Scott Myers

Great Characters: Lt. Col. Wilbur “Bull” Meechum (“The Great Santini”)

In the 1979 movie The Great Santini, there is a character very near to my own life experience. The film was based on a novel by Pat Conroy (“The Lords of Discipline,” “The Prince of Tides,” “My Losing Season”) and Lieutenant Colonel Wilbur “Bull” Meechum was based on Conroy’s

Daily Dialogue — October 14, 2011

“Redrum.” — Danny Torrance (Danny Lloyd), The Shining (1980), screenplay by Stanley Kubrick and Diane Johnson, based on the novel by Stephen King The Daily Dialogue theme for the week is memorable one-word lines. The Shining suggested by Ray. Trivia: There were so many changes to the script during shooting

Why do YOU write?

For the past four weeks, I have featured first-person essays by professional TV and film writers from the terrific Why We Write site (here). The site was started by Charles “Charlie” Craig and Thania St. John as a way to give writers a voice during the 2007–2008 WGA

Spec Script Sale: “Hyperdrive”

Paramount with a preemptive purchase of science fiction spec script “Hyperdrive” from writers Morgan Jurgenson and Alex Ankeles. From Variety: Story centers on a tough cop who recruits a geeky science-fiction writer to find a witness to a murder and is described as “Men in Black” meets “Midnight Run.

What’s the one thing — anything — you would change about movies?

Fellow Black List blogger Xander Bennett, host of the longtime Tumblr feed Screenwriting Tips… You Hack, has a new book out called “Screenwriting Tips, You Hack: 150 Practical Pointers for Becoming a Better Screenwriter” (available here). Tied to the book’s release, Franklin Leonard, Xander and I thought it would

GITS redesign

Welcome to the newly redesigned GITS site! This is part of a whole bigger Black List thing which you can read about at Deadline here. Please know that many of the changes reflected here are in direct response to feedback from the GITS community — from big things like layout and

GITS Script Reading and Analysis Series: “Pan’s Labyrinth″ — Theme

Onto the subject at hand today as we continue our analysis: What are some of the key themes in the draft of Pan’s Labyrinth we read? I don’t know what you think theme is about, but — as I articulated here previously — I think theme = meaning. And more pointedly,

The Business of Screenwriting: It’s not just about the script

Yes, you should focus on your spec script, but there’s much more to learn. We spend so much time here focusing on writing a great script, as well we should because that is such a critical piece of the Hollywood screenwriting puzzle. The quality of the scripts we write,

Daily Dialogue — October 13, 2011

“Abracadabra.” — Alfred Borden (Christian Bale), The Prestige (2006), screenplay by Jonathan Nolan and Christopher Nolan, based on a novel by Christopher Priest The Daily Dialogue theme for the week is memorable one-word lines. The Presige suggested by Kevin. Trivia: The main characters’ initials spell ABRA (Alfred Borden Robert Angier)

GITS Meet-Up: L.A. — When, Where, Why!

It’s official! The first GITS Meet-Up: L.A. is on! When: Saturday, November 5 from 5PM-??? Where: The Cat and Fiddle Restaurant and Pub (http://www.thecatandfiddle.com/), 6530 Sunset Blvd Los Angeles, CA 90028, (323) 468–3800. Why: For Southern California-based writers and GITS readers to

25 Things You Should Know About Writing Horror

From the deep, dark recesses of author Chuck Wendig’s mind, here are a few choice excerpts: 1. At The Heart Of Every Tale, a Squirming Know Of Worms Every story is, in its tiny way, a horror story. Horror is about fear and tragedy, and whether or not one

“Why We Write”: Curtis Kheel

During the last WGA strike, TV writers Charles “Charlie” Craig and Thania St. John started a blog called Why We Write. They posed that question to a number of writers and over a period of several months, posted their answers on the site. As far as I can tell, the

Spec Script Sale: “The Imitation Game”

Warner Bros. buys biopic drama spec script “The Imitation Game” from first-time screenwriter Graham Moore. From Deadline: To anyone with an interest in those Enigma codebreakers who helped win WWII and the math geniuses whose work led to the creation of the earliest computers, then the name Alan Turing

Spec Script Sale: “Gone”

Universal acquires action drama spec script “Gone” from writer Bryan Edward Hill. From Variety: Plot details are being kept under wraps but a source close to the production has described it as a “don’t mess with this guy” type of movie. “Don’t mess with this guy” type of

GITS Script Reading and Analysis Series: “Pan’s Labyrinth″ — Characters

Welcome to Week 6 of the GITS Script Reading & Analysis series. This week we will be analyzing the screenplay for Pan’s Labyrinth (written by Guillermo del Toro), your selection for the Fantasy genre. If you haven’t had a chance to read the script yet, you can go

Script To Screen: “The Crying Game”

The escape attempt in The Crying Game (written by Neil Jordan). Setup: A British soldier is kidnapped by IRA terrorists. He befriends one of his captors, who is drawn into the soldier’s world. Fergus prods him on with the gun. Jody stumbles forward. Fergus is all cold and businesslike.

Daily Dialogue — October 12, 2011

“Inconceivable!” — Vizzini (Wallace Shawn), The Princess Bride (1987), screenplay by William Goldman, based on his novel http://static.movieclips.com/embedplayer.swf?config=http://config.movieclips.com/player/config/embed/NH7kE/%3Floc%3DUS&endpoint=http://movieclips.com/api/v1/player/test/action/&start=0&v=1.0.

Do you know how to handle time within your scripts?

Time is fundamentally a mystery and no more so than in a movie. Centuries can pass in a matter of cinematic minutes. Conversely a single moment can be stretched for pages. There are time ellipses. Scene transitions. And always a writer must be cognizant of and manage a story’s

“Charlie Kaufman’s New Take on Hollywood: A ‘Cancerous Lie-Spewing Machine’”

From Steve Pond at The Wrap: Charlie Kaufman’s feelings of eternal sunshine seem to be over. “Frank or Francis,” the Oscar-winning screenwriter’s newest film, is a twisted and bitter broadside against nearly every aspect of the movie business, from filmmakers to critics to audiences. TheWrap got an

“Why We Write”: Billy Frolick

During the last WGA strike, TV writers Charles “Charlie” Craig and Thania St. John started a blog called Why We Write. They posed that question to a number of writers and over a period of several months, posted their answers on the site. As far as I can tell, the

Fanfilm: “Star Wars: Dark Resurrection Vol. 0”

Via Slashfilm: Quality fan films are a needle in a haystack. A haystack made up of bad fan films. It doesn’t take much time or effort to make a bad fan film because anyone with an iPhone can shoot what they think is a Star Wars or Firefly movie.

GITS Script Reading and Analysis Series: “Pan’s Labyrinth″ — Structure

Welcome to Week 6 of the GITS Script Reading & Analysis series. This week we will be analyzing the screenplay for Pan’s Labyrinth (written by Guillermo del Toro), your selection for the Fantasy genre. If you haven’t had a chance to read the script yet, you can go

Screenwriting 101: Adam Rifkin

“It’s always good to write something that you know you can write really well, especially when you’re starting out. If you think you can write a horror movie better than anybody else, but you kinda think it’d be cool to write this drama about these nuns going

Daily Dialogue — October 11, 2011

“Attica!” — Sonny Wortzik (Al Pacino), Dog Day Afternoon (1975), screenplay by Frank Pierson, based on articles by P.F. Kluge and Thomas Moore The Daily Dialogue theme for the week is memorable one-word lines. Dog Day Afternoon suggested by Nick West. Trivia: Frank Pierson wrote his Oscar-winning script

GITS Meet-Ups: The World?

The response to a possible GITS Meet-UP: LA has been strong enough I think it is going to happen. Interestingly non-Angelinos posted in Comments, Tweeted and emailed as well expressing an interest in possible meet-ups in other locales. So if you are a writer, screenwriter, TV writer,