Scott Myers - Go Into The Story (Page 1389)

Daily Dialogue — June 28, 2008

“Ten oughta do it, don’t you think? You think we need one more? You think we need one more. All right, we’ll get one more.” — Danny Ocean (George Clooney), Ocean’s Eleven (2001), screenplay by Ted Griffin, remake of the 1960 movie, story by Charles Clayton Johnson and

What’s in store on GITS this weekend

On Saturday, we have a video interview with screenwriter Ted Griffin (Ocean’s Eleven, Matchstick Men) and a great speech former head of Miramax Mark Gill gave this week at the L.A. Film Festival, his analysis of the jumbled independent film world. His speech caused quite a buzz, the

Pitch sale: Untitled Korean comedy

Lionsgate picks up comedy pitch from writer Jason Filardi: In the vein of “Meet the Parents” and inspired by real events, the pitch follows an American guy who falls in love with a Korean woman while teaching English as a second language. He proposes marriage and she says yes, with

Spec script sale: “War of Gods”

Relativity Media buys spec epic battle story “War of Gods” from the brother writing team Charley Parlanpanides and Vlas Parlapanides for mid-six against seven figures: “Gods” concerns the battles waged by Theseus, a warrior from Greek mythology, who leads a fight against the imprisoned titans. Among the hooks is

Friday movie reviews

Wall-E Daily Variety Hollywood Reporter Los Angeles Times New York Times Wanted Daily Variety Los Angeles Times New York Times The Last Mistress New York Times Trumbo Daily Variety New York Times UPDATE: Wall-E is currently sitting on a 98% favorable rating on Rotten Tomatoes, their compilation of

On Writing

“As a writer, I need an enormous amount of time alone. Writing is 90 percent procrastination: reading magazines, eating cereal out of the box, watching infomercials. It’s a matter of doing everything you can to avoid writing, until it is about four in the morning and you reach the

Spec script sale: “Close Far Away”

Mandate Pictures snares “Close Far Away,” a spec thriller from photojournalist Jens Assur: Script weaves together five parallel stories into a thriller set in Europe, Africa and the U.S. The film traces individuals put in vulnerable situations, whose actions carry both personal and global consequences. Writer-director Steve Zaillian

Pitch sale: “Parent Class”

Overture Films buys comedy pitch “Parent Class” from writing team Toni Kotite and Marty Scott: The project, which James Gibb brought to the studio and will produce, revolves around a divorced couple who are deemed unsatisfactory parents and must enroll in a class on how to improve their child-rearing

LA Times (6/26/08): “Studios Go to Summer School”

Mid-summer analysis of seasonal box office. The talking points: * Even in the summer, originality counts more than anything. * Size matters. * Event movies come in all shapes and sizes. * Complete concept rejection is always a killer. * Fox can sell snow to Eskimos, but not all the time. * Darkness should be

How They Write A Script: Robert Towne

“The single most important question, I think, that one must ask one’s self about a character is what are they really afraid of? What are they really afraid of? And if you ask that question, it’s probably for me the single best way of getting into a character.

Bitter Truth #7

Scene description as poetry

The Poetry of Screenwriting When writing scene description, think poetry instead of prose. Unpaid Villain made a comment here about the Andrew Stanton — Walter Hill post here. Screenwriter Larry Ferguson, quoted for today’s Screenwriting 101, has something to say about the subject of stage direction: I never, ever, ever

LA Times (6/25/08): “Hancock, Obama and the summer of heroes”

Interesting read from “Rachael Abramowitz, delving into the onslaught of superhero movies this summer, then considering the Obama phenomenon in that context. Some experts weigh in on why superheroes are so popular in today’s cultural climate: Author Peter Biskind, who’s written books about movies and culture in the

Pitch sale: “Still You”

MGM continues to make a splash in the spec marketplace by scooping up the comedy pitch “Still You” by screenwriter April Blair for a cool $300K against $625K: “Story concerns the unexpected appearance of a larger-than-life ex-boyfriend who threatens to ruin a family vacation.” Hm. What About

Screenwriting 101: Larry Ferguson

“There was a girl who came to me with her first screenplay. It was a good first shot. I gave her some advice. I told her, ‘I want you to go home and take a yellow Marks-A-Lot and highlight every verb in this 120-page screenplay, and then

A connection between WALL-E and ALIEN?

Following up on an interview featured here, another interview with WALL-E writer-director Andrew Stanton. Here’s an interesting note about the approach to scene description Stanton adopted for this script: “The only thing I did that was a little unconventional, is the manner in which I formatted the

Pitch sale: “Happy Little Family”

Disney buys family adventure pitch “Happy Little Family” from writers Patrick Doody and Chris Valenziano: “The story centers on a family that is turned into a popular set of dolls which must then work together to survive the dangers they encounter in their newfound state and find a way to

Hollywood Tales

“I think I have had about all of Hollywood I can stand. I feel bad, depressed, dreadful sense of wasting time. I imagine most of the symptoms of blow-up or collapse. I may be able to come back later but I think I will finish this present job and

American comedies underperform overseas

This subject has popped up every few months for the last decade or so, and here is the latest, a NY Times article yesterday covering the same territory. When I first stumbled into Hollywood, the “international market” would cough up about half the revenues generated in domestic box office. That

Pitch sale: “Home Schooled”

Dreamworks picks up comedy pitch from writers Mike Arnold and Chris Poole: “Home Schooled” tells the story of a 30-year-old man who was home schooled and is now heading off to college. Sounds like yet another ‘delayed adolescence into adulthood’ themed movie ala the upcoming Step Brothers: http:

R.I.P. — George Carlin (May 12, 1937 — June 22, 2008)

By now, you’ve probably read or heard that comedian George Carlin died yesterday. Known mostly for his comedy specials on HBO, Carlin actually appeared in a bunch of movies, including the notable role of Rufus in Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure (1989) and television — who can forget him

On Writing

“In the afternoons, Gertrude Stein and I used to go antique hunting in the local shops, and I remember once asking her if she thought I should become a writer. In the typically cryptic way we were all so enchanted with she said, ‘No.’ I took that to mean yes

How They Write A Script: Alvin Sargent

“I think too many people are too organized; they’ve got it all worked out, instead of hearing their characters first. Get the goop out first, then organize.” Alvin Sargent is one of the most well-respected screenwriters in Hollywood. He’s the brother of Herb Sargent who up until

101 greatest screenplays

As determined by the Writers’ Guild of America in this list. The top ten: Casablanca The Godfather Chinatown Citizen Kane All About Eve Annie Hall Sunset Blvd. Network Some Like It Hot The Godfather II The list at the WGA.org site is great because there are lots of fun

Video Interview: Orson Welles discusses Citizen Kane and Rosebud

The Internet never ceases to amaze me. Below is an excerpt from an interview with Orson Welles. I’ve never seen it before today, never even knew of its existence until I started bumping around the web. Two things about the interview. First, Welles reveals that the idea of ‘home’