Scott Myers

Reflections of Black List NYC Mini-Lab Writers

On the weekend of May 1–3, five writers gathered in New York City for an exciting event: The first Black List Mini-Lab. The writers — Arla Bowers, Hunter Burke, Joel Dorland, Ian McWethy, and Yvonne Paulin — had been selected on the basis of scripts they had uploaded to the

The Good Dinosaur and the power of ‘what if’ thinking

We may have missed out on a Pixar movie in 2014, but we are fortunate to have two of them being released this year: Inside Out which opens Friday, June 19 and The Good Dinosaur which rolls out November 25. This week, Pixar released a teaser trailer for The Good

Script Analysis: “The Imitation Game” — Part 4: Psychological Journey

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. Our daily schedule: Monday: Scene-By-Scene Breakdown Tuesday: Major Plot Points Wednesday: Sequences Thursday: Psychological Journey Friday: Takeaways Today: Psychological Journey.

2015 Scene-Writing Challenge: Day 4

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

The Business of Screenwriting: Everything you wanted to know about specs [Part 10]

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 4, 2015

Brad Whitewood Jr.: Is this the gun you used? Brad Whitewood Sr.: That’s a nice looking gun. Brad Whitewood Jr.: Is this the gun you used to kill Tommy? Tommy’s dead isn’t he? Brad Whitewood Sr.: Don’t even talk about Tommy. Brad Whitewood Jr.: Is this

Reader Question: How do I know if it’s too much or too little scene description?

Reader question via email from Anonymous: How do I know it I’m writing too much description in a scene or not enough? First off, you start with the invisible character who is ‘telling’ your story, what I call Narrative Voice. What is their personality, their descriptive style? They may

Classic 50s Movies: The Entire Series

May was Classic 50s Movies month on the blog. Here are 29 movies from that decade spotlighted by our distinguished group of guest posters: 12 Angry Men A Place in the Sun A Star is Born All About Eve Cat on a Hot Tin Roof Commander Cody: Sky Marshal of

Script Analysis: “The Imitation Game” — Part 3: Sequences

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. Our daily schedule: Monday: Scene-By-Scene Breakdown Tuesday: Major Plot Points Wednesday: Sequences Thursday: Psychological Journey Friday: Takeaways Today: Sequences. A

2015 Scene-Writing Challenge: Day 3

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

Great Character: Tiana (“The Princess and the Frog”)

The Great Character theme for the month: Disney characters. Today: Tiana from the 2009 movie The Princess and the Frog. Here is Jason Cuthbert’s guest post. In 2009, the Walt Disney company made a rich return to its traditional animation style with the 1913–1926-set motion picture, The

Daily Dialogue — June 3, 2015

Karen: I know this is hard but it’s all beautiful. Sarah: Yeah we put on a great funeral here. Michael: [sarcastically] Yeah, maybe I’ll have mine here. Sarah: We give first priority to people who kill themselves in one of our bathrooms. The three stop smiling. Sarah: That

The Value of a Writing Workshop

Many writers benefit from the structure of a writing workshop to encourage them through their story-crafting process. Plus you receive the benefit of feedback and support from your peers and the instructor. Finally, you not only work your way through your story, you also learn proven principles and practices

Interview: Tess Morris

My interview with Tess Morris, screenwriter of the romantic comedy Man Up, starring Lake Bell and Simon Pegg. Here are links to the eight installments of the entire interview: Part 1: “…although I’ve also lost friendships to people who haven’t liked the same films as me, because obviously,

Script Analysis: “The Imitation Game” — Part 2: Major Plot Points

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. Our daily schedule: Monday: Scene-By-Scene Breakdown Tuesday: Major Plot Points Wednesday: Sequences Thursday: Psychological Journey Friday: Takeaways Today: Major Plot

Spec Script Deal: “Parents Weekend”

Lotus Entertainment acquires comedy spec script “Parents Night” written by Peter Scott. From Deadline: …an expected R-rated comedy about a couple who take advantage of their freshman son’s parents weekend to have the college experience they never had while visiting him. That’s a terrific comedic spin on

Scene-Writing Exercises [2015]

Here are 18 scene-writing prompts. At a fundamental level, screenwriting is scene-writing. Here are prompts for the 3rd annual series GITS Scene-Writing Challenge. Use these to improve your scene-writing chops. A conversation between a white-collar and blue-collar worker A post-sex scene A scene

2015 Scene-Writing Challenge: Day 2

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: William Goldman

“The most exciting day of your life is your first day on a movie set, and the dullest day of your life is the second day.” — William Goldman

Daily Dialogue — June 2, 2015

“Is that my daughter in there?! Look in my eyes! Is she in there?! Is that my daughter in there?! Is that my daughter in there?!” — Mystic River (2003), screenplay by Brian Helgeland, novel by Dennis Lehane The Daily Daily dialogue theme for the week: Grief. Trivia: For the scene

Script Analysis: “The Imitation Game” — Part 1: 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. Our daily schedule: Monday: Scene-By-Scene Breakdown Tuesday: Major Plot Points Wednesday: Sequences Thursday: Psychological Journey Friday: Takeaways Today: Scene-By-

Interview (Part 8): Tess Morris (“Man Up”)

Tess Morris wrote the screenplay for the movie Man Up, a romantic comedy starring Lake Bell and Simon Pegg, directed by Ben Palmer. Generating strong reviews, the movie opened this weekend in the United Kingdom, and has been picked up for distribution in North America by Saban Films. I recently

Classic 50s Movie: “The Searchers”

May is Classic 50s Movie month. Today’s guest post comes from Melinda Mahaffey. Movie Title: The Searchers Year: 1956 Writer: Frank S. Nugent from the novel by Alan LeMay Lead Actors: John Wayne, Natalie Wood, Vera Miles, Jeffrey Hunter Director: John Ford Adapted IMDb Plot Summary: John Wayne stars

2015 Scene-Writing Challenge: Day 1

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

“‘Character is Fate,’ said Heraclitus in 500 B.C. or thereabouts. But ‘Our characters are the result of our conduct,’ added Aristotle a hundred years or so later. We will find character and action even more inseparably entwined in fiction than they appear to be in life.” — Rust Hills Via