Scott Myers

Daily Dialogue theme for next week: Customer Service

The Daily Dialogue theme for next week: Customer Service, suggested by David Proenza. Planes, Trains, & Automobiles (1987) As a writer, one nice thing about the gig is the ability to create scenes in which we can take on situations which drive us crazy in our own lives — like dealing

Interview (Part 6): Amy Tofte (2015 Nicholl Winner)

Amy Tofte wrote the original screenplay “Addis Abeka” which won a 2015 Nicholl Fellowship in Screenwriting. Recently I had the opportunity to chat with Amy about her background as a writer and her award-winning screenplay. Today in Part 6, Amy provides some advice for aspiring screenwriters: Scott: In doing

Saturday Hot Links

Time for the 229th installment of Saturday Hot Links, your week’s essential reading about movies, TV, streaming, Hollywood, and other things of writerly interest. SXSW: How the Fest Landed President Obama. SXSW: ‘Purge’ Producer Jason Blum on the Future of Horror Films. Oscar Box Office Winners and Losers 2016.

Video: “Movies Are Mirrors: The Psychology of Watching Film”

An interesting 5 minute video produced by Studio Little (via One Perfect Shot): As screenwriters, we think about this phenomenon in terms of creating a sense of audience identification to shrink the psychological distance between the script reader and the script, the moviegoer and the movie. How do we do

Interview (Written): Julia Hart

A Women and Hollywood interview with Julia Hart whose movie Miss Stevens, which she wrote and directed, debuts at the 2016 SXSW Festival today: Miss Stevens, written and directed by Julia Hart W&H: What was the biggest challenge in making the film? JH: Our son was 10 months

Daily Dialogue — March 12, 2016

Princess Leia: Why, you stuck up, half-witted, scruffy-looking Nerfherder! Han Solo: Who’s scruffy-looking? — Star Wars: Episode V — The Empire Strikes Back (1980), screenplay by Leigh Brackett and Lawrence Kasdan, story by George Lucas The Daily Dialogue theme for the week: Argument. Trivia: Veteran screenwriter and frequent

Zero Draft Thirty 2016 Spring Challenge: Day 11

Zero Draft Thirty: Day 11. March 1: Type FADE IN / The Beginning. March 30 31: Type FADE OUT / The End. 30 31 days. 1 script. Movie script. TV script. First draft. Rewrite. Whatever. I’m doing it. You’re invited. For background on how the Zero Draft Challenge came into

Interview (Part 5): Amy Tofte (2015 Nicholl Winner)

Amy Tofte wrote the original screenplay “Addis Abeka” which won a 2015 Nicholl Fellowship in Screenwriting. Recently I had the opportunity to chat with Amy about her background as a writer and her award-winning screenplay. Today in Part 5, Amy shares what it was like to learn she had

Script Analysis: “Beasts of No Nation” — Scene By Scene Breakdown

Reading scripts. Absolutely critical to learn the craft of screenwriting. The focus of this weekly series is a deep structural and thematic analysis of each script we read. Today: A scene-by-scene breakdown of the script for the movie Beasts of No Nation. Here is my take on this

So-Called Screenwriting ‘Rules’: Part 10

Two weeks ago, I posted this about an occurrence that happens with irritating regularity in the online screenwriting universe: The contentious specter of so-called screenwriting ‘rules’: What happens is pretty much this: * Somebody posts something about how there is a rule against doing this or that. * That circulates as

Ticket Giveaway for WGFestival 2016: THE BUSINESS

Our good friends at the Writers Guild Foundation (@WritersGuildF) have a wonderful event coming up in partnership with the Academy Education and Nicholl Fellowships Programs: WGFestival: THE BUSINESS is on Saturday, March 19. This day in the festival focuses on your career in the screenwriting trade. PROGRAM: 10am to 11:

Daily Dialogue — March 11, 2016

INT. LIVING ROOM — APARTMENT — NIGHT BRANDON is sitting on the couch, watching a cartoon. SISSY enters the apartment, on her cell phone. BRANDON ignores her. SISSY: David? Pick up. I take it you’re at your pottery class. SISSY: Have you eaten? BRANDON: No. SISSY: Are you hungry? BRANDON: No.

Zero Draft Thirty 2016 Spring Challenge: Day 10

Zero Draft Thirty: Day 10. March 1: Type FADE IN / The Beginning. March 30 31: Type FADE OUT / The End. 30 31 days. 1 script. Movie script. TV script. First draft. Rewrite. Whatever. I’m doing it. You’re invited. For background on how the Zero Draft Challenge came into

Interview (Part 4): Amy Tofte (2015 Nicholl Winner)

Amy Tofte wrote the original screenplay “Addis Abeka” which won a 2015 Nicholl Fellowship in Screenwriting. Recently I had the opportunity to chat with Amy about her background as a writer and her award-winning screenplay. Today in Part 4, Amy and I discuss three themes running throughout her script

Script Analysis: “Monsters University” — Scene By Scene Breakdown

Reading scripts. Absolutely critical to learn the craft of screenwriting. The focus of this weekly series is a deep structural and thematic analysis of each script we read. Today: A scene-by-scene breakdown of the script for the movie Monsters University. Here is my take on this exercise from

So-Called Screenwriting ‘Rules’: Part 9

Two weeks ago, I posted this about an occurrence that happens with irritating regularity in the online screenwriting universe: The contentious specter of so-called screenwriting ‘rules’: What happens is pretty much this: * Somebody posts something about how there is a rule against doing this or that. * That circulates as

Writing and the Creative Life: The Tactile Experience of Writing

A few years back, I was sitting in my office letting my mind wander when a thought suddenly occurred to me: Why do I call what I do ‘writing’ when so little of the process involves the actual physical act of writing. I mean, literally pen on paper. I started

Daily Dialogue — March 10, 2016

MARY: …and lemon for Lucy. Rum cake for Gene. And for Felix —  RALPH: Hey, Mary, umm, what…what’s the flavor of that mud that I’m stuck in there. MARY: Hm? Oh, uh, chocolate. RALPH: Never been real fond of chocolate. MARY: Well, I did not know that. RALPH:

Zero Draft Thirty 2016 Spring Challenge: Day 9

Zero Draft Thirty: Day 9. March 1: Type FADE IN / The Beginning. March 30 31: Type FADE OUT / The End. 30 31 days. 1 script. Movie script. TV script. First draft. Rewrite. Whatever. I’m doing it. You’re invited. For background on how the Zero Draft Challenge came into

Interview (Part 3): Amy Tofte (2015 Nicholl Winner)

Amy Tofte wrote the original screenplay “Addis Abeka” which won a 2015 Nicholl Fellowship in Screenwriting. Recently I had the opportunity to chat with Amy about her background as a writer and her award-winning screenplay. Today in Part 3, Amy and I delve more deeply into her Nicholl Award-

Script Analysis: “Leviathan” — Scene By Scene Breakdown

Reading scripts. Absolutely critical to learn the craft of screenwriting. The focus of this weekly series is a deep structural and thematic analysis of each script we read. Today: A scene-by-scene breakdown of the script for the movie Leviathan. Here is my take on this exercise from a

So-Called Screenwriting ‘Rules’: Part 8

Two weeks ago, I posted this about an occurrence that happens with irritating regularity in the online screenwriting universe: The contentious specter of so-called screenwriting ‘rules’: What happens is pretty much this: * Somebody posts something about how there is a rule against doing this or that. * That circulates as

Great Scene: “The Verdict”

Courtroom dramas. A staple of Hollywood cinema for decades. From a string of great films nearly a half-century ago Anatomy of a Murder (1959), Inherit the Wind (1960), Judgment at Nuremberg (1961), To Kill a Mockingbird (1962) to more recent hits including Presumed Innocent (1990), A Few Good Men

Daily Dialogue — March 9, 2016

DONNY: Hot damn, I’m throwin’ rocks tonight. Mark it, Dude. We are tracking in on the circular bench towards a big man nursing a large plastic cup of Bud. He has dark worried eyes and a goatee. Hairy legs emerge from his khaki shorts. He also wears a khaki

Zero Draft Thirty 2016 Spring Challenge: Day 8

Zero Draft Thirty: Day 8. March 1: Type FADE IN / The Beginning. March 30 31: Type FADE OUT / The End. 30 31 days. 1 script. Movie script. TV script. First draft. Rewrite. Whatever. I’m doing it. You’re invited. For background on how the Zero Draft Challenge came into