Scott Myers

Great Character: Alex DeLarge (“A Clockwork Orange”)

Rounding out this month’s focus on notable anti-heroes, Jason Cuthbert analyzes Alex DeLarge from the movie A Clockwork Orange. In 1971, screenwriter/director/producer Stanley Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange gave evil a new makeover: one set of long black eyelashes circling the right eye like a boxer’

Daily Dialogue — September 28, 2012

“When the strongest nation in the world can be tied down for four years in a war in Vietnam, with no end in sight; when the richest nation in the world can’t manage its own economy; when the nation with the greatest tradition of the rule of law is

Reader Question: Why are so few script contest winners made into movies?

From Brandon: I have two totally unrelated questions that I would love to get some insight on: Question 2 has to do with screenwriting contests: 2. My understanding of screenplay contests are that they discover great scripts and stories from undiscovered writers, which makes it a wonderful way of curating

Dispatch from The Quest: Jordan Earls

Last week as we did here on GITS, the Quest writers focused on the second week of Prep. Today’s dispatch: Jordan Earls writes about something she calls “relevance,” the exhilaration of writing… and the fear of writing as well: Myself and a couple close friends have this theory called

Go On Your Own Quest, Week 11: Prep

“The Quest” has entered Week 11! So has 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 a

The Theology of Screenwriting, Part 9: Hell

Last week and this, I am exploring theological themes in relation to screenwriting, considering them metaphorically because in my view, we see these themes in movies all the time. By understanding them, we can use these theological themes to enhance the meaning and depth of our stories. For background on

Movie Trailer: “Gambit”

An art curator decides to seek revenge on his abusive boss by conning him into buying a fake Monet, but his plan requires the help of an eccentric and unpredictable Texas rodeo queen. Screenplay by Ethan Coen and Joel Coen IMDB site Release Date: 21 November 2012 (UK)

GITS Script Reading & Analysis: “Raiders of the Lost Ark” — Themes

This week we are analyzing the screenplay for Raiders of the Lost Ark, the 1981 action-adventure movie [screenplay by Lawrence Kasdan, story by George Lucas & Philip Kaufman]. You may download a copy of the script [August 1979] here. Today we discuss the script’s themes. There are several

The Business of Screenwriting: What to do if your movie sucks

I wrote a movie that sucked. I don’t think it sucked so much because of my contribution. In fact, the script got me a ton of work. When the studio went out with the project, dozens of hot young directors vied for the gig. A writer-director famous for

Daily Dialogue — September 27, 2012

“You know when I was nine years old, I had kind of a rough time. A lot of people thought I was pretty mixed up. But there was one person who got me through it. He did everything right. And thanks to him today, I’m the happiest, most confident,

Names

The subject of names came up in the current screenwriting class I’m teaching [Core V: Dialogue]. Here is a comment I posted: Better are names that have some thematic connections. For example, The Sixth Sense. Malcolm Crowe [Bruce Willis]: In many cultures, a crow is a symbol for death

Dispatch from The Quest: Emma Millions

Last week as we did here on GITS, the Quest writers focused on the second week of Prep. Today’s dispatch: Emma Millions on what it feels like to live in a story world: This week I am really struggling to write this script journal. Because my head is no

Go On Your Own Quest, Week 11: Prep

“The Quest” has entered Week 11! So has 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 a

The Theology of Screenwriting, Part 8: Incarnation

Last week and this, I am exploring theological themes in relation to screenwriting, considering them metaphorically because in my view, we see these themes in movies all the time. By understanding them, we can use these theological themes to enhance the meaning and depth of our stories. For background on

Honest Trailer: “The Avengers”

From ScreenJunkies: Via THR. Comment Archive

GITS Script Reading & Analysis: “Raiders of the Lost Ark” — Character

This week we are analyzing the screenplay for Raiders of the Lost Ark, the beloved 1981 action-adventure movie [screenplay by Lawrence Kasdan, story by George Lucas & Philip Kaufman]. You may download a copy of the script [August 1979] here. Today we discuss the script’s characters. Here is

Script To Screen: “Harold and Maude”

The delightful 1971 movie Harold and Maude [written by Colin Higgins] is most noted for its co-stars Harold [Bud Cort] and Maude [Ruth Gordon]. This scene features Harold. Setup: Harold has a date with Sunshine, but it’s not your typical date… She goes over to the mantelpiece. SUNSHINE

Daily Dialogue — September 26, 2012

“Nice, man. Nice. I’d like to thank a great director, an incredible cast, my agent, and my new agent, but… I’m just an actor playing someone. This really belongs to all the gay soldiers and sailors and other guys and women who defend this country to keep us

10,000th post contest!

On Sunday, I posted this: GITS is currently on 9,966 posts. That means within a week or so, I will be publishing the 10,000th post. I thought we could have a bit of fun with this achievement by asking you this question: What should the 10,000th GITS

Dispatch from The Quest: Scott Reynolds

Last week as we did here on GITS, the Quest writers focused on the second week of Prep. Today’s dispatch: Scott Reynolds on “building habits that lead to success”: October 15, 1988. Both legs injured, barely able to run, Kirk Gibson steps in to pinch hit for the Dodgers

Go On Your Own Quest, Week 11: Prep

“The Quest” has entered Week 11! So has 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 a

The Theology of Screenwriting, Part 7: Forgiveness

Last week and this, I am exploring theological themes in relation to screenwriting, considering them metaphorically because in my view, we see these themes in movies all the time. By understanding them, we can use these theological themes to enhance the meaning and depth of our stories. For background on

Movie Trailer: “Vamps”

http://ictv-bd-ec.indieclicktv.com/player/embed/b51134344b4b64572c52606f9e8f148c/505c8487aa44f/10/0/defaultPlayer^player.swf Two female vampires in modern-day New York City are faced with daunting romantic possibilities. Written by Amy Heckerling IMDB site Release Date: 2 November 2012 (USA) Comment Archive

GITS Script Reading & Analysis: “Raiders of the Lost Ark” — Structure

This week we are analyzing the screenplay for Raiders of the Lost Ark, the beloved 1981 action-adventure movie [screenplay by Lawrence Kasdan, story by George Lucas & Philip Kaufman]. You may download a copy of the script [August 1979] here. Here is Part 1 of an interview with Karen

Screenwriting 101: David Lynch

“The world to me is a mixture of the two. Intuition is thought and feeling working together. You intuit things in life, right? The language of film is so perfect for this intuiting; it’s just beautiful. So you have what they call an “inner-knowing” whether you realize it