Scott Myers

Spec Script Deal: “Bed Rest”

MGM acquires thriller spec script “Bed Rest” written by Lori Evans Taylor. From Deadline: 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. — — This was a competitive situation with interest from

Movie Analysis: “Inside Out”

Last week, we analyzed and discussed the movie Inside Out, screenplay by Meg LeFauve & Josh Cooley and Pete Docter, story by Pete Docter & Ronaldo Del Carmen, additional dialogue by Amy Poehler & Bill Hader. IMDb plot summary: After young Riley is uprooted from her Midwest life and moved

30 Things About Screenwriting: Minimum Words, Maximum Impact

I know the source of this mantra. It was one of my online screenwriting students. During a weekly live-chat session. I was going on and on about the importance of writing tight, taut, lean scene description, make it easy on the eye, clean on the page, really getting on

On Writing

“On a metaphysical level, I do believe the story’s already written in some other dimension. So all I have to do is get out of the way. But that’s easier said than done.” — Colin Higgins

Daily Dialogue — July 27, 2015

RIPPER: Mandrake? MANDRAKE: Yes, Jack? RIPPER: Have you ever seen a commie drink a glass of water? MANDRAKE: Well, no, I…I can’t say I have, Jack. RIPPER: Vodka. That’s what they drink, isn’t it? And never water. MANDRAKE: Well, I…I believe that’s what they

Interview: Gary Whitta

A few months back, I had the opportunity to interview screenwriter Gary Whitta whose movie credits include The Book of Eli (2010), After Earth (2013), and the upcoming Star Wars: Rogue One (2016). Having recently seen his first novel “Abomination” published, Gary and I had a wide-ranging conversation touching

Screenwriting News (July 20-July 26, 2015)

Ike Barinholtz and David Stassen writing untitled sports comedy for Universal Pictures. Scott Blaszak’s science fiction “Parallel” moving forward with Bron Studios. Carter Blanchard adapting “Steelheart” for Twentieth Century Fox. Brian Cogman adapting live action reboot of “Sword in the Stone” for Walt Disney Pictures. Derek Connolly and Colin

30 Things About Screenwriting: Test your story concept

If your goal is to traffic in mainstream, commercial movies, I cannot overstate the importance of your spec script’s story concept. As I detailed here, it is critical to the success of your original screenplay. So let’s say you take this seriously. You generate lots of story ideas.

Interview (Video): James Ponsoldt, Donald Margulies (“The End of the Tour”)

A DP/30 interview with The End of the Tour writer Donald Margulies and director James Ponsoldt: For more DP/30 interviews, go here.

Daily Dialogue — July 26, 2015

“Shut up and deal.” — The Apartment (1960), written by Billy Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond The Daily Dialogue theme for the week: Last Line. Trivia: The film’s classic last line was thought up by the writers at the last minute on-set. Dialogue On Dialogue: The greatest last

The Daily Dialogue theme for next week: Madness

The Daily Dialogue theme for next week: Madness. Howard Beale, Network (1974) The usual drill: * Copy/paste dialogue from IMDb Quotes or some other transcript source. * Copy/paste the URL of an accompanying video from YouTube or some other video source. I’d also ask you to think about why

Interview (Part 6): Gary Whitta

A few months back, I had the opportunity to interview screenwriter Gary Whitta whose movie credits include The Book of Eli (2010), After Earth (2013), and the upcoming Star Wars: Rogue One (2016). Having recently seen his first novel “Abomination” published, Gary and I had a wide-ranging conversation touching

Saturday Hot Links

Time for the 196th installment of Saturday Hot Links. 25 New Faces of Independent Film in 2015. A Massive List of Summer 2015 Grants All Filmmakers Should Know About. ‘Trainwreck’ Box Office Success Pushes Amy Schumer on Hollywood’s A-List. ‘Jurassic World’ Passes ‘Avengers’ for №3 on All-Time

30 Things About Screenwriting: Set-up and Payoffs

One of the most important narrative elements screenwriters have available to us is set-ups and payoffs. The basic idea is this: We establish something that pays off later. Here are some examples: * Aliens: In an attempt to make herself useful, Ripley sets up how she can control a power

Interview (Written): Kurt Sutter (“Southpaw”)

KPCC’s John Horn interviews Kurt Sutter (“Sons of Anarchy”) about the first feature film he wrote, the newly released Southpaw, starring Jake Gyllenhaal. I wanted to talk about your body of work, and this may be kind of too broad a generalization, but I’m going to try it

Daily Dialogue — July 25, 2015

“I’m not even gonna swat that fly. I hope they are watching. They’ll see. They’ll see and they’ll know and they’ll say, ‘Why, she wouldn’t even harm a fly.’” — Psycho (1960), screenplay by Joseph Stefano, novel by Robert Bloch The Daily Dialogue theme for

Reader Question: How much do I need to focus on “stylized writing”?

Question from Thomas: Hello Scott, I’m beginning to write screenplays; however, I wanted to know how good at stylized writing do I need to be to become a successful screenwriter. I aim to describe everything clearly. Clear enough for the cast and crew to understand and see the story

Interview (Part 5): Gary Whitta

A few months back, I had the opportunity to interview screenwriter Gary Whitta whose movie credits include The Book of Eli (2010), After Earth (2013), and the upcoming Star Wars: Rogue One (2016). Having recently seen his first novel “Abomination” published, Gary and I had a wide-ranging conversation touching

Movie Analysis: “Inside Out” — 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

30 Things About Screenwriting: 1, 2, 7, 14

Here is a simple formula about three things — Read Scripts. Watch Movies. Write Pages. — you need to do to expand and deepen your understanding of the screenwriting craft. 4 numbers for you to remember: 1, 2, 7, 14. 1: Read 1 screenplay per week. Pick out your favorite movies. Or

Great Character: Alexis Zorba (“Zorba the Greek”)

One of my absolute favorite movie characters of all-time: Alexis Zorba from the 1964 movie Zorba the Greek [screenplay by Mihalis Kakogiannis, based on the novel by Nikos Kazantzakis. Played by Anthony Quinn, who was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor, Zorba is the story’s ‘heart’

Daily Dialogue — July 24, 2015

“And oh, Auntie Em, there’s no place like home.” — The Wizard of Oz (1939), screenplay by Noel Langley & Florence Ryerson and Edgar Allan Woolf, adaptation by Noel Langley, book by L. Frank Baum The Daily Dialogue theme for the week: Last Line. Trivia: A recent study claimed that

Words of Wisdom from Hunter S. Thompson

July 18 was the birthday of writer Hunter S. Thompson. There were a surprising amount of tribute pieces and mentions of him on that day, among them an item which included a bunch of his quotes. Here are two I thought especially relevant for writers: Life should not be a

Interview (Part 4): Gary Whitta

A few months back, I had the opportunity to interview screenwriter Gary Whitta whose movie credits include The Book of Eli (2010), After Earth (2013), and the upcoming Star Wars: Rogue One (2016). Having recently seen his first novel “Abomination” published, Gary and I had a wide-ranging conversation touching

Movie Analysis: “Inside Out” — 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