Scott Myers

Guest Post: “A Free Imagination Has No Limits and No Budget Range”

A guest post from screenwriter Tom Benedek (Cocoon) and Screenwriting Master Class co-founder: A free imagination has no limits and no budget range. In moviemaking, there are those who may tell you otherwise. I just read a wonderful script by a workshop student. The writer fine tuned his characters

Interview (Part 1): Sam Regnier (2015 Nicholl Winner)

Sam Regnier wrote the original screenplay “Free Agent” which won a 2015 Nicholl Fellowship in Screenwriting and has been set up at CBS Films. Recently Sam and I had an excellent phone conversation in which we covered a lot of territory, his background and how he got into writing, a

Interview (Written): Charles Randolph (“The Big Short”)

A Creative Screenwriting interview with Charles Randolph, co-writer of Oscar nominated movie The Big Short, nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay: What made you want to adapt Michael Lewis’s book for the screen? I loved Plan B. I am always happy to work with them. Michael is the best

2016 Dialogue-Writing Challenge: Day 6

Last year at this time, we did a month-long Dialogue-Writing Challenge. It was a big success with dozens of writers participating. We all learned quite a bit about this important aspect of the craft plus we had some fun in the process. So I’ve decided to bring

On Writing

“Writing is hard for every last one of us… Coal mining is harder. Do you think miners stand around all day talking about how hard it is to mine for coal? They do not. They simply dig.” — Cheryl Strayed

Daily Dialogue — February 8, 2016

O’HOULIHAN: Bastards! CORPSMAN: Uh, Major, what went on over there? O’HOULIHAN: Where’s Colonel Blake? CORPSMAN: Wait a second, you can’t go see Colonel Blake. O’HOULIHAN: You shut up you twerp! Major O’Houlihan barges into Lt. Colonel Blake’s tent, interrupting an intimate moment. O’

Zero Draft Thirty Spring 2016 Challenge: Coming in March!

Do you have a story you want to write? A feature length movie screenplay? An original TV pilot? A web series pilot? A novel? Short story? An epic length limerick? The Zero Draft Thirty Spring 2016 Challenge is for you! March 1: You type FADE IN / Once upon a time.

Video: “John Lasseter Looks Back on 30 Years of Pixar”

Last week to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the founding of Pixar, the company put out this short video featuring John Lasseter, Walt Disney Animation and Pixar Studios Chief Creative Officer, and his reflections on why the studio has become so successful as a movie company: An excerpt of Lasseter’

Screenwriting News (February 1-February 7, 2016)

This week’s writing deals and movie project news. Michael Bacall writing untitled Bacall & Gordon-Levitt musical project for Universal Pictures. Michael Bronner adapting “The Marriott Cell” for The Development Partnership. Trey Callaway and Rick Parks sells action spec script “Smoke on the Water” to Thunder Road Pictures. Carlton

John August: “Common Mistakes Made By New Screenwriters”

A list from screenwriter John August: COMMON MISTAKES MADE BY NEW SCREENWRITERS * STARTING WITH A CONCEPT RATHER THAN A CHARACTER * We don’t want a movie about a lost relic. We want a movie about Indiana Jones. * BEING TOO NICE TO THE HEROES * I’m glad you love them. Now

Spec Script Deal: “Smoke on the Water”

Thunder Road acquires action spec script “Smoke on the Water” written by Trey Callaway and Rick Parks. From Tracking Board: Details are being kept under wraps, but the story is set in the world of offshore boat racing, open water drug smuggling and the U.S. Coast Guard–exploring the

Daily Dialogue — February 7, 2016

Billy Kramer: Daddy? Ted Kramer: Yeah? Billy Kramer: I’m sorry. Ted Kramer: I’m sorry too. I want you to go to sleep because it’s really late. Billy Kramer: Daddy? Ted Kramer: Now what is it? Billy Kramer: Are you going away? Ted Kramer: No. I’m staying

Daily Dialogue theme next week: Annoying

Daily Dialogue theme next week: Annoying. Okay, this should be fun. Lots and lots of annoying characters and behaviors in comedies. Maybe some in other genres. Let’s come up with 7 of the most annoying movie moments. The usual drill: * Copy/paste dialogue from IMDb Quotes or some other

Script Analysis: “12 Years a Slave” — Part 6: Takeaways

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. Our daily schedule: Monday: Scene-By-Scene Breakdown Tuesday: Plot Wednesday: Characters Thursday: Themes Friday: Dialogue Saturday: Takeaways Today: Takeaways. You may

Saturday Hot Links

Time for the 224th installment of Saturday Hot Links, your week’s essential reading about movies, TV, streaming, Hollywood, and other things of writerly interest. Oscars: 10 Nominated Scribes on How They Wrote Their Most Memorable Scenes. WGA Awards Nominees Reveal Their Screenwriting Journeys. Sundance 2016: ‘Birth of a Nation’

2016 Dialogue-Writing Challenge: Week 1

Here are all of Week 1’s prompts for this year’s Dialogue-Writing Challenge: Day 1 challenge: A young child asks an adult, “Where do babies come from?” Day 2 challenge: Write a monologue in which a character expresses regret for something in their past. Day 3 challenge: A

Update: Award season screenplay downloads — 1 new script / 46 total

It’s that time of year again when studios and production companies make available PDFs of movie scripts for award season. As in years past, we will be tracking them and posting links as they become available. UPDATE: Current total of 2015 scripts for download: 46.Newly added script (1)

Beyond Words: Celebrating 2015’s WGA-Nominated Screenwriters

The Black List’s Kate Hagen (@thathagengrrl) attended the recent Beyond Words 2016 event sponsored by the Writers’ Guild of America, West, the Writers Guild Foundation, and Variety. As awards season continues chugging along, the WGA-W, the Writer’s Guild Foundation, and Variety gathered together to celebrate 2015’s

Daily Dialogue — February 6, 2016

Stan: So, Gilly, big baseball fan? Young Gil Buckman: Kind of. Stan: Dad bring you here a lot? Young Gil Buckman: Once a year on my birthday. Then he pays an usher to watch me. Stan: Oh, I see. Young Gil Buckman: You have to understand, my father in his

Video: Sundance Film Festival 2016: Closing Awards Ceremony

Video of the closing awards ceremony at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. Check out Franklin Leonard presenting the U.S. Dramatic Grand Jury Prize for the movie The Birth of a Nation.

Script Analysis: “12 Years a Slave” — Part 5: Dialogue

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. Our daily schedule: Monday: Scene-By-Scene Breakdown Tuesday: Plot Wednesday: Characters Thursday: Themes Friday: Dialogue Saturday: Takeaways Today: Dialogue. You may

Songwriters on Songwriting: Randy Newman

I wrote my first song when I was 14 years old. Over the years, I’ve composed hundreds of songs. It was that interest — music — that led me to take a year off from pursuing a doctorate and led me down the circuitous path that has been the rest of

2016 Dialogue-Writing Challenge: Day 5

Last year at this time, we did a month-long Dialogue-Writing Challenge. It was a big success with dozens of writers participating. We all learned quite a bit about this important aspect of the craft plus we had some fun in the process. So I’ve decided to bring

Spec Script Deal: “Leverage”

FilmNation acquires thriller spec script “Leverage” written by Oliver Kramer. Via Deadline: Set in the summer of 1974, it wraps a murder mystery around the beginnings of modern Wall Street mergers-and-acquisitions hustlers evident in films like The Wolf Of Wall Street. Deal was made in a “competitive situation”

Daily Dialogue — February 5, 2016

“Ava!” — Ex Machina (2015), written by Alex Garland The Daily Dialogue theme for the week: Abandoned, recommended by by ymep1. Today’s suggestion by Katha. Trivia: Director Alex Garland has described the future presented in the film as “ten minutes from now,” meaning, “If somebody like Google or Apple announced