Scott Myers

Daily Dialogue — May 20, 2012

— The Young Girl (Jane March), The Chinaman (Tony Leung Ka Fai), The Lover (1992), screenplay by Jean-Jacques Annaud and Gérard Brach, based on a novel by Marguerite Duras http://static.movieclips.com/embedplayer.swf?shortid=7sqBE The Daily Dialogue theme for the week is first date, suggested by Liz

The highs and lows of a writing career

First of all, setting aside the fact that none of us knows all the details of what transpired with “Community,” it sucks to see a writer get fired, especially from a project which he [or she] created. And especially someone like Dan Harmon who has shared his vision of writing

Dan Harmon responds to being “fired” from “Community”

From Dan Harmon’s tumblr page: HEY, DID I MISS ANYTHING? Kids: A few hours ago, I landed in Los Angeles, turned on my phone, and confirmed what you already know. Sony Pictures Television is replacing me as showrunner on Community, with two seasoned fellows that I’m sure are

Neil Gaiman: Commencement address

Screenwriter, TV writer, novelist and storyteller Neil Gaiman delivered the commencement address this week at Philadelphia’s University of the Arts: The transcript: 34th Commencement May 17, 2012 I never really expected to find myself giving advice to people graduating from an establishment of higher education. I never graduated from

Scene Description Spotlight: “There’s Something About Mary”

There are many funny scenes in the Farrelly brothers’ movie There’s Something About Mary, but the “franks or beans” scene is right up there as one of the most memorable: INT. BATHROOM — TWILIGHT Ted dabs his head with a tissue, then moves to the toilet. As he TAKES A

Saturday Hot Links

Welcome to another installment of Saturday Hot Links. This week: The B52s Edition! The stories behind Donna Summer’s biggest hits. Upfronts 2012: By The Numbers. Anthony Bourdain’s first novel heads to the big screen. Bono: World’s Richest Musician… thanks to Facebook. Six iconic scenes ripped off from

Written Interview: Gary Ross (“The Hunger Games”)

An interview on WGA.org with Gary Ross, co-screenwriter and director of The Hunger Games: Suzanne Collins mentioned that your script really nailed the emotional arc, particularly between Katniss and Peeta in a way that had not been captured in any previous drafts. How did you zero in on

Daily Dialogue — May 19, 2012

— Cesar Soubeyran dit Le Papet (Yves Montand), Manon des sources (1986), screenplay by Claude Berri and Gérard Brach, based on the novel by Marcel Pagnol The Daily Dialogue theme for the week is first date, suggested by Liz Swan. Trivia: Debuted in the U.S. at the Telluride Film Festival

Spec Script Sale: “The Disciple Program”

Universal acquires thriller spec script “The Disciple Program” from first-time screenwriter Tyler Marceca. From Deadline: The spec is described as a Manchurian Candidate-style thriller in which a man’s wife dies and he discovers that it was no accident and investigates the murder. Multiple bidders chased the script.

Daily Dialogue theme???

That time again where we have run through the latest batch of Daily Dialogue themes, so we need to stock up. Here is your chance to steer the direction of this series for a full week. A few points: * While we want themes that are entertaining, there is also an

Reader Question: What exactly is a “spec script”?

A question from Daley Productions: I’m quite new to this and I’m wondering, what exactly is a ‘spec’ script? “Spec script” is term that gets thrown around a lot, certainly here on GITS, and your question got me to thinking that perhaps there are many folks who don’

TED Talk: J.J. Abrams — Part 9

Today Part 9 of J.J. Abrams 2007 TED Talk continues his presentation about the “mystery box”: I want to show one thing that has nothing to do with anything. This is from online. Six years ago they did this, some guys who had some visual effects experience, the point

Great Characters: Captain Renault (Claude Rains)

Casablanca is a cinematic treasure, replete with wonderful characters and memorable dialogue, but instead of spotlighting the Protagonist Rick Blaine (Humphrey Bogart) or Attractor Ilsa Lund (Ingrid Bergman), I want to honor the movie’s chief Trickster: Captain Renault as played wonderfully by Claude Rains: Renault is a classic Trickster,

Daily Dialogue — May 18, 2012

— Joel (Jim Carrey), Clementine (Kate Winslet), Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004), screenplay by Charlie Kaufman, story by Charlie Kaufman & Michel Gondry & Pierre Bismuth http://static.movieclips.com/embedplayer.swf?shortid=DquY The Daily Dialogue theme for the week is non-verbal ‘dialogue’ suggested by Liz Swan.

“Wool”: Spirit of the Spec… e-book style

Interesting deal yesterday: After a fierce bidding war reminiscent of “Fifty Shades of Grey,” 20th Century Fox have just acquired the film rights. Ridley and Tony Scott’s Scott Free are partnering on the deal with Film Rites’ Steve Zaillian and Garrett Basch. Kassie Evashevski at United Talent Agency brokered

Talismans

I’m teaching a class on theme right now and one of the points I make is that good stories have multiple themes, a central theme which reflects the core meaning of the story, then all sorts of other types of thematic narrative material. One type is a talisman and

Movie Trailer: “Hit and Run”

Yahoo! Video PlayerEdit descriptiond.yimg.com Written by Dax Shepherd IMDB site Release date: 24 August 2012

TED Talk: J.J. Abrams — Part 8

Today Part 8 of J.J. Abrams 2007 TED Talk continues his presentation about the “mystery box”: Then there’s distribution. What’s a bigger mystery box than a theater? You go to a theater, you’re so excited to see anything, the moment the lights go down is often

Daily Dialogue — May 17, 2012

— Samuel (Lukas Haas), John Book (Harrison Ford), Witness (1985), screenplay by Earl W. Wallace & William Kelley, story by William Kelley and Pamela Wallace & Earl W. Wallace The Daily Dialogue theme for the week is non-verbal ‘dialogue’ suggested by Liz Swan who also suggested Witness. Trivia: The original

Go Into The Story: The Quest

I’ve been stewing over two issues for some time now. I think I may have come up with something to address them both. First ever since Tom Benedek and I launched Screenwriting Master Class, I have been trying to figure out a way to open up that experience to

Is it time for some GITS contributors?

There are plenty of talented people who frequent this site, which leads to a question: Are there ways we can open up what we do here to incorporate the input of those of you who share the vision of what goes on at GITS and have a passion to participate

The definitive spec script database: 1991–2012

I have been tracking the Hollywood spec script market for decades. I come by this honestly as I sold a spec script back in the halcyon days of the late 80s, so obviously I was intrigued by the ebbs and flows of that sales arena, and continue to be to

And four years later…

…still going. 1461 days. GITS has been here every single day. The next three posts are about some interesting things I’ve been mulling over for quite some time and are part of today’s celebration. But for this, the Official 4th Year Anniversary Post, I’d like to thank

The first GITS Daily Dialogue

Posted on May 16, 2008: “If you just learn a single trick, Scout, you’ll get along a lot better with all kinds of folks. You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view… Until you climb inside of his skin and walk around

The first GITS post

This is the very first post I composed for this blog on May 16, 2008: Welcome to Go Into The Story! Right now, it’s nothing but a humble, threadbare blog, but I hope it will evolve into an active resource for aspiring screenwriters, as well as a community for