A Go Into The Story primer

Scott Myers

04 Nov 2014 • 6 min read

I’m guessing it has had something to do with me participating in six sessions at the recent Austin Film Festival, but there are a lot of new virtual faces on the blog the last week or so. Beyond that, the Twitter feed (@GoIntoTheStory) continues to grow, now over 28,000 followers. So I figured it would be a good idea to provide a primer for the site, mostly for those of you who may have recently discovered the blog, but also for longtime followers as a reminder for why I do what I do here.

I launched the blog on May 16, 2008 and have posted several items per day for 2393 consecutive days. Why?

Re the streak: A combination of things. I’m a military brat, so I like routine. Also I enjoy a challenge, so at this point, I simply won’t not post. There’s also this subtext: I believe a writer should write every day. So if I can show up here on a daily basis, I’m hoping that will inspire others to incorporate this type of pattern in their own writing.

Re why I started the blog in the first place: One contributing factor, I was working as a TV producer at the time, but my true passion is movies and I missed being in that world. Also I had been teaching screenwriting part-time and many of my students wanted a way to keep up the dialogue we had established. Finally I saw a need for what I envisioned: A site that honored screenwriters and the craft of screenwriting, a source of credible information and reasoned inspiration, everything free, no ads, you could take my advice or leave it.

After about three years of the blog’s existence, Franklin Leonard, founder of the Black List, reached out to me and after lengthy conversations, he asked if I would be interested in becoming the official screenwriting blog of the Black List. I was honored to accept that offer. By choice, I don’t make a dime off my affiliation with the Black List, so I am free to have complete editorial control over the blog’s content, but to me, the Black List is the most cutting edge and important brand in Hollywood insofar as screenwriting is concerned, and I am thrilled to be part of the team.

In the 6+ years I’ve hosted Go Into The Story, I’ve composed and uploaded 15,842 posts. Math whizzes will note that averages 6.62 posts per day. That was the other thing I originally thought for the blog: A place where writers could visit one or more times per day knowing there would be a new post every couple of hours.

There is a schedule to this madness (all times Eastern):

Monday-Sunday (6AM): Daily Dialogue
Start off the day with a notable quote from a movie along with trivia and analysis.

Monday (10AM): On Writing
An inspirational quote from a writer.

Tuesday (10AM): Screenwriting 101
A craft-oriented quote from a screenwriter.

Wednesday (10AM): Script To Screen
A script and movie version of a scene along with analysis to help us understand that connection.

Thursday (10AM): Writing and the Creative Life
My musings on what I call ‘wrangling magic,’ the actual act of writing inspired by creativity.

Friday (10AM): Great Character
Background and analysis by guest poster Jason Cuthbert on a noteworthy movie character.

Saturday (10AM): Written Interview
A print interview with a screenwriter or writer-director.

Sunday (10AM): Video Interview
A video interview with a screenwriter or writer-director.

Monday-Friday (Noon): Weekly Series
A rotating series month to month, everything from Scene-Writing Challenge to Classic Movies to A Story Idea Each Day for a Month.

Monday-Friday (2PM): Open Forum
I’ll generally pull something from the news or an article on writing and discuss that.

Saturday (2PM): Saturday Hot Links
I’m a newshound, so I aggregate articles on the business as well as weird stuff for this weekly post.

Sunday (2PM): Screenwriting News
Links for articles about screenwriters who have sold projects, landed gigs, etc.

Monday-Friday (4PM): Interviews
Over the last two years, I’ve been conducting interviews with writers and filmmakers — as time in my schedule permits — and this is the time slot for those.

Sunday (4PM): Sunday ‘School’
I like to go through books on a week to week basis like Screenwriting Advice From The Past: Loos & Emerson (1920) or Guide to Aristotle’s “Poetics”, so it is a bit like going to school.

Monday-Friday (6PM): Open Forum
Everything from reader questions to announcements to special events to Declare Your Independents.

Saturday (6PM): Daily Dialogue Theme for Next Week
Crowdsource suggestions for the Daily Dialogue series.

Sunday (6PM): GITS Week in Review
A compilation of notable blog posts each week.

Obviously I’m happy when posts create conversation, but the site is not about causing controversy to generate comments. Rather I provide what I think is solid information about screenwriting and writing in general, grounded in my nearly three decades of working in the entertainment business, and inspiration, not feeding the ‘hope machine,’ but rather to honestly acknowledge the super competitive nature of the business while also embracing this fact: I was a complete Hollywood outsider who wrote a spec script, sold it for big money and had a career as a writer ever since.

Bottom line, there is a ton of content on this site, most of it — I hope — useful to writers. I mean, have you checked out the archives lately?

All of this content is free.

People always ask me how I find the time to do the blog. Well, I am a fast typist. My mind operates quickly as well. So in some ways, blogging is an ideal outlet for me as a writer. But it’s tricky. I teach part-time at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, I teach through Screenwriting Master Class, a company I launched with co-founder Tom Benedek, and I continue to write movie projects. But as I say, I like a challenge.

People also ask if there are ways they can support the blog. I’ve never made any money directly from the site, but here’s something you can do: Consider taking a Screenwriting Master Class course with me. My teaching through SMC helps to keep this blog alive and kicking. Plus trust me, you will learn a lot from my classes. And if you like the approach to writing you read about on Go Into The Story, you’ll get much more of it and in depth through my SMC courses.

You can follow me on Twitter: @GoIntoTheStory.

Go here to sign up for the GITS RSS feed.

Go here to subscribe to GITS via email.

If you’re a lurker, I encourage you to join in the conversation on the blog. If you prefer your anonymity, that’s totally cool, too. Feel free to drop me an email. I do my best to respond to everyone.

The final thing is this: I never anticipated the response the site has received over the years, but I’m grateful for it. In a small way, Go Into The Story has created another path into the Hollywood screenwriting community. Over the years, I’ve received dozens and dozens of emails from writers informing me they had found representation, sold a script or made a movie, then thanking me for what they had learned here and the support the blog had provided them, especially in dark times. Apart from me landing a gig, nothing makes me happier.

So there you have it: A Go Into The Story primer. If there are aspects of the craft you’d like me to consider covering, ideas you may have for series, or any other suggestions, feel free to post in comments or email me.

Other than that, a few of my favorite writing mantras to round out this post:

Watch movies. Read scripts. Write Pages.

The only way out is through.

Onward!

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