Scott Myers

Daily Dialogue — August 1, 2015

DEBBIE: I don’t want to hurt anybody. I don’t enjoy hurting anybody. I don’t like guns, or bombs, or electric chairs. But sometimes people just won’t listen. So I have to use persuasion. And slides. My parents: Sharon and Dave. Generous. Doting…or where they? All

Go Into The Story Movie Analysis: Trainwreck

Starting Monday, we begin our next installment of the Go Into The Story Movie Analysis series: Trainwreck, written by Amy Schumer. To date per Box Office Mojo, Trainwreck has grossed $68M in domestic theatrical revenues. The movie’s production budget is a reported $35M, so since the movie will likely

Which writers deserve a Hollywood Walk of Fame star?

Yesterday I posted this, a campaign to get Raymond Chandler a star in the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In the process of researching this project, this shocking fact came to light: How many “solely” novelists or screenwriters have a star on the Walk of Fame? Answer: None. All novelists and/

Master Class with Meredith Stiehm and Pam Veasey

[So as not to bury the lede… FREE TICKET INFORMATION BELOW!!!] Hey, SoCal writers, the good folks at the Writers Guild Foundation have a terrific event coming up on Tuesday, August 11: Meredith Stiehm is the screenwriter to thank for some of the most compelling and complex female lead characters

30 Things About Screenwriting — Entire Series

Reflections on and basic tenets about the craft. They represent my take. If any of them resonate with you, great. If not, feel free to ignore them. Bottom line: You need to figure out your own approach to screenwriting. My hope is what you read on this blog day after

Great Character: Martin Q. Blank (“Gross Pointe Blank”)

Take a hit man going through an existential crisis. Put him under pressure by sending some overzealous FBI agents after him. And an assassin. Oh, yeah, and another hit man who wants to joint the “Assassin’s Union.” Send them all off to the original hit man’s high school

Daily Dialogue — July 31, 2015

Annie Wilkes: Paul… Paul Sheldon: [waking up] Hmm? Annie Wilkes: I know you’ve been out. Paul Sheldon: What? Annie Wilkes: You’ve been out of your room. Paul Sheldon: No I haven’t. Annie Wilkes: Paul… My little ceramic penguin in the study always faces due South. Paul Sheldon:

Help get Raymond Chandler a Hollywood Walk of Fame star

I get hit up all the time to help promote a variety of causes. Normally the best I can do is offer a retweet. Otherwise the blog would become more like a clog… jammed with requests for money. But this one is different. Bill Boyle and Aaron Lerner have taken

Black List announces 2nd Annual Canadian Indie Screenwriting Fellowship

The latest from the Black List: LOS ANGELES, CA (July 29, 2015) — This morning, producer Martin Katz (Maps to the Stars, Hotel Rwanda), the Toronto International Film Festival, and the Black List announced that submissions were open for the second annual Martin Katz/TIFF Canadian Independent Screenwriting Fellowship, wherein one

Script Analysis: “Lone Survivor” — 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. Today: A scene-by-scene breakdown of the script for the movie Lone Survivor. Here is my take on this exercise from

30 Days of Screenwriting: Go into the story and find the animals

If you’ve taken the time to click on About GITS on the home page and read The Story Behind Go Into The Story, you know that this mantra derives from a conversation I had with my then three year-old son. It went pretty much like this: Me: Hey,

The Business of Screenwriting: Everything you wanted to know about specs [Part 18]

Spec scripts, that is. I’m guessing that perhaps 90% of the people who follow this blog at some point in their lives will write a spec script. And the other 10% are involved in buying and selling them. In light of that fact, last year I interviewed a top

Daily Dialogue — July 30, 2015

“There’s the television. It’s all right there — all right there. Look, listen, kneel, pray. Commercials! We’re not productive anymore. We don’t make things anymore. It’s all automated. What are we for then? We’re consumers, Jim. Yeah. Okay, okay. Buy a lot of stuff, you’

Twitter Rant: Eric Heisserer on How to Treat a Film Crew

Tweetstorm: Eric Heisserer on How to Treat a Film Crew If you are an aspiring screenwriter, Twitter is an amazing resource. Eric Heisserer (Arrival, Lights Out, Hours, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Final Destination 5, The Thing) is probably the Hollywood screenwriter most willing to go online and provide a

Spec Script Deal: “Crash Site”

Alcon Entertainment acquires science fiction spec script “Crash Site” written by Chuck Pfarrer. From THR: “Plot details for the project are being kept deep in a government bunker.” Pfarrer is repped by WME and Apostle Entertainment. By my count, this is the 40th spec script deal in 2015. There were

Script Analysis: “Beginners” — 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. Today: A scene-by-scene breakdown of the script for the movie Beginners. Here is my take on this exercise from a

30 Things About Screenwriting: The only way out is through

Imagine the process of writing a story as being a journey. Perhaps as you embark on your adventure, you have a map — an outline or beat sheet. Or maybe you don’t, plunging into your story in order to find it along the way. In either case, it’s almost

Questions: What’s Your Favorite Line From A Movie?

Another in great videos from the Academy Originals series. Here filmmakers share their favorite lines from movies. Some great lines mentioned here by a bevy of people involved in the film business — writers, actors, producers, production designers, editors. And a nice treat, most of the lines are featured on an

Daily Dialogue — July 29, 2015

KILGORE: Smell that? You smell that? LANCE: What? KILGORE: Napalm, son. Nothing else in the world smells like that. (Kneels) I love the smell of napalm in the morning. You know, one time we had a hill bombed, for 12 hours. When it was all over, I walked up. We

Character = Function

In a screenplay, characters exist for a reason. Unlike a novel, a writer doesn’t have unlimited time to introduce characters willy nilly, rather the limitations of a script’s length compels us to handle characters with one eye always on how they connect to the plot. Moreover almost all

Video: “The Power of Storytelling”

This came across my Twitter feed yesterday: Naturally I had to watch it and I’m glad I did. Beginning with a cautionary tale about two villagers who go off on a hunt, the video makes four points about the power of story. Here they are with excerpts from McKellan’

Script Analysis: “Belle” — 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. Today: A scene-by-scene breakdown of the script for the movie Belle. Here is my take on this exercise from a

30 Things About Screenwriting: The Spirit of the Spec

You get an idea. You act on your idea. You write your story. You put it out there. And if it doesn’t sell… This is what I call the spirit of the spec. Live it. Be it. Do it. For the rest of the 30 Things About Screenwriting series,

Screenwriting 101: Stanley Kubrick

“I think the best plot is no apparent plot. I like a slow start, the start gets under the audience’s skin and involves them so that they can appreciate grace notes and soft tones and don’t have to be pounded over the head with plot points and suspense

Daily Dialogue — July 28, 2015

Nash: [to Charles] The prodigal roommate revealed. “Saw my name on the lecture slate.” YOU LYING SON OF A BITCH! Dr. Rosen: Who are you talking to? Tell me who you see. Nash: How do you say “Charles Herman” in Russian? The Daily Dialogue theme for the week: Madness. Trivia: