Scott Myers

How good are you at handling exposition?

In Hollywood, there is a saying I’ve heard more than once: “Exposition = Death.” Why? Because nothing can bore readers more than the delivery of setting, information, data and backstory. Yet every script, play or story you write requires you to include exposition. That’s why I created the Screenwriting

Interview (Part 1): Melissa Iqbal (2014 Nicholl Winner)

U.K.-based writers Melissa Iqbal wrote the original screenplay “The Death Engine” which won the 2014 Nicholl Fellowship in screenwriting. Recently Melissa and I had a transatlantic phone call in which we covered a lot of territory in an excellent conversation. Today in Part 1, Melissa talks about her

New Black List initiative for European-based writers!

An announcement involving the Black List: Berlin, Germany — February 9, 2015 — Today, The Picture Company and Studiocanal announced a partnership to identify a European writer for a blind screenplay that covers a wide range of genres, including action-thriller and suspense films. In the tradition of the Black List’s

Script Analysis: “Boyhood” — 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-

Movie Trailer: “Faults”

Written by Riley Stearns (2103 Black List) Claire is under the grip of a mysterious new cult called Faults. Desperate to be reunited with their daughter, Claire’s parents recruit one of the world’s foremost experts on mind control, Ansel Roth. IMDb Release Date: 6 March 2015 (USA)

2015 Dialogue-Writing Challenge: Day 6

As noted in this post last month: What if in February, we put the spotlight on writing dialogue? A Dialogue-Writing Challenge! Here’s my idea: We crowdsource a bunch of dialogue-writing prompts. From that, we choose the 20 best ones. Then next month, Monday through Friday, much like

On Writing

“I sit in the dark and wait for a little flame to appear at the end of my pencil.” — Billy Collins

Daily Dialogue — February 9, 2015

PROFESSOR FATE: What took you so long? MAX: I had to go to the Rolls Royce agency. Had to steal a spare magneto. PROFESSOR FATE: Oh, good. Fate motions to something unseen. PROFESSOR FATE: It’s ready. MAX: Yes. Yes, it’s ready. PROFESSOR FATE: There has never been anything

Go Into The Story Week In Review: February 2-February 8, 2015

Links to last week’s most notable posts: Classic 60s Movie: The Entire Series (31 movies) Daily Dialogue Theme for Next Week: Elation Declare Your Independents — Vol. 48 Dialogue-Writing Challenge: Week 1 Go Into The Story Interview: Michael R. Perry Go Into The Story Script Reading & Analysis: Boyhood

Interview: Michael R. Perry

Michael R. Perry has had a long and productive career in Hollywood writing and producing 1-hour TV including such series as Millennium, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, The Guardian, Stephen King’s Dead Zone, and The River. He has also written movies including Paranormal Activity 2 and his

Screenwriting News (February 2-February 8, 2015)

Josh Campbell and Matthew Stuecken rewriting “Desert Eagle” for Universal Pictures. Andrew Jay Cohen & Brendan O’Brien, Nicholas Stoller and Evan Goldberg writing comedy Neighbors 2 for Universal Pictures. Jared Cowie historical drama spec script “Bismarck” optioned by Universal Pictures. F. Scott Frazier adapting videogame “Asteroids” for Universal Pictures.

Go Into The Story Script Reading & Analysis: Boyhood

Starting tomorrow (Monday), we begin our next installment of the Go Into The Story Script Reading & Analysis series: Boyhood, nominated for 6 Academy Awards including Best Motion Picture and Best Original Screenplay. You may download the script here. The schedule for the week’s discussion: Monday: Scene-By-Scene

Interview (Video): Dan Gilroy (“Nightcrawler”)

It’s one of the best scripts from 2014: Nightcrawler, written by Dan Gilroy. Other writing credits include The Fall and The Bourne Legacy. Here is a half-hour interview with Gilroy from the always excellent resource DP/30: For more videos from DP/30, go here.

Daily Dialogue — February 8, 2015

“He dragged me into every gin mill on the block.” — The Thin Man (1934), screen play by Albert Hackett and Frances Goodrich, novel by Dashiell Hammett The Daily Dialogue theme for the week: Pets. Trivia: Skippy, who played Asta the dog, bit Myrna Loy during filming. Dialogue On Dialogue: The

Daily Dialogue theme for next week: Elation

The Daily Dialogue theme for next week: Elation. “Hello, Bedford Falls!!!” Ah, cinematic moments of rapturous joy, either deserved or a setup for a big fall. Dig through your movie memories and see what images spring to mind where characters were filled with elation. And thank you in advance for

2015 Dialogue-Writing Challenge: Week 1

Here are all of Week 1’s prompts for this year’s Dialogue-Writing Challenge: Day 1 challenge: Two characters flirt at the drive-thru window. Day 2 challenge: Multiple characters in an argument where no one actually gets to finish a sentence. Day 3 challenge: A ‘conversation’ one character

Interview (Part 4): Michael R. Perry

Michael R. Perry has had a long and productive career in Hollywood writing and producing 1-hour TV including such series as Millennium, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, The Guardian, Stephen King’s Dead Zone, and The River. He has also written movies including Paranormal Activity 2 and his

Saturday Hot Links

Time for the 172nd installment of Saturday Hot Links. Today: The We Celebrate The Golden Age Of Screwball Comedies Edition! Super Bowl: Katy Perry’s halftime performance [videos]. Super Bowl: All of the SB commercials here [videos]. Super Bowl: Just the SB movie trailer spots [videos]. Super Bowl: The best

Great Scene: “The Graduate”

This memorable montage from the 1967 movie The Graduate, screenplay by Calder Willingham and Buck Henry, novel by Charles Webb: Several things of note: * The two Simon & Garfunkel songs accompanying the images: “Sounds of Silence” and “April, Come She Will”. Director Mike Nichols was insistent on integrating these and

Interview (Written): Richard Glatzer & Wash Westmoreland

Sometimes the story behind the story is as compelling as the movie itself. Such is the case with Still Alice, co-written and co-directed by Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmoreland. From WGA.org: Partners both professionally and personally for more than a decade, the team [Glatzer and Westmoreland], who

Daily Dialogue — February 7, 2015

“Damn this car!” — Cujo (1983), screenplay by Don Carlos Dunaway and Lauren Currier, novel by Stephen King The Daily Dialogue theme for the week: Pets. Trivia: Stephen King has admitted several times that he was so into his alcohol addiction at the time that he does not remember writing the

Declare Your Independents — Vol. 48

GITS development assistant Wendy Cohen here, and welcome back to Declare Your Independents, our new series highlighting the latest developments in the world of independent film! This week… The 75 Best Edited Films Of All Time ‘Selma’ and the State of the Black Auteur 6 Highlights From the SXSW 2015

Spec Script Deal: “Darkest Hour”

Working Title has acquired historical drama spec script “Darkest Hour” written by Anthony McCarten. From Deadline: Days into his new job as Prime Minister as Britain was getting pounded and on the verge of losing to Germany, Churchill was under pressure to make a deal with Hitler that would have

Interview (Part 3): Michael R. Perry

Michael R. Perry has had a long and productive career in Hollywood writing and producing 1-hour TV including such series as Millennium, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, The Guardian, Stephen King’s Dead Zone, and The River. He has also written movies including Paranormal Activity 2 and his

The Toughest Scene I Wrote: “The LEGO Movie”

Once again, Vulture does screenwriters a solid: Over the next few weeks, Vulture will speak to the screenwriters behind 2014’s most acclaimed movies about the scenes they found most difficult to crack. Which pivotal sequences underwent the biggest transformations on their way from script to screen? In this article,