Scott Myers

Re-Write-O-Rama: Day 6

Re-Write-O-Rama: Day 6. January 1: Type FADE IN / The Beginning. January 31: Type FADE OUT / The End. 31 days. 1 script. Movie script. TV script. Whatever. Goal: Rewrite an existing draft. I’m doing it with a Zero Draft I knocked out in November. You’re invited

Script Analysis: “Ex Machina” — Part 3: Characters

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: Characters. Characters are

Reflections on Carl Jung (Part 3): Make the Darkness Conscious

The more I study Carl Jung, the more I discover his ideas about psychology have a direct relevance to screenwriting (specifically) and stories (generally). This week, a 5 part series focusing on Jung’s notion of individuation, the achievement of one’s self-actualization through a process of integrating the

Great Scene: “The Deer Hunter”

This has to rank as one of the most riveting scenes in movie history: The Russian roulette sequence in The Deer Hunter (1978). Setting: Vietnam War. Two captured American soldiers, surrounded by Vietnamese guards, forced to take turns putting a pistol to their heads and pulling the trigger, while the

Daily Dialogue — January 6, 2016

“The ring cannot be destroyed, Gimli, son of Gloin, by any craft that we here possess. The ring was made in the fires of Mount Doom. Only there can it be unmade. The ring must be taken deep into Mordor and cast back into the fiery chasm from whence it

Update: Award season screenplay downloads — 2 new scripts / 45 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 #2: Paramount just made The Big Short public! UPDATE: Current total of

Re-Write-O-Rama: Day 5

Re-Write-O-Rama: Day 5. January 1: Type FADE IN / The Beginning. January 31: Type FADE OUT / The End. 31 days. 1 script. Movie script. TV script. Whatever. Goal: Rewrite an existing draft. I’m doing it with a Zero Draft I knocked out in November. You’re invited

Script Analysis: “Ex Machina” — Part 2: Plot

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: Plot. In every

Reflections on Carl Jung (Part 2): Make the Unconscious Conscious

The more I study Carl Jung, the more I discover his ideas about psychology have a direct relevance to screenwriting (specifically) and stories (generally). This week, a 5 part series focusing on Jung’s notion of individuation, the achievement of one’s self-actualization through a process of integrating the

Screenwriting 101: Tim Blake Nelson

“I have to be responsible to a schedule to be the sort of writer/director I want to be. Every day I get up and put myself in a frame of mind for inspiration to come, and manipulate and coax inspiration into stories that can actually be made. And that

Daily Dialogue — January 5, 2016

ADVISOR #1: Sir, it’s at dire times like this when I stop and ask myself: “What would Oprah do?” PRESIDENT: Hang it all! What’s the point? It’s a disaster. President readies to push a giant red button but the advisors around the conference table panic and try

“What you seek is seeking you”

One of the groovy things about hosting a blog, a Twitter account, and a Facebook group is folks are always sending stuff my way. Like this yesterday on the Zero Draft Facebook Group page from Paula Redlefsen: Here’s what I posted in response: Reminds me of that quote from

Re-Write-O-Rama: Day 4

Re-Write-O-Rama: Day 4. January 1: Type FADE IN / The Beginning. January 31: Type FADE OUT / The End. 31 days. 1 script. Movie script. TV script. Whatever. Goal: Rewrite an existing draft. I’m doing it with a Zero Draft I knocked out in November. You’re invited

Script Analysis: “Ex Machina” — Part 1: 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. Our daily schedule: Monday: Scene-By-Scene Breakdown Tuesday: Plot Wednesday: Characters Thursday: Themes Friday: Dialogue Saturday: Takeaways Today: Scene-By-Scene

Reflections on Carl Jung (Part 1): Are We Related to the Infinite or Not?

The more I study Carl Jung, the more I discover his ideas about psychology have a direct relevance to screenwriting (specifically) and stories (generally). This week, a 5 part series focusing on Jung’s notion of individuation, the achievement of one’s self-actualization through a process of integrating the

On Writing

“Write every day without fail…even if you are savagely hung over and your grandmother has just fallen out of a third-story window.” — Tom Robbins Via Advice To Writers

Daily Dialogue — January 4, 2016

Galloway: You put him on the stand and you get it from him! Kaffee: Oh, we get it from him! Yes! No problem! We get it from him. Turns to Sam as if he were Jessup on the stand. Kaffee: Colonel Jessup, isn’t it true that you ordered the

Re-Write-O-Rama: Day 3

Re-Write-O-Rama: Day 3. January 1: Type FADE IN / The Beginning. January 31: Type FADE OUT / The End. 31 days. 1 script. Movie script. TV script. Whatever. Goal: Rewrite an existing draft. I’m doing it with a Zero Draft I knocked out in November. You’re invited

Next week’s Go Into The Story Script Read and Analysis: “Ex Machina”

Beginning Monday, January 4, our next movie script read and analysis will be Ex Machina, written by Alex Garland. Our daily schedule: Monday: Scene-By-Scene Breakdown Tuesday: Plot Wednesday: Characters Thursday: Themes Friday: Dialogue Saturday: Takeaways You may download a PDF of the script here. Available tomorrow, the Scene-

Video: “Inside Out: Outside Edition”

This is great! A University of Utah film student has put together an Inside Out Outside Edition that uses only the scenes outside of Riley’s mind, without the feelings to let us know what’s going inside her head. Here’s the video: I’m really looking forward to

Interview (Written): Greta Gerwig (“Mistress America”)

An Indiewire interview with Greta Gerwig, lead actor and co-writer (along with Noah Baumbach) of the movie Mistress America: Tell me how it was generated, because it’s nice to see this female dynamic on screen that we don’t see very often, and in this smart, funny, complex

Interview (Video): Jack Kerouac

When I was a youth, I watched “The Steve Allen Show” with religious fervor. So I’m delighted to post this: A 1959 appearance on Allen’s show by Jack Kerouac: Can you imagine Jimmy Fallon or Jimmy Kimmel hosting a writer like Kerouac?  Comment Archive

Daily Dialogue — January 3, 2016

“Seems as soon as she hit the water, the wine hit her.” — The Philadelphia Story (1940), screenplay by Donald Ogden Stewart, play by Philip Barry The Daily Dialogue theme for the week: Drunk. Trivia: In his autobiography, Donald Ogden Stewart wrote that the original play was so perfect, adapting it

Re-Write-O-Rama: Day 2

Re-Write-O-Rama: Day 2. January 1: Type FADE IN / The Beginning. January 31: Type FADE OUT / The End. 31 days. 1 script. Movie script. TV script. Whatever. Goal: Rewrite an existing draft. I’m doing it with a Zero Draft I knocked out in November. You’re invited

Daily Dialogue theme next week: Formulating a Plan

The Daily Dialogue theme for next week: Formulating a plan, suggested by Lior Shemesh. For inspiration, a little something from the movie Inception: Here’s the deal with planning scenes: They always involve exposition. Example: Just about every line of dialogue in the excerpt from Inception above involves exposition. So