Scott Myers

“Ten rules for writing fiction”: Will Self

Several GITS readers emailed me about a great series The Guardian ran recently: Ten Rules For Writing Fiction. Today we feature Will Self: 1 Don’t look back until you’ve written an entire draft, just begin each day from the last sentence you wrote the preceeding day. This prevents

Spec Script Sale: “Blank Slate”

Bold Films picks up action-thriller spec script “Blank Slate” from writers Doug Cook and David Weisberg (The Rock, Double Jeopardy): “Slate,” described as a female-oriented take on “The Bourne Identity,” involves the CIA which, in order to investigate a murdered female agent, implants the agent’s memories into

How They Write a Script: Richard Brooks

Another in the GITS series “How They Write a Script,” excerpts from interview with notable Hollywood screenwriters. Today screenwriter, director, and novelist Richard Brooks (1912–19920. Here is a list of Brook’s movie credits: 1942 Men of Texas (Ray Enright). Additional dialogue. Sin Town (Ray Enright). Additional dialogue. 1943

On Writing

“What no [spouse] of a writer can ever understand is that a writer is working when he’s staring out of the window.” — Burton Rascoe Comment Archive

Daily Dialogue — March 22, 2010

“I might be the only person on the face of the earth that knows you’re the greatest woman on earth. I might be the only one who appreciates how amazing you are in every single thing that you do, and how you are with Spencer, “Spence,” and in every

Movies You Made: “The Virgins”

A young local filmmaker Josh Clayton is pretty excited right now: The World Premiere for THE VIRGINS, a feature film directed by Josh Clayton and starring Carrie Anne Hunt, Kristi Ray, and Brad Mills, will happen 7PM Thursday, April 1st at the Galaxy Cinema in Cary, NC. After the screening

Reader Question: Do I need to secure rights to a book I’m relying on for research?

Open Forum question from meg: I’m playing around with an idea for a script now that’s based on an historical event that as far I can see hasn’t ever been done. I’ve just started my research. There is one well-known book on the topic as

“Meet the new action heroes: Lincoln, Da Vinci, Dickens and Queen Victoria”

We’ve been down this road on GITS before — “Brands are the new stars”, “Now it’s Erector Set 3D: The Movie (No Kidding!) — and have been introduced to a new concept based on old stuff: Pre-branded brands. That is, anything old that Hwood could turn into a movie,

“Ten rules for writing fiction”: Ian Rankin

Several GITS readers emailed me about a great series The Guardian ran recently: Ten Rules For Writing Fiction. Today we feature Ian Rankin: 1 Read lots. 2 Write lots. 3 Learn to be self-critical. 4 Learn what criticism to accept. 5 Be persistent. 6 Have a story worth telling.

Motion Picture Scripts Database

For those of you who live in the L.A. area, check this out: Motion Picture Scripts Database An Inventory of the Motion Picture Script Holdings of Six Los Angeles-Area Libraries This database details the film script holdings of six Los Angeles area collections: the Academy of Motion Picture

Video Interview: Alex Litvak

H/T to GITS reader Michael Flynn for sending me these links, an interview with screenwriter Alex Litvak who has no produced credits at this point, but did write on the movie Predators and sold a spec script “Medieval” for $800K against $1.6M in 2009: Part 1 Part 2

Daily Dialogue — March 21, 2010

“I don’t want to talk to you no more, you empty headed animal food trough wiper. I fart in your general direction. Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries.”  — French Soldier (John Cleese), Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975), screenplay Graham Chapman, John Cleese,

What was the first R-rated movie you saw?

I’m thinking for me it was Carnal Knowlege (1971) starring Jack Nicholson, Art Garfunkel, Candace Bergen, and Ann-Margaret. And here’s some history of the MPAA rating system: Replacement of Hays Code The Hays Code, in place since 1930, was deemed by the MPAA to be no longer

Reader Question: Is it okay to use a pen name when submitting a script?

An Open Forum question from meg: What are the rules for the name a screenwriter must use when submitting a script? Can I use a pen name? Absolutely. In fact, when K-9 went in for the weekend read at 20th Century Fox, the writers on the script’s titled

“The greatest film scenes ever shot”

Hey, looks like the Guardian has been tracking GITS and our Great Scene series. Or maybe not. But in true Hollywood fashion, allow me to take credit anyhow for this article: We all have film sequences that stick in our minds. Some are shared by many — such as the shower

“Five rules for writing fiction”: Annie Proulx

Several GITS readers emailed me about a great series The Guardian ran recently: Ten Rules For Writing Fiction. Today we feature Annie Proulx: 1 Proceed slowly and take care. 2 To ensure that you proceed slowly, write by hand. 3 Write slowly and by hand only about subjects that interest

Written Interview: Scott Rosenberg

A super movie blog KidInTheFrontRow.com has this exclusive interview with screenwriter Scott Rosenberg. His writing credits include Things to Do in Denver When You’re Dead (1995), Beautiful Girls (1996), Con Air (1997), High Fidelity (2000), Gone in Sixty Seconds (2000), and some TV series including “October Road.” (19

Daily Dialogue — March 20, 2010

“To call you stupid would be an insult to stupid people! I’ve known sheep that could outwit you. I’ve worn dresses with higher IQs. But you think you’re an intellectual, don’t you, ape?”  — Wanda (Jamie Lee Curtis) to Otto West (Kevin Kline), A Fish Called Wanda

Reader Question: What is the protocol in following up after a script submission?

Open Forum question from Mike. Another marketing question: when a production company/manager requests your script what is the accepted protocol for following up? Or do you bite the bullet and accept the fact that silence == PASS? What you take as “silence” may in fact translate into “busy.” Speaking personally,

Daily Dialogue theme suggestion

We’ve had a lot of fun this week with insults, but I’d like to veer in an entirely different tonal direction for next week: Notable dialogue in which one character expresse their love for another character — hopefully to inspire us all to be more creative than saying, “I

Spec Script Sale: “Road to Nardo”

Sony buys comedy spec “Road to Nardo” from writers Andrew Waller and Mike Gagerman: “Nardo” revolves around two guys who go to Mexico to rescue their friend. Waller directed the straight-to-DVD movie “American Pie Presents Beta House.” He and Gagerman are high school buds who teamed up to

Rob’s Finds

This week, Rob starts us off with a primer on horror movies. First, from Gunaxin.com, “The Ten Best Italian Horror Movies”: Italian horror? Really? Is this something relevant and even scary? Hell. Yes. Italian directors of horror movies rank among the top greatest horror directors over all… yeah, that

“Seven rules for writing fiction”: Joyce Carol Oates

Several GITS readers emailed me about a great series The Guardian ran recently: Ten Rules For Writing Fiction. Today we feature Joyce Carol Oates: 1 Don’t try to anticipate an “ideal reader” — there may be one, but he/she is reading someone else. 2 Don’t try to anticipate

Great Scene: “Shakespeare In Love”

A wonderful screenplay Shakespeare In Love (1998), written by Marc Norman and Tom Stoppard. There are so many fantastic scenes in the script, but here’s a great one: Viola, who has dressed as a man “Thomas Kent” in order to act in Shakespeare’s newest play, has delivered a

Daily Dialogue — March 19, 2010

“Benjamin is nobody’s friend. If Benjamin were an ice cream flavor, he’d be pralines and dick.”  — Garth Algar (Dana Carvey), Wayne’s World (1992), written by Mike Myers and Bonnie Turner & Terry Turner, characters by Mike Myers The Daily Dialogue theme this week is insults, suggested by