Scott Myers

Interview (Part 5): Lori Evans Taylor

In July, Lori Evans Taylor sold the spec script “Bed Rest” to MGM. Deadline reported it this way: Spec is a Hitchcockian thriller in the vein of Rear Window and What Lies Beneath, centering on a pregnant woman who is isolated and confined to bed rest. I reached out to

Movie Analysis: “Nightingale” — 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

Classic 40s Movie: “Arsenic and Old Lace”

September is Classic 40s Movie month. Today’s guest post comes from Gisela Werhl. Movie Title: Arsenic and Old Lace Year: 1944 Writers: Julius J. Epstein and Philip G. Epstein based on the play by Joseph Kesselring Lead Actors: Cary Grant, Priscilla Lane, Raymond Massey, Josephine Hull Director: Frank Capra

Script To Screen: “Midnight Cowboy”

The last scenes from the 1969 movie Midnight Cowboy, screenplay by Waldo Salt, novel by James Leo Herlihy. IMDb plot summary: A naive hustler goes to New York to seek personal fortune but in the process finds himself a new friend. Ratso (Dustin Hoffman) and Joe (Jon Voight) are en

Daily Dialogue — September 18, 2015

Dodge Landon: Take your stinking paws off me you damn dirty ape! Caesar: NO! — Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011), written by Rick Jaffa & Amanda Silver, suggested by the novel “La planete des signes” The Daily Dialogue theme for the week: Minimum words, Maximum impact. Today’s

Writing and the Creative Life: Look… don’t overlook

“We usually don’t look. We overlook.” — Alan Watts I write this post as much for myself as anybody else. I need to remind myself to stop. Step out of the maelstrom of modern life — email, text, cell phone, internet, social media — all of those trappings we associate with interconnectivity

Interview (Part 4): Lori Evans Taylor

In July, Lori Evans Taylor sold the spec script “Bed Rest” to MGM. Deadline reported it this way: Spec is a Hitchcockian thriller in the vein of Rear Window and What Lies Beneath, centering on a pregnant woman who is isolated and confined to bed rest. I reached out to

Movie Analysis: “Nightingale” — 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

Classic 40s Movie: “The Lost Weekend”

September is Classic 40s Movie month. Today’s guest post comes from Liz Warner. Title: The Lost Weekend Year: 1945 Writers: Charles Brackett and Billy Wilder (screenplay), Charles R. Jackson (novel) Lead Actors: Ray Milland, Jane Wyman Director: Billy Wilder Plot Summary: A chronic alcoholic writer from New York desperately

Spec Script Deal: “Humbug”

Universal acquires family fantasy spec script “Humbug” written by Todd Jones and Earl Ritchey Jones. From Deadline: Universal Pictures has won a four-studio bidding battle to acquire Humbug, a spec that is fast coming together for Ice Cube to star in the title role, with Tim Story directing a

Daily Dialogue — September 17, 2015

“I must break you.” — Rocky IV (1985), written by Sylvester Stallone The Daily Dialogue theme for the week: Minimum words, Maximum impact. Today’s suggestion by James Schramm. Trivia: Rocky IV was the highest grossing film in the Rocky series, taking some $300 million worldwide. Dialogue On Dialogue: Commentary by

Blogging Hall of Fame?

Note: This blog post involves two of my favorite things: Movies and baseball. So this weekend, I was in Toronto for the Film Festival and a Black List screenwriter’s mini-lab workshop. Amazing experience all around. While there, I was talking with some writers, longtime fans of the blog,

Interview (Part 3): Lori Evans Taylor

In July, Lori Evans Taylor sold the spec script “Bed Rest” to MGM. Deadline reported it this way: Spec is a Hitchcockian thriller in the vein of Rear Window and What Lies Beneath, centering on a pregnant woman who is isolated and confined to bed rest. I reached out to

Movie Analysis: “Nightingale” — Characters

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

Classic 40s Movie: “The Ox-Bow Incident”

September is Classic 40s Movie month. Today’s guest post comes from George “Clay” Mitchell. Title: The Ox-Bow Incident Year: 1943. It was completed in 1942, but according to a story, the studio didn’t know how to market the film. Writers: Written for the screen by Lamar Trotti,

Video: THR’s Comedy Writer’s Roundtable

THR’s roundtable with six writer-producers who oversee some of the most impactful comedies of the year: HBO’s Silicon Valley, vying for a best comedy series Emmy this year (Alec Berg), Amazon’s Emmy-nominated Transparent (Jill Soloway), ABC’s Modern Family, also up for a best comedy

Daily Dialogue — September 16, 2015

“You ain’t heard nothin’ yet.” — The Jazz Singer (1927), adaptation by Alfred A. Cohen, titles by Jack Jarmuth, based on a play by Samsom Raphaelson The Daily Dialogue theme for the week: Minimum words, Maximum impact. Today’s suggestion by Rob Peterson. Trivia: First feature-length movie with audible

Interview (Part 2): Lori Evans Taylor

In July, Lori Evans Taylor sold the spec script “Bed Rest” to MGM. Deadline reported it this way: Spec is a Hitchcockian thriller in the vein of Rear Window and What Lies Beneath, centering on a pregnant woman who is isolated and confined to bed rest. I reached out to

Movie Analysis: “Nightingale” — Plot

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

Classic 40s Movie: “Laura”

September is Classic 40s Movie month. Today’s guest post comes from Melinda Mahaffey Icden. Title: Laura Year: 1944 Writers: Screenplay by Jay Dratler, Samuel Hoffenstein and Betty Reinhardt, based on the novel by Vera Caspary Lead Actors: Gene Tierney, Dana Andrews, Clifton Webb, Vincent Price Director: Otto Preminger IMDb

Screenwriting 101: Sterling Silliphant

“I map out five pages a day, thirty-five pages a week. I keep revising the schedule and the four weeks become six weeks or eight weeks, but to take more than eight weeks for the first draft would be reprehensible.” — Stirling Silliphant

Daily Dialogue — September 15, 2015

“E.T phone home.” — E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982), written by Melissa Mathison The Daily Dialogue theme for the week: Minimum words, Maximum impact. Trivia: John Sayles wrote a semi-sequel to Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) called ‘Night Skies’, about a group of hostile aliens that

Tom Benedek (Guest Post): Writer as Pioneer

A guest post from screenwriter Tom Benedek (Cocoon) and co-founder of Screenwriting Master Class: Stories have endings. Characters may have inevitable emotional destinations. They may start with an internal dissonance — a psychological itch they cannot scratch — something which they need to understand, come to terms with which they may

Interview (Part 1): Lori Evans Taylor

In July, Lori Evans Taylor sold the spec script “Bed Rest” to MGM. Deadline reported it this way: Spec is a Hitchcockian thriller in the vein of Rear Window and What Lies Beneath, centering on a pregnant woman who is isolated and confined to bed rest. I reached out to

Movie Analysis: “Nightingale”

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