Scott Myers

Writing is rewriting…

…and it’s a pain in the arse. I wonder how many unfinished scripts are floating around out there. Probably a virtual ton, assuming a PDF weighs something in a virtual world. Wouldn’t it be great to learn proven principles and practices on how to approach the rewrite process?

GITS: The Twitter Conversations — Script Readers (Part 8)

Back in May late one night, I stumbled into a Twitter conversation with @amandapendo [Amanda Pendolino], @BittrScrptReadr [The Bitter Script Reader], and @nate_winslow [Nate Winslow]. These three all have different things going on in their lives, but one bit of business they have in common: they read scripts, covering

Joseph Campbell quotes — Day 3

[NOTE: As we begin The Quest, I figured it was a good time to bust out some Joseph Campbell, progenitor of The Hero’s Journey. This is one in a series of posts from 2010 featuring notable Campbell quotes.] From Monday, December 20-Sunday, January 2, I’m going to

Movie Trailer: “Grabbers”

Written by Kevin Lehane IMDB site

Go On Your Own Quest — Week 1: Plot

“The Quest” began Monday! 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 a 24-

Daily Dialogue — July 18, 2012

Banky: Alright, now see this? This is a four-way road, okay? And dead in the center is a crisp, new, hundred dollar bill. Now, at the end of each of these streets are four people, okay? You following? Holden: Yeah. Banky: Good. Over here, we have a male-affectionate,

Genre Essentials: Comedy — 10 Comedy 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

GITS: The Twitter Conversations — Script Readers (Part 7)

Back in May late one night, I stumbled into a Twitter conversation with @amandapendo [Amanda Pendolino], @BittrScrptReadr [The Bitter Script Reader], and @nate_winslow [Nate Winslow]. These three all have different things going on in their lives, but one bit of business they have in common: they read scripts, covering

Joseph Campbell quotes: Day 2

[NOTE: As we begin The Quest, I figured it was a good time to bust out some Joseph Campbell, progenitor of The Hero’s Journey. This is one in a series of posts from 2010 featuring notable Campbell quotes.] From Monday, December 20-Sunday, January 2, I’m going to

Movie Trailer: “The Dinosaur Project”

Screenplay by Sid Bennett and Jay Basu, story by Sid Bennett and Tom Pridham IMDB site Release Date: 10 August 2012 [U.K.]

Go On Your Own Quest — Week 1: Plot

“The Quest” began yesterday! 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 a 24-

Screenwriting 101: Brian DePalma

“The problem with writing a movie is you’ve got to have a great idea. I loved the idea for Femme Fatale and it came very quickly. Dressed to Kill was another great idea, and Blow Out was a very good idea. Those scripts came very quickly. But when you

Daily Dialogue — July 17, 2012

“ROWRRRRRRR! HHRRRAAH! AUUUUGHHHH! OWROWWWH!” — Chewbacca (Peter Mayhew), Star Wars (1977), written by George Lucas The Daily Dialogue theme for the week is side characters suggested by Teddy Pasternak who also suggested Chewbaca. Trivia: Peter Mayhew worked as an orderly in a Yorkshire hospital prior to being cast in the movie.

Eight Essential Screenwriting Principles

Many things are converging just now: The Quest, Go On Your Own Quest, talking about Plot this week at GITS. Plus starting next Monday, I will be teaching all eight Core classes through Screenwriting Master Class on a bi-weekly basis through November 11, beginning with Core I: Plot. The

Joseph Campbell quotes: Day 1

[NOTE: As we begin The Quest, I figured it was a good time to bust out some Joseph Campbell, progenitor of The Hero’s Journey. This is one in a series of posts from 2010 featuring notable Campbell quotes.] From Monday, December 20-Sunday, January 2, I’m going to

GITS: The Twitter Conversations — Script Readers (Part 6)

Back in May late one night, I stumbled into a Twitter conversation with @amandapendo [Amanda Pendolino], @BittrScrptReadr [The Bitter Script Reader], and @nate_winslow [Nate Winslow]. These three all have different things going on in their lives, but one bit of business they have in common: they read scripts, covering

Movie Trailer: “Sleepwalk With Me”

A burgeoning stand-up comedian struggles with the stress of a stalled career, a stale relationship, and the wild spurts of severe sleepwalking he is desperate to ignore. Screenplay by Mike Birbiglia, Joe Birbiglia, Ira Glass and Seth Barrish IMDB site For all you “This American Life” and Mike Birbiglia

Go On Your Own Quest — Week 1: Plot

“The Quest” begins today! From over 1500 entrants, I selected these eight writers to participate in a 24-week screenwriting workshop under my guidance — for free. The first eight weeks, the Questers and I will delve into screenwriting theory, a different subject area and principle each week, a part of

On Writing

“The bad novelist constructs his characters; he directs them and makes them speak. The true novelist listens to them and watches them act; he hears their voices even before he knows them. — André Gide, taken from “Advice to Writers” edited by Jon Winkour

Daily Dialogue — July 16, 2012

Bruce Wayne: I’m not afraid of you. Carmine Falcone: Because you think you got nothing to lose. But you haven’t thought it through. You haven’t thought about your lady-friend down at the D.A.’s office. You haven’t thought about your old butler. Bang! People

Reader Question: Why has the spec script market been so strong?

From @treehousedaddy: Thanks for tracking spec sale figures. What is the main driver for that rise in sales, do you think? The question made me burrow into the deep, dark recesses of my brain cells to recall that I had posted some reflections on this very topic back in November

“Zoe Kazan’s ‘Mind-Eff’ of an Indie Romance”

I know there’s this itty bitty movie having something to do with bats later this week, but make sure you create time to support indie movies like this one: Ruby Sparks. THR has a nice feature on the movie’s screenwriter and star Zoe Kazan: It’s hard to

Screenwriting ‘gurus’ [cont’d]

The Screenwriting 101 I posted the other day was a quote from writer-director Frank Darabont: “The whole industry of ‘we can make you a screenwriter.’ I have ambivalent feelings because, ultimately, even though there is some benefit to be gained by those things — I stress the word ‘some’ benefit,

Screenwriting Advice From The Past: The Actor’s Angle [Part 1]

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 per IMDB. Married to writer John Emerson, the pair wrote one of the first books on screenwriting in 1920:

Screenwriting News (July 9-July 15, 2012)

Hossein Amini to write and direct “Two Faces of January” for Working Title. Steve Bevilacqua writing animated feature “WimbleToad” for Exodus Film Group. Reid Carolin to write Evel Knievel project for Iron Horse Entertainment. Etan Cohen writing “Ghostbusters 3” for Sony. John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein to rewrite “Secret