Scott Myers

Reader Question: How well read (books) does a screenwriter need to be?

Retail asks: Scott, Forgive the amateur nature of this question. How well read (book form) does a screenwriter need to be? I know this sounds stupid, but I’ve never been one to read books. I’ve read books, of course, but I am a child of cinema and television.

Infographic: “Game of Thrones”

I don’t consider myself particularly dense. I mean I did go to graduate school at Yale. But I have to confess, I am still trying to figure out the ‘roster’ of characters on the new HBO series “Game of Thrones.” I literally have to pause the playback after a

Spec Script Sale: “Inside the Machine”

CBS Films acquires action thriller spec script “Inside the Machine” from writer Marc Maurino. Per Deadline: The story centers on an undercover ATF agent who infiltrates a vicious cartel and is seduced by the power and violence he finds there. “Inside The Machine is about a man struggling to keep

Dialogue: Action / Reaction

In the Screenwriting Master Class course I’m currently teaching — Core V: Dialogue — Lecture 1 analyzed the first scene in The Social Network, eight pages of a verbal back-and-forth between Mark Zuckerberg and his (for the moment) girlfriend Erica. The main point of the analysis is to show

The Business of Screenwriting: The crazed life of a studio executive

The Business of Screenwriting: The Crazed Life of a Studio Executive There is nothing laid-back about movie execs who live life in the fast lane and this impacts you — the writer. Here’s one thing you have to realize about movie studio executives: Their lives are crazed. Hectic, pressurized,

Movie Trailer: “Horrible Bosses”

This looks fun: Comment Archive

Reader Question: What’s the scoop on writer’s residuals?

Residuals! We LOVE residuals! It’s like free money! Justin asks: Hi Scott, could you talk about writer residuals in a real world sense, sort of break it down? The first thing you need to know is residuals are awesome! Seriously. Every three months, screenwriters get these pale green envelopes

Remembering Douglas Adams (11 March 1952–11 May 2001)

Thanks to MTV Movies blog for reminding me that today is the 10th anniversary of Douglas Adams’ death. We have to honor Adams. I mean who here hasn’t read “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy”? What? You in the corner there! You haven’t read it?  I’m…

From the annals of Hollywood entertainment law!

Apropos to this GITS reader question the other day, here is a story involving a writer-producer, a studio, a movie franchise, an agency, and the law: “The complaint provides an insight into a lucrative writing deal. According to the complaint, Herz was compensated by Universal for American Pie 3

Where story ideas come from…

From the NYT: EDGARD, La. — Mary Todd Lincoln, in shimmering evening wear, calls to her husband. They are late. A gaunt, black-clad president strides to join her in a horse-drawn carriage bound for Ford’s Theater. The rest is history. But not the usual kind. As the Lincolns

Screenwriting 101: Wesley Strick

“I have two tricks. One is that I write every day, regardless of whether I want to or not because as I just said, in a way I never want to write. It’s not even an issue. I just write four pages a day when I’m working. I

Reader Question: What about “establishing shots” and “establishing scenes”?

Phil asks: Do you always have to have an establishing shot of the outside for the next scene inside? Especially if it’s later in the story and it’s an obvious location, say the Oval Office with the President. The short answer is “no.” And while we’re here,

Q&A: Kyle Killen (“Lone Star,” “Awake”), Part 2

In Part 1 of my interview with screenwriter and TV writer Kyle Killen, we focused on his movie The Beaver which is in theaters now. Today we shift to Kyle’s work in television: You created a Fox TV series called “Lone Star,” the premise of which is an oil

Hollywood Tales

“The screenplay is the most fragile art form there is, the one with the most perilous journey from cocoon to butterfly. A novelist, a singer, a sculptor — they can just do it and it’s done. I know that’s a mighty simplification, but when a screenwriter ‘does it,’ it’

Daily Dialogue — May 10, 2011

[after finding her 15-year-old son’s bag full of porno tapes]  “I assume you’re watching these because you’re curious about sex… you know. Or filmmaking.”  — Helen Buckman (Diane Wiest), Parenthood (1989), screenplay by Lowell Ganz & Babaloo Mandel, story by Lowell Ganz & Babaloo Mandel &

Reader Question: What’s the best way to determine a “helluva good” entertainment lawyer?

tracinell asked: Is there a magic 8 ball to help me choose a “helluva good” entertainment lawyer? Please say yes. ;) I totally get the relevance of your question as this post and the loss of $300K in potential income will attest. A screenwriter or TV writer needs a damn good

Top grossing movies (adjusted dollars)

Recently a GITS reader raised a question about the all-time top box office movies, adjusted for inflation. I finally remembered to follow through on that and went to one of my favorite sites BoxOfficeMojo. Here is the top 25: 1Gone with the WindMGM$1,588,070,800$198,676,

Immersing yourself in the world of movies

On Saturday, I posted a great interview with screenwriter Lem Dobbs. In it, he says the following: No one seems to realize that the people at the very top, the ones everyone else would like to be — Spielberg, Scorsese, Tarantino — they know more about movies than you do, they’ve

Q&A: Kyle Killen (“The Beaver”), Part 1

Back in the good ol’ days when screenplays could float around the Web freely without legal threats from ginormous corporate entities, I posted a detailed analysis and glowing review of a script called “The Beaver.” Ever since that time, I have followed the career of its writer Kyle Killen. “The

On writing

“I don’t need time. What I need is a deadline.”  — Duke Ellington Comment Archive

“Dialogue: Finding Your Character’s Voice”

Tomorrow I start a brand new two-week Screenwriting Master Class online course Core V: Dialogue, subtitled “Finding Your Character’s Voice.” We will be analyzing dialogue from some great scripts including The Social Network, The King’s Speech, Winter’s Bone, Jerry Maguire, Sideways, and others to reveal key

Meaning of frogs in the movie “Magnolia”

So today’s Daily Dialogue post was from the movie Magnolia. When I Tweeted that, I received a question on Twitter from @cscboston: The frogs…wtf was with the frogs??? A key aspect to interpreting the true meaning of this film lies in its many references of Exodus 8:2

Success Story: Faiza Ambah

Almost nothing gives me more satisfaction than writers who work with me in a classroom setting achieving success in the entertainment business. Faiza Ambah is one such writer. She worked on a wonderful script A Reverence for Spiders in one of my online writing workshops and was selected to participate

Daily Dialogue theme for the week: Mothers!

Seeing as tomorrow is Mother’s Day, why not honor our Moms with a week’s worth of notable dialogue from maternal movie characters? It can be inspirational: http://movieclips.com/e/ZRKFy/ Or demented: http://movieclips.com/e/V4uJM/ But it’s dialogue featuring mothers in memorable moments. So

Spec Script Sale: “Into the Beautiful”

Producer Wendy Finerman acquires spec comedy-drama “Into the Beautiful from writer Anne Meredith: A group of college friends reunite at a cabin to visit with a cancer-striken friend before he commits suicide. Meredith is repped by WME and Brillstein Entertainment Partners. Sale date: 4/4/11. This is