Scott Myers

On Writing

“There’s nothing to stop a man from writing unless that man stops himself. If a man truly desires to write, then he will. Rejection and ridicule will only strengthen him. And the longer he is held back the stronger he will become, like a mass of rising water against

Popcorn Fiction: “Waking Up Normal”

The latest from screenwriter Derek Haas at his site Popcorn Fiction: A space traveler wakes up from cryo-sleep to have his routine interrupted in this paranoid thriller from newcomer Brian Brown. Brian came out of USC film school and was introduced to me by a screenwriting professor there. I

Daily Dialogue — August 9, 2010

“It’s a sunny, woodsy day in Lumberton, so get those chainsaws out. This is the mighty W.O.O.D., the musical voice of Lumberton. At the sound of the falling tree, it’s 9:30. There’s a whole lotta wood waitin’ out there, so let’s get

“NO SCRIPT FOR YOU! Actors Vying For Big Parts Can’t Read Full Screenplays Anymore”

From Deadline, the downside of PDF versions of screenplays: EXCLUSIVE: The writer/director Wachowski siblings have begun to invite actors to meet on their new film Cobalt Neural 9 about a taboo gay romance between an American and Iraqi soldier. But agents are telling me it has become yet another

Profile: Walter Murch (Part 3)

Our friend Trevor Hogg is back at FlickeringMyth with another profile, this one on famed film editor and sound engineer Walter Murch. Attentive readers know that I am fascinated about the relationship of editing and screenwriting, and in particular Murch’s ideas, as evidenced by previous posts here and here.

Last chance to vote for bad screenplay!

Per this: If you go here, you can see some suggestions by GITS readers for a bad screenplay to be the subject of the live September 5th ScriptChat discussion. Some of the suggestions: The A-Team 2012 The Bounty Hunter Dune I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell Crash Each

“Misspelling on page six proves veteran scribe has no pride in his craft”

With a title like that, you know it can only be an article at The Hollywood Roaster: Nearly two decades of hard work and dedication were completely undone by a semi-early typo in Scott Frank’s latest script, according to a production company intern.  “How hard is it to

Video Interview: Jim Jarmusch

Today’s video interview is with writer-director Jim Jarmusch. His credits include Stranger Than Paradise (1984), Coffee and Cigarettes (1986), Down by Law (1986), Mystery Train (1989), Night on Earth (1991), Ten Minutes Older: The Trumpet (2002), and Broken Flowers (2005). I think Down By Law is my favorite

Daily Dialogue — August 8, 2010

“Rosebud.”  — Charles Foster Kane (Orson Welles), Citizen Kane (1941), original screenplay by Herman J. Mankiewicz and Orson Welles The Daily Dialogue theme for the week: Notable opening lines. Citizen Kane suggested by Proveniebam. Trivia: Screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz wrote the balance of the screenplay for this film from a hospital

“After 54 Agents Said No: James King’s First Novel, and ‘Bill Warrington’s Last Chance’”

Here’s a wonderful story: At the age of 6, James King announced his intention to become a novelist. And in his 50s, that was still the plan. Yes, he paid the bills (and two college tuitions) with his day job writing corporate training materials. But every morning at 5,

Written Interview: Steve Levitan

Today’s interview is with TV writer Steve Levitan. Just check out this credit list: “The Critic” (2 episodes, 1994), “Wings” (15 episodes, 1991–1995), “The Larry Sanders Show” (2 episodes, 1995), “Frasier” (4 episodes, 1994–1996), “Men Behaving Badly” (1 episode, 1997), “Stark Raving Mad” (21 episodes, 1999–2000)

Daily Dialogue — August 7, 2010

“Garbage. All I’ve been thinking about all week is garbage. I mean, I just can’t stop thinking about it.”  — Ann Bishop Mullany (Andie McDowell), Sex, Lies, and Videotape (1988), written and directed by Steven Soderbergh The Daily Dialogue theme for the week is notable opening lines from a

The despair of the blank page

It beckons you with a daunting whisper. It mocks you with its dull emptiness. It freezes your soul with its ice cold whiteness. It is — the blank page! How can a mere 8 1/2 x 11 inch piece of white paper provoke such anxiety, such horror, such despair? The

“J.D. Salinger Unmasked: Never-Before Seen Photograph”

Some exciting news this week on the upcoming documentary Salinger as this Newsweek article zoomed around the Web and Twitter-verse: In April of 1968, the stamped date of the never-before-seen photograph above [to see photo, click on link above], J. D. Salinger would have been 49 years

“Tragedy of Comedy”

NYT’s op-ed columnist Maureen Dowd and Sam Wesson, 28-year-old author of “Fifth Avenue, 5 A.M.,” the best seller about the making of Breakfast at Tiffany’s, discuss “why romantic comedies now reek.” Some excerpts: Me: “How did we get from ‘Two for the Road’ to

“Awesome Infographic: Music Metaphors, Simplified”

The original post was back in June here: From FlavorWire: How about something similar for movies? Suggestions? There were a lot of responses, so I put together a list of suggestions here which included movies: Mike Dachuk said… The Future — Back, The Planet of the Apes — Return emily said… Oz:

Rob’s Finds

Another tour through interesting articles Rob Fuller finds on the Web. First since we featured The Matrix in the 40 Days of Screenplays challenge, how about this: Color Themes in “The Matrix”. Other than black, the three predominate colors in the movie appear to be Green, Blue, Red. Here’s

Great Scene: A Clockwork Orange, Part 1

Some great scenes stick with us, seared into our memories, despite — or because of — the fact that they prove difficult to watch. Such is the case of this assault scene in Stanley Kubrick’s 1971 masterpiece A Clockwork Orange. From the moment Alex (Malcolm McDowell) and his gang park outside

Daily Dialogue — August 6, 2010

“Saigon, shit. I’m still only in Saigon. Every time I think I’m gonna wake up back in the jungle.”  — Willard (Martin Sheen), Apocalypse Now (1979), screenplay by John Milius and Francis Ford Coppola, based on a novel by Joseph Conrad The Daily Dialogue theme for the week is

Spec Script Sale: “Man at Arms”

Echo Lake buys medieval action script “Man at Arms” from writer Jeremy Lott: Plot details are being kept under wraps, but “Arms” focuses on Lancelot and his adventures after the breakup of Camelot. And note this: Lott wrote the script as a spec that made the rounds, and while it

Analysis: Spec Scripts vs. Graphic Novels and Comic Books

In this recent post about the spec script market, I posited this that it would behoove someone to compare the sales of spec scripts to graphic novels and comic books. Well, that someone turned out to be me. From the always excellent site DoneDealPro, the results of a search for

Update: Kyle Killen and “Lone Star”

There are certain writers with whom I develop a fascination. Kyle Killen is one of them. It all started with his original script “The Beaver.” For those unfamiliar with the premise, here is what is currently on the project’s IMDB page: A guy walks around with a puppet of

Scene Description Spotlight: “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest”

I’ve featured the ending of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest before as it’s one of the most profound conclusions to a movie I can remember. But there’s a small bit of business in the scene description to which I want to draw attention: The use

Daily Dialogue — August 5, 2010

“There’s an old joke: Two elderly women are at a Catskill Mountain resort. And one of ’em says: ‘Boy, the food in this place is really terrible.’ The other one says: ‘Yeah, I know. And such small portions.’ Well, that’s essentially how I feel about life. Full of

Wanted: A bad screenplay to analyze!

I will get to the subject of the post title eventually. First have you heard about ScriptChat? One of the main people at the site is Jeanne Veillette Bowerman who sent along this description of what they do: Scriptchat was created for the purpose of bringing new and seasoned screenwriters