Scott Myers

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:

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