Ep 124: John August

John August—screenwriter known for Go, Big Fish, and more, and host of the Scriptnotes podcast—on his debut middle grade adventure novel, ARLO FINCH IN THE VALLEY OF FIRE (out Feb. 6!). John talks about the tricks authors have that screenwriters don't, what made him think of recording his entire process of writing, selling, and debuting ARLO, the shadow of Harry Potter over all MG, and podcasting as an American art form.   John August Show Notes Go (movie) Big Fish (movie) Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (movie) Aladdin (movie) Scriptnotes (podcast) Launch (podcast) Alfred Hitchcock Presents: The Three Investigators (book) Premiere Magazine Nora Ephron Steven Soderbergh Sex Lies and Videotape (movie) Star Trek: The Next Generation Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston Charlie's Angels (movie) A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle How to Eat Fried Worms by Thomas Rockwell Craig Mazin (screenwriter) Serial (podcast) John Gruber's podcast, The Talk Show John's blog post about writing Arlo Finch The Nest by Kenneth Oppel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee The Percy Jackson series by Rick Riordan The Magnus Chase series by Rick Riordan Lord of the Flies by William Golding Call Me By Your Name (movie) Call Me By Your Name by André Aciman (book) "Story of a T-Shirt" by Planet Money Startup (podcast) Robert Ludlum Ira Glass Freedom app NaNoWriMo