Scott Myers

Go Into The Story Week In Review: September 8-September 14, 2014

Links to the week’s most notable posts: 7 states to set your movie in 2013 Screenwriters Roundtable: Part 1 2013 Screenwriters Roundtable: Part 2 2013 Screenwriters Roundtable: Part 3 2013 Screenwriters Roundtable: Part 4 2013 Screenwriters Roundtable: Part 5 2013 Screenwriters Roundtable: Part 6 Classic 70s Movie: Chinatown Classic

Screenwriters Roundtable, Part 6: Chris Borrelli, F. Scott Frazier, Chris McCoy, Justin Rhodes, Greg Russo, John Swetnam

A special treat this week as I will be posting excerpts from a screenwriter’s roundtable I did with a group of talented Hollywood screenwriters: Chris Borrelli, F. Scott Frazier, Chris McCoy, Justin Rhodes, Greg Russo, and John Swetnam. How good are they? Between them, they have sold more than

Screenwriting News (September 8-September 14, 2014)

Daniel Adams and William Barber scripted action thriller “Panama” going forward with Tulchin Entertainment, Adams to direct. Josh Boone adapting drama novel “All We Had” for Tribeca Productions. Max Borenstein adapting Minority Report as a TV series for Fox. Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert scripted dark comedy “Swiss Army Man”

Classic 70s Movie: “Colossus: The Forbin Project”

September is Classic 70s Movie month. Today’s guest post comes from Will King. Movie Title: Colossus: The Forbin Project Year: 1970 Writer: Screenplay by James Bridges, based on the novel by D.F. Jones Lead Actors: Eric Braeden, Susan Clark, Gordon Pinsent, William Schallert Director: Joseph Sargent IMDB Plot

Interview [Video]: Billy Wilder

This gem courtesy of the Writers Guild Foundation: Over an hour-long conversation with writer-director Billy Wilder. For the Writers Guild Foundation YouTube site, go here. For my series Conversations With Wilder, go here.

Daily Dialogue — September 14, 2014

JACK CRABB: You mean you’re blind? OLD LODGE SKINS: Oh no. My eyes still see. But my heart no longer receives it. JACK CRABB: How did it happen? OLD LODGE SKINS: White man. JACK CRABB: Where’s Buffalo Wallow Woman? OLD LODGE SKINS: Rubbed out. And White Elk Woman

Daily Dialogue theme for next week: Adultery

The Daily Dialogue theme for next week: Adultery. Think about it: Some of the most notable movies of all time feature couples being unfaithful to each other. Here are some titles that immediately sprang to mind: The Shawshank Redemption, American Beauty, Citizen Kane, Fatal Attraction, and of course this famous

Screenwriters Roundtable, Part 5: Chris Borrelli, F. Scott Frazier, Chris McCoy, Justin Rhodes, Greg Russo, John Swetnam

A special treat this week as I will be posting excerpts from a screenwriter’s roundtable I did with a group of talented Hollywood screenwriters: Chris Borrelli, F. Scott Frazier, Chris McCoy, Justin Rhodes, Greg Russo, and John Swetnam. How good are they? Between them, they have sold more than

Saturday Hot Links

Time for the 151st installment of Saturday Hot Links. Today: The I Thought Of Douglas Adams The Other Day So Here Are Some Videos I Found Edition. Playlist: 2014 TIFF movie reviews. Indiewire: 2014 TIFF coverage. 2014 TIFF: Indiewire critics Anne Thompson and Eric Kohn podcast discussing fest’s hits,

Classic 70s Movie: “Smokey and the Bandit”

September is Classic 70s Movie month. Today’s guest post comes from John Henderson. Movie Title: Smokey and the Bandit Year: 1977 Writers: Hal Needham & Robert L. Levy (story), James Lee Barrett and Charles Shyer & Alan Mandel (screenplay) Lead Actors: Burt Reynolds, Sally Field, Jerry Reed, Jackie Gleason

Interview [Written]: Kristen Wiig, Bill Hader, and Craig Johnson (“The Skeleton Twins”)

Huffington Post interview with The Skeleton Twins actors Bill Hader and Kristen Wiig, and co-writer/director Craig Johnson: Did you ever feel it a challenge to tonally keep it in check, just because the subject matter can be pretty touchy at times? Bill: We were all over the place,

Interview [Written]: Dennis Lehane (“The Drop”)

Interview at WGA.org with writer Dennis Lehane: Dennis Lehane’s new film The Drop takes the acclaimed author-screenwriter back to the underworld of bleak, blue-collar criminals. Unlike Southy-based Mystic River and Gone Baby Gone, which were adapted from Lehane novels by other scripters, The Drop is

Daily Dialogue — September 13, 2014

Wyatt Earp: What makes a man like Ringo, Doc? What makes him do the things he does? Doc Holliday: A man like Ringo has got a great big hole, right in the middle of him. He can never kill enough, or steal enough, or inflict enough pain to ever fill

Declare Your Independents — Vol. 29

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… 2015 Oscar Predictions: Best Adapted Screenplay Stephen Hawking vs. Alan Turing: Who’s Winning The Battle of the British Genius Biopics? TIFF

Screenwriters Roundtable, Part 4: Chris Borrelli, F. Scott Frazier, Chris McCoy, Justin Rhodes, Greg Russo, John Swetnam

A special treat this week as I will be posting excerpts from a screenwriter’s roundtable I did with a group of talented Hollywood screenwriters: Chris Borrelli, F. Scott Frazier, Chris McCoy, Justin Rhodes, Greg Russo, and John Swetnam. How good are they? Between them, they have sold more than

Twitter Rant: Eric Heisserer on Procrastination, Precrastination and Productivity in Writing

Tweetstorm: Eric Heisserer on Procrastination, Precrastination and Productivity in Writing An informative series of tweets about the craft of writing. Twitter can be a gold mine for writers. Case in point, when pro writers decide to go on a rant about the craft, such as Eric Heisserer, who occasionally will

Movie Trailer: “The Drop”

Screenplay by Dennis Lehane. Bob Saginowski finds himself at the center of a robbery gone awry and entwined in an investigation that digs deep into the neighborhood’s past where friends, families, and foes all work together to make a living — no matter the cost. IMDB Release Date: 12 September

Classic 70s Movie: “Close Encounters of the Third Kind”

September is Classic 70s Movie month. Today’s guest post comes from Camilla Castree. Title: Close Encounters of the Third Kind Year: 1977 Screenwriter: Steven Spielberg Main Actors: Richard Dreyfuss, Francois Truffaut, Teri Garr, Melinda Dillon Director: Steven Spielberg IMDb Plot Summary: After an encounter with U.F.O.s,

Great Character: Veronica Sawyer (“Heathers”)

The Great Character theme for the month: High School Characters. Today: Veronica Sawyer from the 1988 movie Heathers, written by Daniel Waters. Here is regular contributor Jason Cuthbart’s background and analysis. The common story tropes of 1980s Teen Movies were certainly: gaining acceptance from the cool kids, bully ambushes,

Daily Dialogue — September 12, 2014

“Sometimes the things that may or may not be true are the things a man needs to believe in the most. That people are basically good; that honor, courage, and virtue mean everything; that power and money, money and power mean nothing; that good always triumphs over evil; and I

Reader Question: How long should an outline / treatment be before starting a first draft?

Question from MichaelSWaters: I was interested in how long you (or others) think an outline (or treatment) should be before starting a first draft? Michael, the fact you are asking that question is a good sign about your instincts as a writer. While some writers may not need to do

Screenwriters Roundtable, Part 3: Chris Borrelli, F. Scott Frazier, Chris McCoy, Justin Rhodes, Greg Russo, John Swetnam

A special treat this week as I will be posting excerpts from a screenwriter’s roundtable I did with a group of talented Hollywood screenwriters: Chris Borrelli, F. Scott Frazier, Chris McCoy, Justin Rhodes, Greg Russo, and John Swetnam. How good are they? Between them, they have sold more than

Filming “The Trial”: Raw footage for an Orson Welles doc

Found this: This is the raw footage filmed by Gary Graver at the University of Southern California in 1981 for a documentary that Welles was planning to make entitled “Filming ‘The Trial’”. It was intended to be something of a follow-up to his last feature length film, the documentary

7 States to Set Your Movie In

Louisiana. Georgia. California. Alaska. Illinois. New York. Massachusetts. Per a recent article in Studio System News, these are seven states with the best film and TV production tax incentives. Here is an example from the article: LOUISIANA No Program Cap or Expiration Listed Incentive: Thirty percent for films and TV

Movie Trailer: “Miss Julie”

August Strindberg (play), Liv Ullmann (screenplay) Over the course of a midsummer night in Fermanagh in 1890, an unsettled daughter of the Anglo-Irish aristocracy encourages her father’s valet to seduce her. IMDB Release Date: 12 September 2014 (Norway)