Scott Myers

Daily Dialogue — October 26, 2014

“I felt it. Perfect. I was perfect.” — Black Swan (2010), screenplay by Mark Heyman and Andres Heinz and John J. McLaughlin The Daily Dialogue theme for the week: Dying Words. Trivia: The budget on this film was so tight that when Natalie Portman had a rib dislocated during a lift

Daily Dialogue theme next week: Madness

The Daily Dialogue theme for next week: Madness. Sol Robeson: This is insanity, Max. Maximillian Cohen: Or maybe it’s genius. The usual drill: * Copy/paste dialogue from IMDB Quotes or some other transcript source. * Copy/paste the URL of an accompanying video from YouTube or some other video source.

The Signature Gesture: A Workshop in Expressive Writing

Here is an experiment in something. At the precise moment this post goes live, I am at the Austin Film Festival co-hosting a workshop with Mary Coleman, head of Pixar’s story department. It’s called “The Signature Gesture: A Workshop in Expressive Writing.” Yes, another attempt at emphasizing

David Milch: “The Writer’s Voice” (Part 5)

Back in September 2010, I ran a week-long series featuring key excerpts from a memorable series of presentations by David Milch at the WGA Theater in Beverly Hills. Then this week, I stumbled upon this: An entire series called The Idea of the Writer by Milch now available on

Saturday Hot Links

Time for the 157th installment of Saturday Hot Links! Today: The Jimi Hendrix “Voodoo Child: Slight Return” Edition. The 50 best movie beauty moments of all time. Science working to give us is 1,000 year-old lifespans and how that could affect the economy. Screenwriter Bob Saenz’s latest

Great Scene: “King of Hearts”

October is Great Scene month at Go Into The Story whereby we put a spotlight on notable movie scenes, then analyze and discuss them. Their structure, themes, character dynamics. Why do they work? What are their narrative elements that elevate them to greatness? Let’s face it: In a fundamental

Interview (Written): Theodore Melfi

A WGA.org interview with Theodore Melfi, screenwriter-director of the movie St. Vincent. This film has personal origins for you, yes? In a nutshell, when my brother passed away, which was just completely out of the blue as you can imagine at 38, he left behind Taylor at 11.

Daily Dialogue — October 25, 2014

“I hope that when the world comes to an end, I can breathe a sigh of relief because there will be so much to look forward to.” — Donnie Darko (2001), written by Richard Kelly The Daily Dialogue theme for the week: Dying Words. Trivia: The song that plays as Donnie

Twitter Rant: Craig Mazin on the Working Relationship between Studio Execs and Writers

Tweetstorm: Craig Mazin on the Working Relationship between Studio Execs and Writers If you are an aspiring screenwriter, Twitter is an amazing resource. On Wednesday, Rachael Prior posted a series of tweets about life as a feature development executive, which I posted here. Inspired by her rant, Craig Mazin followed

David Milch: “The Writer’s Voice” (Part 4)

Back in September 2010, I ran a week-long series featuring key excerpts from a memorable series of presentations by David Milch at the WGA Theater in Beverly Hills. Then this week, I stumbled upon this: An entire series called The Idea of the Writer by Milch now available on

Spec Script Sale: “Plus One”

The Weinstein Company acquires spec script “Plus One” written by April Prosser. From Deadline: The script is about a woman who emerges from a long-term relationship only to realize all her friends have married off and there’s no one single left to go out with…except Summer, the

Documentary: “The Final Shot — A Farewell to “Boardwalk Empire”

As “Boardwalk Empire” heads into its last season, HBO put out this half-hour documentary about the series: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2NqtIq3U64 Via Indiewire.

Movie Trailer: “John Wick”

Written by Derek Kolstad An ex-hitman comes out of retirement to track down the gangsters that took everything from him. IMDB Release Date: 24 October 2014 (USA)

Great Scene: “Up”

Carl gets the house to the top of Paradise Falls, but it’s a pyrrhic victory. Today: The 2009 movie Up, screenplay by Bob Peterson and Pete Docter, story by Pete Docter and Bob Peterson and Thomas McCarthy. IMDB plot summary: To avoid being taken away to a nursing home,

Great Character: Danny Torrance/Tony (“The Shining”)

The Great Character theme for the month: Supernatural. Today: Danny Torrance/Tony in The Shining, screenplay by Stanley Kubrick & Diane Johnson, novel by Stephen King A child in peril is one of the truly most distressing experiences to witness. Their complete dependence and trust in grown ups to shield

Daily Dialogue — October 24, 2014

King Arthur: [about the inscription on the rock] What does it say, Brother Maynard? Brother Maynard: It reads, “Here may be found the last words of Joseph of Aramathia. He who is valiant and pure of spirit may find the holy grail in the Castle of Aaauuuggghhh… ” King Arthur: What?

Twitter Rant: @RachaelPriorMBE on Life as a Development Executive

Yesterday @RachaelPriorMBE went on an informative Twitter ‘rant’ about life as a feature development executive. Reprinted here by permission: https://twitter.com/MysteryBritExec/status/524970436531351553 Seems I haven’t really advertised that well that this is the area of the industry I work in. It is, & I have only

David Milch: “The Writer’s Voice” (Part 3)

Back in September 2010, I ran a week-long series featuring key excerpts from a memorable series of presentations by David Milch at the WGA Theater in Beverly Hills. Then this week, I stumbled upon this: An entire series called The Idea of the Writer by Milch now available on

“Cross-Cut”: A visual homage to Blow Up, The Conversation, and Blow Out

A wonderful visual homage from Dr. Drew Morton (@thecinemadoctor) to three notable films: Explore the narrative, stylistic, and thematic connections between Michelangelo Antonioni’s BLOW-UP, Francis Ford Coppola’s THE CONVERSATION, and Brian De Palma’s BLOW OUT with this video essay entitled “Cross-Cut.” Via Indiewire and Drew

Interview [Audio]: Todd Haynes

Oscar-winning costume designer Sandy Powell and Oscar-nominated writer-director Todd Haynes (Far From Heaven, I’m Not There., Mildred Pierce) discuss moviemaking, glam-rock, and David Bowie in a conversation moderated by Bruce Jenkins. Haynes and Powell collaborated on the film Velvet Goldmine (1998), a tribute to the

Movie Trailer: “The Theory of Everything”

Anthony McCarten (screenplay), Jane Hawking (book) A look at the relationship between the famous physicist Stephen Hawking and his wife. IMDB Release Date: 7 November 2014 (USA)

Great Scene: “The Natural”

October is Great Scene month at Go Into The Story whereby we put a spotlight on notable movie scenes, then analyze and discuss them. Their structure, themes, character dynamics. Why do they work? What are their narrative elements that elevate them to greatness? Let’s face it: In a fundamental

Writing and the Creative Life: Mind Wandering

“What no [spouse] of a writer can ever understand is that a writer is working when he’s staring out of the window.” – Burton Rascoe Ah, staring out the window. Staring into space. Staring at… nothing. At least in this world. But as any writer knows, this activity and these

Daily Dialogue — October 23, 2014

FATHER: (hoarse whisper) I… was … dis … dis … FISCHER: I know, Dad. You were disappointed that I couldn’t be you. The dying man SHAKES HIS HEAD with surprising energy. FATHER: (whisper) I was disappointed… that you tried. — Inception (2010), written by Christopher Nolan The Daily Dialogue theme for the week:

Why we love repetition in music… and stories

The excellent online resource FilmmakerIQ.com brought this to my attention recently: How many times does the chorus repeat in your favorite song? How many times have you listened to that chorus? Repetition in music isn’t just a feature of Western pop songs, either; it’s a global phenomenon.