Scott Myers

Interview (Part 1): Alisha Brophy & Scott Miles (2014 Nicholl Winners)

Alisha Brophy and Scott Miles wrote the original screenplay “The United States of Fuckin’ Awesome” which won the duo a 2014 Nicholl Fellowship in screenwriting. Alisha, Scott and I had a great interview which I will be rolling out in 6 installments this week. Today in Part 1, Scott and

Audio: Flannery O’Connor reading “A Good Man is Hard to Find”

Flannery O’Connor is one of my favorite authors. Here is a rare audio recording of O’Connor reading one of her short stories “A Good Man is Hard to Find”. The rest of the audio recording: Part 2, Part 3. HT for the link: Mental Floss. Comment Archive

Classic 60s Movie: The Odd Couple

January is Classic 60s Movie month. Today’s guest post comes from John Henderson. Movie Title: The Odd Couple Year: 1968 Writer: Neil Simon, based on his play Lead Actors: Jack Lemmon, Walter Matthau Director: Gene Saks Plot Summary: Two friends (neat, fussy Felix Ungar and messy, laidback Oscar Madison)

Movie Trailer: “To Write Love on Her Arms”

Screenplay by Kate King Lynch & Nathan Frankowski A drama centered around Renee Yohe and her battle with drugs, depression, and other life issues that ultimately leads to the founding of charity group To Write Love on Her Arms. IMDb

Script Analysis: “The Artist” — 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-

On Writing

“If you can tell stories, create characters, devise incidents, and have sincerity and passion, it doesn’t matter a damn how you write.” — W. Somerset Maugham

Daily Dialogue — January 19, 2015

JENSEN: Get me out of here, Clay… CLAY (O.S.) (THROUGH RADIO): There’s a fire exit thirty yards north of your position. Jensen, heading for it… BIG SECURITY 1 (O.S.): Freeze like a statue, pretty boy! Jensen slow turns to find THREE GUNS trained straight at him. Major

Go Into The Story Week In Review: January 12-January 18, 2015

Links to last week’s most notable posts: Black List featured on CBS “This Morning” Classic 60s Movie: Blow Up Classic 60s Movie: Cool Hand Luke Classic 60s Movie: Lawrence of Arabia Classic 60s Movie: Lonely are the Brave Classic 60s Movie: The Graduate Classic 60s Movie: The Sound of

Interview: Craig Mazin

Craig Mazin is a successful screenwriter in the comedy genre whose movie credits include RocketMan (1997), Scary Movie 3 (2003), Scary Movie 4 (2006), Superhero Movie (2008), The Hangover Part II (2011), Identity Thief (2013) and The Hangover Part III (2013). With fellow screenwriter Ted Elliott, he hosted the informative

Screenwriting News (January 12-January 18, 2015)

Nika Agiashvili drama crime “Punch It” for Storyman Pictures. Dan Antoniazzi and Ben Shiffrin writing comedy “Nine Lives” for EuropaCorp. Aaron Buchsbaum and Teddy Riley sell comedy pitch “Psych” to Sony Pictures Entertainment. Cliff Dorfman adapting “Blood Aces: The Wild Ride of Benny Binion” for Relativity Media. Gillian Flynn writing

Classic 60s Movie: The Sound of Music

January is Classic 60s Movie month. Today’s guest post comes from Mike Dobbins. Movie Title: The Sound of Music Year: 1965 Writers: George Hurdalek, Howard Lindsay, Russel Crouse, Ernest Lehman, Maria Von Trapp. Lead Actors: Julie Andrews, Christopher Plummer Director: Robert Wise IMDb Plot Summary: A woman leaves an

Interview (Written): Paul Thomas Anderson (“Inherent Vice”)

Rolling Stone interview with filmmaker Paul Thomas Anderson, focusing on his newest movie Inherent Vice. Do you remember the first time Pynchon’s work came across your radar? It’s a little messy up here [taps forehead], but I think I tried to tackle Gravity’s Rainbow first, based on

Daily Dialogue — January 18, 2015

“Oh my God. I’m back. I’m home. All the time, it was… We finally really did it. You maniacs! You blew it up! 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

Daily Dialogue theme next week: Threat

The Daily Dialogue theme for next week: Threat. “You hang up on me again and I’ll gut you like a fish.” In thinking about this theme, it made me realize… there are a lot of threats in movie dialogue. And across all genres. Horror, Thriller, Drama, Comedy, Science Fiction,

Classic 60s Movie: Lonely Are the Brave

January is Classic 60s Movie month. Today’s guest post comes from Nick Dykal. Movie Title: Lonely Are the Brave Year: 1962 Writer: Dalton Trumbo (screenplay), Edward Abbey (novel) Lead Actors: Kirk Douglas, Gena Rowlands, Walter Matthau Director: David Miller IMDB Plot Summary: A fiercely independent cowboy arranges to have

Interview (Part 6): Craig Mazin

Craig Mazin is a successful screenwriter in the comedy genre whose movie credits include RocketMan (1997), Scary Movie 3 (2003), Scary Movie 4 (2006), Superhero Movie (2008), The Hangover Part II (2011), Identity Thief (2013) and The Hangover Part III (2013). With fellow screenwriter Ted Elliott, he hosted the informative

Saturday Hot Links

Time for the 169th installment of Saturday Hot Links! Today: The Yardbirds (Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page) Edition. Complete list of 2015 Golden Globe winners. Related: Best and worst moments of the Golden Globes. Related: 10 reasons Tina Fey and Amy Poehler are Hollywood’s best award show hosts.

Interview (Video): Andy Wachowski and Lana Wachowski

A nearly 100 minute interview with filmmakers Andy and Lana Wachowski (The Matrix Trilogy, V for Vendetta, Cloud Atlas, Jupiter Ascending). Recorded 11/8/13 as a part of DePaul University’s School of Cinema and Interactive Media’s Visiting Artists Series. Here is a trailer for Jupiter Ascending: The

Daily Dialogue — January 17, 2015

“It’s people. Soylent Green is made out of people.” — Soylent Green (1973), screenplay by Stanley R. Greenberg, novel by Harry Harrison Daily Dialogue theme for the week: Revelation. Trivia: The word “Soylent” is a holdover from the Harry Harrison novel “Make Room! Make Room!” upon which this film is

Declare Your Independents — Vol. 45

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 2015 Academy Award Nominations The Oscars Haven’t Been This White in 19 Years Timbuktu Makes History Before Middle of Nowhere

Interview (Part 5): Craig Mazin

Craig Mazin is a successful screenwriter in the comedy genre whose movie credits include RocketMan (1997), Scary Movie 3 (2003), Scary Movie 4 (2006), Superhero Movie (2008), The Hangover Part II (2011), Identity Thief (2013) and The Hangover Part III (2013). With fellow screenwriter Ted Elliott, he hosted the informative

Video: 12 minutes of the Wilhelm Scream

Why haven’t I seen this compilation before? I mean it’s been out since 2011. C’mon, people! You know it’s your job to find every single bizarre movie video mashup, parody and aggregation and send the links my way! What… I don’t pay you enough?!?! Fortunately

The Toughest Scene I Wrote: “Dear White People”

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,

Movie Trailer: “The Lazarus Effect”

Written by Luke Dawson, Jeremy Slater A group of medical students discover a way to bring dead patients back to life. IMDb Release Date: 27 February 2015 (USA)

Classic 60s Movie: They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?

January is Classic 60s Movie month. Today’s guest post comes from Zach Jansen. Movie Title: They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? Year: 1969 Writers: James Poe and Robert E. Thompson, based upon the novel by Horace McCoy Lead Actors: Jane Fonda, Michael Sarrazin, Gig Young (Best Supporting Actor Oscar