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
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (movie)
Aladdin (movie)
Scriptnotes (podcast)
Launch (podcast)
Alfred Hitchcock Presents: The Three Investigators (book)
Premiere Magazine
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)