Scott Myers

Reader Question: Is it okay to include an image in a spec script?

Yesterday’s script for the 7 Days of Screenplays (Thriller) challenge was Se7en. In comments, Chris Drzewiecki said: Did anyone else notice the use of the diagram on page 32? I believe this is copied straight from “The Divine Comedy”… Scott are there any specific rules when it comes to

The story behind script coverage: “Primary and Secondary Genres”

A few weeks ago, I received some feedback about this series: The Story Behind Script Coverage, which I ran in June 2009. The readers suggested I re-run the series, figuring that many GITS readers might have missed the original run. So each day for the last eight days, I

Popcorn Fiction: “Here I Sit, Broken-Hearted” by Sam Reaves

From Derek Haas at Popcorn Fiction with the site’s weekly short non-fiction offering: Hello, PF readers! I first met novelist Sam Reaves at the LA Crime Book Convention last spring. We spoke about our mutual affection for pulpy crime fiction and afterward, I read his excellent novel MEAN

Daily Dialogue — November 22, 2010

[During the camp’s Thanksgiving play, with Wednesday as Pocahontas and Amanda as Sarah Miller] Wednesday: [going off the script] Wait! Amanda: [confused] What? Wednesday: We cannot break bread with you. Amanda: Huh? Becky, what’s going on? Becky: [whispering] Wednesday! Wednesday: You have taken the land which is rightfully

Kurt Vonnegut: 8 Basics of Creative Writing

On Friday, I posted this question: What’s the single best piece of advice you know about writing? Got some great responses and I thought they deserved to be compiled into a post of their own which I’ll do tomorrow. As a taste of their goodness, here’s something

Profile: Francis Ford Coppola (Part 3)

Our friend Trevor Hogg is back at FlickeringMyth with the third installment in a 5-part profile of Francis Ford Coppola. An excerpt: “I threw The Outsiders [1983] into production immediately after the failure in the United States of One from the Heart,” remarked Francis Ford Coppola who cinematically adapted

The story behind script coverage: “How to Write Coverage”

A week or so ago, I received some feedback about this series: The Story Behind Script Coverage, which I ran in June 2009. The readers suggested I re-run the series, figuring that many GITS readers might have missed the original run. So each day at 11AM PST (U.S.

Video Interview: J.K. Rowling & Steve Kloves (“Harry Potter”)

Continuing our Harry Potter theme with the opening this weekend of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1, I was shocked to find this: An interview with the author of the HP book series J.K. Rowling alongside the screenwriter of 7 of the 8 HP movies Steve Kloves.

Bonus monologue: “The X-Files”

“Life is like a box of chocolates. A cheap, thoughtless, perfunctory gift that nobody ever asks for. Unreturnable, because all you get back is another box of chocolates. So you’re stuck with this undefinable whipped mint crap that you mindlessly wolf down when there’s nothing else left to

Daily Dialogue — November 21, 2010

“I guess this is just another lost cause Mr. Paine. All you people don’t know about lost causes. Mr. Paine does. He said once they were the only causes worth fighting for and he fought for them once. For the only reason any man ever fights for them. Because

Trailer: “Source Code”

Per Cinematical: The set-up is classic smart sci-fi: as part of some sort of futuristic program, a soldier named Colter (Jake Gyllenhaal) finds himself reliving a devastating train accident over and over again in order to find the culprit responsible for the deadly derailing. He is aided in

Saturday Hot Links

This week’s hot links: HuffPo: The 10 worst movie adaptations from books. Get ready for Paranormal Activity 3. Daniel Day Lewis cast as Lincoln. Phew! I thought for a second it might have been Abe the Vampire Hunter.  NYT: In the 60s, power in Hollywood shifted to indie filmmakers…

The story behind script coverage: General Coverage Information

A week or so ago, I received some feedback about this series: The Story Behind Script Coverage, which I ran in June 2009. The readers suggested I re-run the series, figuring that many GITS readers might have missed the original run. So each day at 11AM PST (U.S.

Written Interview: Steve Kloves (“Harry Potter”)

Geoff Boucher at The Hero Complex with this interview with screenwriter Steve Kloves. His movie credits include Racing with the Moon, The Fabulous Baker Boys, Wonder Boys, and then these: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets Harry Potter and the Prisoner of

Daily Dialogue — November 20, 2010

“Five months ago I was on the subway on my way to work, was sitting on the express same as every morning looking out the window watching the local stops go by in the dark with an empty head and my arms folded, not feeling great, not feeling rotten, just

Daily Dialogue theme for next week: Thanksgiving movies!

I’m taking a holiday break from our current list of DD theme suggestions to focus next week on movies that have something to do with Thanksgiving. Ones that come to mind: Planes, Trains & Automobiles Pieces of April The Ice Storm Scent of a Woman Alice’s Restaurant What

“Cars 2”: Action-comedy!

Per Steve Zeitchik at 24 Frames: We knew “Cars 2” was going in an “international espionage” direction, as an early press release had it. But until Tuesday morning’s trailer, we didn’t quite know how much of an action-comedy the film really was.  The Pixar sequel will do

“Have a plan”

The Bitter Script Reader recently did something with his readers called “Project Wilson Phillips,” a collaborative writing challenge. TBSR posted something this week, a lesson learned from the process: As we’ve seen over the last few weeks, interesting problems result when you set out on your story without a

The story behind script coverage: Coverage Questions

A week or so ago, I received some feedback about this series: The Story Behind Script Coverage, which I ran in June 2009. The readers suggested I re-run the series, figuring that many GITS readers might have missed the original run. So each day at 11AM PST (U.S.

Great Characters: Kesuke Miyagi (“The Karate Kid”)

In the 1984 movie The Karate Kid (written by Robert Mark Kamen) the story’s Mentor is known as Mr. Miyagi, played by the late Pat Morita, a role for which Morita was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. Here is the plot synopsis per IMDB: Daniel

Daily Dialogue — November 19, 2010

“For the last couple of months, Senator Rumson has suggested that being president of this country was, to a certain extent, about character, and although I have not been willing to engage in his attacks on me, I’ve been here three years and three days, and I can tell

The story behind script coverage: Comments

A week or so ago, I received some feedback about this series: The Story Behind Script Coverage, which I ran in June 2009. The readers suggested I re-run the series, figuring that many GITS readers might have missed the original run. So each day at 11AM PST (U.S.

The GITS Club Treatment Challenge: How to write a treatment

So on Monday I posted an idea: The GITS Club Monthly Treatment Challenge: Each month, we invite TGC members to write and submit a 2-page treatment of a story they plan to write or have written as a full-length movie screenplay. One treatment will be selected in a

The Business of Screenwriting: Movies are a director’s medium

“But that’s the whole point of the goddammed movie! That would be me, shouting in a cramped conference room in the Beverly Hills offices of Castle Rock Entertainment. “I disagree.” That would be the movie’s director. We are gathered for a pre-production meeting on the movie called

Daily Dialogue — November 18, 2010

“You know, so much of the time we’re just lost. We say, “Please, God, tell us what is right; tell us what is true.” And there is no justice: the rich win, the poor are powerless. We become tired of hearing people lie. And after a time, we become