Scott Myers

30 Things About Screenwriting: Story as psychological journey

We can look at story from many different vantage points: structurally in terms of plot, thematically in terms of symbolism, visually in terms of imagery. However when we consider a story from the perspective of character, what we are doing is interpreting it as a psychological journey. Indeed from this

The Business of Screenwriting: Everything you wanted to know about specs [Part 17]

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 23, 2015

“The name’s Bond. James Bond.” — Casino Royale (2006), screenplay by Neal Purvis, Robert Wade and Paul Haggis, novel by Ian Fleming The Daily Dialogue theme for the week: Last Line. Today’s suggestion by Will King and James Schramm. Trivia: Daniel Craig actually rejected the part of James Bond

Spec Scripts: The Way It USED to be!

Some of you probably saw this Den of Geek article from last week, but even if you did, I think it’s worth the time to consider the way the spec script market used to be, back in the Go Go days of the early to mid-90s. To wit,

Interview (Part 3): 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” — 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

30 Things About Screenwriting: Movies don’t owe anybody a living

This is actually a lesson I learned before I became a screenwriter. After I graduated with an M.Div. from Yale and turned my back on an academic career — although I didn’t know it at the time, only thought I was taking a year off before I went on

Script To Screen: “O Brother, Where Art Thou?”

The Coen brothers’ interpretation of “The Odyssey,” the wonderful 2000 movie O Brother, Where Art Thou? [written by Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, epic poem by Homer]. Setup: Three escaped convicts — Everett, Pete, and Delmar — are on the run when… We can faintly hear a high, unearthly singing. Barely human,

Daily Dialogue — July 22, 2015

“A strange game. The only winning move is not to play. How about a nice game of chess?” — WarGames (1983), written by Lawrence Lasker & Walter F. Parkes The Daily Dialogue theme for the week: Last Line. Today’s suggestion by Will King. Trivia: This movie inspired congress to create

The Black List announces fall screenwriters mini-labs

From the good folks at the Black List: LOS ANGELES (July 20, 2015) — This afternoon, the Black List announced four new weekend-long Screenwriters Mini-Labs which will take place this fall across the US and Canada. The dates and locations are: September 12–13 at the Toronto International Film

Interview (Part 2): 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” — 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

30 Things About Screenwriting: If you write a great script…

…Hollywood will find you. Sale. Option. Representation. Writing sample. Writing assignments. Any/all of the above. This is not a pipe dream or fantasy. This statement does not involve unicorns, leprechauns, or magic pixie dust. This is the damn truth. If you write a great script, Hollywood will find you.

Screenwriting 101: Dorothy Parker

“When I dwelt in the East…I had my opinion of writing for the screen. I regarded it — all right, sue me — with a sort of benevolent contempt, as one looks at the raggedy printing of a backward six-year-old. I thought it had just that much relationship to

Daily Dialogue — July 21, 2015

“I do wish we could chat longer, but I’m having an old friend for dinner. Bye.” — The Silence of the Lambs (1991), screenplay by Ted Tally, novel by Thomas Harris The Daily Dialogue theme for the week: Last Line. Today’s suggestion by Michael Waters. Trivia: The filmmakers were

The Importance of Story Concept

In my latest session of Core II: Concept, a week-long online Screenwriting Master Class which begins today, straight out of the chute in our discussions we hit on some reasons why a script’s story concept is generally crucial to its success. Here is my forum post on the

Interview (Part 1): 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”

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: Imagematic Writing

Consider poetry. How a poem can take a simple moment — a boy watching a moth, an old man splayed on a porch chair, a single drop of rain trickling down a window — and create a universe of meaning. And what are screenplays but a series of meaningful moments? Then there

On Writing

“The difference between fiction and real life is that fiction has to make sense.” — Chuck Wendig Comment Archive

Daily Dialogue — July 20, 2015

“Ah, damn you! God damn you all to hell!” — Planet of the Apes (1968), screenplay by Michael Wilson and Rod Serling, novel by Pierre Boulle The Daily Dialogue theme for the week: Last Line. Today’s suggestion by Will King. Trivia: There were three other endings suggested for the film’

Go Into The Story Week In Review: July 13-July 19, 2015

Links to this week’s most notable posts: 30 Things About Screenwriting: Living and writing in L.A. 30 Things About Screenwriting: Similar but different 30 Things About Screenwriting: Break your story in prep 30 Things About Screenwriting: Feet on the ground… head in the clouds 30 Things About Screenwriting:

Screenwriting News (July 14-July 20, 2015)

Max Adams adapting war drama “House To House” for Universal Pictures. Billiam Colonel and Brad Epstein scripted comedy “Ripped” forward with Pelican Point Media. Kristin Hahn adaptation of YA novel “Stargirl” going forward with BCDF Pictures. Bill Kennedy options 2013 Black List script “The Fixer” to Fubar Films. Karen McCullah

Spec Script Deal: “The Edge of Normal”

Bold Films acquires thriller spec script “The Edge of Normal” written by Matt Venne. From Variety: “The Edge of Normal” tells the story of a woman who escaped captivity from a sadistic sexual predator when she was a teenager. Ten years later, she remains haunted by her memories as she

30 Things About Screenwriting: Don’t think… feel

“I’ve had a sign over my typewriter for over 25 years now, which reads ‘Don’t think!’ You must never think at the typewriter — you must feel. Your intellect is always buried in that feeling anyway.” — Ray Bradbury I stumbled across this quote recently and it struck me as