Scott Myers

Screenwriting 101: Paddy Chayefsky

“Artists don’t talk about art. Artists talk about work. If I have anything to say to young writers, it’s stop thinking of writing as art. Think of it as work.” — Paddy Chayefsky

Daily Dialogue — October 6, 2015

The occupant of the smoke-shrouded corner table becomes visible only as Indy reaches there: it is Emile Belloq. He is drinking wine. INDY: Belloq BELLOQ: Good evening, Dr. Jones. INDY: I ought to kill you right now. BELLOQ: It was not I who brought the girl into this dirty

Screenwriting as Scene-Writing

Every time we sit down to write a script, we are faced with a scene. This can be a daunting task considering a script may have 50, 60, 70 scenes or more. In a very real way, screenwriting is at its core scene-writing. Therefore it is essential for you

Interview (Part 1): Ben Jacoby

This week I’m featuring an interview I did with Ben Jacoby. This has a particularly unique hook in that I have an email thread with Ben dating back to July 30, 2013. Every several months, Ben would contact me with the latest development in his writing life, so in

Script Analysis: “Nightcrawler” — 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: Major Plot Points Wednesday: Sequences Thursday: Themes Friday: Takeaways Today: Scene-By-Scene

Rod Serling on Writing: Part 1

Part 1 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

On Writing

“What will keep people reading is a desire to spend more time with the characters you’re presenting on the page.” — John Gary via Twitter

Daily Dialogue — October 5, 2015

GOLDFINGER: Good evening, 007. BOND: My name is James Bond. GOLDFINGER: And members of your curious profession are few in number. You have been recognized. Let’s say by one of your opposite numbers who is also licensed to kill. Oh, that interesting car of yours! I, too, have a

Go Into The Story Week In Review: September 28-October 4, 2015

Links to this week’s most notable posts: 2015 Nicholl Fellowships In Screenwriting Winners Classic 40s Movie: Kind Hearts and Coronets Classic 40s Movie: Now Voyager Classic 40s Movie: The Big Sleep Classic 40s Movies: The Entire Series Daily Dialogue theme for next week: Rivalry Go Into The Story Movie

Movie Analysis: “Nightingale”

Two weeks back, we analyzed the movie Nightingale, written by Frederick Mensch. IMDb plot summary: A lonely war veteran psychologically unravels ahead of an old friend’s impending visit. General Comments Plot Characters Themes Takeaways Years ago, I came up with this mantra: Watch movies. Read scripts. Write pages. A

Screenwriting News (September 28-October 4, 2015)

Peter Filardi sells “Magicus” pitch to DreamWorks. Ian Goldberg and Richard Naing adapting novel “The Boy Who Drew Monsters” for New Line. Cort Johns and Luke Jaden Sawicki writing “Hacker” for Eden Road Pictures. Katie Lovejoy sells thriller pitch “In Sight” to Universal Pictures. Ben Lustig and Jake Thornton sell

Inside Out vs. Outside In Writing

In the Core: Dialogue class I’m currently teaching, we examined how a key to writing dialogue is to engage in an Inward Journey into the lives of each character, then explore how that emerges as Outward Expression. Here are some of my reflections from a recent forum post: My

Daily Dialogue — October 4, 2015

“Saturday, March 24, 1984. Shermer High School, Shermer, Illinois. 60062. Dear Mr. Vernon. We accept the fact that we had to sacrifice a whole Saturday in detention for whatever it was that we did wrong… What we did was wrong, but we think you’re crazy to make us write

Daily Dialogue theme for next week: Rivalry

The Daily Dialogue theme for next week: Rivalry. “You wanna make it right? Then when you go to Nationals… bring it. Don’t slack off because you feel sorry for us. That way, when we beat you, we’ll know it’s because we’re better.” Bring It On (2000)

Interview (Part 6): Julia Hart — “The Keeping Room”

Over the weekend, an outstanding indie movie opened in select theaters in North America: The Keeping Room, written by Julia Hart, directed by Daniel Barber, and starring Brit Marling and Hailee Steinfeld. I interviewed Julia back in February 2013 and will be reprising that series this week, a terrific conversation

Saturday Hot Links

Time for the 206th installment of Saturday Hot Links! Meet the 2015 MacArthur Fellows. Intellectuals, Screenwriters and Wrestlers, Oh My: A Brief History of Marvel’s Celebrity Writers. A24: The Distributor as Auteur. Four Disputed Films Yanked From Relativity Media Auction. The 15 Indie Films You Must See This October.

Movie Analysis: “Casablanca”

This week, we analyzed the movie Casablanca, written by screenplay by Julius J. Epstein & Philip G. Epstein and Howard Koch. IMDb plot summary: Set in Casablanca, Morocco during the early days of World War II: An American expatriate meets a former lover, with unforeseen complications. General Comments Plot Characters

Interview (Written): Drew Goddard (“The Martian”)

An Indiewire interview with screenwriter Drew Goddard who adapted a book written by Andy Weir. How into the science of “The Martian” did you get? It’s in the book. I mean, Weir really, really went deep. I got into it in the sense that I love reading the book

Daily Dialogue — October 3, 2015

“The world is full o’ complainers. An’ the fact is, nothin’ comes with a guarantee. Now I don’t care if you’re the pope of Rome, President of the United States or Man of the Year; somethin’ can all go wrong. Now go on ahead, y’know, complain, tell

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

Beginning Monday, October 5, our next movie script read and analysis will be Nightcrawler, written and directed by Dan Gilroy. Our daily schedule: Monday: Scene-By-Scene Breakdown Tuesday: Major Plot Points Wednesday: Sequences Thursday: Themes Friday: Takeaways You may download a PDF of the script here. Reading scripts is

Interview (Part 5): Julia Hart — “The Keeping Room”

Over the weekend, an outstanding indie movie opened in select theaters in North America: The Keeping Room, written by Julia Hart, directed by Daniel Barber, and starring Brit Marling and Hailee Steinfeld. I interviewed Julia back in February 2013 and will be reprising that series this week, a terrific conversation

Movie Analysis: “Casablanca” — 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

Interview (Written): Damon Lindelof (“The Leftovers”)

I thought the HBO series “The Leftovers” was one of the most compelling, even fascinating series last year, so I’m excited to see what’s in store in Season 2. In advance of the season premiere this Sunday, The Hollywood Reporter sat down with showrunner Damon Lindelof for an

Spec Script Deal: “Free Agent”

CBS Films acquires sports drama script “Free Agent” written by Sam Regnier. From Deadline: The screenplay by the former Paramount assistant centers on a female NBA executive for the Golden State Warriors who pursues the biggest free agent of her career while managing a messy divorce and a complicated relationship

Daily Dialogue — October 2, 2015

“I believe in America. America has made my fortune.” — The Godfather (1972), screenplay by Mario Puzo and Francis Ford Coppola, novel by Mario Puzo The Daily Dialogue theme for the week: Opening Lines. Today’s suggestion by Rob Peterson. Trivia: According to Mario Puzo, the character of Johnny Fontane was