Scott Myers

The Hangover 3?

This is what a $200M opening weekend at the box office will do: ‘Hangover II’ Co-Writer in Early Talks for Third Installment With Hangover II smashing records this weekend and grossing over $200 million worldwide, Warner Bros. is beginning to get the creative gang together for the third part.

How They Write A Script: Horton Foote

One of the most beloved American movies — and also one of my personal favorites — is To Kill a Mockingbird, the cinematic version of Harper Lee’s 1960 novel. The writer who adapted the novel into a screenplay is Horton Foote. A noted playwright as well as screenwriter, Foote’s movie

Showrunner Transcript: Bill Lawrence & Kevin Biegel (“Cougar Town”)

In conjunction with the annual broadcast network upfronts, New York magazine is running a series called “Showrunner Transcripts.” We will feature one each day for two weeks on GITS. What’s a showrunner? For a primer, you can go here to Wikipedia. The short answer: “The person who is responsible

The Business of Screenwriting: Who does what in a writer-representative relationship?

Let’s assume you get a manager and/or agent to represent you. Then what? What are their responsibilities as a representative? What are yours as a writer? Who does what in a writer-representative relationship? Every writer is different. Every rep is different. So obviously, working relationships between writers,

Ten trends of 20-somethings

Via HuffPo, ten trends among twenty-somethings: 1. Real-time expectations 2. More intensely local lives 3. Radical transparency 4. Expecting cheap or free everything 5. Demanding entertainment 6. Worrying about the planet 7. Seeing luxuries as standard 8. Pro-business, anti-multinational stance 9. Wanting to regulate the heck

How They Write A Script: Philip Dunne

Today some words of wisdom from screenwriter Philip Dunne. A veteran of the Hollywood “studio system”, Dunne had a long and prolific screenwriting career from 1932 to 1965. Writing credits include The Count of Monte Cristo (1932), The Last of the Mohicans (1936), The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (1947), and

Showrunner Transcript: Michael Schur (“Parks and Recreation”)

In conjunction with the annual broadcast network upfronts, New York magazine is running a series called “Showrunner Transcripts.” We will feature one each day for two weeks on GITS. What’s a showrunner? For a primer, you can go here to Wikipedia. The short answer: “The person who is responsible

Screenwriting 101: Robert Mark Kamen

“Write what makes you excited, and if it makes you excited, and you’re any good, it will excite somebody else. And if it doesn’t excite them to buy it, it will excite them to let you write something that they have. Focus on what makes you happy every

1200!

I see there are currently 1194 GITS followers via Google Friends Connect. Any readers out there feel like helping to push that number to 1200? What do you get for being an Official GITS Follower? Uh… nothing. Nothing that is but my undying gratitude. And this blast of creative juju.

Question: Do you make decisions about going to a theater to see a movie based upon the type of movie it is?

The other day, we had an interesting discussion about the downturn in ticket sales to movie theaters. This question occurred to me as a follow-up: Do you make decisions about going out to see a movie — as opposed to seeing it online, at home, DVD, etc — based upon the

Martin Scorsese Trying to Edit Kenneth Lonergan’s ‘Margaret’ Out of Limbo

“The reality that a bold talent like Lonergan has to fight this hard to get this film released is a truly sad commentary on commerce kicking art’s ass.” A key line from this article about the travails of getting the movie Margaret locked and released: Kenneth Lonergan‘s follow-

How They Write A Script: Jay Presson Allen

“She is one of a handful of first-rank screenwriters of the post-1960s who also happens to be female. This has figured into her trademark of flamboyant female characters, stories that often focus on divorce and marriage or explosive relationships, family matters (including the pilot episode of the prestigious

Showrunner Transcript: Robert & Michelle King (“The Good Wife”)

In conjunction with the annual broadcast network upfronts, New York magazine is running a series called “Showrunner Transcripts.” We will feature one each day for two weeks on GITS. What’s a showrunner? For a primer, you can go here to Wikipedia. The short answer: “The person who is responsible

Hollywood Tales

“He [Mickey Mouse] popped out of my mind onto a drawing pad… on a train ride from Manhattan to Hollywood at a time when business fortunes of my brother Roy and myself were at their lowest ebb and disaster seemed right around the corner.”  — Walt Disney

How They Write A Script: Ring Lardner, Jr.

“At the age of twenty-six, Ring Lardner Jr. shared the 1943 Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for Woman of the Year. Five years later, he was cited for contempt of Congress for refusing to state whether he was a member of the Communist Party. He was then blacklisted

The Wilhelm Scream

This week’s Daily Dialogue theme — dialogue from Star Wars movies — reminded me of the Wilhelm scream: The Wilhelm scream is a film and television stock sound effect first used in 1951 for the film Distant Drums. The effect gained new popularity (its use often becoming an in-joke) after

Showrunner Transcript: Carter Bays & Craig Thomas (“How I Met Your Mother”)

In conjunction with the annual broadcast network upfronts, New York magazine is running a series called “Showrunner Transcripts.” We will feature one each day for the next two weeks on GITS. What’s a showrunner? For a primer, you can go here to Wikipedia. The short answer: “The person who

On writing

“I write because I like to write.”  — Paddy Chayefsky Comment Archive

Movie trailer: “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo”

The first red band trailer for the American film version of Stieg Larsson’s international best selling mystery novel has hit the web, and from the looks of it, the Oscar-nominated director of “The Social Network” has tapped into his “Fight Club” and “Se7en” roots to create a darkly

Who wrote “All the President’s Men”?

Recently IndieWire had an article delving into an interesting subject: It goes without saying that screenwriter William Goldman is a legend. His scripts are practically textbooks for any aspiring writer and his filmography boasts stuff like “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,” “Marathon Man,” “The Princess Bride,” “Misery” and countless

“Young Adults”

Paramount put out a press release about the upcoming movie Young Adults: “YOUNG ADULT” Paramount Pictures and Mandate Pictures Present A Mr. Mudd Production In Association with Right of Way Films and Denver & Delilah Films A Film by Jason Reitman “Young Adult” Executive Producers Nathan Kahane, John Malkovich, Steven

Daily Dialogue — May 29, 2011

“This is stupid! You understand, stupid? On and on! At this rate we’ll still be here tomorrow! (throws the revolver on the table) Wait a minute. I know! Hey, I got it. More! Put in more! You understand more? More! More bullets! (he mimes with his fingers) Three bullets!

“Local Hero”: Documentary

Documentary: “Local Hero” A 1983 doc on the wonderful Bill Forsyth indie film Local Hero. Bonus video: Bill Forstyh visits the town where he shot Local Hero 25 years previous… and watches the movie for the first time in decades: Comment Archive

Written Interview: Larry David

This interview with Larry David takes place circa 1994, early on in the “Seinfeld” phenomenon and well before “Curb Your Enthusiasm”. LF: We’ll get to that. Your career is somewhat unusual by Hollywood standards. You didn’t come up through the ranks in the usual sense —  writer, producer, show

Daily Dialogue — May 28, 2011

“What have I done?”  — Colonel Nicholson (Alec Guinness), The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957), screenplay by Michael Wilson and Carl Foreman, based on the novel by Pierre Boulle http://movieclips.com/e/pXkuw/ The Daily Dialogue for the week is war movies. Trivia: The actual screenwriters of the movie,