John August
| John August | |
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| Born | John Meise August 4, 1970 Boulder, Colorado, United States |
John August is an American screenwriter and film director.
He writes and maintains the popular screenwriting blog johnaugust.com, and develops screenwriter-targeted software.[1][2]
He is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, voting in the Writers branch.[3]
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Early life[edit]
August was born and raised in Boulder, Colorado. He earned a degree in journalism from Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa and an MFA in film from the The Peter Stark Producing Program at the University of Southern California. He lives in Los Angeles.
Career[edit]
August's debut film was 1999's critically acclaimed Go,[4] for which he also served as co-producer and second unit director.[5]
In 1998, August acquired the film rights to Daniel Wallace's Big Fish.[6] His adaptation became the 2003 Tim Burton film of the same name and earned August a 2003 BAFTA Award nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay.[7]
Since 2003, August has written the screenplay for several Tim Burton films, including Corpse Bride, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (an adaptation of Roald Dahl's classic children's book), and Frankenweenie. August also shared story credit with Seth Grahame-Smith on Burton's Dark Shadows.
The Nines, his writing/directing debut starring Ryan Reynolds, Melissa McCarthy, Hope Davis and Elle Fanning, premiered at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival[8] and Venice Film Festival's Critics’ Week.[9]
For television, August has developed three projects. D.C, a one-hour drama for the WB Network, ran in April 2000.[10] Alaska, a crime drama for ABC, shot a pilot in 2004 directed by Kim Manners but was not picked up for series.[11] Ops, a one-hour drama co-created by Jordan Mechner, was developed for 20th Television/Fox, but never filmed a pilot.[12]
August is writing the book for the Broadway musical adaptation of Big Fish, with music and lyrics by Andrew Lippa, directed and choreographed by Susan Stroman. Scenic design is by Julian Crouch, costume design by William Ivey Long and lighting design by Donald Holder. Norbert Leo Butz is attached to star as Edward Bloom. The musical is expected to have its out-of-town tryout in Chicago, Illinois in April through May 2013 at the Oriental Theatre. [13] It is scheduled to open at Broadway's Neil Simon Theater in October 2013.[14]
August earned a 2006 Grammy nomination for lyrics for "Wonka's Welcome Song" from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.[15]
Other work[edit]
In 2003, August established johnaugust.com as a repository for the 100+ screenwriting advice columns he had written for IMDb. The site now has over 1,500 posts.[16]
He founded Quote-Unquote Apps in 2010, which develops software related to film and the film industry. Their releases include FDX Reader, an iOS application that displays Final Draft files;[17] Less IMDb, a browser extension for Safari, Chrome, and Firefox that reorganizes the layout of IMDb pages; and Bronson Watermarker, an OSX watermarking application that supports multiple outputs.
In 2012, the Quote-Unquote team, along with Stu Maschwitz, developed Fountain, a simple markup syntax for screenplays.[18] Later that year, Quote-Unquote released the first public beta of Highland, an OSX utility that converts screenplays between PDF, FDX, and Fountain formats, and works as a Fountain text editor.[19]
August, along with fellow screenwriter Craig Mazin, also hosts Scriptnotes, a weekly podcast on the craft of screenwriting and the film industry.[20]
Personal life[edit]
August is openly gay. He married Michael August on June 28, 2008 during the four months same-sex marriage in California was recognized.[21] Together they have a daughter.[22]
Filmography[edit]
| Year | Title | Credit | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1998 | God | Writer, director | Short, starring Melissa McCarthy |
| 1999 | Go | Written by | Also co-producer, 2nd unit director |
| 2000 | D.C. | Creator, Co-executive producer | TV series |
| 2000 | Titan A.E. | Screenplay | With Joss Whedon and Ben Edlund |
| 2000 | Charlie's Angels | Written by | With Ryan Rowe & Ed Solomon, based on the TV series created by Ivan Goff and Ben Roberts |
| 2003 | Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle | Screenplay, story | With Cormac Wibberley & Marianne Wibberley, based on the TV series created by Ivan Goff and Ben Roberts |
| 2003 | Big Fish | Screenplay | Based on the novel by Daniel Wallace; also wrote the song "Twice the Love" |
| 2005 | Charlie and the Chocolate Factory | Screenplay | Based on the book by Roald Dahl; also wrote the lyrics to "Wonka's Welcome Song" |
| 2005 | Corpse Bride | Screenplay | With Caroline Thompson and Pamela Pettler; also wrote the lyrics to "Remains of the Day", "Tears to Shed", "According to Plan" |
| 2007 | The Nines | Written by, director | |
| 2010 | Prince of Persia: Sands of Time | Executive producer | Based on the video game franchise created by Jordan Mechner |
| 2012 | Dark Shadows | Story | With Seth Grahame-Smith, based on the soap opera created by Dan Curtis |
| 2012 | Frankenweenie | Screenplay | Based on the short film by Tim Burton |
References[edit]
- ^ Macworld FDX Reader review
- ^ FDX Reader on CNET
- ^ "Academy Invites 134 to Membership" on Oscars.com
- ^ Go on Rotten Tomatoes
- ^ Go credits on IMDb
- ^ Daniel Wallace website
- ^ 2003 BAFTA Best Adapted Screenplay nominees
- ^ The Nines at Sundance.com
- ^ Variety.com
- ^ D.C. episode list on IMDb
- ^ The Futon Critic
- ^ "Scribes on a Fox mission" on Variety.com
- ^ Jones, Kenneth. "'Big Fish' Will Make a Musical Splash in Chicago; William Ivey Long Among Designers" playbill.com, December 18, 2012
- ^ Gans, Andrew. "Big Fish Will Play Broadway's Neil Simon Theatre; Complete Casting Announced" playbill.com, January 14 2013
- ^ The 48th Annual GRAMMY Awards Roundup: Film/TV/Visual Media Field
- ^ johnaugust.com/about
- ^ MacWorld.com
- ^ thenextweb.com
- ^ NoFilmSchool.com
- ^ Scriptnotes on iTunes
- ^ johnaugust.com » I got married
- ^ johnaugust.com » Two big debuts
External links[edit]
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