Scott Myers

“What have I learned from my dialogue”

As we jam through to the end of The Quest including those participants in Go On Your Own Quest, follow the prime directive: Keep pushing to FADE OUT. But you can also start shifting your attention to the next phase: Rewriting. This week, a series of questions to ask to

Movie Trailer: “Storage 24”

In London, a military plane crashes leaving its highly classified contents strewn across the city. Completely unaware that the city is in lockdown, a group of people become trapped inside a storage facility with a highly unwelcome guest. Written by Noel Clarke, Davie Fairbanks, Marc Small IMDB site Release Date:

Writing Goals: 2013 [Part 8] — First Draft

We pick up from last week with our year-end attempt to help GITS readers set and achieve their writing goals for 2013. To revisit the process of self-reflection from last week, here are the links: Part 1: Looking Back Part 2: Assessing Where You Are Part 3: Where

Script To Screen: “The Elephant Man”

A scene from the 1980 movie The Elephant Man, screenplay by Christopher De Vore & Eric Bergren & David Lynch. Setup: Treves [Anthony Hopkins] has been working with a patient Merrick [John Hurt], now presenting him to Treves’ superior Carr [John Gielgud] about possibly taking in Merrick for long-term

Daily Dialogue — December 26, 2012

CAPT. KOONS steps inside the room toward the little boy and bends down on one knee to bring him even with the boy’s eyeline. When Koons speaks, he speaks with a slight Texas accent. CAPT. KOONS: Hello, little man. Boy I sure heard a bunch about you. See, I

“What have I learned about my plot?”

As we jam through to the end of The Quest including those participants in Go On Your Own Quest, follow the prime directive: Keep pushing to FADE OUT. But you can also start shifting your attention to the next phase: Rewriting. This week, a series of questions to ask to

Movie Trailer: “Phantom”

The haunted Captain of a Soviet submarine holds the fate of the world in his hands. Forced to leave his family behind, he is charged with leading a covert mission cloaked in mystery. Written by Todd Robinson IMDB site Release Date: 1 March 2013 (USA)

Writing Goals: 2013 [Part 7] — Time Management

We pick up from last week with our year-end attempt to help GITS readers set and achieve their writing goals for 2013. To revisit the process of self-reflection from last week, here are the links: Part 1: Looking Back Part 2: Assessing Where You Are Part 3: Where

Screenwriting 101: Tom Benedek

“Every script we write is a piece of ourselves. We may say we are writing a script because we want to position ourselves somewhere in the industry. But we also write because we have a need to express ourselves. It is important to savor the process… I truly believe that

Daily Dialogue — December 25, 2012

Red emerges into fading daylight. Andy’s waiting for him. RED: Same old, same old. Thirty years. Jesus. When you say it like that… ANDY: You wonder where it went. I wonder where ten years went. Red nods, solemn. They settle in on the bleachers. Andy pulls a small box

The Toughtest Scene I Wrote: Screenwriter Chris Terrio on “Argo”

All hail Vulture for this: Over the next few weeks, Vulture is talking to the screenwriters behind 2012’s most acclaimed movies about the scenes they found most difficult to crack. What pivotal sequences underwent the biggest transformations on their way from script to screen? In this article, Argo screenwriter

“What have I learned about my characters?”

Just get the damn thing done! That’s where you started your first draft many weeks ago. And while it seemed a daunting task when you had just typed FADE IN, you’re way past that, right? Sitting on P. 90 or even 100, there’s no doubt you’ll

Movie Trailer: “After Earth”

After a crash landing, a father and son explore a planet that was evacuated by humans 1,000 years earlier. Screenplay by Stephen Gaghan, M. Night Shyamalan, and Gary Whitta IMDB site Release Date: 7 June 2013 (USA)

Writing Goals: 2013 [Part 6] — Schedule

We pick up from last week with our year-end attempt to help GITS readers set and achieve their writing goals for 2013. To revisit the process of self-reflection from last week, here are the links: Part 1: Looking Back Part 2: Assessing Where You Are Part 3: Where

On Writing

“I write only when I’m inspired. Fortunately I’m inspired at 9 o’clock every morning.” — William Faulkner

Daily Dialogue — December 24, 2012

“One day you’ll be cool. Look under your bed, it’ll set you free.” — Almost Famous (2000), written by Cameron Crowe The Daily Dialogue theme for the week is gift-giving, suggested by plinytheelder. Today’s suggestion by churnage. Trivia: The old records William looks through at the beginning

Update: Black List 2012 Word Cloud Logline Challenge!

It started out here: Here is a word cloud based on the loglines for the 78 Black List 2012 scripts: Okay, all you clever people. Time to come up with a logline based on some of the key terms in the word cloud. For instance, take “ruthless father” and “ex-

Go On Your Own Quest, Week 23: First Draft

Several readers emailed me about aggregating the entire series of posts we have been running in association with the Go On Your Own Quest initiative. Here is Week 23: First Draft. “You’re always becoming a writer” [Edward P. Jones] “There is only one story: nothing is as it seems”

Screenwriting Advice From The Past: The Denouement [Part 1]

If you are a screenwriter, you should know about Anita Loos. Loos was one of the most influential writers in the early stages of American cinema, associated with 136 film projects per IMDB. Married to writer John Emerson, the pair wrote one of the first books on screenwriting in 1920:

Screenwriting News (December 17-December 23, 2012)

Aaron Buchsbaum and Teddy Riley sell untitled action comedy secret service pitch to Parkes/MacDonald Productions. Bryan Cogman adapting drama trilogy “The False Prince” for Paramount. Olaf de Fleur sells sci-fi action pitch “Revoc” to Summit. Michael Finch rewriting action project “Hellified” for Paramount. Jon & Erich Hoeber sell

Spec Script Sale: “Warden”

New Line acquires action spec script “Warden” from writers John Sonntag and Thomas Sonntag. From Variety: Story centers on a prison warden who — when his wife and son are kidnapped — is blackmailed into helping the American head of a Mexican drug cartel escape from his own high-security facility. It

Daily Dialogue — December 23, 2012

INT. MASRY & VITITOE — MAIN ROOM — DAY Ed and Erin come out and see DAVID BAUM waiting at reception. Forget law school, this kid looks like he’s just out of twelfth grade. Not a hair on his chin. His suit and shoes look brand new. Ed stops suddenly, before

Daily Dialogue theme for next week: Gift-giving

After a week’s worth of Daily Dialogue posts featuring negotiations [JasperLamarCrab], next week’s theme is a seasonally appropriate one: Gift-giving courtesy of plinytheelder. The usual drill: * Copy/paste dialogue from IMDB Quotes or some other transcript source. * Copy/paste the URL of an accompanying video from MovieClips

“Solo Piano — NYC”

This is one of the best stories I’ve seen all year… and it is comprised solely of still photographs and a musical soundtrack. It is real life, yet has a beginning, middle and end. Stories are everywhere, even just outside your window. This one even has a touching denouement…

Great Scene: “Chinatown”

It’s often referred to as a “perfect script”: Chinatown, written by Robert Towne (with uncredited contributions from director Roman Polanski). Looked at one way, it’s simply a murder mystery, but there’s nothing simple about this movie’s plot or the characters, as this famous scene conveys — one