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Welcome to Scriptease: Nuts and Bolts edition. In this follow up to Part 1, Natalie discusses the writing process behind her screenplay “Perfect Failure” — from original idea and inspiration (seriously, Natalie, vending machine cookies?) to frustrating drafts and frustrating classes to finally getting it into fighting shape. She talks about the subplots and characters she removed, why certain jokes didn’t make the cut, and what she would fix if she wrote a 132nd draft. Then, she catches up with her friend Tim Kozlenko, who was in classes with her at the UCLA Professional Screenwriting Program. She learns about his former life as a sports writer in Connecticut, how he got started writing movies, what it’s like making music videos, and they vent their frustrations about writing workshops. Finally, Natalie makes a not so shocking announcement and gives an update on how life has been treating her since the reading. Tim’s interview starts at 15:17.

Holy crap! Natalie wrote a movie! That’s right, this week Natalie finally unveils her harrowing three-year endeavor and a dramatic personal achievement: her first completed screenplay. “Perfect Failure" tells the story of Primrose Spunkmeyer, an all-A high school student whose only ambition is to get into snooty college Woodly Bradhurst. However, when she discovers that she’s missing an arts credit, she must face her biggest fear to achieve her dreams: art school. The theme of today’s episode is perfection, with Natalie discussing how perfection inspired her script yet also nearly hindered it from completion. After 131 drafts and three years of being too afraid to do anything with it, she finally gets up the courage to put on a staged reading of her script in front of a live audience at the NerdMelt showroom. The results are heartwarming and inspiring… and packed with boner jokes. (It’s a Natalie script, after all.) This episode features the all-star cast of Mike Anaya, Keith Carey, Kyle Clark, Joe Dosch, Becca Greenberg, Chris Lee, Rebecca Joiner, Julia Prescott, Stuart Thompson and Justin Williams. The reading starts at 7:00.

It’s the ghost of Scriptease past! This week Natalie finally lets go of her unreleased episode she recorded two years ago… and the anxieties she kept along with it. This is a special episode of Scriptease because there's no script! Instead, she unpacks late night packets and monologue jokes, which Natalie considers to be her writing weak point. That’s why she invites comedians Kyle Clark and Dan Telfer on to critique her packets for The Jeselnik Offensive, Billy on the Street and The Burn with Jeff Ross - as well as some fresh jokes she penned for the occasion. They get deep discussing jobs, managers, insecurities and philosophies and share their stories of spending many late nights writing for late night shows - yet never quite landing the job.

Previously on Scriptease… Where in the world is Natalie Hazen? Natalie reveals where she’s been the past two years and why she stopped making new episodes of the show, despite the fact that it actually led to her getting paid TV work. She discusses working through her writer’s block and her reluctance to write another “useless” spec, but her love of Bob’s Burgers prevails. Not even an ill-timed bout of laryngitis can stop her from gathering up her friends and reading her new spec about Tina getting her first period, Bob finding a haunted cotton candy machine, and Linda singing in stupendous Shore City. Afterwards, Natalie talks to her friend Justin Williams about writing and work ethic, the Nickelodeon Writing Fellowship, and how he inspired her to get Scriptease going again. Today’s cast of readers includes Keith Carey, Joe Dosch, Rivers Langley, Brent Schmidt, Anna Valenzuela and Justin Williams.

When two actors cancel and the tape recorder cuts out, what's a podcast host to do? In this “cursed” episode, Natalie learns how to make the best of a bad situation when everything goes wrong. She looks back at her perfectly cromulent Simpsons spec which has unfortunately suffered at the hands of time. Afterwards, she sits down with one-man sketch team Adam Murray to talk about his career aspirations and work philosophies, and Natalie marvels at his ability to keep calm under pressure. D'oh! Today's cast of readers includes Kyle Clark, Matthew Curti, Julia Prescott, Ruben Medina and Adam Murray. To read along, download the script at www.nataliehazen.com.

What's your voice? Is it "darkness twinged with unbridled joy"? Or perhaps "sexual and optimistic"? Natalie revisits "Daddy Issues," a half hour pilot she wrote about a stripper who reunites with her recovering sex addict father (it's a comedy, she swears). Natalie has mixed feelings about it and tries to figure out if it still represents her voice. After the reading, she sits down with her long-time friend and writing partner Ruben Medina to discuss their current state of anxieties, the fleeting nature of friendships, balancing a social life with working and how they fit in the diverse writing landscape. Along the way, they try and help each other make sense of their own voices. This episode's cast of readers includes Ruben Medina, Emily Mellin, Joe Raines, Wes Van Horn and Sarah Wines. 

Hello and welcome to Scriptease, the podcast where Natalie Hazen gets naked... with her writing. In this very first episode, Natalie revisits "Crystal Clear," a half hour pilot she wrote during a transitional time in her life. After hearing it read aloud, she sits down with comedian Kyle Clark to discuss his notes and criticism - with some bumps along the way. This episode's cast of readers includes Kyle Clark, Emily Mellin, Rivers Langley, Justin Lentz and Joe Raines.