Scott Myers

Daily Dialogue — November 4, 2012

Ollie: Look, you’ve got two minutes, and then we have to go, OK? Or I’m gonna leave. Gertrude: Would you stop rushing me? Ollie: I don’t understand how somebody who had all day sitting around to get ready waits till 20 minutes before we have to leave!

Daily Dialogue theme for the week: Exposition

As we wrap up a week’s worth of Daily Dialogue posts featuring Kevin Smith [thanks to a suggestion by Sean Harris], we move toward next week’s theme: Exposition [courtesy of Dean Scott]. There is a saying in Hollywood: Exposition = Death. As in there is nothing more likely to

Spec Script Sale: “Triple Time”

Scott Pictures acquires action thriller spec script “Triple Time” from writers Peter Billingsley and Michael J. Wilson. From Variety: Two-hander follows a broke U.S. marshal tasked with escorting a prisoner accused of an environmental disaster to Washington, D.C. When their transport plane explodes, the unlikely pair must

Great Scene: “American Beauty”

Today’s great scene comes courtesy of writer Alan Ball and the fantastic dark satire he wrote American Beauty (1999). This is a hauntingly beautiful moment and drives home how even the most mundane events — such as a plastic bag caught up in the wind — can translate into powerful drama.

Saturday Hot Links

Time for another installment of Saturday Hot Links. Today: The Alfred Hitchcock Interview Edition. Re the Disney deal to buy Lucasfilms. More Disney-Lucasfilms. George Lucas’ next act: Bill Gates type philanthropy. The Looper effect: More time travel movies on the way. In 1888, Robert Louis Stevenson answered the question:

Written Interview: Kyle Killen

An interview with screenwriter and TV writer Kyle Killen: You’ve spoken before about your approach to pilots. You said that the pilot of “Lone Star” would become clear to viewers in the final moments, but you wanted the pilot for “Awake” to have everything the viewer needed presented in

Daily Dialogue — November 3, 2012

Silent Bob: So there’s me and Amy, and we’re all inseparable, right? Just big time in love. And then four months down the road, the idiot gear kicks in, and I ask about the ex-boyfriend. Which, as we all know, is a really dumb move. But you

THR: Studio Executive Roundtable

One of the benefits of this time of the year is that the Hollywood Reporter conducts a series of roundtable interviews with a variety of players in the movie business. The first one to hit this year: Studio Execs. As busy as it is for talent during awards season, they’

Online slang resources?

I love slang. Hell, all writers should love slang. It’s language, organic and evolving, colorful and entertaining. Plus it can do this: Add a sense of verisimilitude to the characters we craft. So when I saw this NY Post article on gang slang, it occurred to me, why not

“Almost all good writing begins with terrible first efforts”

“Almost all good writing begins with terrible first efforts. You need to start somewhere.” Anne Lamott is one of the great gifts to writers. Her book “Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life” is a must-read. She has a way of embracing the imperfection of… well… everything

Movie Trailer: “Struck By Lightning”

Yahoo! Video PlayerEdit descriptiond.yimg.com After being struck and killed by lightning, a young man recounts the way he blackmailed his fellow classmates into contributing to his literary magazine. Written by Chris Colfer IMDB site Release Date: December 2012

Songwriters on Songwriting: Paul Simon

“I’m interested in discovering where my mind wants to go.” I wrote my first song when I was 14 years old. Over the years, I’ve composed hundreds of songs. It was that interest — music — that led me to take a year off from pursuing a doctorate and led

Great Character: Reggie Dunlop (“Slap Shot”)

This month’s Great Character theme: Sports figures. Today: Jason Cuthbert’s guest post features Reggie Dunlop from the 1977 movie Slap Shot [written by Nancy Dowd]. When it comes to endearing sports characters in the vast wonderland of movies, you can’t slide past the frozen cool charisma exuded

Daily Dialogue — November 2, 2012

Nun: Let me get this straight: you don’t believe in God because of “Alice in Wonderland”? Loki: No, “Through the Looking Glass”. That poem, “The Walrus and the Carpenter,” that’s an indictment of organized religion. The walrus, with his girth and his good nature, he obviously represents either

“Why you should never, ever use two spaces after a period”

Wow. This article has wreaked havoc with my fingers: Can I let you in on a secret? Typing two spaces after a period is totally, completely, utterly, and inarguably wrong. And yet people who use two spaces are everywhere, their ugly error crossing every social boundary of class, education, and

The 2012 Blood List

It’s a relatively new tradition in Hollywood, but a tradition nonetheless: Every Halloween, out comes The Blood List. For the record, I posted The Blood List in 2010 and 2011. What is The Blood List? Here is an interview with The Blood List founder Kailey Marsh: GEEK: What is

“The first draft is nothing more than a starting point”

“The first draft is nothing more than a starting point, so be wrong as fast as you can.” This is a quote from writer-director Andrew Stanton whose screenwriting credits include Toy Story, Monsters, Inc., Finding Nemo and Wall-E. This week in this series, I have been laser focused

Movie Trailer: “Hansel And Gretel: Witch Hunters”

Siblings Hansel and Gretel are a formidable team of bounty hunters who track and kill witches all over the world. Written by Tommy Wirkola and Dante Harper IMDB site Release Date: 25 January 2013 (USA) Comment Archive

Songwriters On Songwriting: Jimmy Webb

I wrote my first song when I was 14 years old. Over the years, I’ve composed hundreds of songs. It was that interest — music — that led me to take a year off from pursuing a doctorate and led me down the circuitous path that has been the rest of

The Business of Screenwriting: Low-budget filmmaking [Part 1]

After I left Yale with my M.Div. degree in 1978, I spent the next two plus decades as a free-lancer. First as a musician. Then as a stand-up comic. And finally screenwriter. In 2002, one of my best friends [who I had met as a fellow grad

Daily Dialogue — November 1, 2012

[talking about the second Death Star] Randal Graves: A construction job of that magnitude would require a helluva lot more manpower than the Imperial army had to offer. I’ll bet there were independent contractors working on that thing: plumbers, aluminum siders, roofers. Dante Hicks: Not just Imperials, is what

Guest Post: “Prewriting” exercises [Troy Widner]

A remarkable phenomenon is happening. Over 100 writers are participating in the Go On Your Own Quest initiative and have signed up at the GOYOQ Forum. As Shaula Evans, one of the three site moderators [along with Debbie Moon and David Joyner] wrote to me recently: There’s a great

Who should write and direct Star Wars: Episode VII?

By now you’ve doubtless read this: The Walt Disney Co. has acquired Lucasfilm for $4.05 billion in cash and stock and announced a new Star Wars movie to be released in 2015. The news yesterday exploded Twitter with all sorts of fun and nonsense, bringing out a lot

“Just write the next word”

“If I could say anything… it is to keep going. Don’t go back and fix that first scene. Don’t go back and fix that dialogue. Write yourself a little note saying, ‘Put in first scene such-and-such,’ if you happen to think of something, then get a

Movie Trailer: “John Dies at the End”

Two twenty-something losers gain extra sensory perception via a substance called Soy Sauce, a black liquid that acts like a potent drug and seemingly has a mind of its own. Written by Don Coscarelli IMDB site Release Date: 25 January 2013 (USA)