Scott Myers

Update: Winners of free tickets to “The Psychology of Story-Telling” with Lindsay Doran

Last week, I ran a contest giving away three pair of tickets to the upcoming Lindsay Doran event: “The Psychology of Story-Telling”. Back by Popular Demand! On October 29 at 7:30 pm at the Writers Guild Theater, Lindsay Doran may change everything you think you know about screenwriting.

Spec Script Deal: “Underwater”

20th Century Fox acquires thriller spec script “Underwater” written by Brian Duffield. From Tracking Board: After an earthquake destroys their underwater station, a crew of six must navigate two miles in the dangerous unknown depths of the ocean floor to make it safety. Duffield has been on a hot streak

Interview (Video): Lenny Abrahamson and Emma Donoghue

A Rotten Tomatoes interview with Emma Donoghue, who wrote the novel “Room” and adapted it for its movie treatment, and the film’s director Lenny Abrahamson: The movie, which stars Brie Larson, is being mentioned as a possible Academy Award contender, certainly for Larson as Best Actress. Here are some

Daily Dialogue — October 18, 2015

“Just how does one go introducing your friends to your brother when Brother’s wearing your best sweater, your skirt, and makeup to boot?” — Glen or Glenda (1953), written by Ed Wood The Daily Dialogue theme for the week: Cross Dressing. Trivia: The film includes almost 14 minutes of stock

Daily Dialogue theme for next week: Selflessness

The Daily Dialogue theme for next week: Selflessness. “I thought it was from God.  I thought it was a miracle.” Millions (2004) It’s one of the most common transformation arcs we see in movies, whereby a character goes from selfishness to selflessness. How about 7 great movie examples of

Movie Analysis: “The Martian”

This week, we analyzed the movie The Martian, screenplay by Drew Goddard, book by Andy Weir. IMDb pot summary: During a manned mission to Mars, Astronaut Mark Watney is presumed dead after a fierce storm and left behind by his crew. But Watney has survived and finds himself stranded and

Saturday Hot Links

Time for the 208th installment of Saturday Hot Links. J.J. Abrams Confirms Final Cut On ‘The Force Awakens,’ Says ‘Star Wars’ Is Not Being Disney-fied. Joss Whedon Says He’s Made More Money From ‘Dr. Horrible’ Than The First ‘Avengers’ Movie. Quentin Tarantino Says He Cut Two Different

Interview (Audio): Ben Wheatley with Alex Cox

The Talkhouse conversation between writer-directors Ben Wheatley (Down Terrace, Kill List) and Alex Cox (Repo Man, Sid and Nancy, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas). [soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/227093954" params=”auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=

Interview (Written): Aaron Sorkin (“Steve Jobs”)

A Vulture interview with Aaron Sorkin, screenwriter, Steve Jobs: Were you always interested in Steve Jobs? No. No. I knew what the general public knew, but not as much as a lot of people, I found out. The fandom is incredible, including the sort of virtual fistfights that break out

Daily Dialogue — October 17, 2015

Brad: I’m glad we caught you at home. Could we use your phone? We’re both in a bit of a hurry. We’ll just say where were are and go back to the car. We don’t want to be any worry. Frank: [singing] Well, you got caught

Update: Award season screenplay downloads (1 new script)

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: 9. Newly added script: Straight

Next week’s Go Into The Story Script Read and Analysis: “The Wolf of Wall Street”

Beginning Monday, October 19, our next movie script read and analysis will be The Wolf of Wall Street, screenplay by Terence Winter, book by Jordan Belfort. Our daily schedule: Monday: Scene-By-Scene Breakdown Tuesday: Major Plot Points Wednesday: Characters Thursday: Themes Friday: Takeaways You may download a PDF of

Part 5: If you are a beginning screenwriter…

Recently I received an email from someone who wants to begin the process of learning the craft of screenwriting. I started my response with the advice to use this blog as a free resource. After all, there are over 13,000 posts in the archives… Then it dawned on me:

Movie Analysis: “The Martian” — Takeaways

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

Rod Serling on Writing: Part 11

Part 11 of a 16 part series featuring the master storyteller on video. Ever since I launched Go Into The Story, I have regularly gone down the Internet’s rabbit hole in search of unique video clips featuring renowned writers. In 2010, I hit the Mother Lode: A series of

STORY BEATS — Movie plots beat by beat

As faithful GITS readers know, we began a collective project this year, as part of a our bi-weekly Script Reading and Analysis series, to generate Scene-By-Scene Breakdowns. And thanks to some outstanding and wonderful members of this humble screenwriting community, we now have 27 breakdowns for movies

Daily Dialogue — October 16, 2015

Dorothy Michaels: Excuse me, I’m wondering if you can help me? I’m looking for the Russian Tea Room. George Fields: This is the Russian Tea Room, right here. You’re standing in front of it. Dorothy Michaels: Oh well, my stars, so it is. Well, this is very

Who’s with me to pound out a script in November?

Okay, here’s where I’m at. I am just now returning to the land of the living after a relentless two week stint on my seeming death bed with a virulent head cold slash virus slash Bubonic Plague. I never get sick. It’s like my body knows I

Part 4: If you are a beginning screenwriter…

Recently I received an email from someone who wants to begin the process of learning the craft of screenwriting. I started my response with the advice to use this blog as a free resource. After all, there are over 13,000 posts in the archives… Then it dawned on me:

Movie Analysis: “The Martian” — Themes

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

Rod Serling on Writing: Part 10

Part 10 of a 16 part series featuring the master storyteller on video. Ever since I launched Go Into The Story, I have regularly gone down the Internet’s rabbit hole in search of unique video clips featuring renowned writers. In 2010, I hit the Mother Lode: A series of

Writing and the Creative Life: The act of writing provides health benefits

Just the other day, I posted my response to this reader question: The road from unpaid screenwriter to paid screenwriter is long, winding and unpredictable. It’s not certain that you’ll ever be one. How can one keep yourself motivated? I wish I had stumbled across this Scientific America

Daily Dialogue — October 15, 2015

Lola: [looks horrified] Burgundy. Please, God, tell me I have not inspired something burgundy. Red. Red. *Red*. *Red*, Charlie boy. Rule one. Red is the color of sex! Burgundy is the color of hot water bottles! Red is the color of sex and fear and danger and signs that say,

Reader Question: How do you deal with disappointment?

Question via the blog from Eric Harris: How do you deal with disappointment? Eric went on to elaborate: Since you seem to always have a healthy attitude towards the craft, I thought you’d be a perfect person to ask. Of course, there are different scenarios a writer can face:

Part 3: If you are a beginning screenwriter…

Recently I received an email from someone who wants to begin the process of learning the craft of screenwriting. I started my response with the advice to use this blog as a free resource. After all, there are over 13,000 posts in the archives… Then it dawned on me: