonus segment for premium members, John and Craig navigate how to deal with difficult collaborators.
Links:
How Disney's OpenAI Deal Changes Everything by Steven Zeitchik and Julian Sancton for The Hollywood Reporter
Guilty! Director Who Scammed Netflix Out Of Millions Faces Decades Behind Bars by Dominic Patten for Deadline
Writing Movies for Fun and Profit: How We Made a Billion Dollars at the Box Office and You Can, Too! by Robert Ben Garant & Thomas Lennon
Down to Puck: Why Women Are Going Wild for 'Heated Rivalry' by Seth Abramovitch for The Hollywood Reporter
Search Engine annual meeting
Order a signed copy of the Scriptnotes Book!
Charli XCX's Substack
Trailer for Divinity by Larian Studios
Get your copy of the Scriptnotes book!
Get a Scriptnotes T-shirt!
Check out the Inneresting Newsletter
Become a Scriptnotes Premium member, or gift a subscription (now with fewer emails!)
Subscribe to Scriptnotes on YouTube
Scriptnotes on Instagram
John August on Bluesky and Instagram
Outro by Nick Moore (send us yours!)
Scriptnotes is produced by Drew Marquardt and edited by Matthew Chilelli.
Email us at [email protected]
You can download the episode here.
(46:41) Scriptnotes: A Book About Screenwriting and Things That Are Interesting to Screenwriters (Unabridged)

In a Christmas crossover event, John and Craig join Meg LeFauve (Inside Out) and Lorien McKenna (Tab Time) on their podcast, The Screenwriting Life.
We talk about why rigid structure can miss the point, how theme emerges from character, what fear and denial really look like on the page, and how writers can survive rejection without letting it define them.
In our bonus segment for premium members, John breaks Drew's heart with his lovely memories of Rob & Michele Reiner.
Links:
The Screenwriting Life podcast
Get your copy of the Scriptnotes book!
Get a Scriptnotes T-shirt!
Check out the Inneresting Newsletter
Become a Scriptnotes Premium member, or gift a subscription (now with fewer emails!)
Subscribe to Scriptnotes on YouTube
Scriptnotes on Instagram
John August on Bluesky and Instagram
Outro by Mathew Chilelli (send us yours!)
Scriptnotes is produced by Drew Marquardt and edited by Matthew Chilelli.
Email us at [email protected]
You can download the episode here.
(20:00) Scriptnotes: A Book About Screenwriting and Things That Are Interesting to Screenwriters (Unabridged)

John and Craig welcome back screenwriter Mike Makowsky (Death by Lightning, Bad Education) to ask, how do you dramatize a historical event that no one's heard of? They look at the dramatic engine behind the Garfield assassination, the long journey Death by Lightning had to getting made, and the importance of finding great stories in obscure history.
We investigate the peculiar habits and compulsions of our own writing practices, and see how personality typologies can help figure out what makes our characters tick. We also follow up on a certain orange book, breaking into Hollywood in your 30's, and offer our thoughts on the impending sale of Warner Bros.
In our bonus segment for premium members, which TV shows had the best "coaching trees"? We marvel at the writers' rooms that launched the most successful writers today.
Links:
Death by Lightning on Netflix
Mike Makowsky on IMDb and Instagram
Episode 448 (The last time Mike was on the podcast)
Which TV Show Has the Best Coaching Tree? Alan Sepinwall for The Ringer
Size matters: a single representation underlies our perceptions of heaviness in the size-weight illusion
New evidence for the sensorimotor mismatch theory of weight perception and the size-weight illusion
Friedman Personnel Agency
Destiny of the Republic by Candice Millard
The Ballad of Guiteau from Assassins
The Four Tendencies by Gretchen Rubin
Writer's Guide to Character Traits by Linda Edelstein
A Fentanyl Vaccine Is About to Get Its First Major Test by Emily Mullin for WIRED
Heated Rivalry on HBO Max
The Good Lord Bird
Get your copy of the Scriptnotes book!
Get a Scriptnotes T-shirt!
Check out the Inneresting Newsletter
Become a Scriptnotes Premium member, or gift a subscription (now with fewer emails!)
Subscribe to Scriptnotes on YouTube
Scriptnotes on Instagram
John August on Bluesky and Instagram
Outro by Luke Foster (send us yours!)
Scriptnotes is produced by Drew Marquardt and edited by Matthew Chilelli.
Email us at [email protected]
You can download the episode here.
(9:00) Scriptnotes: A Book About Screenwriting and Things That Are Interesting to Screenwriters (Unabridged)