Scott Myers

Q&A: Screenwriter Marc Maurino (“Inside The Machine”)

On May 12, 2011, I posted this: CBS Films acquires action thriller spec script “Inside the Machine” from writer Marc Maurino. Per Deadline: The story centers on an undercover ATF agent who infiltrates a vicious cartel and is seduced by the power and violence he finds there. “Inside The Machine

Movie Trailer: “Sound of My Voice”

Written by Brit Marling and Zal Batmanglij IMDB site Release date: April 27, 2012

“Prometheus” trailer: Shot-by-shot breakdown

Nate Winslow [@nate_winslow] was so enamored of the new Prometheus trailer, he did a shot-by-shot breakdown to see what insight he could gleam in terms of the story. This is not an idle exercise. The film’s story has been shrouded in mystery since its inception, the

Andrew Stanton, Part 6: “The Clues to a Great Story” (TED Talk)

A few weeks back our featured video interview was a TED Talk given by Andrew Stanton, one of the key members of Pixar’s ‘brain trust’ whose screenwriting credits include Toy Story, A Bug’s Life, Toy Story 2, Monsters, Inc., Finding Nemo, Wall-E and the current live action

On Writing

“I think that to write well and convincingly, one must be somewhat poisoned by emotion. Dislike, displeasure, resentment fault-finding, imagination, passionate remonstrance, a sense of injustice — they all make fine fuel.” — Edna Ferber For 100s more On Writing posts, go here. The Protagonist’s Journey: An Introduction to Character-

Daily Dialogue — March 19, 2012

“I’m sorry I ate your fish, okay?” — Otto (Kevin Klein), A Fish Called Wanda (1988), screenplay by John Cleese, story by John Cleese and Charles Crichton http://static.movieclips.com/embedplayer.swf?shortid=7sieY The Daily Dialogue theme for the week is apology, suggested by John Arends. Today’s

Copyright Math: Why the MPAA is Full of Sh*t

I’ve heard and read a lot of the arguments by content owners about the horrors of the bit torrent universe, but my gut has always told me that thinking is wrongheaded, that it’s better to disseminate content, even if some of it is free, in order to heighten

Q&A: Screenwriter Stan Chervin (“Moneyball”)

One of the best movies of 2011 is Moneyball. It has been nominated for many awards including Best Screenplay [Golden Globes] and Best Adapted Screenplay [WGA]. Screenwriters Aaron Sorkin and Steve Zaillian have received the lion share of attention for their involvement in the project, but here are the exact

Movie Trailer: “Prometheus” [U.K. version]

A kinder gentler version for the first 1:30, then… I haven’t felt this excited about a new movie since The Dark Knight. How about you? Comment Archive

Screenwriting Advice From The Past

Screenwriting Advice From The Past: Getting Ideas If you are a screenwriter, you should know about Anita Loos. She was one of the most influential writers in the early history of American cinema, associated with 136 film projects per IMDB. Married to writer John Emerson, the pair wrote one of

Screenwriting News

Issac Aptaker & Elizabeth Berger sell spec comedy “Lauren Pemberton is No Longer in a Relationship” to Millennium. Michael Bacall (Scott Pilgrim vs. the World), who co-write the original, will write 21 Jump Street 2 with Jonah Hill for Sony. Oliver Butcher & Stephen Cornwell hired to adapt comic

Video Interview: Paddy Chayefsky

In the ranks of screenwriters, Paddy Chayefsky is a giant. The only screenwriter to have three solo Academy Awards — for Marty (1955), The Hospital (1971), and Network (1976) — Chayefsky was also a successful playwright and television dramatist. We’ve already featured Chayefsky here, but these this video clip from “The

Daily Dialogue — March 18, 2012

“I don’t have to tell you things are bad. Everybody knows things are bad. It’s a depression. Everybody’s out of work or scared of losing their job. The dollar buys a nickel’s worth, banks are going bust, shopkeepers keep a gun under the counter. Punks are

Movie Trailer: “Prometheus”

Written by Jon Spaihts and Damon Lindelof IMDB site Release date: June 8, 2012 Comment Archive

Daily Dialogue theme next week: Apology

We have one more day of this week’s theme — statement of theme [thanks to John Penny for that suggestion] — and start up on Monday with a brand new weekly theme: Apology, suggested by John Arends. Small apologies, big apologies, earnest apologies, lying apologies. Characters screw up in movies and

“The Life”: The magazine article that inspired “Up In The Air”

From GQ: In June 2000, GQ Literary Editor Walter Kirn wrote a piece of journalism for GQ called “The Life.” It was this story that inspired Kirn to write the novel Up in the Air. For two weeks, Kirn flew back and forth across America — and sat in more than

Interview: Chris McCoy (2007, 2009, 2011 Black List)

Chris McCoy is pretty unique among screenwriters in that he has three scripts that have made the Black List: “Get Back” (2007), “Good Looking” (2009), and “Good Kids” (2011). That alone is enough to warrant significant curiosity about this young writer. The fact his screenplays are highly entertaining, distinctive, and

Scene Description Spotlight: “Network”

Paddy Chayefsky is perhaps most well known for his dialogue, but I’d like to excerpt something from Network to demonstrate one way to convey continuous action that moves from one location to another. This is from the opening sequence to the script: INT. HOWARD’S APARTMENT HOUSE — LANDING OUTSIDE

Saturday Hot Links

Time for another installment of Saturday Hot Links! Today: The Bob Dylan Interview Edition 10 movies to watch on St. Patrick’s Day weekend. Paramount and Mario Puzo’s estate go to the mattresses in lawsuit over ownership of “The Godfather”. After 244 years, Encyclopedia Brittanica stops the presses. “The

Written Interview: Michael Bacall (“21 Jump Street”)

Slashfilm interviews Michael Bacall, co-writer of 21 Jump Street: /Film: Can you sort of fill me in to how you got involved with both 21 Jump Street and Project X? Michael Bacall: Yeah. Well let’s see, which happened first? JUMP STREET started first. Jonah [Hill] I had met

Daily Dialogue — March 17, 2012

TATE: I once got this fortune cookie that said, “only when all who surround you are different will you truly belong.” JANE: Thanks for the dance, Fred. DEDE: Hey, it’s a party. Gotta wear your party hat, Jane. TATE: Well, we were all different, that’s for sure. I’

Writing Question: What do you do when you’ve had a crap day for writing?

Your characters ignored you. Or flat-out ran away from you. Maybe they called you names. Or talked behind your back. That scene you thought was so great when you first came up with it? You tried writing it today from twelve different angles. All horrible, each worse than the

Movie Trailer: “Dark Shadows”

Screeplay by Seth Grahame-Smith IMDB site Release date: May 11, 2012 Comment Archive

‘John Carter’ Debacle: Inside the Fallout for Disney

The post-mortems have started for John Carter. Here is Kim Masters’ take from THR: Now that John Carter has landed with a resounding thud, Hollywood is trying to decipher whether Disney will conclude that it needs to change the guard or at least tweak its strategy when it comes

Spec Script Sale: “Lauren Pemberton is No Longer in a Relationship”

It’s On The Grid reports that Millennium has acquired comedy spec script “Lauren Pemberton is No Longer in a Relationship” written by Issac Aptaker & Elizabeth Berger. A young professional’s life is turned upside down when he reads the new Facebook relationship status of his childhood tutor, who