Depictions of nuclear war — and its aftermath — are often obscured in film and TV. But what would it be like to be on the receiving end of nuclear weapons? And does the U.S. have the infrastructure, hospitals, and capacity to respond to its citizens’ needs?

The nuclear landscape is more complicated than ever. Nine nations hold nuclear weapons, and there are no active treaties in place limiting their arsenals for the first time since the 1970s. Tensions are on the rise, transparency is declining, and every nuclear power is working to make its arsenal bigger and better.

Just 30 miles northwest of downtown Los Angeles, the Santa Susana Field Lab (SSFL) tested nuclear missile rockets and operated 10 experimental reactors. Four of those reactors had accidents. The worst, a partial meltdown of the SRE reactor in 1959, remains one of the most serious in U.S. history, and it was covered up by the government for decades. Two states away, Rocky Flats Plant, near Denver, Colorado, was raided by the FBI and EPA in 1989 after years of unsafe practices while producing plutonium bomb triggers for nuclear weapons. What do these incidents have in common? What legacies and impacts do these programs have on their nearby communities?

The U.S. has invested trillions of dollars in the nuclear weapons complex while deflecting scrutiny of its negative effects. The U.S. Nuclear Impacts Map provides a public accounting of the industry's full scope, tracking nearly 4,000 sites across all 50 U.S. states. This resource includes site histories, explores consequences for frontline communities, and gives community members a chance to share their personal experiences.

Since "Oppenheimer" swept the Oscars, we now have at least four nuclear-themed TV shows—and a bunch of movies dealing with nuclear threats. How do you entertain while raising awareness about nuclear issues—balancing drama with real-world threats? A fast-paced world with quickly changing politics and technology can be tough to write about accurately. How do you engage audiences without paralyzing them with fear?

Michael Russell Gunn's movie "The Brink of War" revisits the Cold War of 1986, when President Ronald Reagan met with Soviet general secretary Mikhail Gorbachev in Iceland — a historic event that began reducing nuclear risks worldwide. In this session, we discuss a dangerous time in our history and the lessons we can apply to the future.

Artificial Intelligence is poised to take a larger role in U.S. security systems. What does that mean for the evolution of AI and weapons systems, and how might that overlap with nuclear defense?

How do you talk with the next generation about big issues like nuclear war and the threat of artificial intelligence? A one-on-one conversation with Kieran Fitzgerald, Co-Executive Producer of "Fallout" and screenwriter of the upcoming AI movie "2034," directed by Joseph Gordon-Levitt.

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Jane Perlez, former New York Times Beijing bureau chief and current fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School, shares her new 8-part podcast tracing the arc of nuclear danger. It examines the Manhattan Project and the Cuban Missile Crisis to the collapse of the New START treaty and today’s collapse of the nonproliferation order.

Jill Hruby talks about her storied career as director of Sandia National Laboratories and her path to becoming Under Secretary of Energy for Nuclear Security and Administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration. We'll discuss the U.S. effort to modernize its nuclear arsenal and how AI complicates discussions of defense strategy.

Scriptnotes is a podcast about screenwriting and things that are interesting to screenwriters, hosted by John August and Craig Mazin since 2011. In a special live episode, John August is joined by filmmaker Nicholas Meyer ("The Day After," "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan") and Ambassador Laura Holgate to discuss nuclear security and the future of our world, as depicted on screen.