645 - The Third Season
Scriptnotes Podcast
John August
4.8 • 2.7K Ratings
🗓️ 4 June 2024
⏱️ 54 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
John welcomes Meredith Scardino (Girls5eva) and Jen Statsky (Hacks) to discuss the highs and lows of writing the third season of a hit comedy. But how do you push a series forward without violating the premise or retreading familiar terrain? Are the shows still the shows they pitched? How has streaming changed since their shows first went on the air? And how do you plan for your series’ future?
They also answer listener questions on non-binary characters, past tense emotions in action lines, and how to make the most of a mentorship.
In our bonus segment for premium members: Two years ago John sent a letter to Jen with his predictions for what would happen in the third season of Hacks. That letter has remained sealed until now. Were John’s predictions correct, close, or way off the mark?
Links:
- Meredith Scardino on Instagram
- Jen Statsky on Instagram
- Girls5eva on Netflix
- Hacks on Max
- Chris Fleming
- Chris Fleming: HELL on Peacock
- Hannah Einbinder: Everything Must Go on Max
- Stouchi iPhone Camera Mount
- 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 Threads, Instagram and Twitter
- John on Mastodon
- Outro by Rodger Corser (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.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello and welcome my name is John August and you're listening |
| 0:05.1 | episode 645 of script notes a podcast about screenwriting and things that are |
| 0:09.2 | interesting to screenwriters for showrunners the first season of a television show is often a trial by fire |
| 0:15.2 | as they figure out what show they're actually making and how to do it. The second season can be |
| 0:20.1 | both easier and more difficult as showrunners have the benefit of experience but also the burden of expectation. |
| 0:26.0 | Today on the show we have two showrunners who have just delivered the third seasons of their respective shows, which was an absolute cakewalk. Am I correct? |
| 0:32.8 | There were no issues on either your side. |
| 0:34.3 | Zero. |
| 0:35.8 | Yeah, really simple. |
| 0:36.9 | Great. |
| 0:37.9 | So episodes over, it's done, nothing to talk about. |
| 0:39.5 | I should talk about, yeah. |
| 0:40.4 | Yeah, credits. |
| 0:41.8 | Credits roll. Thank you for joining us on the show. Let me introduce you. Meredith |
| 0:45.6 | Cardino is a writer and producer whose impressive list of credits include Saturday Night Live, the Colbert |
| 0:50.8 | report, and Unbreakable Kimi Schmidt. She has four Emmys and a Peabody. |
| 0:55.0 | She is now the creator and showrunner of Girls 5 ever. |
| 1:00.0 | Bing! |
| 1:01.0 | That was beautiful. |
| 1:02.0 | Well, thank you. I mean, I love myself a musical sting a little |
| 1:06.4 | introduction moment. It's one of those few credits like you just don't skip past because |
| 1:10.2 | you got to embrace it while it's there. It's Jeff Richmond. |
... |
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