Scott Myers

Making Goals: 2012 [Part 10] — Trust The Process

We pick up from last week with our year-end attempt to help GITS readers set and achieve their writing goals for 2012. To revisit the process of self-reflection from last week, here are the links: Part 1: Looking Back Part 2: Assessing Where You Are Part 3: Where

Great Characters: Navin R. Johnson (“The Jerk”)

It was Steve Martin’s first starring movie role: Navin R. Johnson in the 1979 comedy The Jerk: Here is the IMDB plot summary: A complete imbecile struggles to make it through life on his own until a strange invention makes him unbelievably wealthy. Navin starts out as a “poor

Daily Dialogue — December 30, 2011

Threading his way through the merrymakers crowding the bar and overflowing from the booths is Sheldrake. He is in dinner clothes, topped by a paper hat. Reaching the last booth, he drops into the chair facing Fran. SHELDRAKE: Sorry it took me so long on the phone. But we’re

Your suggestions for GITS

At the end of the year, I like to take the pulse of the GITS community. So here are some questions I want to offer up for discussion with the hopes that we can continue to improve the quality of our experience here: * Is there something I’m doing you’

‘Margin Call’ changes VOD picture

Following up on yesterday’s discussion of Ed Burns’ new ultra low-budget movie Newlyweds, here is a recent Variety article about the movie Margin Call which has offered another variation on the traditional model of marketing and distribution: “Margin Call” takes a harsh look at Wall Street economics, but

“Alien” teaser trailer done “Prometheus” style

HT to @FirstShowing for surfacing this: In space no one can hear you scream. We all know the tagline by heart. While the first official teaser trailer for Ridley Scott’s long-awaited return to sci-fi, Prometheus, recalled the original Alien teaser with its lettering, one fan has gone

“A Year of Disappointment at the Movie Box Office”

From the NYT: With five days left in 2011, ticket sales in North America are running about $500 million behind last year — despite higher prices — prompting a round of soul searching by studios trying to determine what went wrong and how best to proceed. — — That is only a 4.5

Making Goals: 2012 [Part 9] — The Only Way Out Is Through

We pick up from last week with our year-end attempt to help GITS readers set and achieve their writing goals for 2012. To revisit the process of self-reflection from last week, here are the links: Part 1: Looking Back Part 2: Assessing Where You Are Part 3: Where

The Business of Screenwriting: They don’t think like you (Part 1)

So we’re sitting in the office of a studio executive. At this point, K-9 has been produced, we’ve sold a pitch to Warner Bros., and have an overall studio deal. All good news, right? Well, somehow we have managed to do something (I forget what) to irk

Daily Dialogue — December 29, 2011

Ron Burgundy: Do you know who I am? Veronica Corningstone: No. I can’t say that I do. Ron Burgundy: I don’t know how to put this but I’m kind of a big deal. Veronica Corningstone: Really. Ron Burgundy: People know me. Veronica Corningstone: Well, I’m very

1800?

Gratuitous self-promotion? Yes. Shameless even? Probably. But if you look directly to the right of this post, you’ll see that GITS is awfully close to having 1800 “Members.” What are Members? It’s incredibly smart, erudite people [i.e., you!] who sign up with Google Friends Connect to

Terrence Malick’s “Tree of Lulz”

From IndieWire: Terrence Malick directed one of the most acclaimed films of 2011: The Tree of Life. But what if he had directed some of the worst films of 2011? To answer this burning question, we combined clips from some of the year’s worst films with the unedited soundtrack

How many spec scripts do you think will sell in 2012 [cont’d]?

From this post Monday: I’m not ready to lock down the final number for spec script sales in 2011, but as of right now it stands at 109. Let’s compare the number of sales since 2008: 2008: 87  2009: 68  2010: 55  2011: 109 At the end of

Ed Burns on how to make a movie for $9,000

Writer-director-actor-producer Ed Burns on his newest ultra low-budget movie Newlyweds: The movie’s trailer: The story summary: Buzzy (Edward Burns) and Katie (Caitlin FitzGerald) are a newly married couple living a seemingly conflict-free life. But when Buzzy’s damaged and impulsive half-sister Linda (Kerry

Are these the screenplay nominees for this year’s Oscars?

From THR, Scott Feinberg predicts the screenplay nominees for this year’s Oscars: BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY Frontrunners Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon, Jim Rash (The Descendants) BFCA, HFPA, NBR, NYFCC Stan Chervin, Aaron Sorkin, Steven Zaillian (Moneyball) BFCA, HFPA Tate Taylor (The Help) BFCA John Logan (Hugo) BFCA Eric Roth (Extremely

Making Goals: 2012 [Part 8] — First Draft

We pick up from last week with our year-end attempt to help GITS readers set and achieve their writing goals for 2012. To revisit the process of self-reflection from last week, here are the links: Part 1: Looking Back Part 2: Assessing Where You Are Part 3: Where

Script To Screen: “O Brother, Where Art Thou?”

The three escapees encounter the movie’s version of The Sirens. The Coen brothers’ interpretation of “The Odyssey,” the wonderful 2000 movie O Brother, Where Art Thou? [written by Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, epic poem by Homer]. Setup: Three escaped convicts — Everett, Pete, and Delmar — are on the run

Daily Dialogue — December 28, 2011

Party Guest 1: “Oh, my goodness. We got the wrong baby,” and the father says… “Shh. It’s a better buggy.” Party Guest 2: I never heard that one before. Hrundi Bakshi: Oh, yes. You… I missed the middle part, but I can tell from the way that you are

How many spec scripts do you think will sell in 2012 [cont’d]?

From this post yesterday: I’m not ready to lock down the final number for spec script sales in 2011, but as of right now it stands at 109. Let’s compare the number of sales since 2008: 2008: 87  2009: 68  2010: 55  2011: 109 At the end of

“The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo: Zaillian Streamlines, Improves on Detective Duo in Larsson’s Neo-Noir”

Anne Thompson at IndieWire, who you should be following on Twitter (@akstanwyck), has a great feature on the new version of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Why great? Because it focuses on screenwriter Steve Zaillian’s work in adapting the novel upon which the original movie as made. How

“Rules of a Creator’s Life”

This is one of those link-to-link-to-link phenomena common to the Web: a Tweet from @Joshua_Caldwell about a post on The Next Web site which included the graphic below from Creative Something. How about you? What creative rules do you have?  Comment Archive

How They Write A Script: Daniel Taradash

Daniel Taradash’s screenwriting credits include many memorable movies such as From Here to Eternity (1953), Picnic (1955), and Hawaii (1966). Here are excerpts from an interview with Taradas from “Backstory 2: Interviews with Screenwriters from the 1940s and 1950s”: ON HOW HE BROKE INTO THE WRITING BUSINESS I was

Making Goals: 2012 [Part 7] — Time Management

We pick up from last week with our year-end attempt to help GITS readers set and achieve their writing goals for 2012. To revisit the process of self-reflection from last week, here are the links: Part 1: Looking Back Part 2: Assessing Where You Are Part 3: Where

Screenwriting 101: Mark D. Rosenthal

“The word screenwriting is a kenning, which means it’s a composite of two nouns. This is my literary background. Everybody stays focused on the screen part, because it’s Hollywood and it’s fun and it’s money and it’s fame. The writing part, no one talks about.

Daily Dialogue — December 27, 2011

Russell stands on the jutting corner of the house rooftop. The unlit, unheated greenish family pool beckons to him below. It’s kicked in. RUSSELL (bellowing to the heavens) I AM A GOLDEN GOD!! Russell cackles at the joke of it all. William yells up from down below. WILLIAM Hey