Scott Myers

Writing and the Creative Life: Why Your Brain Loves Good Storytelling (Part 1)

The Harvard Business Review had an interesting article with a series of links I thought would make for a good sets of posts in the Writing and Creative Life series. The article is entitled: Why Your Brain Loves Good Storytelling. Two key excerpts. Here is the first: As social creatures,

Daily Dialogue — November 6, 2014

Phyllis: Mr. Neff, why don’t you drop by tomorrow evening about eight-thirty. He’ll be in then. Walter Neff: Who? Phyllis: My husband. You were anxious to talk to him weren’t you? Walter Neff: Yeah, I was, but I’m sort of getting over the idea, if

Does a record-setting October box office mean anything?

Per Box Office Mojo: Overall business totaled $755 million, which is up a whopping 20 percent from last October. It’s also a new October record ahead of 2009’s $693 million haul. — - While Gone Girl and Annabelle were the top performers, the big year-over-year increase can be

Interview: Alan Roth (2013 Nicholl Winner) — Part 3

Alan Roth’s original screenplay “Jersey City Story” won him one of five 2013 Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting. I caught up with Alan recently for an interview. Our conversation turned out to be both insightful and inspirational Today in Part 3, Alan talks about four other key characters in “Jersey

Video: Writer Emergency Pack

This is extremely cool! I moderated a panel at the recent Austin Film Festival in which John August was one of the guests (we discussed the movie he wrote Big Fish) and John showed me one of these Writer Emergency Packs. It appeals to me on multiple levels, not only

Movie Trailer: “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay — Part 1”

Screenplay by Danny Strong and Peter Craig, book by Suzanne Collins Katniss Everdeen is in District 13 after she shatters the games forever. Under the leadership of President Coin and the advice of her trusted friends, Katniss spreads her wings as she fights to save Peeta and a nation moved

Script Analysis: “Argo” — 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 (Metamorphosis) Friday: Takeaways Today: Sequences.

Script To Screen: “The Bourne Identity”

A scene from the 2002 movie The Bourne Identity, screenplay by Tony Gilroy and William Blake Herron, novel by Robert Ludlum. IMDb plot summary: A man is picked up by a fishing boat, bullet-riddled and suffering from amnesia, before racing to elude assassins and regain his memory. Here Bourne

Daily Dialogue — November 5, 2014

EXT. THE BEACHFRONT — NIGHT The hottest January in fifty years has brought the crowds to the beach in search of relief. But they’ve been disappointed. Even the breeze off the ocean seems blown from a hair dryer. Still, the nights are a trifle better and the Beachfront, the penny

A Go Into The Story primer

I’m guessing it has had something to do with me participating in six sessions at the recent Austin Film Festival, but there are a lot of new virtual faces on the blog the last week or so. Beyond that, the Twitter feed (@GoIntoTheStory) continues to grow, now over 28,

Interview: Alan Roth (2013 Nicholl Winner) — Part 2

Alan Roth’s original screenplay “Jersey City Story” won him one of five 2013 Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting. I caught up with Alan recently for an interview. Our conversation turned out to be both insightful and inspirational Today in Part 2, we dig into Alan’s experience taking this moment

Spec Script Sale: “Defection”

Twentieth Century Fox acquires spy drama “Defection” adapted from a novel by Ken Nolan. From Deadline: A mid-level intelligence contractor defects to North Korea and takes a mysterious bag with him. In the immediate aftermath of the bungled Edward Snowden situation, the CIA is determined to avoid a repeat

Video: Darren Aronofsky — 90 minute Q&A

If you’re a filmmaker of any sort, know what you need to do for the next 90 minutes? Watch this interview with writer-director Darren Aronofsky: Visionaries Series: Darren Aronofsky by New MuseumWatch New Museum's Visionaries Series: Darren Aronofsky on Livestream.com.new.livestream.com Via the

Movie Trailer: “Serena”

Screenplay by Christopher Kyle, book by Ron Rash In Depression-era North Carolina, the future of George Pemberton’s timber empire becomes complicated when it is learned that his wife, Serena, cannot bear children. IMDB Release Date: 26 February 2015 (USA) Comment Archive

Script Analysis: “Argo” — 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 (Metamorphosis) Friday: Takeaways Today: Major

Screenwriting 101: Hossein Amini

“In movies, what’s always really interested me are the reaction shots and what the person is thinking. Again, it’s that big-screen experience of seeing someone’s face in a close-up with all that emotion. I want to keep the dialogue as real and conversational as possible

Daily Dialogue — November 4, 2014

EXT. VERANDA — MULWRAY HOME — NIGHT Gittes stands on the veranda, smoking a cigarette, staring off into the night. Evelyn comes out to the veranda, carrying a tray with whiskey and an ice bucket on it. She sets it down. Gittes turns. GITTES: (watching her pour) Maid’s night off? EVELYN:

Screenwriting as scene-writing

Every time we sit down to write a script, we are faced with a scene. This can be a daunting task considering a script may have 60, 75, 90 scenes or more. In a very real way, screenwriting is at its core scene-writing. Therefore it is essential for you

Interview: Alan Roth (2013 Nicholl Winner) — Part 1

Alan Roth’s original screenplay “Jersey City Story” won him one of five 2013 Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting. I caught up with Alan recently for an interview. Our conversation turned out to be both insightful and inspirational Today in Part 1, Alan talks about his background, how for years he

“The big question is whether you’re going to be able to say a hearty yes to your adventure”

The wisdom of Joseph Campbell pertains not only to our own life-journey, but to that of the Protagonists we write in our stories. Here is an example: If you are familiar with The Hero’s Journey, you doubtless know about The Call to Adventure. Here is how Campbell described

Movie Trailer: “Furious 7”

Writers: Chris Morgan, Gary Scott Thompson (Characters) Ian Shaw seeks revenge against Dominic Toretto and his crew for the death of his brother. IMDB Release Date: 3 April 2015 (USA)

Movie Script Scene-By-Scene Breakdowns

A great way to analyze screenplay structure is by studying a script’s scene-by-scene breakdown. Go Into The Story followers are contributing breakdowns of contemporary screenplays to an ongoing script analysis series. Here are links to 128 articles which include downloadable PDFs of each breakdown. 12 Years a

Script Analysis: “Argo” — 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 (Metamorphosis) Friday: Takeaways Today: Scene-

On Writing

“The most beautiful things are those that madness prompts and reason writes.” — André Gide

Daily Dialogue — November 3, 2014

Tina: Do you see that, that wheel in there? There’s like a glob of gunk. Mel: Yeah, I do. Tina: Tar. Mel: We need something to wipe it off with. If we could get like a- Tina: You know what? Let’s just use my skirt. Mel: Your skirt?