Scott Myers

Interview: WALL•E writer — director Andrew Stanton

There are many great things about being a parent, but as both a father and a movie-lover, one of the best aspects is that I’ve gotten to see a ton of movies I never would have seen if it hadn’t been for my two sons when they

Pitch sales: “Archive” and “Repeat After Me”

Two pitches sell, both with producer Scott Stuber attached. The first is “Archive” from playwright David Auburn to Universal, described as a “time-travel thriller.” Then Universal went to the well once more for writer Dave H. Johnson’s pitch “Repeat After Me”. Premise: “Repeat” revolves around a couple who

Spec script sales: “Family Bond” and “Le Car”

Universal Studios continued to be active in the spec market, purchasing spy comedy “Family Bond” from screenwriter Jeff Lowell: “Action comedy’s described as a relationship story between a spy and his daughter.” Meanwhile, MGM bought “Le Car”, a comedy spec from Wayne McClammy and Will Burke: “‘Le Car’ tells

How they write a script — Charlie Kaufman

How They Write A Script: Charlie Kaufman “When I started screenwriting, I never really knew what I was doing, but I instinctively understood how to do it.” So we’ve had Shane Black’s shoe box, David Lynch’s sugar rushes, and Paul Schrader’s charts. All interesting approaches to

Trailer: “Burn After Reading”

Great trailer out (see below) for the Coen brothers’ new movie Burn After Reading. The satirical comedy’s scheduled release date is September 12, 2008. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2tEDPZNWG4o More on the movie here. Comment Archive

Friday movie reviews

The Love Guru Daily Variety Los Angeles Times New York Times Get Smart Daily Variety Hollywood Reporter Los Angeles Times New York Times Kit Kittredge: An American Girl Daily Variety Hollywood Reporter Los Angeles Times

10 Screenwriters to Watch (2008)

Ever year, the Daily Variety puts together a list of ten screenwriters to watch. The 2008 list is out today and here they are: Ann Cherkis Shauna Cross Nat Faxon & Jim Rash Drew Goddard Michael Martin Dan Mazeau Scott Neustadter & Michael H. Weber J. Michael Straczynski Joe Penhall

LA Times article on “Get Smart” screenwriters

The early reviews on Get Smart are just so-so, however, at least the screenwriters’ intentions were well-placed, that per this article in today’s LA Times. The pair, Tom Astle and Matt Ember, discovered something immediately when they told friends about landing the writing gig: “They remembered tons

Pitch sale: “Taken”

Writer Karl Gajdusek sold this “home-invasion thriller” to Overture Films: “Story centers on a marriage coming apart through infidelity and being put back together through unexpected adversity, combined with the high-stakes of a home invasion.” You can read more about the sale here.

Bitter Truth #6

“The last person to leave is the one you wish had left first.” © 2008 Kurt Brown & Scott Myers

“Our Time Is Up”

Last night, YouTube held a launch party in LA for Screening Room, a new feature for the video-hosting web behemoth that will showcase longer form shorts and features by independent filmmakers: “The first set of short films include Are You the Favorite Person of Anybody? written by Miranda July

Daily Dialogue — June 19, 2008

“I could die right now, Clem. I’m just… happy. I’ve never felt that before. I’m just exactly where I want to be.”  — Joel Barish (Jim Carrey), Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004), story by Charlie Kaufman & Michel Gondry & Pierre Bismuth, screenplay by Charlie Kaufman

How They Write A Script: Paul Schrader

In a previous post, I noted two radically different approaches to writing as represented by Neil Simon, who doesn’t “make outlines at all” and Paul Schrader, who not only creates an outline, he re-outlines it. Let’s look more closely at how Schrader writes a script: “I know

Update: Dreamworks splitting from Paramount?

Last week, there was this report. Today there’s an actual name behind the proposed $1.1 billion financing scheme: “The Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group will invest as much as $600 million in the studio, the Journal said, citing people familiar with the matter. The venture may borrow another

Screenwriting 101 — Richard Price

“On a strictly technical level, the one thing that never fails to surprise me is how even a little dialogue is always too much. On the page it can look like it flies and then you get in a sit-around in some hotel banquet room where everyone’s doing

Spec sale: “No Relation”

Not often that a studio’s specialty division delves into the spec script market, but Fox Searchlight just did, buying this script from writers Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber: “Comedy centers on a thirtysomething accountant who agrees to be the best man at his estranged, free-wheeling father’s

Guess which politician is a screenwriter

So I’m flipping through my latest copy of The New York Review of Books and right there in the first paragraph of an article about U.S. Senator Jim Webb (D-VA) is this: “Jim Webb, the junior senator from Virginia, who defeated the incumbent Republican George Allen in

Hollywood Tales

“Being a screenwriter in Hollywood is like being a eunuch at an orgy. Worse, actually — at least the eunuch is allowed to watch!”  — Albert Brooks (Real Life, Lost in America, The Muse

How They Write A Script: David Lynch

“If you want to make a feature film, you get ideas for 70 scenes. Put them on 3-by-5 cards. As soon as you have 70, you have a feature film.” David Lynch is a unique storyteller. His movie credits include Eraserhead, The Elephant Man, Blue Velvet, Lost Highway,

Spec sale: “High School”

On the heels of “The Harvard Zombie Massacre”, producer Warren Zide continues to nab high-concept comedies with “High School” from writers John Stalberg Jr. and Stephen Susco. Premise: “Story centers on a high school valedictorian who, after getting high with the school stoner and facing a drug test, makes

Spec sale: “Science Fair”

Bidding war for “Science Fair”. Premise: “Writer John Sullivan has sold his family adventure spec “Science Fair” to Disney for $275,000 against $575,000. With echoes of “Night at the Museum,” the screenplay centers on a science fair where all of the kids’ projects — think papier-mache volcanos and

On Writing

“If someone’s on a soapbox saying this is what I am or, more accurately, this what I think you should be, I run for the hills. But if there’s more of a gentle ethic in the message that creates an impact, especially a positive impact or comment on

Top 20 movie taglines

A “tagline” is the short descriptor you see in a movie’s print advertising, something that nails the plot, theme, and tone of the film to grab prospective viewers’ attention. Here are the Top 20 as judged by a large group of “advertising, marketing, and branding professionals”: 1. In space

How They Write A Script — Shane Black

How They Write A Script: Shane Black Shane Black. Black, along with Joe Eszterhaus, drove the spec script frenzy in the late 80s and early 90s. Shane has an interesting approach to writing scripts and it involves a shoe box: “Well, it’s sort of like being lead by the

Daily Dialogue — June 15, 2008

“First, I’ll have a bath. Then I’ll be shaved by a Turkish barber who will massage me down to the fingertips. Then I’ll buy a newspaper and read it from headlines to horoscope. On the first day, I’ll be waited upon… For requests, ask the neighbor.