John and Craig discuss suspense and its function in all genres, from thrillers to romcoms. They examine suspense of the known and of the unknown and the techniques available to construct it.

We also answer listeners questions about registering scripts with the WGA, how to overcome creative paralysis and unconventional sluglines.

Links:

* The WGA’s page regarding sexual harassment * The Wedding Planner, Die Hard, Three’s Company, Man Up, and the old ketchup commercials are great examples of suspense * Thanks to Katie Dippold, who pitched the idea for this episode * Weekend Read has many of this season’s awards scripts posted for your reading pleasure * Flipflop Solitaire by Zach Gage, who also made Really Bad Chess * Slate’s podcast, Slow Burn * The Scriptnotes Listeners’ Guide! * The USB drives! * John August on Twitter * Craig Mazin on Twitter * John on Instagram * Find past episodes * Outro by Travis Newton (send us yours!)

Email us at ask@johnaugust.com

You can download the episode here.