Here are my favourite screenwriting downloads (some people call them podcasts) of the moment.
For the technically challenged among you, who are more at home with a 'stereo hi fi' than one of them new-fangled iPods, a podcast is simply a new method for distributing digital audio to your computer.
What you have to do is download and install a programme called iTunes (get it free here) and then start searching for shows that take your fancy.
The beauty of it is that, once you've subscribed to a podcast, new episodes are beamed direct to your computer automatically. You can then choose to transfer them to your iPod or just listen to them on your computer while you're struggling for what to write in that next scene.
Or you can just download what you want direct from the websites listed below.
1. Creative Screenwriter Magazine
Almost every week Creative Screenwriting editor Jeff Goldsmith interviews the writer of a new movie, usually for an hour or more of in-depth conversation.
2. Sam and Jim Go to Hollywood
This one's brilliant. Two writers from Minnesota give us regular updates on their move to LA and their attempts to make it as film and TV writers. Very funny and lots of useful info.
3. Dramatica Users Group
Every month in Glendale California, a users group for the Dramatica storyforming software meets to discuss a movie and apply Dramatica's principles to it, hosted by Dramatica co-founder Chris Huntley. Don't live in Cali? No worries. Thanks to the power of pod, you can be right there as it happens (well, the day after, but you know what I mean).
Dramatica also do a podcast called Story Talk which is mostly the audio versions of their manual, but also contains Armando Saldana Mora's brilliant Dramatica in the Real World workshops.
4. Battlestar Galactica
One of the little extras I love about this show is its podcast support. Commentary tracks are released soon after each episode airs which are usually great, but they also release recordings of their writers' meetings. I don't know of any other drama series that lets you sit in on their writers' room while they break a story, so it's a great opportunity to get an insight into the collaborative writing process.
You can find Writers' Room files on season 2, season 3 and on Razor.
5. Shooting Screenwriters
Yes, this is the one I do myself (well, I couldn't let you read about all those others without plugging my own, now, could I?). Every month I interview a screenwriter or guru for the Shooting People Screenwriters Network and release it as an in-depth conversation. It started out very lo-fi but with the help of fellow Shooter and screenwriter Dan Squier I've managed to get it sounding almost professional!