Scott Myers

Dispatch from The Quest: Scott Reynolds

Last week as we did here on GITS, the Quest writers focused on the subject of Scene. Today’s dispatch: Scott Reynolds ponders how best to approach the process of writing scenes: The scene’s the thing, wherein I’ll… do… something something. Well. That ran out of steam fast.

More reasons to ALWAYS be looking for story ideas

Flavorwire post this recently: “10 Fantastic Comedies Based on True Stories”. Here is one of them: Originally titled “Cop Tips Waitress $2M,” in the style of the New York tabloids that became fascinated by the tale, Andrew Bergman’s 1994 romantic comedy was based on the story of Robert Cunningham

Go On Your Own Quest — Week 7: Theme

“The Quest” has entered Week 7! 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: “Butter”

Yahoo! Video PlayerEdit descriptiond.yimg.com In small-town Iowa, an adopted girl discovers her talent for butter carving and finds herself pitted against an ambitious local woman in their town’s annual contest. Written by Jason A. Micallef IMDB site Release Date: 5 October 2012 [USA] Comment Archive

GITS Script Reading & Analysis: “Juno” — Structure

This week we are analyzing the screenplay for the 2007 movie Juno [written by Diablo Cody]. It won an Academy Award and a Writers Guild of America Award for Best Original Screenplay, and a Golden Globe Award for Best Screenplay. You may download a February 6, 2007 PDF of the

Screenwriting 101: Charlie Kaufman

“I think it’s my responsibility to write about the things that interest me. I feel that I’d be doing a disservice to anybody and everybody to not do what I thought was good. Because other than that, you should be in advertising or something. I think that’s

Daily Dialogue — August 28, 2012

Alvy Singer: [the man behind him in line is talking loudly] What I wouldn’t give for a large sock with horse manure in it! [to audience] Whaddya do when you get stuck in a movie line with a guy like this behind you? Man in Theater Line: Wait a

Genre Essentials: Science Fiction — 10 Science Fiction Movies You Must See

The push to push you to learn what you need to learn to succeed as a professional screenwriter continues here at GITS. There is 1, 2, 7, 14, a simple formula to be a more productive and better screenwriter. There is Deep Focus: The Go Into The Movies Project, a

Writing question: What’s the best excuse you use NOT to write?

Two weeks from today, The Quest moves into the Prep part of the process, six weeks to wrangle our stories before typing FADE IN and pounding out pages. For those of you following along at home with Go On Your Own Quest, I though it would be fun this week

Dispatch from The Quest: Brandon Cohen

Last week as we did here on GITS, the Quest writers focused on the subject of Scene. Today’s dispatch: Brandon Cohen decides he’s going to be a taskmaster when it comes to writing scenes for his upcoming script: There’s a wonderful quote I heard about writing scenes

Documentary: “The Dude”

From Sundance Award winning director Jeff Feuerzeig: Meet the dude behind The Dude! Sundance Award winning director JEFF FEUERZEIG, (THE DEVIL AND DANIEL JOHNSTON, ESPN 30 for 30’s THE REAL ROCKY), reveals the inspiration for the beloved central character in the Coen Brothers’ cult-favorite film THE BIG LEBOWSKI.

Go On Your Own Quest — Week 7: Theme

“The Quest” has entered Week 7! 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 Tall Man”

< When her child goes missing, a mother looks to unravel the legend of the Tall Man, an entity who allegedly abducts children. Written by Pascal Laugier IMDB site Release Date: 5 September 2012 (France)

GITS Script Reading & Analysis: “Juno”

Welcome to the GITS Script Reading & Analysis series, Volume 22. This week we will be analyzing the screenplay for the 2007 movie Juno [written by Diablo Cody]. It won an Academy Award and a Writers Guild of America Award for Best Original Screenplay, and a Golden Globe Award for

On Writing

“A problem with a piece of writing often clarifies itself if you go for a long walk.” — Helen Dunmore HT to @JennaAvery for the quote Comment Archive

Daily Dialogue — August 27, 2012

“And after the awful deed is done, he finds that he’s plagued by deep-rooted guilt. Little sparks of his religious background which he’d rejected are suddenly stirred up. He hears his father’s voice. He imagines that God is watching his every move. Suddenly, it’s not

Go On Your Own Quest, Week 6: Scene

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 6: Scene What is a scene? What narrative elements contribute to a compelling scene? Why is “enter late / exit early” relevant to

Go On Your Own Quest, Week 5: Dialogue

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 5: Dialogue Do you ‘hear’ your characters ‘talking’ to you? Does dialogue come easily or hard to you? What tips do you

Go On Your Own Quest, Week 4: Style

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 4: Style. What is the key to understanding screenplay style? How have you learned screenplay style? Why is white space on a

Go On Your Own Quest, Week 3: Character

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 3: Character. Are you more comfortable writing characters or plot? What techniques do you use to develop your characters? Why is the

Go On Your Own Quest, Week 2: Concept

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 2: Concept. If there is one movie’s story concept you could have come up with, what would it be? How do

Go On Your Own Quest, Week 1: Plot

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 1: Plot. How would you define plot? Do screenplay plots have patterns or paradigms? How do you work out your screenplay’s

Screenwriting Advice From The Past: The “Interest” [Part 1]

“What he means by this “interest” query is to ask if your story has the element of human sympathy.” 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

Screenwriting News (August 20–26, 2012)

Vera Blasi sells Biblical drama spec script “Pontius Pilate” to Warner Bros. Bob Coccio adapting “Fordlandia” for River Road Entertainment. Jay Frasco sells science fiction thriller spec script “Lights Out” to Universal / Syfy films. Michael Gilio rewriting “The Raven” with Mark Wahlberg attached. Matthew Graham writing science fiction “Para Time”

Spec Script Sale: “Pontius Pilate”

Warner Bros. acquires Biblical drama “Pontius Pilate” from writer Vera Blasi. Per Deadline: This script follows the evolution of Lucius Pontius Pilate from the sensitive son of a Roman Knight into a ferocious soldier whose warrior exploits make him a general and puts him on a political track under the