Scott Myers

Daily Dialogue — November 19, 2015

INTERVIEWER: I’d like to talk now about your new novel, Atonement, which is coming out in a few days to coincide with your birthday. It’s your twenty-first novel… OLDER BRIONY: It’s my last novel. INTERVIEWER: Oh, really? You mean you’re retiring? OLDER BRIONY: No, dying.

Zero Draft Thirty: Day 18

Zero Draft Thirty: Day 18. November 1: Type FADE IN / The Beginning. November 30: Type FADE OUT / The End. 30 days. 1 script. Movie script. TV script. First draft. Rewrite. Whatever. I’m doing it. You’re invited. To learn everything you need to know about the ZDT Challenge, go

Writing a TV pilot? Check this out!

A guest post from Tom Benedek, my colleague, friend, and co-founder of Screenwriting Master Class: Dear Fellow Writers: My wife convinced me to take a 3 day watercolor-drawing class in October. Guess what? In addition to being a fun experience, there was an unexpected result. Understanding some fundamentals

Spirit Of The Spec: You Write Your Story

I had a conversation recently with a former studio executive turned producer in which I found myself talking about the “spirit of the spec,” essentially when a person chooses to pursue a project or goal entirely on speculation with the hopes of some eventual payoff. Not everybody would make that

WGA screenwriters remind us: “Everybody gets fired”

I blogged about this in 2010: Everybody gets rewritten in Hollywood. Here in this WGA video, screenwriters Jessica Bendiger, Andrea Berloff, Stan Chervin, Shauna Cross, Jonathan Fernandez, Cheo Hodari-Coker, Eric Hoeber, and Oscar nominee Billy Ray discuss the ins and outs of getting fired. Once when I was fired

Script To Screen: “Whiplash”

Fletcher shares his views on why “good enough” is NOT good enough. Leave it to the innovative John August to come up with an even better way to compare script pages to what appears on the screen. Check out this video John put together for a scene from the brilliant

Daily Dialogue — November 18, 2015

JESS: I think restaurants have become too important. MARIE: Oh, I agree. Restaurants are to people in the 80s what theater was to people in the 60s. I read that in a magazine. JESS: I wrote that. MARIE: Get out of here. JESS: No, I did. I wrote that. MARIE:

Zero Draft Thirty: Day 17

Zero Draft Thirty: Day 17. November 1: Type FADE IN / The Beginning. November 30: Type FADE OUT / The End. 30 days. 1 script. Movie script. TV script. First draft. Rewrite. Whatever. I’m doing it. You’re invited. To learn everything you need to know about the ZDT Challenge, go

Spec Script Deal: Untitled Adolf Eichmann Project

MGM made a pre-emptive deal to acquire untitled thriller written by Matthew Orton. Via Deadline: MGM has made a pre-emptive deal for an untitled spec script by British scribe Matthew Orton about the team that hunted down and captured Adolf Eichmann, one of the major architects of the

Spirit Of The Spec: You Act On Your Idea

As we progress through the Zero Draft Thirty Challenge, I thought it would be a good idea to reprise this series as it speaks to the heart of writing on ‘spec’. I had a conversation recently with a former studio executive turned producer in which I found myself talking about

Screenwriting 101: Shane Black

“I think about the audience in the sense that I serve as my own audience. I have to please myself that way, if I saw the movie in theatre, I would be pleased. Do I think about catering to an audience? No.” — Shane Black

Daily Dialogue — November 17, 2015

BUD: A writer! What could you write about? You’re not oppressed or gay. SHAUN: Not all writers are gay. BUD: Well, they’re all poor. SHAUN: That’s not true. What about Tom Clancy, Stephen King, Anne Rice? BUD: Three people, in the history of literature! — Orange County (2002)

Update: Award season screenplay downloads — 8 new scripts / 22 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: 22. Newly added scripts (8)

Zero Draft Thirty: Day 16

Zero Draft Thirty: Day 16. November 1: Type FADE IN / The Beginning. November 30: Type FADE OUT / The End. 30 days. 1 script. Movie script. TV script. First draft. Rewrite. Whatever. I’m doing it. You’re invited. To learn everything you need to know about the ZDT Challenge, go

Spirit Of The Spec: You Get An Idea

As we progress through the Zero Draft Thirty Challenge, I thought it would be a good idea to reprise this series as it speaks to the heart of writing on ‘spec’. I had a conversation recently with a former studio executive turned producer in which I found myself talking about

On Writing

“If we go back to the ancients, those three narratives are there — they’re in the first writing that we have: It’s about sorrow, it’s about redemption, it’s about journey — the hero’s journey… When I teach writing, I always tell my students: ‘You might think you’

Daily Dialogue — November 16, 2015

SARAH: So what award did that little shit get? JOHN: The Manchester Book Critics. Hardly the Booker Prize, I know, but it’s not bad for a first novel. The “little shit,” as you call him, has talent. I just hope he sells. SARAH: I trust you taught him your

Zero Draft Thirty: Day 15

Zero Draft Thirty: Day 15. November 1: Type FADE IN / The Beginning. November 30: Type FADE OUT / The End. 30 days. 1 script. Movie script. TV script. First draft. Rewrite. Whatever. I’m doing it. You’re invited. To learn everything you need to know about the ZDT Challenge, go

The Writer’s Journey: A Bridge to Somewhere

Today is Day 15 of the Zero Draft Thirty Challenge which means we are officially HALFWAY through it. Here is my statistical impression of where we are as a group: * 5% of us have finished a Zero Draft. Congratulations! You can spend the rest of the time revising your draft,

Screenwriting News (November 9-November 15, 2015)

Chris Collins adapting short film “The Flying Man” for Sony Pictures Entertainment. David Leslie Johnson rewriting “Aquaman” for Warner Bros. Pictures. Max Landis script “Deeper” with Phantom Four Films. Gary Lundy dramedy script “A Happening of Monumental Proportions” moving forward with Great Point Media. Rod Lurie and Kyra Davis adapting

Interview (Video): Charlie Kaufman

A BAFTA screenwriting lecture by Charlie Kaufman (Being John Malkovich, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Adaptation). Via Coloraggio Is Here.

Daily Dialogue — November 15, 2015

“Oh, well. Nothing recedes like success.” — Deathtrap (1982), screenplay by Joan Presson Allen, play by Ira Levin The Daily Dialogue theme for the month: Writers and Writing. Trivia: The original Broadway production of ‘Deathtrap’ by Ira Levin opened at the Music Box Theatre on 26 February 1978 with six preview

Zero Draft Thirty: Day 14

Zero Draft Thirty: Day 14. November 1: Type FADE IN / The Beginning. November 30: Type FADE OUT / The End. 30 days. 1 script. Movie script. TV script. First draft. Rewrite. Whatever. I’m doing it. You’re invited. To learn everything you need to know about the ZDT Challenge, go

Daily Dialogue theme for the Month: Writers and Writing

In honor of the Zero Draft Thirty Challenge, we’re going to have one theme for the entire month of November. That theme: Writers and Writing Via The Writers Circle Consecutive days of Daily Dialogue posts: 2,739. Over 500 people have committed to join me in the #ZD30SCRIPT Challenge.

Saturday Hot Links

Time for the 212th installment of Saturday Hot Links. Oscars: Big Studios Rewriting Their Own Future. Oscar Season is Evolving and Women Are Taking The Lead. ‘Room’: How a Dark Indie Became 2015’s Left-Field Oscar Contender. The Golden Globes Are Classifying ‘The Martian’ as a Comedy. Here Are