Scott Myers

Genre Essentials: Vote for your Action titles!

It’s time to round out our Genre Essentials series. For those who need a reminder, it all started here: I have gotten to know a lot of screenwriters through the years including many of those who have broken into the business recently. In talking with or interviewing them, there

Go On Your Own Quest, Week 13: Prep

“The Quest” has entered Week 13! And so did Go On Your Own Quest, an opportunity for anyone to follow the structure of “The Quest” to dig into screenwriting theory [Core — 8 weeks], figure out your story [Prep — 6 weeks], and write a first draft [Pages — 10 weeks]. It’s

Movie Trailer: “A Good Day to Die Hard”

John McClane and his son take on local forces in Russia. Screenplay by Skip Woods IMDB site Release Date: 14 February 2013 (USA)

Set Pieces, Part 1: Spin the plot

One of the most valuable pieces of brainstorming a screenwriter can do with regard to a story is conjure up some good set pieces. What’s a set piece, you ask? Believe it or not, I posted this about the subject all the way back in July 2008. Here is

On Writing

“If I’m not writing for the audience, if I’m not writing to make it easier for them, then who the hell am I doing it for? And the way you make it easier is by following those tenets: cutting, building to a climax, leaving out exposition, and always

Daily Dialogue — October 8, 2012

“Napster wasn’t a failure. I changed the music industry for better and for always. It may not have been good business but it pissed a lot of people off. And isn’t that what your facemash was about? They’re scared of me pal and they’re gonna be

Writing Question: When do writers get to relax?

One of the most popular posts I’ve ever written is this one: 1, 2, 7, 14, what I refer to as “a simple formula to be a better and more productive screenwriter.” But in comments, Sabina Giado asks: “When precisely do writers get to relax?” Good question. How important

Dispatches from The Quest: Prep [Week 11]

In Week 11, the Questers reflected on the third stage of Prep. Brandon Cohen Jordan Earls Emma Millions Ben Odgren Rob Pilkington Scott Reynolds

Go On Your Own Quest, Week 12: Prep

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 12: Prep. In your story, does the Protagonist go through a metamorphosis? What is your Protagonist’s flaw? Why does this story

Screenwriting News (October 1–7, 2012)

Nika Agiashvili writing “Savage Mutts” for Energy Independent. Greg Berlanti rewriting “Replay” for him to direct for Warner Bros. Clay McLeod Chapman and Craig Macneill adapting their 2012 Sundance Short “Henley” for The Woodshed Horror Company. Douglas Cook and David Weisberg writing “Dime Detectives” for Arcana/Benderspink. Christopher Cosmos writing

Daily Dialogue — October 7, 2012

RACHEL (quietly): Why would he do this..? STEPHAN: Because he couldn’t handle it. I told him we had to deal with it and he couldn’t handle it. He thought it was all going to come out and he panicked… He trails off, thinking about what happened down on

Daily Dialogue theme for next week: Anti-Heroes

Last week the DDT was All Is Lost [courtesy of Teddy Pasternak]. This week: Anti-Heroes as suggested by Shaula Evans. This is a subjective category. Your anti-hero may not be my anti-hero. It’s interesting to see what Wikipedia has to say on the matter, listing these

Dispatch from The Quest: Jordan Earls

Last week as we did here on GITS, the Quest writers focused on the third week of Prep. Today’s dispatch: Jordan gets in touch with her inner Pixar: I believe I’ve admitted it on GITS before, but I’m a little obsessed with Pixar. Anything and everything Pixar.

Great Scene: “(500) Days of Summer”

When an original screenplay starts out like this: Title page: (500) DAYS OF SUMMER by Scott Neustadter & Michael H. Weber, First Draft 2006 Next page: NOTE: THE FOLLOWING IS A WORK OF FICTION. ANY RESEMBLANCE TO PERSONS LIVING OR DEAD IS PURELY COINCIDENTAL. Next page: ESPECIALLY YOU JENNY BECKMAN.

Saturday Hot Links

Back for another installment of Saturday Hot Links! Today: The Big Bird Edition! A week in the life of screenwriter John August. What is a kudo? Sacha Baron Cohen’s newest project with Paramount “The Lesbian” based on a true story. 13 little-known punctuation marks we should be using.

Written Interview: Guillermo Arriaga

Screenwriter and director Guillermo Arriaga (21 Grams, Babel) at a BAFTA appearance. An excerpt: What I think is the one trick pony is really the three act kind of structure. Why do we think that we have to put rules on storytelling? Just because a Greek philosopher said two thousand

Daily Dialogue — October 6, 2012

“Look… I’m getting a bad feeling up here… I’d like you to do something for me. Look up my wife… don’t ask how, you’ll know by then… and tell her… tell her… I’ve been a jerk. When things panned out for her, I should’ve

Reader Question: How should I go about developing “minor” characters?

From Melinda Mahaffey: My question is about “minor” characters — where do you start with them, in terms of fitting them into your script? By minor characters, I mean the significant characters who aren’t the protagonist or nemesis. I’ve read a couple of screenwriting books and of course, I

Spec Script Sale: “Currency”

Participant Media acquires drama spec script “Currency” from writer Mark DiStefano. From Deadline: Focuses on two Secret Service agents in pursuit of a private mercenary’s powerful and sophisticated counterfeiting operation. DiSteano is repped by APA and Anonymous Content. By my count, this is the 77th spec script sale in

Spec Script Sale: “Almanac”

Paramount acquires found-footage spec script “Almanac” from first-time writers Andrew Stark and Jason Pagan. From THR: The duo wrote the script on spec and spent the past year developing it with Platinum Dunes. No details about Almanac were given other than it is intended to be a found-

Dispatch from The Quest: Rob Pilkington

Last week as we did here on GITS, the Quest writers focused on the third week of Prep. Today’s dispatch: Rob ponders the wonders of plot points: After nearly two weeks of Quest prep I was enormously uncomfortable with, we finally tackled something this past week that felt like

Go On Your Own Quest, Week 12: Prep

“The Quest” has entered Week 12! And so did Go On Your Own Quest, an opportunity for anyone to follow the structure of “The Quest” to dig into screenwriting theory [Core — 8 weeks], figure out your story [Prep — 6 weeks], and write a first draft [Pages — 10 weeks]. It’s

Movie Trailer: “The First Time”

A romantic comedy centered on the first weekend of a fledgling romance between two high school kids. Written Jon Kasdan IMDB site

What script should we read and analyze in October?

Since we started this monthly series, we have reviewed 23 notable movie scripts. You can check out all of them here. Why this series? Because reading movie scripts is one of the best ways to advance your knowledge of the craft. In September, we read Raiders of the Lost Ark.

Great Character: Jame “Buffalo Bill” Gumb (“The Silence of the Lambs”)

In a month-long run-up to Halloween, our Great Character focus this month is boogeyman. To kick off things, Jason Cuthbert analyzes Jame “Buffalo Bill” Gumb from the movie The Silence of the Lambs: Before director Jonathan Demme explored skin-crawling inhumanity with The Silence of the Lambs in