Scott Myers

Daily Dialogue — February 2, 2012

DIANE: We’ll see. LLOYD: Okay. It’s good knowing this. DIANE: Yeah, uh-huh. (Lloyd brings the car to a full stop.) LLOYD: Okay, what did we just decide? DIANE: We decided… LLOYD: ’Cause I’m worried, did you just break up with me? DIANE: No, no. LLOYD: It

2011 Spec Script Sales Analysis: Agents & Managers

On Monday, we broke down the 2011 spec script sales by genre. Yesterday by studios. Today by representatives. Note: A majority of projects were repped by both an agency and a manager / management company, so the total numbers of reps listed will be significantly higher than the number of scripts

What people talk about before they die

I ran across this article which I found interesting for many reasons. It is written by Kerry Egan, a hospice chaplain in Massachusetts and the author of “Fumbling: A Pilgrimage Tale of Love, Grief, and Spiritual Renewal on the Camino de Santiago.” She recalls an experience she had as a

“The Silence of the Lambs”: Rom-Com Poster

From Cracked: Of course this all got started here, right? What other happy ending versions of horror, thriller, or otherwise bloody movies are there floating around on the web? Comment Archive

Introduce yourself!

It’s the beginning of the month and occasionally I like to use that as an excuse to open up the floor to allow folks to introduce themselves. It seemed like an especially good idea today because we had a surge in traffic in January, so I’m guessing there

Script To Screen: “Sideways”

One of many memorable scenes from the 2004 movie Sideways, screenplay by Alexander Payne & Jim Thomas, based on the novel by Rex Pickett. Scene: Miles is at a winery when he has a call with his agent about the status of his impending book deal. EXT. LARGE WINERY - DAYWalking

Daily Dialogue — February 1, 2012

Skylar: What is your obsession with this money? My father died when I was 13 and I inherited this money. You don’t think that every day I wake up and wish I could give it back? That I would give it back in a second if I could have

Final thoughts: “The Sixth Sense”

Last week, we read the script and analyzed The Sixth Sense, written by M. Night Shyamalan. Participants in the series did a fantastic job in breaking down the story. Here are links to the entire set of posts and comments: General Comments Structure Characters Themes Dialogue One of our readers

Spec Script Sale: Untitled Goffigan Project

Lava Bear acquires an untitled thriller spec script from tyro scribe L.D. Goffigan. From Deadline: They are keeping the logline under wraps. It’s the first sale for the writer, who has been working as an assistant. Three offers materialized when the script went out under the title Intrusion.

Alyssa Talking Backward

This girl has got to be able to parlay this into some sort of career. If not, it’s a great name for an indie movie: “Alyssa Talking Backward.” How about this song by the late, great Steve Goodman “Talk Backwards”: And then, of course, there’s this: At the

Ira Glass on producing a movie

I love Ira Glass. Seriously, if I was gay, I would totally have a crush on him. He’s smart, he’s funny, and he has created this niche for himself — “This American Life” — by simply telling stories. Or telling stories simply. One or the other. Or both. Anyway Glass

Universal shifts “Savages” from fall to July 6

As long as we’re focusing today on the major studios and their habits per spec scripts [the previous post], let’s look at how they approach scheduling movie release dates. Case in point, Universal and the movie Savages. From Deadline: Looks like Universal Pictures smells a summer hit in

2011 Spec Script Sales Analysis: Studios

Yesterday we looked at 2011 spec script sales by genre. Today we break down the numbers per studios to see which were the most and least active in the script acquisition market. 15 Warner Bros. 7 Sony Pictures / Columbia Twentieth Century Fox 6 Universal 4 New Line Paramount 3 CBS

Screenwriting 101: Velina Hasu Houston

“As an artist, I feel it is important to take what I have learned and feed my energies back into new writers, to encourage their creative vision and help them in their journeys from idea to script. Of course, I have been fortunate to mentor screenwriting students who represent some

Daily Dialogue — January 31, 2012

Summer: We’ve been like Sid and Nancy for months now. Tom: Summer, Sid stabbed Nancy, seven times with a kitchen knife, I mean we have some disagreements but I hardly think I’m Sid Vicious. Summer: No, I’m Sid. Tom: Oh, so I’m Nancy… [Pancakes arrive] Summer:

Need more Daily Dialogue suggestions for break-ups!

Break-ups is the DDT this week and I thought we would have been flooded with ideas, instead it’s been a mere trickle. Is there some sort of virtual urinary tract infection in the Global GITS Body I should know about? A kidney stone perhaps? Of course, now that

2011 Spec Script Sales Analysis: Genres

By my count, Hwood studios and prod cos acquired 110 spec scripts in 2011. During this week, I’ll be breaking down those numbers. Today we look at sales by genre. Some scripts are categorized as cross genres or sub-genres, so those are noted where relevant under their primary

“Stretch Armstrong”: The project that refuses to die

Per Deadline: Another movie in Hasbro’s groundbreaking deal with Universal Pictures has bitten the dust. If you recall, Universal was planning a slate of films based on Hasbro board games beginning with Battleship. Then, the studio put Ouija, Clue, Monopoly and Magic, The Gathering in turnaround. Now, it’s

Humorous Hollywood career infographic

From FilmSourcing, a “politically incorrect career guide”: Evidently the career path for screenwriting wannabes is Film Critic, Starving Writer, or [gasp!] Blogger. Who knew? Comment Archive

The Katzenberg Memo, Part 16

In January 1991, Jeffrey Katzenberg, then the head of Disney’s motion picture divisions, wrote a memo that ended up being circulated throughout Hollywood. Even though it is 21 years old, it is remarkably relevant to the current movie business. For example, the United States was in a recession as

On Writing

“Style is knowing who you are, what you want to say, and not giving a damn.” — Gore Vidal from “Advice to Writers”

Daily Dialogue — January 30, 2012

“I guess it’s over between us, Laurette.” — Zack (Tom Waits), Down By Law (1986), written by Jim Jarmusch The Daily Dialogue theme for the week is break-ups, suggested by Teddy Pasternak. Today’s suggestion by @likeswriting. Trivia: Co-star Tom Waits referred to the film as “a Russian

Why found footage is here to stay

Found footage found its way to this year’s Sundance Film Festival. From IndieWire: No one would have guessed that, more than a decade after “The Blair Witch Project” broke box-office records to become one the highest grossing independent films of all time, audiences would still flock to found-

Massive list of free online education resources

This arrives at our virtual doorstep courtesy of my wife [@bf4tbrainy], a huge list of links to free online education resources. And we’re not just talking obscure stuff. How about MIT, Stanford and Yale? Here’s the table of contents: I. Top Picks II. Universities and Higher Education III.

“Writer Held Hostage” series by Doug Richardson [cont’d]

A cool series by screenwriter and novelist Doug Richardson over at Stage 32, a behind the scenes look at Richardson’s experiences during production of the movie Hostage. You can read parts 1–3 from last week’s post here. The final two parts today: Part 4 Part 5