Scott Myers

Script To Screen: “You Can Count On Me”

A key scene from the excellent 2000 drama You Can Count On Me, written and directed by Kenneth Lonergan. Plot Summary: A single mother’s life is thrown into turmoil after her struggling, rarely-seen younger brother returns to town. In the scene: The younger brother Terry and his nephew

Daily Dialogue — May 21, 2014

Guard: you won’t get away that easy! Aladdin: You think that was easy? — Aladdin (1992), written by Ron Clements, John Muskier The Daily Dialogue theme for the week: Robbery. Today’s suggestion: Aarthi Jayaraman. Trivia: Because Robin Williams ad-libbed so many of his lines, the script was turned

Great Scene: “Whale Rider”

The 2003 movie Whale Rider is a wonderful story, aptly described in this IMDB plot summary: A contemporary story of love, rejection and triumph as a young Maori girl fights to fulfill a destiny her grandfather refuses to recognize. The girl in question is Paikea, performed magnificently by Keisha Castle-

Songwriters on Songwriting: Bruce Hornsby

I wrote my first song when I was 14 years old. Over the years, I’ve composed hundreds of songs. It was that interest — music — that led me to take a year off from pursuing a doctorate and led me down the circuitous path that has been the rest of

Let’s Go to the Movies with Patton Oswalt

The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences has started a documentary series called Academy Originals. They posted this one yesterday: “Let’s Go to the Movies with Patton Oswalt”: Follow along as comedian, actor and movie fanatic Patton Oswalt is offered the opportunity to screen any film from the

How to Think Like a Writer

How to think like a writer? What better way to answer that query than by reading what writers have to say about it. Here are a couple of excerpts from a recent Huffington Post article: Study the greats. Hunter S. Thompson was known to transcribe Ernest Hemingway’s novels in

Movie Trailer: “Tammy

Ben Falcone (screenplay), Melissa McCarthy (screenplay) After losing her job and learning that her husband has been unfaithful, a woman hits the road with her profane, hard-drinking grandmother. IMDB Release Date: 2 July 2014 (USA)  Comment Archive

Classic 90s Movie: “Home Alone”

May is Classic 90s Movie month. Today’s guest post comes from Paul Lewis. Movie Title: Home Alone Year: 1990 Writer: John Hughes Lead Actors: McCauley Culkin (Kevin McCallister), Joe Pesci (Harry), Daniel Stern (Marv) John Candy (Gus Ploinski), Catherine O’Hara (Claire McCallister) Director: Chris Columbus IMDB Plot Summary:

Screenwriting 101: Elijah Bynum

“I always write a little bio on them before I write the script. Their back story, their personality, some of their character traits. I know what food they like, what kind of cigarettes they smoke — but there’s a difference between characteristics and character. It’s not until you really

Daily Dialogue — May 20, 2014

Gotham National Bank Manager: Think you’re pretty smart, huh? The guy that hired youze, he’ll just do the same to you. Oh, criminals in this town used to believe in things. Honor. Respect. Look at you! What do you believe in, huh? WHAT DO YOU BELIEVE IN? Bozo

The Coen Brothers and the Craft of Storytelling

I have two favorite contemporary filmmakers. In terms of mainstream commercial films, there is Pixar. For independent movies, there are the Coen brothers. Both are hugely successful in what they do, commercially and critically. That’s why I’m thrilled to follow up the popular Pixar class I teach with

Christopher Nolan remembers “Memento”

A recent Indiewire interview with writer-director Christopher Nolan reflecting back on the 2000 movie Memento, a film he wrote (based on a short story by his brother Jonathan Nolan) and directed. When you were making this film, did you ever wonder if the puzzle structure would play to an

Songwriters on Songwriting: Jackson Browne

“I relegate everything to the creative act as being what I’m here to do. And so anything that helps is something that I incorporate into my lifestyle.” I wrote my first song when I was 14 years old. Over the years, I’ve composed hundreds of songs. It was

Interview [Video]: Gordon Willis

One of the greatest cinemaphotographers in movie history Gordon Willis has died at the age of 82. A partial list of his movie credits: * End of the Road (1970) * The Landlord (1970) * Klute (1971) * The Godfather (1972) * The Godfather Part II (1974) * The Paper Chase (1973) * The Parallax View (1974)

“For Aspiring Writers: the Worst Advice You’ll Ever Read”

A writer named Charles Hugh Smith penned this in 2005, so I have no idea why I stumbled upon it nearly a decade later, but seeing as it serves as an effective counterbalance to the happy chatter that issues forth from the Hope Machine (“Now you can learn how to

Movie Trailer: “Interstellar”

Written by Jonathan Nolan and Christopher Nolan A group of explorers make use of a newly discovered wormhole to surpass the limitations on human space travel and conquer the vast distances involved in an interstellar voyage. IMDB Release Date: 7 November 2014 (USA)  Comment Archive

Classic 90s Movie: “Terminator 2: Judgment Day”

May is Classic 90s Movie month. Today’s guest post comes from Jonathan Slattery. Movie Title: Terminator 2: Judgment Day Year: 1991 Writers: James Cameron, William Wisher Jr. Lead Actors: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton, Edward Furlong, Robert Patrick Director: James Cameron IMDB Plot Summary: A cyborg, identical to the one

On Writing

“As a writer one doesn’t belong anywhere. Fiction writers, I think, are even more outside the pale, necessarily on the edge of society. Because society and people are our meat, one really doesn’t belong in the midst of society. The great challenge in writing is always to find

Daily Dialogue — May 19, 2014

Pumpkin: Garçon! Coffee! Waitress: ‘Garçon’ means boy. Yolanda: This place? A coffee shop? Pumpkin: Why not? Nobody ever robs restaurants. Bars, liquor stores, gas stations… you get your head blown off sticking up one of them. Restaurants on the other hand, you catch with their pants down. They’re not

Go Into The Story Week In Review: May 12-May 18, 2014

Links to the week’s most notable posts: 30 Days of Screenplays Alien: 2 1/2 hour behind the scenes documentary Classic 90s Movie: Before Sunrise Classic 90s Movie: Clerks Classic 90s Movie: Clueless Classic 90s Movie: Howard’s End Classic 90s Movie: Leon: The Professional Classic 90s Movie: The

Interview: Geoff LaTulippe

One of the more active and colorful voices in the online screenwriting community is Geoff LaTulippe. Writer of the 2010 romantic comedy Going the Distance, starring Drew Barrymore and Justin Long, Geoff also has a blog, is co-host (along with Scott Beggs) of the popular Broken Projector podcast, and

Screenwriting News (May 12-May 18, 2014)

Martin Aguilera and Alex Bram writing supernatural thriller “Cloudland” for 1984 Private Defense Contractors. Jane Anderson adapting drama novel “The Wife” for Meta Films, Glenna Close attached to star. Sascha Arango adapting his drama novel “The Truth and Other Lies” for Chockstone Pictures. Ben Brewer and Adam Hirsch writing crime

Classic 90s Movie: “The Piano”

May is Classic 90s Movie month. Today’s guest post comes from John Hörnschemeyer Movie Title: The Piano Year: 1993 Writer: Jane Campion Lead Actors: Holly Hunter, Harvey Keitel, Sam Neil, Anna Paquin Director: Jane Campion IMDB Plot Summary: In the mid-nineteenth century, Ada, a mute widow, leaves her

Jane Campion: “Life is not a career” (Guardian)

The Guardian with a nice feature on writer-director Jane Campion (The Piano, The Potrait of a Lady, Holy Smoke). Jane Campion was the first woman to win a Palme d’Or and only the second ever to be nominated for the best director Oscar. So it comes as a

Interview [Video]: Nat Faxon and Jim Rash (“The Way Way Back”)

A DP/30 interview with Nat Faxon and Jim Rash, co-writers and co-directors of The Way Way Back. They also co-wrote The Descendants for which they won an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. For more great interviews on the DP/30 site, go here. Comment Archive