Scott Myers

On writing

“In nearly all good fiction, the basic — all but inescapable plot form is: A central character wants something, goes after it despite opposition (perhaps including his own doubts), and so arrives at a win, lose, or draw.”  — John Gardner

Daily dialogue — October 12, 2009

“Now I want you to remember that no bastard ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country.”  — General George Patton Jr. (George C. Scott), Patton (1970), screenplay and screen story by Francis Ford Coppola and

“What’s with all the zombies?”

One of my favorite political pundits David Sirota wonders, “Maybe the undead creatures surfacing everywhere in pop culture have something to do with Washington and Wall Street” in this Salon.com piece: What’s with all the zombies lately? That could be a question about one of the hippest retro

Update: The Brit List

Last Friday, The Brit List came out. Now Playlist provides an excellent overview of each of the scripts. Here are descriptions of the first two scripts: 1. “Good Luck Anthony Belcher” by George Kay — From Ruby Films, the producers of “Elizabeth” and “Sylvia”, this reteams writer Kay with director Jim

“‘Couples Retreat’ a popular destination, ‘Paranormal Activity’ sets record”

Per the LA Times: It was a big weekend at the box office for the ultra-mainstream and the ultra-indie. Universal’s romantic comedy “Couples Retreat” grossed a studio-estimated $35.3 million in the U.S. and Canada, surpassing expectations and becoming the studio’s first domestic hit

Video interview: Shauna Cross (Whip It)

The movie Whip It is currently in its 2nd week in theaters. Directed by Drew Barrymore and starring Ellen Page of Juno fame, the movie’s screenplay was written by Shauna Cross, who also wrote the novel upon which the story is based. In this 6+ minute interview excerpt, Cross

“The Tao of Tinseltown”

Michael Flemming and Peter Bart post this state-of-the-union overview of where the Hwood movie business is just now: This is a moment of both angst and opportunity for Hollywood filmmakers. Major cracks have opened up in the studio infrastructure. There have been regime shifts at three studios,

Video: “The Greatest Story Ever Told”

This makes you proud to be a screenwriter! An absolutely awesome video: Greatest Story Ever Told — Watch more Funny Videos “Never underestimate the power of a great story.” Brilliant! A huge honking H/T to Nicholas Smith for emailing me that link. Comment Archive

Interview: Richard Linklater

This is cool: Interview in a ‘time capsule’ with writer-director Richard Linklater as he was prepping Dazed and Confused (1993) for release. Here is Part 1. And here is Part 2. Here are a few choice bits with interviewer Jon Lebkowsky: (Linklater and I talked after “Dazed and Confused”

Daily dialogue — October 10, 2009

“Man, it’s the same bullshit they tried to pull in my day. If it ain’t that piece of paper, there’s some other choice they’re gonna try and make for you. You gotta do what Randall Pink Floyd wants to do man. Let me tell you this,

“Sony curtails development spending halfway through fiscal year”

This sucks: Sony Pictures has told the Hollywood creative community that it is all but halting spending on developing new movie projects until April 1, the start of its next fiscal year. That means that for the next six months, the studio will largely hold off from buying new scripts

An interview with Jill Sim (one of my students)

Got a note from one of my writing students Jill Sim about this interview: Today we conclude our interview series of the 2009 UCLA Extension Screenplay Competition finalists. Writer Jill Sim placed third in the competition and has great advice for other writers out there. For those of you interested

Great Scene: “Dr. Strangelove”

It’s one of my five favorite movies: Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964). Directed by Stanley Kubrick, co-written by Stanley Kubrick & Terry Southern & Peter George, based on the book “Red Alert” by Peter George, and featuring terrific performances

Daily dialogue — October 9, 2009

“Well, I’ve always thought the law was meant to be interpreted in a lenient manner. Sometimes I lean one way and sometimes I lean the other.”  — Hud (Paul Newman), Hud (1963), screenplay by Irving Ravetch and Harriet Frank Jr., based on a novel by Larry McMurtry Comment Archive

2009 Nicholl finalists announced

Per this announcement: Eleven writers have been selected as finalists for the 24th annual Don and Gee Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Their scripts will now be read and judged by the Academy’s Nicholl Committee, which may award as many

“‘Spotless Mind’ director [Charlie Kaufman] worries for future of film”

Writer-director Charlie Kaufman offers a few thoughts re the current state of movie-making: “I think it’s a disaster out there,” says Kaufman, who established his own style of story in such films as Adaptation, Being John Malkovich and his directing debut, last year’s Synecdoche, New York.

“The House Next Door”: Pixar Week

The fantastic movie blog The House Next Door has a particularly noteworthy set of posts this week as they dig deep into Pixar. Of special note: “Grandpa’s Flying House: Up and Howls’ Moving Castle”: If you read interviews or Wikipedia pages regarding director Pete Docter’s inspirations for Up,

“15 Most Memorable Ferris Bueller Moments”

From “Ferris’ monologue” to “The infamous car crash,” Moviefill provides its “15 Most Memorable Ferris Bueller Moments. I agree that Ferris’ monologue is pretty choice. But I still can’t believe they allowed Ben Stein to take up so much screen time with this bit of business: In 1930, the

Daily dialogue — October 8, 2009

“Everything is more complicated than you think. You only see a tenth of what is true. There are a million little strings attached to every choice you make; you can destroy your life every time you choose. But maybe you won’t know for twenty years. And you may never

“A Script Reader Speaks”

I ran a series of posts last year that was hugely informative. Since GITS has more than tripled the number of unique daily visitors in the last 6 months, there are probably a number of people who haven’t checked out the Q&A. To give you a taste,

“13 Writing Tips” from Chuck Palahniuk (author “Fight Club”)

Author Chuck Palahniuk, probably best known for writing the novel “Fight Club,” weighs in with 13 writing tips. Here are the first three: Number One: Two years ago, when I wrote the first of these essays it was about my “egg timer method” of writing. You never saw that essay,

Pitch sale: “Reel to Real”

Disney picks up comedy pitch “Reel to Real” from writer Eric Saiet and Andrea Maywhort-Scully: Disney has preemptively picked up “Reel to Real,” a family fantasy pitch by Eric Saiet and Andrea Maywhort-Scully. The story involves a magical film projector. Saiet and Maywhort-Scully, based in New York,

“Hasbro CEO delivers MIPCOM keynote”

What’s MIPCOM, you ask? Per Wikipedia: MIPCOM is a media content related event which is held in the town of Cannes once every year, normally in October. It is the same location as the world famous Cannes Film Festival. It is essentially a content event for co-producing, buying,

Screenwriting 101: Robert McKee

“Screenwriting is the art of making the mental physical. We create visual correlatives for inner conflict — not dialogue or narration to describe ideas and emotions.”  — Robert McKee Comment Archive

Daily dialogue — October 7, 2009

“How do you get people to protect themselves from something they don’t believe in?”  — Steve Andrew (Steve McQueen), The Blob (1958), screenplay by Kay Linaker, story by Irvine Millgate Comment Archive