721 - Preparing to Direct (with Eva Victor)

John and Craig welcome the actor-writer-director of the acclaimed indie Sorry, Baby to discuss preparing to direct your first feature.

Eva Victor's year-long bootcamp included reverse-shotlisting movies, shadowing other directors, and lots of visual development. It earned them Best Directorial Debut by the National Board of Review.

We also examine how Eva chose which scenes to cut, answer a listener question on how to talk to actors, and follow up on some excellent reviews of the Scriptnotes Book.

In our bonus segment for premium members (like Eva!), Eva revisits their early career to think about how short-form video intersects with Hollywood.

Links:

• Sorry, Baby
• Read the Sorry, Baby screenplay
• Eva vs. Anxiety
• Eva's straight pride parade video on X
• Demetri Papadimitropoulos's review of the Scriptnotes Book
• Certain Women
• I Saw the TV Glow
• Girl on Girl by Sophie Gilbert
• Vancouver SkyTrain
• Nutella mini jars
• rainymood.com
• Get your copy of the Scriptnotes book!
• Get a Scriptnotes T-shirt!
• Check out the Inneresting Newsletter
• Become a Scriptnotes Premium member, or gift a subscription
• Subscribe to Scriptnotes on YouTube
• Scriptnotes on Instagram
• John August on Bluesky and Instagram
• Outro by Nick Moore (send us yours!)
• Scriptnotes is produced by Drew Marquardt and edited by Matthew Chilelli.

Email us at ask@johnaugust.com

You can download the episode here.