Scott Myers

Saturday Hot Links

Time again for Saturday Hot Links! Today: The Laughing Babies Edition! The 10 best Muppets Christmas moments. 11 Christmas songs that never really took off. 12 facts about the 12 Days of Christmas. 16 Christmas party beverages, cocktails and jello shots. Why is Christmas in December? 25 more movies make

Written Interview: John McLaughlin (“Hitchcock”)

An interview at WGA.org with Hitchcock screenwriter John McLaughlin. Some excerpts: How do you deal with portraying real and sometimes iconic characters where an audience is bringing so much into the movie? The good thing is we had Steve Rebello, who knew a lot of stuff he couldn’t

Daily Dialogue — December 22, 2012

Gin: Well, let’s face the facts. Y’all are a couple of half-bucket small-timers. You, because of your physical attributes, found a niche, and I respect that. But you also been caught… by me. So this is how it’s gonna be. I don’t want to

Spec Script Sales 2012: Overview

We may have another script acquisition deal announced before the end of the year, but that is unlikely as most people in the film business have left town for the Holidaze. As noted with today’s deal for the spec “Peste,” my count for the year is 95 deals. That

Writing Goals: 2013 [Part 5] — Going Public

So after four days of looking at the Past, Present, Future, and Practical Matters, the big day has arrived: Time to etch in virtual stone our writing goals for 2013. Oh, and one more little thing: It’s important that you go public with your goals. Today: Going Public Why

Spec Script Sale: “Peste”

IM Global Octane, the genre wing of IM Global, acquires horror-thriller spec script “Peste” from writers Barbara Marshall. From Deadline: A teenage girl begins a video documentary about her life for a school project just as a terrifying virus sweeps through her small town. Quarantined with her family, she

“Find a real moment between people”

“My theory about creative work is that 99 percent of it is intention. When you go in with the intention of exploring something real, then that’s what you’ll get no matter what’s around it. It may not even be successful — people may not like it and it

Movie Trailer: “Welcome to the Punch”

Two longtime enemies, an ex-con and a detective, hurtle towards an unavoidable face-off as they start to uncover a deeper conspiracy that both of them need to solve in order to survive. Written by Eran Creevy IMDB site Release Date: 15 March 2013 (USA)

GITS Script Reading & Analysis: “It’s A Wonderful Life” — Dialogue

This week we will be analyzing the screenplay for the 1946 movie It’s A Wonderful Life, screenplay Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett and Frank Capra, story by Philip Van Doren Stern. The movie was nominated for 5 Academy Awards. You may download a copy of the script here. Today

Great Characters: Clarence (“It’s A Wonderful Life”)

This month’s Great Character theme: Christmas. Today: Jason Cuthbert’s guest post features Clarence from the 1946 movie It’s A Wonderful Life [screenplay Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett and Frank Capra, story by Philip Van Doren Stern]. When it comes to “trixter” characters in movies, those who can

Daily Dialogue — December 21, 2012

DOOR OF BANK Sonny back in the shadows with Sylvia, looking at Moretti, appalled. ON MORETTI Behind him a mob scene. Howard is being led away, weeping. Photographers, cops, a phalanx of cops have their weapons levelled on Sonny like a firing squad. It is right on the edge of

Black List 2012 Word Cloud Challenge!

On a whim yesterday, I posted this: 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

Dispatch from The Quest: Scott Reynolds

The Quest participants have been hard at work pounding out a first draft of their original screenplays, but Scott Reynolds has found the time to compose a dispatch for us. I’m in the home stretch. I’ve crested the end of Act II and I’m on the offensive

Writing Goals: 2013 [Part 4] — Practical Matters

In Part 1, we looked back at the Past, what we had accomplished as writers in 2012. In Part 2, we considered the Present, assessing where we are now. And in Part 3, we looked at the Future, visualizing where we’d like our writing to take us. When trying

Writers Guild Foundation

I’ve been following @WritersGuildF on Twitter for some months now, the social media moniker of the Writers Guild Foundation. I dug a little deeper and discovered the person behind the tweets: His name is Kevin Ott who is the Director of Media and Special Projects at the WGF. We

“It always gets back to the words”

“The point of view that words should be minimized in movies is just ridiculous! The technical aspects are not important. It’s the words, it always gets back to the words. The people who suffered the highest percentage of failure were novelists and short story writers. Because, in their form

Movie Trailer: “A Glimpse Inside the Mind of Charles Swan III”

A graphic designer’s enviable life slides into despair when his girlfriend breaks up with him. Written by Roman Coppola IMDB site Release Date: 8 February 2013 (USA)

GITS Script Reading & Analysis: “It’s A Wonderful Life” — Themes

This week we will be analyzing the screenplay for the 1946 movie It’s A Wonderful Life, screenplay Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett and Frank Capra, story by Philip Van Doren Stern. The movie was nominated for 5 Academy Awards. You may download a copy of the script here. Today

The Business of Screenwriting: Anatomy of a Deal (Part 2)

In Part 1, I describe how Siegel & Myers met with Rodney Dangerfield’s ‘people’ and I came up with a high concept idea for a movie: Rodney Dangerfield: Mr. President. Our agents love the idea. So we head off to work up a pitch. Here’s the catch: It’

Daily Dialogue — December 20, 2012

Gollum: We wants it, we needs it. Must have the precious. They stole it from us. Sneaky little hobbitses. Wicked, tricksy, false! Smeagol: No. Not master! Gollum: Yes, precious, false! They will cheat you, hurt you, LIE. Smeagol: Master is our friend! Gollum: You don’t have any friends; nobody

Black List 2012: Word Cloud Challenge

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-con son,” link them

Writing Goals: 2013 [Part 3] — Where Do You Want To Go As A Writer?

In Part 1, we looked back at the Past, what we had accomplished as writers in 2012. In Part 2, we considered the Present, assessing where we are now. Today we direct our self-reflection toward the Future. Not 2013, but beyond. Five years from now. Ten years. Twenty. We

“No one wants to read polite”

“You can teach almost anyone determined to learn them the basics required to write sentences and paragraphs that say what you want them to say clearly and concisely. It’s far more difficult to get people to think like a writer, to give up conventional habits of mind and emotion.

Movie Trailer: “The Girl”

A young Texan mother who loses her child to foster care begins smuggling Mexicans across the border. Written by David Riker IMDB site

GITS Script Reading & Analysis: “It’s A Wonderful Life” — Characters

This week we will be analyzing the screenplay for the 1946 movie It’s A Wonderful Life, screenplay Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett and Frank Capra, story by Philip Van Doren Stern. The movie was nominated for 5 Academy Awards. You may download a copy of the script here. Today