Scott Myers

Pixar and the Craft of Storytelling

14 movies produced. 14 movies #1 at the box office. Worldwide B.O. gross of $8.5 billion. Average B.O. per film: $608M by far the highest average per film of any studio in Hollywood history. It’s not just dollars and cents, it’s also quality storytelling. 26

Interview (Part 1): 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: “Best Writing Trick I Know”

HT to screenwriter Mike Le (@WriterLe) for tweeting the link to this video with nifty piece of writing advice from author Victoria Schwab: It’s funny how little things can work as motivators. A calendar and stickers? Why not! That’s not the only way to get one’s derriere

The Toughest Scene I Wrote: “Love Is Strange”

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: “Run All Night”

Written by Brad Ingelsby An aging hitman is forced to take on his brutal former boss to protect his estranged son and his family. IMDb Release Date: 17 April 2015 (USA) For my March 2013 interview with screenwriter Brad Ingelsby, go here.

Classic 60s Movie: Lawrence of Arabia

January is Classic 60s Movie month. Today’s guest post comes from Paul Graunke. Movie Title: Lawrence of Arabia Year: 1962 Writers: Robert Bolt, Michael Wilson, adapted from the writings of T.E. Lawrence. Lead Actors: Peter O’Toole, Alec Guinness, Omar Sharif, Anthony Quinn, Jack Hawkins, Anthony Quayle, Claude

On Writing

“There are so many different kinds of writing and so many ways to work that the only rule is this: do what works. Almost everything has been tried and found to succeed for somebody. The methods, even the ideas, of successful writers contradict each other in a most heartening way,

Daily Dialogue — January 12, 2015

JUROR #4: What actually happened is this. The boy stayed home, had another fight with his father, stabbed him to death and left the house at ten minutes after twelve. He even remembered to wipe the knife clean of fingerprints. Now, are you trying to tell me that this knife

Go Into The Story Week In Review: January 5-January 11, 2015

Links to last week’s most notable posts: 2015 WGA Screenplay Nominations Classic 60s Movie: Dr. No Classic 60s Movie: Night of the Living Dead Classic 60s Movie: Persona Classic 60s Movie: The Apartment Classic 60s Movie: The Blue Max Classic 60s Movie: The Music Man Classic 60s Movie: The

Interview: Chris Sparling

Variety recently named Chris Sparling as one of their 10 Screenwriters to Watch. With good reason. Chris made his first splash in the business with his script for the movie Buried, starring Ryan Reynolds and followed that up with another contained thriller ATM. He has multiple projects in development and

Go Into The Story Script Reading & Analysis: Hanna

This week, we read and analyzed the script for the movie Hanna, Screenplay by Seth Lochhead and David Farr, story by Seth Lochhead. IMDb plot summary: A sixteen-year-old girl who was raised by her father to be the perfect assassin is dispatched on a mission across Europe, tracked

Screenwriting News (January 5-January 11, 2015)

Matt Altman sells action science fiction spec script “Sam & Liz: A Killer Love Story” to Relativity Media. Ana Lily Amirpour set to write drama romance “The Bad Batch” for Anapurna Pictures and Vice, Amirpour to direct. John Arends chosen for blind script deal for The Company in association with

Classic 60s Movie: “The Manchurian Candidate”

January is Classic 60s Movie month. Today’s guest post comes from Liz Warner. Movie Title: The Manchurian Candidate Year: 1962 Writers: Screenplay by George Axelrod, Novel by Richard Condon (1959) Director: John Frankenheimer Lead Actors: Frank Sinatra, Laurence Harvey, Janet Leigh, Angela Lansbury, Henry Silva, James Gregory IMDb Plot

Interview (Video): Andrey Zvyagintsev (“Leviathan”)

A DP/30 interview with Andrey Zvyagintsev, director of the movie Leviathan, co-written by Zvyagintsev and Oleg Negin. Here is a trailer of the movie: I hear great things about this movie, so be sure to check it out when it comes to your local independent movie theater. For

Daily Dialogue — January 11, 2015

Look out! Look out! Pink elephants on parade Here they come! Hippety hoppety They’re here and there Pink elephants ev’rywhere Look out! Look out! They’re walking around the bed On their head Clippety cloppety Arrayed in braid Pink elephants on parade What’ll I do? What’ll

Daily Dialogue theme for next week: Revelation

The Daily Dialogue theme for next week: Revelation. Little moments where a tiny secret is shared. Big moments where a jaw-dropping truth is made known. What are some of the most memorable movie revelation scenes involving dialogue? The usual drill: * Copy/paste dialogue from IMDb Quotes or some other

Declare Your Independents — Vol. 44

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… Exclusive Cahiers du Cinema Reviews in English Academy & WGA At Odds Over “Whiplash” Screenplay Attention, Screenwriters: Here’s Your Chance to

Interview (Part 6): Chris Sparling

Variety recently named Chris Sparling as one of their 10 Screenwriters to Watch. With good reason. Chris made his first splash in the business with his script for the movie Buried, starring Ryan Reynolds and followed that up with another contained thriller ATM. He has multiple projects in development and

Saturday Hot Links

Time for the 168th installment of Saturday Hot Links! Today: The Rare Footage of Peter Sellers Edition! The only documentary I’ve ever seen about my favorite comic actor, Peter Sellers. 34 GIFs proving Tina Fey and Amy Poehler are Golden Globes Goddesses. The 2015 WGA screenplay nominations here. The

Classic 60s Movie: “Dr. No”

January is Classic 60s Movie month. Today’s guest post comes from Michael Waters. Movie Title: Dr No Year: 1962 Writers: Richard Maibaum, Johanna Harwood, Berkeley Mather & Ian Fleming (novel) Lead Actors: Sean Connery, Ursula Andress Director: Terence Young Plot Summary: A suave and skilled government agent named James

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

A Filmmaker magazine interview with Paul Thomas Anderson, writer-director of the new film Inherent Vice, adapted from a novel by Thomas Pynchon. Filmmaker: It’s interesting that you bring up watching older films, because although a lot of people talk about ’70s films like The Long Goodbye and Night

Daily Dialogue — January 10, 2015

Dewey Finn: Ok, here’s the deal. I have a hangover. Who knows what that means? Frankie: Doesn’t that mean you’re drunk? Dewey Finn: No. It means I was drunk yesterday. Freddy: It means you’re an alcoholic. Dewey Finn: Wrong. Freddy: You wouldn’t come to work

Screenwriting Tips: Creating Flow Between Scenes

Interesting discussion in comments involving our analysis of Hanna. It began with this observation by jem drawing on the Scene-By-Scene Breakdown of the movie script: Two examples of the “off screen movie”(from Wordplayer)? http://www.wordplayer.com/columns/wp40.Off-Screen.Movie.html First: Page 55: Erik

Interview (Part 5): Chris Sparling

Variety recently named Chris Sparling as one of their 10 Screenwriters to Watch. With good reason. Chris made his first splash in the business with his script for the movie Buried, starring Ryan Reynolds and followed that up with another contained thriller ATM. He has multiple projects in development and

ATX Television Festival Pitch Competition

I rarely, if ever, promote writing competitions. However this one has come to my attention with a strong recommendation from Kyle Killen, screenwriter and TV writer (Awake, Lone Star, Mind Games) who I have interviewed and met in Austin. The event is the ATX Television Festival Pitch Competition. Here is