Scott Myers

Daily Dialogue — July 10, 2016

Bishop: Now Don’t Forget, Don’t ever Forget, you’ve promised to become a new man. Jean Valjean: Promise. Why are you doing this? Bishop: Jean Valjean my brother you no longer belong to evil. With this silver, I have bought your soul. I’ve ransomed you from fear

Daily Dialogue theme next week: Info Dump

The Daily Dialogue theme next week: Info Dump suggested by Will King. Back to the Future (1985) What is an “info dump”? In a movie or TV episode, it’s a bunch of exposition — information, data, personal history — laid out all at once. Since handling exposition is tricky business, sometimes

Infographic: 9 Reasons Why Writers Make Incredible Friends

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Saturday Hot Links

Time for the 246th installment of Saturday Hot Links, your week’s essential reading about movies, TV, streaming, Hollywood, and other things of writerly interest. Comic-Con 2016 Schedule: All the TV Shows Heading to San Diego. Hollywood Gender Gap: Women Produced Just 19.8 Percent of Recent Films Despite

Video: “The Directors Series — The Coen Brothers” (Part 3)

Here is Part 3 of “The Directors Series” on Joel and Ethan Coen, focusing on Fargo (1996) and The Big Lebowski (1998). If you are a fan of the Coens, as I am, you will enjoy this series: Part 1: Blood Simple (1984) and Raising Arizona (1987). Part 2: Miller’

Interview (Written): Mel Brooks

A Directors Guild of America interview with Mel Brooks. We may tend to think of him as a director or actor, but his IMDb page lists 42 writing credits including the movies The Producers, Blazing Saddles, Young Frankenstein, High Anxiety, Spaceballs, and Robin Hood: Men in Tights. Q: What compelled

Daily Dialogue — July 9, 2016

“I just want to apologize to Mike’s mom, Josh’s mom, and my mom. And I’m sorry to everyone. I was very naive. I am so so sorry for everything that has happened. Because in spite of what Mike says now, it is my fault. Because it was

2016 Mid-Year Spec Script Deal Report

We are now officially halfway through 2016 and as I do each year at this time, I take the opportunity to take a gander at what spec scripts have been set up during the first six months of the year. Here they are: 1. Title: Bury the Lead Logline: A

Spec Script Deal: “The Fall”

Amblin Entertainment acquires science fiction spec script “The Fall” written by Pete Bridges. From Deadline: In the midst of an alien invasion, a freshly divorced couple must survive a dangerous real-time journey on foot from downtown Atlanta to the suburbs, where their young children are home alone. Bridges is

“Conversations With Wilder”: Part 5

Billy Wilder is my all-time favorite filmmaker. Consider just some of his movies: Double Indemnity (1944), Sunset Blvd. (1950), Stalag 17 (1953), Witness for the Prosecution (1957), Some Like It Hot (1959), The Apartment (1960), an oeuvre that demonstrates an incredible range in a filmmaking career that went from

Writing and the Creative Life: “The Power of Structured Procrastination”

I am not immune to work. Indeed, I am probably one of the hardest working people I know, regularly clocking in with 80–100 hours per week doing all the things I do in this odd professional lifestyle I’ve cobbled together for myself. But even as efficient as I

Daily Dialogue — July 8, 2016

NICK: Let me say this: I am not a killer. But I’m far from being a good guy. I was a bad husband to a wonderful wife. I broke the vow I made to her. SHARON: What does that mean to you, Nick? NICK: It means I was basically

Update: Screenwriting Master Class

As I announced Tuesday, I have accepted an offer to become a full-time assistant professor at the School of Cinematic Arts at DePaul University beginning September 1. What does this transition mean? In accepting this position, my work at the School of Cinematic Arts becomes my number one priority.

Screenwriters Roundtable (Part 8): Jessica Bendinger, Lindsay Devlin, Stephany Folsom, Liz W. Garcia, Julia Hart, and Lisa Joy

A special treat this week and next as I will be posting excerpts from an extensive screenwriter’s roundtable I did in December 2015 with a group of talented Hollywood screenwriters: Jessica Bendinger, Lindsay Devlin, Stephany Folsom, Liz W. Garcia, Julia Hart, and Lisa Joy. Here is Part 8 continuing

“Underwritten Female Character: The Movie”

Hey, screenwriters, this is definitely worth a look, both funny and a great reminder: Write multidimensional women characters. Via Nuclear Family. HT FastCo Create. Comment Archive

“Conversations With Wilder”: Part 4

Billy Wilder is my all-time favorite filmmaker. Consider just some of his movies: Double Indemnity (1944), Sunset Blvd. (1950), Stalag 17 (1953), Witness for the Prosecution (1957), Some Like It Hot (1959), The Apartment (1960), an oeuvre that demonstrates an incredible range in a filmmaking career that went from

The Business of Screenwriting: Weather vanes

There are an awful lot of sharp people who work in Hollywood. Studio executives, producers, agents, managers, lots of them from Harvard, Yale, Brown, Columbia, Northwestern, Stanford, USC, UCLA and top MBA programs from around the country. Which raises the question: With all these smart folks around, why are there

Daily Dialogue — July 7, 2016

SARRIS: Explain to him who you all really are. (Taking Nesmith) Tell him! Explain! NESMITH: Mathesar, there’s no such person as Captain Taggert. My name is Jason Nesmith. I’m a…actor. We’re all actors. SARRIS: He doesn’t understand. Explain as you would a child. NESMITH: We,

Concept = Hook

Whatever degree of importance you attribute to your script’s story concept… it’s probably not enough. Here’s how I begin Lecture 1 of my Core II: Concept class: The foundation of any movie is the screenplay. The foundation of any screenplay is the concept. Therefore it stands to

Screenwriters Roundtable (Part 7): Jessica Bendinger, Lindsay Devlin, Stephany Folsom, Liz W. Garcia, Julia Hart, and Lisa Joy

A special treat this week and next as I will be posting excerpts from an extensive screenwriter’s roundtable I did in December 2015 with a group of talented Hollywood screenwriters: Jessica Bendinger, Lindsay Devlin, Stephany Folsom, Liz W. Garcia, Julia Hart, and Lisa Joy. Here is Part 7: Scott:

Update: Go Into The Story and the move to Medium

Evidently it’s the season of change in my neck of the woods. As I announced yesterday, I have accepted an offer to become a full-time assistant professor at the School of Cinematic Arts at DePaul University beginning September 1. That means my family is in the midst of

“Conversations With Wilder”: Part 3

Billy Wilder is my all-time favorite filmmaker. Consider just some of his movies: Double Indemnity (1944), Sunset Blvd. (1950), Stalag 17 (1953), Witness for the Prosecution (1957), Some Like It Hot (1959), The Apartment (1960), an oeuvre that demonstrates an incredible range in a filmmaking career that went from

Great Scene: “Kramer vs. Kramer”

Here is an IMDB plot summary of the 1979 movie Kramer vs. Kramer, screenplay by Robert Benton, based on a novel by Avery Corman: A just divorced man must learn to care for his son on his own, and then must fight in court to keep custody of him. There

Daily Dialogue — July 6, 2016

Janis: [to the female student body] Okay, yeah. I’ve got an apology. So, I have this friend who is a new student this year. And I convinced her that it would be fun to mess up Regina George’s life. So I had her pretend to be friends with

Announcement: The next chapter in my own hero’s journey!

I have accepted an offer to become a full-time assistant professor at the School of Cinematic Arts at DePaul University in Chicago. It is a six year appointment beginning September 1, 2016 and is a tenure track position. I am excited about this opportunity. The School of Cinematic Arts