The Rules (or, the Paradox of the Outlier)

John and Craig discuss this year’s screenplay Oscar winners, including the success of Birdman’s outside-the-box approach and Graham Moore’s speech. Craig asked Reddit’s r/screenwriting sub to collect a list of the so-called rules budding screenwriters are told to follow. From the rules of the page to the rules of the industry, John and Craig look at these commonly-cited rules one-by-one, discussing which ones have merit and which ones are better ignored. All this, plus follow-up on Tess Gerritsen’s Gravity lawsuit. Also, John has a new app in the App Store called Assembler. Find out more in the links below. Links: Scriptnotes, 185: Malcolm Spellman, a Study in Heat Jiminy Cricket educational serials on Wikipedia 87th Academy Awards on Wikipedia Scriptshadow’s review of Birdman Graham Moore’s speech after winning Best Adapted Screenplay Paddy Chayefsky at the 1978 Oscars LA Times retracts an incorrect assumption about Graham Moore’s sexuality Rashida Jones on the red carpet at the 2015 SAG awards Scriptnotes, 183: The Deal with the Gravity Lawsuit Tess Gerritsen’s amended complaint My Cyborg Ear: How a Surgeon and Titanium Cured My Lifelong Deafness by Adam Clark Estes Mike Tyson Mysteries on adult swim I’m no fool with a bicycle Assembler is in the Mac App Store now Outro by Scriptnotes listener Jeff Harms (send us yours!) You can download the episode here: AAC | mp3. UPDATE 3-10-15: The transcript of this episode can be found here.The post The Rules (or, the Paradox of the Outlier) first appeared on John August.