Let’s run a studio!

Celebrating Leap Day, John and Craig play the game of “What If?” Specifically, what if we each were handed the reins of a major Hollywood studio? We discuss what we’d movies we’d make, what standard practices we’d change, and how we’d address the shifting realities of movie-going and home video. Could we really do it better? Doubtful. It’s easy to play make-believe, but much tougher when you’re reporting to a major multinational corporation. Still, there are things that everyone seems to get wrong, and it’s worth the conversation about what could be done better. And if any tech billionaires feel like investing, you know where to find us. Before that long conversation, we answer a bunch of follow-up questions: When optioning a novel, is there a rule of thumb for what percentage of the total purchase price the option should cover? Does the WGA cover a novelist’s based-on credit? What does it mean when a novelist has a producer credit? What is Daniel Wallace’s role in the Broadway version of Big Fish? What’s to stop a screenwriter from writing a novel version of his spec, and then having his script be “based on” it? All this and more in this episode of Scriptnotes. LINKS: Asymco crunches the studio numbers Intro: The Big Valley opening credits Outro: Hey Ya cover by Mat Weddle You can download the episode here: AAC. UPDATE 3-8-12: The transcript of this episode can be found here. The post Let’s run a studio! first appeared on John August.