Scott Myers

Screenwriting 101: Michael January

“Hollywood lives and dies on something that seems new and original, but is very much like something that made money before. If you, as a writer, can figure out how to make that formula work, then you can become quite wealthy.” — Michael January (Firepower, Deadly Target), quote from “Tales from

Daily Dialogue — March 6, 2012

Bob Hauk: You go in, find the President, bring him out in 24 hours, and you’re a free man. Snake Plissken: 24 hours, huh? Bob Hauk: I’m making you an offer. Snake Plissken: Bullshit! Bob Hauk: Straight just like I said. Snake Plissken: I’ll think about it.

Pixar and the Craft of Storytelling

I am truly excited to reprise this 1-week Screenwriting Master Class course as it has given me the opportunity to dig into the films and creative culture of Pixar. As anyone who has visited this blog for even a few months knows, I am fascinated by Pixar. 12 movies,

The Most Profitable Movies of 2011

Franklin has been tracking this: The Information Is Beautiful Awards [celebrating excellence in data visualization and information design] and their most recent challenge: Hollywood! Here is the winner: Three things based on my initial analysis of the chart: * First there only seems to be a marginal connection between positive audience

Scene Description Spotlight: “The Matrix”

Still for my money, one of the best scripts for action-writing. The Wachowski brothers use the basic elements of visual writing — strong verbs and vivid descriptors — to create a visceral sense of time, place, and action. Here are two excerpts of the opening sequence where Trinity (Carrie-Ann Moss)

Screenwriter’s Roundtable, Part 1: Chris Borrelli, F. Scott Frazier, Jeremiah Friedman, Nick Palmer, Justin Rhodes, Greg Russo, John Swetnam

A special treat this week on GITS as each day I will be posting excerpts from a screenwriter’s roundtable I did with some of the best and hottest young screenwriters in Hollywood: Chris Borrelli, F. Scott Frazier, Justin Rhodes, Greg Russo, John Swetnam and the writing duo Jeremiah Friedman

On Writing

“There really are no characters in plays; there are relationships. Where there are only characters and no relationships, we have an unsatisfactory play.” — Arthur Miller

Daily Dialogue — March 5, 2012

BEN You must learn the ways of the Force if you’re to come with me to Alderaan. LUKE (laughing) Alderaan? I’m not going to Alderaan. I’ve got to go home. It’s late, I’m in for it as it is. BEN I need your help, Luke.

Daily Dialogue theme for next week: Refusal of the Call

Two different GITS readers came up with two different ideas, both of which together actually comprise a nice opportunity for us to have a screenwriting lesson. The week of March 5th: Refusal of the Call [suggested by Ryan Smith]. The week of March 12th: Statement of Theme [suggested by John

Video tribute to “Resevoir Dogs”

Part 1 Part 2 A friend was up for a gig as production designer for the movie. He gave me a copy of the script asking me to read it. “I think this is great, but it’s like… whoa,” he said. I read it that night. Called him up.

“The Wire”: Wind-up toys

It’s Omar! And the rest of “The Wire” gang! For more information, go here. I still miss “The Wire”! Why? Because of scenes like this: Thank God, there’s “Treme”! Comment Archive

Screenwriting News

For the week of 2/26–3/3: Jason Keller (Machine Gun Preacher) sells a period vampire pitch to Sony. John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein (Horrible Bosses) not only writing the script for the reboot of the Vacation franchise, but also directing it. Chris Weitz (About A Boy) to

Daily Dialogue — March 4, 2012

Joanna: You know what, Stan, if you want me to wear 37 pieces of flair, like your pretty boy over there, Brian, why don’t you just make the minimum 37 pieces of flair? Stan: Well, I thought I remembered you saying that you wanted to express yourself. Joanna: Yeah.

Daily Dialogue theme for next week?

As we near the end of a week featuring the theme of getting fired [courtesy of a suggestion by lizswan], time to come up with a new DDT. Something entertaining, but also a theme from which we can learn something about writing dialogue. Ponder this: What about writing dialogue gives

“Midnight in Paris”… nearly 50 years ago?

It appears Woody Allen had the original concept of Midnight in Paris back in the 60s. Check out this stand-up comedy bit: HT to Roger Ebert for the link. Comment Archive

GITS Q&A, Part 6: Mary Coleman (Pixar)

Today we conclude my week long exclusive interview with Mary Coleman, senior development executive at Pixar Animation Studios. SM: Okay, a few more questions. You’ve had a chance to work with some great screenwriters. Joss Whedon, Tom McCarthy, Dan Fogelman, Mike Arndt. Beyond creativity — and you’ve already said

Saturday Hot Links

Back for another installment of Saturday Hot Links! Today: The Local Newscast Blooper Edition Let’s start out with the 9 most painfully awkward moments from last Sunday’s Oscars. TV critic Tim Goodman asks another question: Can Someone Fix the Academy Awards? Please? Anyone? This year’s Oscars cause

Written Interview: Davie Koepp, Brian Koppelman, Jeff Nathanson, Andrew Walker

Gavin Polone talks with David Koepp (Jurassic Park, Spider-Man), Brian Koppelman (Rounders, Ocean’s Thirteen), Jeff Nathanson (Catch Me If You Can, The Terminal), and Andy Walker (Se7en, Sleepy Hollow) about rewrite hell. How do you feel when you’ve been rewritten on a movie? Koepp: I was fired

Daily Dialogue — March 3, 2012

Natalie: My name is Miss Keener and I’m here today to talk about your options. Samuels: I worked for this company for 17 years and they send a 4th-grader to can me? What the fuck is this? Natalie: It’s perfectly normal to be upset. However, the sooner

GITS Welcome and Primer Party!

It’s the beginning of a new month and time to lay out the welcome mat for those who have recently discovered GITS, provide a few tips about how to use the site, make a few announcements, and dole out some creative juju. So first off, welcome! If you’re

“Portlandia” and the Portland Timbers

If you’re not watching “Portlandia” on IFC, you’re missing some stellar comedy. Here Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein prepare a sign to attend their very first Portland Timbers soccer match: Comment Archive

How They Write a Script: Ted Tally (“The Silence of the Lambs”)

Ted Tally is yet another screenwriter who started out as a playwright. His film credits include White Palace (1990), The Juror (1996), All the Pretty Horses (2000), and Red Dragon (2002). Tally received the WGA and Academy awards for Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium for his

Movie Trailer: “Frankenweenie”

Yahoo! Video PlayerEdit descriptiond.yimg.com Screenplay by John August, story by Tim Burton & Leonard Ripps, characters & idea by Tim Burton IMDB site Release date: October 5, 2012

GITS Q&A, Part 5: Mary Coleman (Pixar)

Today we continue with a week long exclusive interview with Mary Coleman, senior development executive at Pixar Animation Studios. In Part 5, we discuss a number of story dynamics present in Pixar movies: SM: Another dynamic I see in Pixar movies is there is this big story, but also there’

GITS Script Reading and Analysis Series: “Up In The Air” — Dialogue

This week we are analyzing the screenplay for Up In The Air (screenplay by Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner, based on a novel by Walter Kirn). You can access the 8/19/08 draft here. Today we discuss the script’s dialogue. * What do you consider to be the most