Scott Myers

Emmys: Writing Awards

The nominees and winners of writing awards at last night’s Emmys: WRITING FOR A COMEDY “Flight Of The Conchords” — “Prime Minister” (HBO) — James Bobin, Jemaine Clement, Bret McKenzie, WINNER: “30 Rock” — “Reunion” (NBC) — Matt Hubbard “30 Rock” — “Apollo, Apollo” (NBC) — Robert Carlock “30 Rock” — “Mamma Mia” (NBC) Ron Weiner

On writing

“First you have nothing, and then, astonishingly, after ripping out your brain and your heart and betraying your friends and ex-lovers and dreaming like a zombie over the page till you can’t see or hear or smell or taste, you have something.” — T.C. Boyle Comment Archive

Meditation and writing

H/T to Mystery Man for rustling up this article on screenwriter Bruce Joel Rubin: It’s a constant in screenwriter Bruce Joel Rubin’s life, something that happens every day without fail. It’s the time he reserves for meditation. Without it, he doubts whether his Oscar-winning script

Video interview: Richard Brooks

A nifty catch with today’s video interview: From the French TV series “Cinema cinemas”, September, 1985 featuring screenwriter and director Richard Brooks. Brooks wrote Key Largo (1948), then wrote and directed The Last Time I Saw Paris (1954), Blackboard Jungle (1955), Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958), Elmer

Mystery Man: “Moneyball”

I’ve been tracking the Moneyball fiasco for a while: here, here, and here. But Mystery Man goes above and beyond the call of duty with his latest post. In it, MM provides a thorough overview of the project’s history. He also reviews the Steve Zaillian script — available here.

“Twist and Doubt: Movie Plot Twists and Surprise Endings

H/T to Mystery Man for finding this: There’s nothing better than a movie with a great twist, something to give you a sense of uncanny fright that leaves you shivering and tingling with an excited bemusement. And the idea of a revelatory twist goes way back, a classic

Interview: Terry Rossio

The writing duo of Terry Rossio and Ted Elliott are — in my humble opinion — the best writers here-and-now of mainstream commercial Hwood movies, what is called ‘popcorn movies.’  I’ve already featured an interview with the duo here, but here is a Q&A with Rossio that

The writer’s life: What are you afraid of?

The single greatest inhibitor to creativity is fear. Do you recognize any of these ‘voices’: * I am afraid of typing FADE IN. * I am afraid I won’t be able to finish the script. * I am afraid I don’t have enough talent. * I am afraid the words won’t

Great Scene: “Little Miss Sunshine”

Read how screenwriter Michael Arndt scripted Olive’s dance routine in his Oscar-winning screenplay. In the movie Little Miss Sunshine (2006), there is this wonderful scene: The ending dance sequence where seven-year-old Olive (Abigail Breslin) performs on stage of the “Little Miss Sunshine” pageant. In the audience

Daily dialogue — September 18, 2009

“You’ll dress only in attire specially sanctioned by MiB special services. You’ll conform to the identity we give you, eat where we tell you, live where we tell you. From now on you’ll have no identifying marks of any kind. You’ll not stand out in any

The Hollywood Roaster: Script Track (9/15/09)

The latest from The Hollywood Roaster: The Rufferee A retired NFL referee adopts a stray dog, then trains the scrappy mutt to be the league’s first canine official. Disney circling. Writer: Allan Remoure Stacked After a UPS warehouse worker gets breast implants, she is quickly promoted into the corporate

2009 Austin Film Festival: Full Panel Schedule

Following up on this post, the AFF has released its full panel schedule. Highlights include: Jessica Bendinger, Writer/Director Stick It, writer Aquamarine, Bring It On 10/24 Young Filmmakers Program Panel (10:45am-12:00pm) 10/24 Roundtable: Writers (3:45pm-5:00pm) 10/25 Hair of the Dog

Video interview: Larry Gelbart (Part 4)

In honor of TV writer, screenwriter, and playwright Larry Gelbart, who died September 11, 2009, we are featuring an excerpt a day this week from a lengthy interview with Gelbart. It’s part of a fantastic series called “TV Legends” from the Archive of American Television. UPDATE: A brief but

“Making the leap from physics to filmmaking”

H/T to GITS reader Kevin Wild for finding this gem: Valerie Weiss is not your ordinary triple threat. She writes and directs, and, yeah, that’s about as common in Hollywood as a cup of coffee. It’s the third element that stands out. She is a biophysicist — one

“Rapping On Writing — Options, We Got Options!”

Writer Joshua James at his blog Daily Dojo has posted a really informative piece on options: WHAT IS AN OPTION? Basically it’s a lease-to-own agreement on an intellectual property. Now that property can be a screenplay (and usually is) but can also be a book, a treatment,

One way to write an action scene

This is an excerpt from the very last part of the screenplay for Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969): CUT TO BUTCH streaking, diving again, then up, and the bullets landing around him aren’t even close as — CUT TO SUNDANCE, whirling and spinning, continuing to fire and — CUT

“10 to Watch: Producers”

We’ve already posted Daily Variety’s 10 Screenwriters to Watch for 2009. Now let’s take a look at 10 Producers to Watch: Elizabeth Banks and Max Handleman Actress Elizabeth Banks and her husband Max Handelman didn’t get into producing to create better roles for the “40-Year-

Question: How do you approach prep-writing?

A question from Jeff which I though was worth its own post: This question is for Scott and, I guess, anyone who actively is writing scripts… hence, all of you. Pre-writing. What processes do you folks utilize that works for you? I began as a die hard notecarder, moved

Screenwriting 101 — Jim Sheridan

“When Gauguin left Van Gogh, Van Gogh painted Gauguin’s room, and you can feel the abandonment in the emotion of the painting. What he got on canvas was an emotion of something that’s invisible. Emotion, by definition, is invisible. So cinema is, by definition, dealing with the invisible.

Daily dialogue — September 16, 2009

“It is so difficult to make a neat job of killing people with whom one is not on friendly terms.”  — Louis Mazzini (Dennis Price), Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949), screenplay by Robert Hamer & John Dighton, based on the novel by Roy Horniman Comment Archive

“Jay Leno pulls in almost 18 million viewers in primetime debut”

17.7M says the LA Times: Jay Leno opened big in prime time, drawing 17.7 million viewers and easily winning every demographic race. Of course, with Jerry Seinfeld and Kanye West as guests, millions of dollars spent on hype and light competition, it would’ve been hard for “The

Questions and Answers, Part 2

The rest of the questions from our last Open Forum: From Neil: If a production company asks for a treatment (say a 2-page one) and then they like it and ask for a synopsis (however long they want it), should you leave some time between being asked and sending

Video interview: Larry Gelbart (Part 2)

In honor of TV writer, screenwriter, and playwright Larry Gelbart, who died September 11, 2009, we are featureing an excerpt a day this week from a lengthy interview with Gelbart. It’s part of a fantastic series called “TV Legends” from the Archive of American Television. Part Two Comment Archive

“Barney Lichenstein: A Story Analyst’s Top-10 List”

I’ve known Barney Lichtenstein for several years now. In fact, he was a guest speaker at one of my Writers Studio workshops a few years back. Barney is a great guy and hugely popular as an instructor through UCLA Extension’s Writers’ Program. Every month since May, Barney has

Hollywood Tales

“To me, that’s disaster. Who’s the authority in that case? I’ve seen that, and I think it’s utterly unendurable, and usually the actor’s wrong. Generally speaking, actors are not writers. I try not to change the script because I think you get into a funny