Scott Myers

Daily Dialogue — June 21, 2010

“Earth women who experience sexual ecstasy with mechanical assistance always tend to feel guilty!”  — Robot (John Candy), Heavy Metal (1981), screenplay by Daniel Goldberg & Len Blum This week’s Daily Dialogue theme is animated movies. Trivia: The film was inspired by a long-running science fiction magazine of the

A Father’s Day gift for GITS readers!

GITS reader P sent me this nice Father’s Day present: A link featuring famous writers’ typewriters. A few examples: Before he switched to an Apple computer, Douglas Adams wrote the “Hitchhikers Guide” on this machine. John Steinbeck’s. Ernest Hemingway’s. HT to P!  Happy Father’s Day all!

Profile: Hayao Miyazaki (Part 4)

From our friend Trevor Hogg at FlickeringMyth.com, a profile on the legendary writer-director-animator Hayao Miyazaki. Today an excerpt from Part 4: “I certainly do not make animated films just so they will be popular with children,” stated Studio Ghibli co-founder Hayao Miyazaki. “I try to create

When is a cliché not a cliché?

A recent comment on this post re “The Beaver” (written by Kyle Killen) from over a year ago from mx: Alarm goes off. He slaps it dead. “I’m lucky if by P. 4 the main character has finished brushing his teeth after the typical alarm-goes-off-struggling-to-

“Pay the writer”

We featured a 1976 interview with writer Harlan Ellison here last week. Coincidentally my friend Tor Valenza sent me this link: A memorable (and timely) rant from the upcoming feature documentary on Harlan Ellison, “DREAMS WITH SHARP TEETH.” The trailer for the documentary: For more info and excerpts, go to

Video Interview: Bob Gale

Today’s interview is with screenwriter Bob Gale whose writing credits include I Wanna Hold Your Hand (1978), 1941 (1979), Used Cars (1980), Back to the Future (1985), Back to the Future Part II (1989), and Back to the Future Part III (1990).  Here Gale discusses early drafts of Back

Daily Dialogue — June 20, 2010

Dr. Julian Winston: You really tried to kill yourself over me?   Toni Simmons: Stupid, wasn’t it?   Dr. Julian Winston: I’m a bastard, the biggest bastard in the whole world.   Toni Simmons: Julian, please, you’re starting to make it sound like bragging.  — Dr. Julian Winston (Walter Matthau), Toni

“How Fox throws writers under the train: The real story behind ‘The A-Team’ script fiasco”

A follow-up to Nikki Finke’s article “11 WRITERS LATER: How 20th Exec Alex Young Lost Control of ‘The A-Team’” by Patrick Goldstein: “How Fox throws writers under the train: The real story behind ‘The A-Team’ script fiasco”: Screenwriters all around town Thursday got a big laugh

“‘Toy Story 3’ opens on pace for record”

Per THR: The animated toys of “Toy Story 3” don’t have to worry about audiences abandoning them. Disney’s release of the third installment in the blockbuster franchise roared out of the gate, collecting an estimated $41 million at the North American boxoffice on Friday. The G-rated feature,

“Final Draft 3D”

The Hollywood Roaster goes high-tech with his latest: My favorite: The truck through the plothole. Good stuf, THR!

Written Interview: Michael Jelenic

Today’s interview is with TV and screenwriter Michael Jelenic. His writing credits include “Jackie Chan Adventures” (4 episodes, 2002–2003), “The Batman” (3 episodes, 2005–2006), “Legion of Super Heroes” (3 episodes, 2007–2008), and the animated movie Wonder Woman (2009) (V) (screenplay) (story). Some excerpts: Michael, you wrote

Daily Dialogue — June 19, 2010

“He’s so full of twists. He starts to describe a donut and it comes out a pretzel.”  — Henry Hinkle (Jack Lemmon), The Fortune Cookie (1966), written by I.A.L. Diamond & Billy Wilder This week’s Daily Dialogue theme is movies written by I.A.L. “Izzy” Diamond,

Reader Question: Why do main characters in movies always almost die?

That was a question my son Luke asked as we were out on an errand. The specific references in his mind were the two movies he’d most recently seen Get Smart and Wall-E. And, indeed, both of those movies’ Protagonists do more than brush up against death — Maxwell

“Pixar, with ‘Toy Story 3,’ shows increasing reliance on sequels”

Following up on this post yesterday, an overview of Pixar and sequels via the LA Times Business section: Pixar Animation Studios, the pioneering digital studio that long prided itself on creating novel stories and characters, is now treading a well-worn Hollywood path. Three of the company’s next four

Reader Question: What do you think of screenplay competitions?

From comments in a post the other day from George: Scott and All, What is your opinion of Screenwriting contests? As opposed to me posting my thoughts first, how about we open up this one for GITS readers. I’ll provide my feedback after you folks weigh in with your

Great Scene: “The Thing From Another World”

I was a huge science fiction movie freak as a kid and The Thing From Another World (1951) is still one of my all-time favorites. From a script by Charles Lederer, based on the story “Who Goes There” by John W. Campbell Jr. (with uncredited writing provided by Howard

Daily Dialogue — June 18, 2010

“Who wants to be a stray dog? You got to belong to someone, even if he kicks you once in a while.”  — Irma la Douce (Shirley MacLaine), Irma la Douce (1963), screenplay by Billy Wilder & I.A.L. Diamond, based on a play by Alexandre Breffort This week’s

Reader Question: How do you know when you’re really done with a script?

GITS reader willxmnm just found and read A Script Reader Speaks, a 6-part Q&A I did with D.C. Mar, friend, writer, and long-time script reader / story analyst. This led to a question from willxmnm I’m sure all of us can relate to: Scott, I

“With Sequels and Reboots Failing, Hollywood (Finally) Puts Out a Desperate Call for Original Material”

Oh, boy. Let’s see on June 2nd, we had this article from THR: “Are moviegoers tiring of sequels”? Hollywood still hopes to shake off early symptoms, but there is spreading concern that the summer boxoffice will be plagued by a nasty case of sequelitis. Conditions are ripe: Studios have

Musings from Christopher Nolan

From AICN: Ahoy, squirts. Quint here. Geoff Boucher’s Hero Complex Film Festival continued last night with a double feature of INSOMNIA and THE DARK KNIGHT. The two features were split by the Q&A with Nolan and he had some really cool stuff to say about all things

Gillian Fritzsche’s new project: “Sonny”

Back in February, I featured this Q&A with Gillian Fritzsche, one of the producers of the independent movie The Rock ’n’ Roll Dreams of Duncan Christopher. In that interview, Gillian mentioned this: To date, I’ve completed three treatments, three screenplays, and a short film. I’ve not

Scene Description Spotlight: “Titanic”

Before Avatar went on to gross $2.72B worldwide, writer-director James Cameron created another movie phenomenon called Titanic (1997) which grossed a mere $1.84B worldwide. One key to the success of Titanic was its appeal to adolescent girls, a significant number of them attending the movie multiple times.

Daily Dialogue — June 17, 2010

“Any world that can produce the Taj Mahal, William Shakespeare, and striped toothpaste can’t be all bad.”  — C.R. MacNamara (James Cagney), One, Two, Three (1961), screenplay by Billy Wilder & I.A.L. Diamond, based on a play by Ferenc Molnár This week’s Daily Dialogue theme is

Reader Question: Do I continue with a 5th draft or start writing a new script?

Open forum question from Jerry: Scott, First time question asker, long time blog reader; What is your approach for rewriting scripts? Do you go from draft to draft immediately or do you take time between each draft? I ask because I’m in the middle of a 5th draft, but

“Axe Cop”

H/T to GITS reader Gregaria whose comments re this post — Writing as Child’s Play, Part 2 — turned me onto the wonder that is “Axe Cop”. The background: The AXE COP saga began on a Christmas visit to see my family. My Father, a man with very healthy loins,