Scott Myers

Classic 70s Movie: “Shampoo”

September is Classic 70s Movie month. Today’s guest post comes from Greg Scharpf. Movie Title: Shampoo Year: 1975 Writers: Robert Towne, Warren Beatty Lead Actors: Warren Beatty, Julie Christie, Goldie Hawn, Lee Grant, Jack Warden Director: Hal Ashby IMDB Plot Summary: Lovers undo a hairdresser from Beverly Hills around

Great Character: Donnie Darko (“Donnie Darko”)

The Great Character theme for the month: High School Characters. Today: Donnie Darko from the 2001 movie Donnie Darko, written and directed by Richard Kelly. What makes Donnie Darko feel like the bold rewind-worthy fireworks display that it is? The answer is because its sinister complexity is decorated with

Daily Dialogue — September 26, 2014

“Victims, aren’t we all.” — The Crow (1994), screenplay by David J. Schow and John Shirley, comic book series and comic strip by James O’Barr The Daily Dialogue theme for the week: Vengeance, suggested by Jon Raymond. Trivia: James O’Barr stated on the Crow DVD that when he

Quest Writing Workshop: Santa Monica, December 10–13, 2014

I am pleased to announce I have scheduled another Quest Writing Workshop in Santa Monica, California: Dates: Wednesday, December 10-Saturday December 13 Location: The Writers Junction, 1001 Colorado Ave, Santa Monica Here is the schedule: Day 1: We begin by digging into the first of three sections of the

Is this the model for a “next-generation film studio”?

This interesting news item was announced in March: Several years ago, the Hollywood producer Robert Simonds Jr. began thinking about how a movie studio for today’s age — with the ascendance of China and a dizzying array of distribution channels — should look. Now Mr. Simonds and his backers, including TPG

Six Book Trip To 2nd Annual Black List Screenwriters Lab

From the Black List: Early career writers to join mentors Jessica Bendinger, Max Borenstein, Jesse Wigutow, & Scott Myers in Las Vegas LOS ANGELES (September 25) — This morning, the Black List unveiled the names of the six screenwriters who will make the trip to downtown Las Vegas on Monday for

Movie Trailer: “Drive Hard”

Written by Brigitte Jean Allen, Chad Law, Evan Law, Brian Trenchard-Smith A former race car driver is abducted by a mysterious thief and forced to be the wheel-man for a crime that puts them both in the sights of the cops and the mob. IMDB Release Date: 3

Classic 70s Movie: “Star Wars”

September is Classic 70s Movie month. Today’s guest post comes from Bretton Zinger. Title: Star Wars Note: Let’s get one thing clear: The movie should rightfully be called Star Wars, not Star Wars: Episode IV — A New Hope. Titles of movies are what they were upon release. No

Writing and the Creative Life: Writing as Pilgrimage

I am a pilgrim and a stranger Traveling through this wearisome land I’ve got a home in that yonder city, good Lord And it’s not, not made by hand — Music and lyrics by Merle Travis Perhaps because I am a military brat, having been transferred so often from

Daily Dialogue — September 25, 2014

Ext. Miami Nightclub- Night Ray is at first standing on the street across from the the nightclub where May is dancing with Tomas, the son of a Cuban mafia don who killed her father. He is listening to recording of her voice from previous phone calls while he watches her.

Reader Question: Should writers be concerned about projects that have similar concepts to theirs?

Question from Eric Harris: Should writers be concerned about projects that have slightly similar concepts to theirs though the plots, characters, theme, etc are completely different? You’ve worked on a script for months, maybe even longer and then you hear something in development that has a slightly similar concept.

Spec Script Sale: “In the Land of Imagined Things”

Walt Disney Pictures acquires fantasy spec script “In the Land of Imagined Things” written by Joe Henderson. From THR: Plot details are being left to the imagination for the time being, but the plan is to make the feature a live-action/CG hybrid. Henderson is repped by CAA and

The Business of Screenwriting: The crazed life of a studio executive

Here’s one thing you have to realize about movie studio executives: Their lives are crazed. Hectic, pressurized, nonstop. Those of you who live outside L.A. may have an image of it as a laid back town. Not true. People in Hollywood work their asses off, perhaps nobody more

Video: “The Master” — 20 minute deleted reel

HT to one of my students Dakota Proctor for the link. A 1-hour Q&A with writer-director Paul Thomas Anderson about The Master: Comment Archive

Interview [Audio]: Emma Thompson

BAFTA (The British Academy for Film and Television Arts) has for several years hosted an annual series of screenwriter lectures. I have featured pretty much all of them here. Recently Emma Thompson, whose writing credits include Wit, Pride and Prejudice and Nanny McPhee, gave a a wonderful presentation. Here is

Movie Trailer: “Rudderless”

Written by Casey Twenter & Jeff Robison & William H. Macy A grieving father in a downward spiral stumbles across a box of his recently deceased son’s demo tapes and lyrics. Shocked by the discovery of this unknown talent, he forms a band in the hope of finding some

Classic 70s Movie: “Taxi Driver”

September is Classic 70s Movie month. Today’s guest post comes from Jason Cuthbert. Movie Title: Taxi Driver Year: 1976 Writer: Paul Schrader Lead Actors: Robert De Niro, Jodie Foster, Cybill Shepherd, Harvey Keitel, Albert Brooks, Peter Boyle Director: Martin Scorsese IMDB Plot Summary: A mentally unstable Vietnam War veteran

Script To Screen: “Batman”

The Final Struggle in the 1989 movie Batman. Plot Summary: The Dark Knight of Gotham City begins his war on crime with his first major enemy being the clownishly homicidal Joker. INT. BELFRY — THAT MOMENT The Joker, hearing something beneath the trapdoor, begins  to move the second bell over it.

Daily Dialogue — September 24, 2014

“The hypnosis may go wrong and distort your memories. Do you want to proceed? [he nods] If you’re ready, look at that tree. The tree is slowly changing into a concrete pillar. You’re now inside Lee Woo-jin’s penthouse. It’s a dreary night. The sound of

“BLACK LIST LIVE!” Returns with “The Seekers of Perpetual Love”

From the Black List: Los Angeles (September 22, 2014) — The Black List continued their Black List Live! event series last Saturday night with a staged script reading of Victoria Strouse’s “The Seekers of Perpetual Love” (formerly known as “The Apostles of Infinite Love”). Over 550 audience members packed the

October is Great Scenes Month

An early GITS fixture was the Great Scenes series (you can visit the archives here). However as things evolved, I basically ran out of room to continue it given everything else I put into the blog schedule. I was pondering this the other day and that didn’t set well

Interview [Video]: Eric Roth

Another interview with a screenwriter from he Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences documentary series Academy Originals. Today: Eric Roth whose writing credits include Forrest Gump, The Insider and Munich. Dude works on a DOS program! The Academy Originals YouTube channel here.

Monologue as ‘sales pitch’

I just concluded the Screenwriting Master Class one-week course Core V: Dialogue and as with all of my classes, I came away stimulated by the ideas that emerged in our online conversations. For example in addition to the six lectures I wrote which were made available, I also posted

Movie Trailer: “The Babadook”

Written by Jennifer Kent A single mother, plagued by the violent death of her husband, battles with her son’s fear of a monster lurking in the house, but soon discovers a sinister presence all around her. IMDB Comment Archive

Classic 70s Movie: “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest”

September is Classic 70s Movie month. Today’s guest post comes from Kalen Deremo. Movie Title: One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest Year: 1975 Writers: Screenplay by Lawrence Hauben and Bo Goldman; based on the novel by Ken Kesey Lead Actors: Jack Nicholson, Louise Fletcher, Will Sampson, Brad Dourif,