676 - Writing while the World is on Fire
02/18/25 • 47 min
2 Listeners
How do you keep doing creative work when the world is falling apart around you? To sift through the despair and doubt, John welcomes back legendary Scriptnotes guest, writer-turned-psychotherapist Dennis Palumbo. They discuss the many feelings that catastrophic events can bring up in artists, the personal narratives that often inform those feelings, and how to keep moving forward when you feel like the band on the Titanic.
We also follow up on AI, and answer listener questions on competing with brain trusts and how to support a friend embroiled in controversy.
In our bonus segment for premium members, Dennis guides us through the best examples and worst mistakes of portraying therapists on screen.
Links:
- “Am I Just Fiddling While Rome Burns?” by Dennis Palumbo for Psychiatric Times
- Scriptnotes 99 – Psychotherapy for Screenwriters
- ShotDeck
- River Runner Global
- At the Existentialist Café by Sarah Bakewell
- Get a Scriptnotes T-shirt!
- Check out the Inneresting Newsletter
- Gift a Scriptnotes Subscription or treat yourself to a premium subscription!
- Craig Mazin on Threads and Instagram
- John August on BlueSky, Threads, and Instagram
- Outro by Spencer Lackey (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.
How do you keep doing creative work when the world is falling apart around you? To sift through the despair and doubt, John welcomes back legendary Scriptnotes guest, writer-turned-psychotherapist Dennis Palumbo. They discuss the many feelings that catastrophic events can bring up in artists, the personal narratives that often inform those feelings, and how to keep moving forward when you feel like the band on the Titanic.
We also follow up on AI, and answer listener questions on competing with brain trusts and how to support a friend embroiled in controversy.
In our bonus segment for premium members, Dennis guides us through the best examples and worst mistakes of portraying therapists on screen.
Links:
- “Am I Just Fiddling While Rome Burns?” by Dennis Palumbo for Psychiatric Times
- Scriptnotes 99 – Psychotherapy for Screenwriters
- ShotDeck
- River Runner Global
- At the Existentialist Café by Sarah Bakewell
- Get a Scriptnotes T-shirt!
- Check out the Inneresting Newsletter
- Gift a Scriptnotes Subscription or treat yourself to a premium subscription!
- Craig Mazin on Threads and Instagram
- John August on BlueSky, Threads, and Instagram
- Outro by Spencer Lackey (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.
Previous Episode
675 - Say Nothing with Joshua Zetumer
Craig welcomes writer and showrunner Joshua Zetumer, creator of the limited series Say Nothing, to explore the process of dramatizing real events — particularly when the subject matter can be volatile. They discuss how to keep a sprawling historical epic from feeling like a lecture, keeping a consistent tone, humanizing complicated people, and how not to get sued by the people who were really involved.
They also answer listener questions on following up with people after the fires, charting the emotional journey of the audience, and whether writers need to cite their sources when writing about real events.
In our bonus segment for premium members, Craig and Joshua pretend to be civil engineers and ask, how can we make Los Angeles function better?
Links:
- Say Nothing
- Joshua Zetumer
- Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland by Patrick Radden Keefe
- Difficult Men by Brett Martin
- Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk
- Get a Scriptnotes T-shirt!
- Check out the Inneresting Newsletter
- Gift a Scriptnotes Subscription or treat yourself to a premium subscription!
- Craig Mazin on Threads and Instagram
- John August on BlueSky, Threads, Instagram, and Mastodon
- 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.
Next Episode
677 - Puzzle Box Storytelling
John and Craig decipher mystery box shows, where the premise and audience experience involve solving the puzzle of what’s really happening. They look at strategies for revealing clues and information, being mindful of the audience’s expectations, and the importance of the emotional journey inside the labyrinth.
We also announce a new video game, discuss what we can learn by revisiting old projects, follow up on unlocked pages and home automation, and answer listener questions on live instruments, pulling story from D&D campaigns, and where to draw the line between INT. and EXT.
In our bonus segment for premium members, how do you set boundaries when you feel like you’re always supposed to be writing? That’s not rhetorical — we need help.
Links:
- Birdigo on Steam
- Lutron HomeWorks and Home Assistant
- The Prisoner (1967)
- Scriptnotes, Ep 296: Television with Damon Lindelof
- Patrick Wilson, Jordan Donica Leading Industry Reading of Revised, Broadway-Aimed Big Fish on Playbill.com
- Falling Slowly scene in Once
- Life and Trust
- Get a Scriptnotes T-shirt!
- Check out the Inneresting Newsletter
- Gift a Scriptnotes Subscription or treat yourself to a premium subscription!
- Craig Mazin on Threads and Instagram
- John August on BlueSky, Threads, and Instagram
- Outro by Spencer Lackey (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.
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