Scott Myers

Interview: Don Winslow (“The Cartel”)

One of the joys of having hosted this blog for over 7 years and being an active Twitter participant is getting to know writers I would never have met if I were just shut up all day in my office. I am particularly glad to have become acquaintances with Don

The Business of Screenwriting: Everything you wanted to know about specs [Part 13]

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 — June 25, 2015

“Adrian!” — Rocky (1976), written by Sylvester Stallone The Daily Dialogue theme for the week: Memorable 1-Word Lines. Today’s suggestion by David Proenza. Trivia: Although Sylvester Stallone famously wrote the first draft of the script in 3 days, it went through nine sizable rewrites before it was purchased by

Why write?

Fact: The chances of you making any money from writing, let alone establish a career, are slim. This is especially so with the creative arts like screenwriting and TV writing. The competition is fierce. Writing gigs are limited. Studios, networks, and other purveyors of content are currently caught up in

Interview (Part 2): Don Winslow (“The Cartel”)

One of the joys of having hosted this blog for over 7 years and being an active Twitter participant is getting to know writers I would never have met if I were just shut up all day in my office. I am particularly glad to have become acquaintances with Don

Movie Analysis: “Ex Machina” — 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

2015 Scene-Writing Challenge: Day 18

For the third straight year, June is Scene-Writing Month here at Go Into The Story. Every Monday-Friday at noon Eastern / 9AM Pacific, I will upload a post with a scene-writing prompt. Each day, write a scene per those guidelines. Upload your scene here in the comments section

What writing podcasts are you listening to?

The Writers Guild of America, West has launched a new podcast called 3rd & Fairfax (named after the street corner in L.A. where the Guild headquarters is located). With its debut, I thought it would be a good idea to touch base with readers to see what writing / screenwriting

Daily Dialogue — June 24, 2015

Royal Magistrate: The prisoner wishes to say a word. William Wallace: [shouts loud and long] Freedom! — Braveheart (1995), written by Randall Wallace The Daily Dialogue theme for the week: Memorable 1-Word Lines. Today’s suggestion by James Schramm Trivia: Screenwriter Randall Wallace had been visiting Edinburgh in 1983 to

Reflections on Screenplay Structure

This analysis from Michael Waters of the major plot points in The Imitation Game spawned a larger discussion of screenplay structure: 1. Break in at Turing’s House (page 1) 2. Info Passed to Menzies MI6 (who do nothing)(page 2) 3. Nock gets curious that Turing ‘is hiding something’

Interview (Part 1): Don Winslow (“The Cartel”)

One of the joys of having hosted this blog for over 7 years and being an active Twitter participant is getting to know writers I would never have met if I were just shut up all day in my office. I am particularly glad to have become acquaintances with Don

Movie Analysis: “Ex Machina” — 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

2015 Scene-Writing Challenge: Day 17

For the third straight year, June is Scene-Writing Month here at Go Into The Story. Every Monday-Friday at noon Eastern / 9AM Pacific, I will upload a post with a scene-writing prompt. Each day, write a scene per those guidelines. Upload your scene here in the comments section

Screenwriting 101: Ernest Lehman

“One of the most important feats in screenwriting is to convey exposition not only without it appearing to be exposition, but also without wearing the audience out, and there’s a limit to how much you can do in one long, sitting-down scene. One of the tricks is to

Daily Dialogue — June 23, 2015

Jules SNAPS, SAVAGELY TIPPING the card table over, removing the only barrier between himself and Brett. Brett now sits in a lone chair before Jules like a political prisoner in front of an interrogator. JULES: What country you from! BRETT: (petrified) What? JULES: “What” ain’t no country I know!

Here’s one approach to learning the craft

I’ve gotten some inquiries from several people during the last month or so about the possibility of working privately with Tom Benedek or myself at Screenwriting Master Class. We do offer that option: One-on-one private writing workshops. Prep: From Concept to Outline: I created this workshop five

Spec Script Deal: “Move That Body”

Sony acquires R-rated comedy spec script “Move That Body” written by Lucia Aniello and Paul W Downs. From Deadline: She [Aniello] is attached to direct a female-driven comedy described as The Hangover meets Weekend At Bernie’s, and he [Downs] is attached to play the male lead. Aniello

Movie Analysis: “Ex Machina”

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

2015 Scene-Writing Challenge: Day 16

For the third straight year, June is Scene-Writing Month here at Go Into The Story. Every Monday-Friday at noon Eastern / 9AM Pacific, I will upload a post with a scene-writing prompt. Each day, write a scene per those guidelines. Upload your scene here in the comments section

On Writing

“As an artist I feel that we must try different things — but above all we must dare to fail.” — John Cassavetes Via A Bittersweet Life

Daily Dialogue — June 22, 2015

“Jumanji.” — Jumanji (1995), screenplay by Jonathan Hensleigh and Greg Taylor & Jim Strain, screen story by Greg Taylor & Jim Strain and Chris Van Allsburg, book by Chris Van Allsburg The Daily Dialogue theme for the week: Memorable 1-Word Lines. Today’s suggestion by Will King. Trivia: According to

Go Into The Story Week In Review: June 15-June 21, 2015

Links to this week’s most notable posts: 2015 Scene-Writing Challenge: Week 3 A story’s “second music” Daily Dialogue theme for next week: Memorable 1-Word Lines From the GITS Archives: A connection between WALL-E and ALIEN Go Into The Story Interview (7 Part Series): TJ Cimfel

Screenwriting News (June 15-June 21, 2015)

Adair Cole writing crime thriller “Norco” for MadRiver Pictures. Sean Finegan and Gregg Maxwell Parker sell thriller spec script “Free Fall” for Blumhouse Productions. Ethan Furman adapting Charles Bukowski novel “Women” for Voltage Pictures. George Gallo and Andy Weiss writing “The Bummy Davis Story”. Philip Gawthorne adapting TV series “Kojak”

Interview (Video): D.C. Fontana

The good folks at the Writers Guild Foundation have an ongoing video series called “The Writer Speaks” which I’ve featured on the blog before. Its focus is on veteran writers who have great stories to tell about a film and TV industry they have seen go through radical changes

Daily Dialogue — June 21, 2015

“I’m life, Annie, and I’m biting you in the ass!” — Bridesmaids (2011), written by Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo The Daily Dialogue theme for the week: Wisdom. Trivia: The project was written over a period of several years. Kristen Wiig had her day job on Saturday Night Live