Scott Myers

Great Scene: Lawrence of Arabia

On December 26, the Daily Dialogue featured the movie The 400 Blows. In comments, the conversation wound around to TCM and great movies like Lawrence of Arabia, whereupon OutOfContext (John) posted this: Speaking of Lawrence of Arabia, one of my favorite scenes ever is from that movie — funny, plot advancing,

R.I.P.: Donald Westlake (1933–2008)

The Hollywood Reporter is reporting that novelist and screenwriter Donald Westlake has died while vacationing in Mexico. Westlake was a prolific writer, a three-time Edgar Award winner and Academy Award nominee for his screenplay for the 1990 movie The Grifters: Westlake wrote more than 90 books — mostly on a

“Studios tell toy stories”

This feature in yesterday’s Daily Variety: Studios are about to embark on a flurry of projects based on popular toy brands, ranging from action figures to board games to Hot Wheels. It’s a trend that has sent Hasbro, Mattel and other toymakers searching through their vaults to license

Movie Story Type: Fish Out Of Water (FOOW)

Story Type: Fish Out Of Water (FOOW) In Hollywood movie circles, there are genres like Horror or Science Fiction, cross genres like Action-Thriller or Drama-Comedy, and sub-genres like Romantic Comedy or Mystery Thriller. Then there are story types, a shorthand way to describe a specific narrative conceit

New Year’s Resolution: Watch More Movies!

You can take screenwriting courses. You can read screenwriting books. You can visit screenwriting blogs. But the three best things you can do to increase your understanding of the craft of screenwriting are: (1) Write daily. (2) Read scripts. (3) Watch movies. Per the last point, in 1998 American Film

Happy New Year!

It’s 12:01 AM here in the East, one minute into the New Year. I simply wanted to express this wish for you all: May your creative endeavors this year prove to be fruitful. Godspeed! UPDATE: Here’s an even better quote for the New Year, courtesy of The

Library of Congress: 25 more movies to be preserved

Every year since 1989, the Library of Congress makes a year-end announcement adding 25 more movies to the National Film Registry. Here is the most recent set of additions: 1. The Asphalt Jungle (1950) 2. Deliverance (1972) 3. Disneyland Dream (1956) 4. A Face in the Crowd (1957) 5.

New Year’s Eve movies

New Year’s Eve plays a role in numerous Hwood movies. A few that spring to mind: Sunset Blvd. (1950): Norma Desmond (Gloria Swanson) throws a New Year’s Eve party for two, she and Joe Gillis (William Holden) The Apartment (1960): Fran Kubelik (Shirley MacLaine) dumps her ex-lover

Library of Congress: 25 more movies to be preserved

Every year since 1989, the Library of Congress makes a year-end announcement adding 25 more movies to the National Film Registry. Here is the most recent set of additions: 1. The Asphalt Jungle (1950) 2. Deliverance (1972) 3. Disneyland Dream (1956) 4. A Face in the Crowd (1957) 5.

Screenwriting 101 — James Hart

“I think too many screenwriters try to be commercial as opposed to being accessible. Find that material which speaks to you and has a certain truth. Forget about whether it’s commercial. ‘Dracula’ took me 15 years. ‘Hook’ took me 10 years.”  — James Hart (Hook, Dracula, August Rush)

New Year’s Eve movies

New Year’s Eve plays a role in numerous Hwood movies. A few that spring to mind: Sunset Blvd. (1950): Norma Desmond (Gloria Swanson) throws a New Year’s Eve party for two, she and Joe Gillis (William Holden) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UXKq8E9Tlg0 The Apartment (1960): Fran

Screenwriting 101 — James Hart

“I think too many screenwriters try to be commercial as opposed to being accessible. Find that material which speaks to you and has a certain truth. Forget about whether it’s commercial. ‘Dracula’ took me 15 years. ‘Hook’ took me 10 years.”  — James Hart (Hook, Dracula, August Rush)

LA Times: “‘Marley’s’ message: sniff, sniff, whimper”

We’ve had some discussions here and here about studio choices for movies this Christmas weekend with special attention paid to “downer” movies like Marley & Me. I doffed my faux studio executive hat and provided my own analysis: * If the primary movies for the holiday season are (A) holiday

Lewis Beale’s Best of 2008 Movies

One nice thing that happened in 2008 is I got to know Lewis Beale, a freelance journalist who also teaches journalism at UNC-Wilmington. Lewis specializes in covering movies and his work has been featured in the NY Times, NY Daily News, Newsday, USA Today, and numerous other news outlets.

LA Times: “‘Marley’s’ message: sniff, sniff, whimper”

We’ve had some discussions here and here about studio choices for movies this Christmas weekend with special attention paid to “downer” movies like Marley & Me. I doffed my faux studio executive hat and provided my own analysis: * If the primary movies for the holiday season are (A) holiday

Lewis Beale’s Best of 2008 Movies

One nice thing that happened in 2008 is I got to know Lewis Beale, a freelance journalist who also teaches journalism at UNC-Wilmington. Lewis specializes in covering movies and his work has been featured in the NY Times, NY Daily News, Newsday, USA Today, and numerous other news outlets.

Steamboat Willie

Since the Hollywood Tales anecdote today is Walt Disney recounting when he came up with the idea for Mickey Mouse, I thought it would be appropriate to post the cartoon that started it all in 1928: “Steamboat Willie.” Technically Mickey Mouse had appeared in two previous cartoons, but this was

Coming soon: 2008 spec script sales analysis

During the first week of 2009, I’ll be posting an analysis of the spec scripts that sold in Hwood during 2008. By my count, there were 87 spec scripts acquisitions which is about average, typically between 75–100 in recent years. I’ll break down the numbers by titles,

Hollywood Tales

“He [Mickey Mouse] popped out of my mind onto a drawing pad… on a train ride from Manhattan to Hollywood at a time when business fortunes of my brother Roy and myself were at their lowest ebb and disaster seemed right around the corner.”  — Walt Disney

Steamboat Willie

Since the Hollywood Tales anecdote today is Walt Disney recounting when he came up with the idea for Mickey Mouse, I thought it would be appropriate to post the cartoon that started it all in 1928: “Steamboat Willie.” Technically Mickey Mouse had appeared in two previous cartoons, but this was

Hollywood Tales

“He [Mickey Mouse] popped out of my mind onto a drawing pad… on a train ride from Manhattan to Hollywood at a time when business fortunes of my brother Roy and myself were at their lowest ebb and disaster seemed right around the corner.”  — Walt Disney

Update: Christmas Weekend Box Office

Turns out to be a big weekend. Here’s the NY Times summary: An unusual alignment of top stars brightened Hollywood’s holiday box office as Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt and Adam Sandler, as well as Jennifer Aniston, Owen Wilson and a dog, pushed new movies to strong openings. “Marley

Update: Christmas Weekend Box Office

Turns out to be a big weekend. Here’s the NY Times summary: An unusual alignment of top stars brightened Hollywood’s holiday box office as Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt and Adam Sandler, as well as Jennifer Aniston, Owen Wilson and a dog, pushed new movies to strong openings. “Marley

Update: “Flight of the Conchords”

The Hollywood Reporter reports: In an encouraging sign for the upcoming second season of HBO’s offbeat comedy “Flight of the Conchords,” the premiere episode has raked in some 250,000 streams in its first 10 days on Funny or Die. That is in addition to the tens of thousands

Movie Story Types: Buddy Picture

I was rummaging through my lecture files and found a series I did on Movie Story Types, everything from FOOW (Fish-Out-Of-Water) to Underdog, Road Trip to The Blank From Hell. Not the same as genre, but every bit as much a part of movie jargon. I figured