John August

I’ve been looking at the blog of screenwriter John August. I came across it while researching a film called “the nines”. The film is divided in to three acts:

"The Prisoner" tells of a troubled actor under house arrest living in another person's house because he burned down his own.

"Reality Television" tells of a television writer trying to get his pilot made. The house he lives in is the house the actor stays in.

"Knowing" tells of an acclaimed video game designer who is lost when his car breaks down, a situation shown in the pilot of the writer.

The way the movie is set out is very similar to the way i want my own narrative to be set out. Im endeavouring to obtain a copy of the movie to see how they go about telling three different story’s.


When i came across the site i came across Mr Augusts tips for writing a narrative and idea generation for it:

• figuring out what the outcome needs to be, then working backwards;

• deciding what caused the problem in the first place, and whether it can be changed or cut;

• looking at the moment from another character’s perspective;

• quickly writing several different solutions, then judging whether one or a combination of several best address the problem.