Scott Myers

Zero Draft Thirty 2016 Spring Challenge: Day 14

Zero Draft Thirty: Day 14. 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 1): Ava DuVernay

In addition to making history as the first African-American woman to win the Best Director Prize at Sundance, DuVernay was honored with the 2013 John Cassavetes Spirit Award and the Tribeca Film Institute’s Affinity Award for her second feature film Middle of Nowhere. In 2010, she wrote, produced

Movie Analysis (Part 1): “The Big Short”

Another in our bi-weekly series in which we analyze movies currently in release. Why? To quote the writing mantra I coined over 5 years ago: Watch movies. Read scripts. Write pages. You will note which one comes first. Here are my reflections from that post about the importance of

So-Called Screenwriting ‘Rules’: Part 11

Three 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

On Writing

“The writer who loses his self-doubt, who gives way as he grows old to a sudden euphoria, to prolixity, should stop writing immediately: the time has come for him to lay aside his pen.” — Colette Via Advice To Writers.

Daily Dialogue — March 14, 2016

Customer: Look, I took the liberty of examining that parrot when I got it home, and I discovered the only reason that it had been sitting on its perch in the first place was that it had been NAILED there. Owner: Well, o’course it was nailed there! If I

Zero Draft Thirty 2016 Spring Challenge: Day 13

Zero Draft Thirty: Day 13. 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: 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. Here are links to the six installments of the entire interview: Part 1: “I

Screenwriting News (March 7-March 13, 2016)

This week’s writing deals and movie project news. Johanna Baldwin writing “The Year of the Great Storm” for 34th Street Films and Hypnotic. Maya Forbes and Wally Wolodarsky writing-directing “The Man Who Would Be Polka King” for Permut Presentations and Red Hour Films. Zach Helm adapting “The Mercenary”

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:

Interview (Written): John Sayles

An Indiewire interview with renowned screenwriter, director, novelist, and independent film icon John Sayles: You never stopped making movies over the past few decades. When did you start to notice the opportunities for distribution changing? I think we’ve been lucky in that we’ve continued to be able to

Daily Dialogue — March 13, 2016

RICK: That’s the car? LOU: That’s the car. RICK: No shit? You think there’s a reward? LOU: There is a reward. RICK: How much? LOU: 50,000. RICK: Do I get any of it? LOU: I just gave you a raise. RICK: That’s salary, I’m

Zero Draft Thirty 2016 Spring Challenge: Day 12

Zero Draft Thirty: Day 12. 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

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.