Scott Myers

Classic 30s Movie: “Gone With the Wind”

May is classic 30s movie month. Today’s guest post comes from W. H. Morris. Title: Gone With The Wind Year: 1939 Writers: Screenplay by Sidney Howard, Oliver H.O. Garrett and Jo Swerling (uncredited), Ben Hecht (uncredited), novel by Margaret Mitchell Lead Actors: Clark Gable, Vivian Leigh, Leslie Howard,

On Writing

“Above all, watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places. Those who don’t believe in magic will never find it.” — Roald Dahl

Daily Dialogue — May 16, 2016

EXT. NOTRE DAME FOOTBALL FIELD — AFTERNOON The stadium is packed with screaming Fighting Irish faithful. Down on the Notre Dame sideline, COACH DEVINE turns to RUDY, gives him a shove. COACH DEVINE: All right! Go! Get in there, kid! The stadium erupts. RUDY runs onto the field to lineup for

Reader Question: What exactly is a “spec script”?

A question from Daley Productions: I’m quite new to this and I’m wondering, what exactly is a ‘spec’ script? “Spec script” is term that gets thrown around a lot, certainly here on GITS, and your question got me to thinking that perhaps there are many folks who don’

Video: How Does an Editor Think and Feel?

This is excellent from Tony Zhou who keeps producing terrific and informative videos. Here he delves into the craft of film editing including interviews with several notable editors, attempting to get into their minds about their process. Bottom line: They choose cuts based primarily by instinct. Check it out: Two

Screenwriting News (May 9-May 15, 2016)

This week’s writing deals and movie project news. Benjamin August adapting “The Billion Dollar Spy” for Walden Media and Weed Road Pictures. Frank Baldwin writing remake of “In Order of Disappearance” for StudioCanal and Paradox. Tamara Chestna rewriting comedy “Revenge Wedding” for CBS Films. Derek Connolly writing “Pacific Rim

Current Black List Screenwriter Opportunities: May 2016

From the good folks at the Black List, a compilation of this month’s screenwriting competitions: One thing I like about the Black List is they create opportunities for writers in specific areas. For example, this month there are initiatives for writers who have projects which are satire, science oriented,

Interview (Written): Whit Stillman

The Playlist interviews writer-director Whit Stillman (Metropolitan, Barcelona). His newest movie is Love & Friendship. As far back as 2006, you were talking about making a movie based on one or two unpublished Jane Austen novels. Exactly how long has this project been gestating? Those were different projects, actually.

Daily Dialogue — May 15, 2016

Suzanne: You wanna fix me a drink? Michael: Whiskey okay? Suzanne: Sounds nice. She removes his jacket. Suzanne: Don’t you like me? Michael: Yeah, I like you. Suzanne (unbuttoning his shirt): Then what’s the matter?  Michael: I’m just tryin’ to make a point of stayin’ away from

Daily Dialogue theme next week: Celebration

The Daily Dialogue theme for next week: Celebration. It’s a Wonderful Life (1946) Public celebrations or private. Good reasons to celebrate or not. There are lots of movie moments where characters celebrate. Let’s see if we can find 7 great examples of scenes featuring dialogue which is both

Chuck Wendig: Tweetstorm About Writing Dialogue

Chuck Wendig is a novelist, screenwriter, game designer, and of late has added comic book writer to his burgeoning resume. He is also on Twitter (@ChuckWendig) and his feed is both hugely entertaining and informative. To wit, the other day, he went on what he calls a “tweetstorm” about writing

Saturday Hot Links

Time for the 238th installment of Saturday Hot Links, your week’s essential reading about movies, TV, streaming, Hollywood, and other things of writerly interest. Cannes 2016: Hot Titles at the Cannes Film Festival Market. Cannes 2016: How Amazon Studios Became the New Star of Cannes. Cannes 2016: Why Cannes

Interview (Audio): Justin Marks (“The Jungle Book”)

Screenwriter Geoff LaTulippe and film critic Scott Beggs have a podcast called Broken Projector which you can access on iTunes here. This week in a special Vomit Draft edition, Geoff and Scott interviewed Justin Marks whose writing credits include the smash hit The Jungle Book. He is also writing a

Intervew (Written): Amy Heckerling

A Vulture interview with writer-director Amy Heckerling (Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Clueless): Twentieth Century Fox and Paramount both have no female directors on their rosters until 2018. What’s going on? Wow. At one point, an agent of mine called and said, we could show your script here

Daily Dialogue — May 14, 2016

Bridget Gregory: Could you leave? Please? Mike Swale: I haven’t finished charming you yet. Bridget Gregory: You haven’t started. Mike Swale: Gimme a chance. Bridget Gregory: Look, go find yourself a nice little cowgirl and make nice little cowbabies and leave me alone. Mike Swale: I’m hung

“Why must you tell this story?”

Sweet video hit online recently, especially for us Pixar fans. Check it out: Video focuses on one of 22 ‘rules’ Pixar has for their story-crafting process: Why must you tell this story? Interestingly Andrew Stanton, one of Pixar’s directors who has been involved writing Toy Story, Toy Story

Interview: Jason Mark Hellerman (2013 Black List)

One of the best ways to learn the craft is read what professional screenwriters have to say about it. To that end for the next few weeks, I will be featuring interviews I have conducted with Black List screenwriters. Today: Jason Mark Hellerman wrote the script “Shovel Buddies” which made

Character Type: Artist

Those of you who have followed my blog for some time or taken courses with me through Screenwriting Master Class know how fascinated I am with character archetypes, specifically how there are five — Protagonist, Nemesis, Attractor, Mentor, Trickster — which recur in movies over and over and over. Some might see

Classic 30s Movie: “City Girl”

May is Classic 30s Movie Month. Today’s guest post comes from Adam Westbrook. Movie Title: City Girl Year: 1930 Writers: Marion Orth and Berthold Viertel — based on “The Mud Turtle” by Elliott Lester Lead Actors: Charles Farrell, Mary Duncan and David Torrence. Director: FW Murnau. Plot Summary: A street

Writing and the Creative Life: “The best way to have a good idea…”

…is to have lots of ideas.” Those are the words of Linus Pauling, chemist, biochemist, peace activist, author, and educator, the only person to be awarded two unshared Nobel Prizes. Not the pedigree of a writing ‘guru,’ but one would be hard pressed to find a better piece of creative

Daily Dialogue — May 13, 2016

JESSICA: Mr. Valiant? Mr. Valiant? You’ve got the wrong idea about me, Mr. Valiant. I’m a pawn in this just like Roger. Can you help me find him? Just name your price and I’ll pay it. VALIANT: Yeah, I bet you would. You gotta have the rabbit

Courier 12 Screenwriting Conference

For those of you writers in the Chicago area, here is a great learning and networking opportunity: Through its prestigious Visiting Artists Series, DePaul University’s School of Cinematic Arts is committed to bringing talented artists from across the entertainment industry to Chicago so that they may inform and inspire

Interview: Eric Heisserer (2012, 2014 Black List)

One of the best ways to learn the craft is read what professional screenwriters have to say about it. To that end for the next few weeks, I will be featuring interviews I have conducted with Black List screenwriters. Today: Eric Heisserer has written two scripts which have made the

Character Type: Prostitute

Those of you who have followed my blog for some time or taken courses with me through Screenwriting Master Class know how fascinated I am with character archetypes, specifically how there are five — Protagonist, Nemesis, Attractor, Mentor, Trickster — which recur in movies over and over and over. Some might see

Classic 30s Movie: “The Petrified Forest”

May is Classic 30s Movie Month. Today’s guest post comes from Rachel Sheridan. Movie Title: The Petrified Forest Year: 1936 Writers: Charles Kenyon and Delmer Daves, based on the play by Robert E. Sherwood Lead Actors: Leslie Howard, Better Davis, Humphrey Bogart Director: Archie L. Mayo IMDb Plot Summary: