Scott Myers

Interview (Written): Steven E. de Souza

An August 24, 2015 Creative Screenwriting interview with prolific screenwriter Steven E. de Souza. His movie credits include 48 Hrs. (1982), Commando (1985), The Running Man (1987), Die Hard (1988), Die Hard 2 (1990), Judge Dredd (1995), and Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life (2003). Do all your

Daily Dialogue — August 29, 2015

“Hey! If any of you are looking for any last-minute gift ideas for me, I have one. I’d like Frank Shirley, my boss, right here tonight. I want him brought from his happy holiday slumber over there on Melody Lane with all the other rich people and I

Go Into The Story Movie Analysis: Straight Outta Compton

Starting Monday, we begin our next installment of the Go Into The Story Movie Analysis series: Straight Outta Compton, screenplay by Jonathan Herman and Andrea Berloff, story by S. Leigh Savidge & Alan Wenkus and Andrea Berloff. To date per Box Office Mojo, Straight Outta Compton has grossed $119M in

Screenwriting Twitter Rants

This week, there were three quality screenwriting Twitter ‘rants’ which reminded me of a basic fact about learning the craft in 2015: THERE ARE SO DAMN MANY RESOURCES AVAILABLE TODAY!!! Not just resources, but free resources. And not just free resources, but great free resources. For example, check this out:

Script Analysis: “Nebraska” — Part 5: Takeaways

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: Takeaways. This week,

Script To Screen: “Alien”

Here is a memorable scene from “Alien” (1970), screenplay Dan O’Bannon, story by Dan O’Bannon and Ronald Shusett. Setup: There is an alien on board the spaceship Nostromo. The ship’s captain Dallas has entered the air shaft to find the alien and kill it using a flamethrower.

Daily Dialogue — August 28, 2015

— Breaking the Waves (1996), written by Lars von Trier and Peter Asmussen The Daily Dialogue theme for the week: Hysterics. Trivia: The first film in Lars von Trier’s “Golden Heart” trilogy in which the heroines remain naïve despite their actions. The two other parts are The Idiots (1998) and

Reader Question: How to balance screenwriting theory and the actual writing?

From Traci Peterson: I’m an intuitive/organic writer discovering the sometimes overwhelming scope of Joseph Campbell and Carl Jung’s influences on character and story. Any suggestions on how to balance the two in order to get the first script down? It can be overwhelming, especially on the front

Twitter Rant: Zack Stentz on Being ‘Good in a Room’

Tweetstorm: Zack Stentz on Being ‘Good in a Room’ Screenwriting is not just about what’s on the page. You have to sell yourself. Zack Stentz has carved out a 15 year career both as a screenwriter and TV writer-producer. His writing credits include the movies Agent Cody Banks,

Script Analysis: “Nebraska” — Part 4: Themes

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: Themes. I have

Writing and the Creative Life: Three types of creators

This post originally ran January 9, 2014. I’m reprising it here to honor my son Will who next week heads off for the next chapter in his creative adventure — to begin a Ph.D. program in music composition at the University of Chicago. My son Will is a recent

Daily Dialogue — August 27, 2015

“KHAANNNNN!!!” — Star Trek: Wrath of Khan (1982), screenplay by Jack B. Sowards, story by Harve Bennett and Jack B. Sowards, television series created by Gene Roddenberry The Daily Dialogue theme for the week: Hysterics. Trivia: Producer Harve Bennett viewed all the original Star Trek (1966) episodes and chose Star Trek:

“Life’s Stories”

This may be the single best article I’ve read in years. Written by The Atlantic senior editor Julie Beck and recommended by some wonderful GITS reader who has gotten lost in my transition in email servers (if you read this, please email me so I can give you a

Case Study: Female Driven Comedy

Over at the Black List, among the titles the super bright Terry Huang has is Director of Data, and his latest post features some interesting… well… data. I’ve been recently providing data to a screenwriter to help her pitch her new female-driven comedy and thought it would make

Script Analysis: “Nebraska” — Part 3: Sequences

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: Sequences. A sequence

Great Scene: “The Elephant Man”

It’s one of the most poignant, sad, and beautiful movie moments I can remember: The ending of The Elephant Man (1980). Directed by David Lynch from a screenplay he co-wrote with Christopher De Vore & Eric Bergren, the movie tells the story of John Merrick (John Hurt), known

Daily Dialogue — August 26, 2015

Olive: [going over eye test pamphlets] Mom, Dwayne’s got 20/20 vision! Sheryl: I bet he does… Olive: OK, now I’m going to check to see if you’re colorblind. Opens the pamphlet. Olive: What’s the letter in the circle? Dwayne looks confused. Olive: No, no inside

Twitter Rant: @ORachaelO on What Makes a Writer Stand Out

Tweetstorm: @ORachaelO on What Makes a Writer Stand Out A few days ago, Rachael Prior, head of film at Big Talk Productions, composed an informative tweetstorm about what makes a script — and as a result the writer — stand out. Reprinted in its entirety by permission. As ever, there is a

Black List writers on the craft: Characters (5 Part Series)

Over the years, I have interviewed over 40 Black List screenwriters. This month, I am running a series featuring one topic per week related to the craft of writing. Last week: How do you develop your characters? Black List writers on the craft: Characters (Part 1) — Real people Black List

Script Analysis: “Nebraska” — Part 2: Major Plot Points

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: Major Plot Points.

Screenwriting 101: Wells Root

“Generally speaking, the most successful stories are those of human character. The most important thing in a script is to have strong leading characters. Plot and structure and the rest are really secondary. It’s how your characters behave and what they say that really makes a film live. The

Daily Dialogue — August 25, 2015

JAKE: Oh, please, don’t kill us! Please, please don’t kill us! You know I love you baby. I wouldn’t leave ya. It wasn’t my fault! MYSTERY WOMAN: You miserable slug. You think you can talk your way out of this? You betrayed me. JAKE: No, I

Style = Voice

How you approach screenwriting style is a reflection of your writing voice. This is the case whether you are intentional about it or not. A professional script reader, who plows through hundreds of scripts per year, will pick up on a script’s sense of style — or lack thereof — from

Twitter Rant: Gary Graham on Some Keys to Screenwriting

Tweetstorm: Gary Graham on Some Keys to Screenwriting Last week, Gary Graham posted a tweetstorm about how he wrote and sold his spec script “A Garden at the End of the World” to Warner Bros. Subsequently Gary was hired to retrofit “Garden” to reboot I Am Legend. Gary’s saga

Script Analysis: “Nebraska” — 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