Scott Myers

Great Scene: “When Harry Met Sally”

An excellent example of how to handle exposition in a scene. The movie: When Harry Met Sally, the terrific 1989 romantic comedy written by the late great Nora Ephron. The scene: It’s pretty self-explanatory. Here’s a transcription of some of the key dialogue, but you should watch

Screenwriting News (May 5-May 11, 2014)

Ben Affleck and Casey Affleck rewriting sports drama “The Trade” for Warner Bros. Andrew Baldwin writing The Bourne Legacy 2 for Universal Pictures. Mark Boal partners with Megan Ellison to form Page 1, a new movie and television venture. PJ Byrne, Terry Scannell, Aaron Ginsburg and Wade McIntyre sell comedy

Classic 90s Movie: “GoldenEye”

May is Classic 90s Movie month. Today’s guest post comes from Jon Stark. Movie Title: Golden Eye Year: 1995 Writers: Jeffrey Caine and Bruce Feirstein penned the screenplay. Story by Michael France based, naturally, on the characters of Ian Fleming Lead Actors: Pierce Brosnan, Sean Bean, and Judi Dench.

Interview [Video]: Ava DuVernay

Writer-director Ava DuVernay is the visionary behind I Will Follow, Middle of Nowhere and the upcoming high profile Selma. Here is video of her giving the keynote address at 2013 Film Independent Forum. Thanks to The Black Board for the link. For my January 2013 interview with DuVernay, go

Daily Dialogue — May 11, 2014

Ripley: You’re going out there to destroy them, right? Not to study. But to wipe them out.  Burke: That’s the plan. You have my word on it. — Aliens (1986), screenplay by James Cameron, story by James Cameron and David Giler & Walter Hill, characters by Dan O’Bannon

Daily Dialogue theme for next week: Advice

The theme for next week’s round of Daily Dialogue posts: Advice, suggested by Aarthi Ramanathan. 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. I’d also ask you

Update: Mystery Hollywood round-up

Back in September 2013, I posted this, an aggregation of all the Mystery Hollywood Twitter handles I could find. The subject came up yesterday — where else, but Twitter — and I know some new Mystery Hwood types have emerged, while alas some appeared to have gone dormant. So here is an

Movies You Made: “JohnnyExpress”

This is great fun! It’s 2150. There are all sorts of Aliens living throughout space. Johnny is a Space Delivery Man who travels to different planets to deliver packages. Johnny is lazy and his only desire is to sleep in his autopilot spaceship. when the spaceship arrives at the

Saturday Hot Links

Time for the 133rd installment of Saturday Hot Links! Today: The We Remember “The Twilight Zone” Edition. On May the Fourth, J.J. Abrams and Lawrence Kasdan sent a message to Star Wars fans [video]. Related: Conan O’Brien offers some alternate titles for SW VII [video]. The most frightening

Classic 90s Movie: “You’ve Got Mail”

May is Classic 90s Movie month. Today’s guest post comes from Adrian Patenaude. Movie Title: You’ve Got Mail Year: 1998 Writers: Nora Ephron and Delia Ephron, based on the play “Parfumerie” by Miklós Lázló Lead Actors: Meg Ryan, Tom Hanks Director: Nora Ephron IMDB Plot Summary: Two business

Interview [Written]: Steven Knight (“Locke”)

A Rope of Silicon interview with Locke writer-director Steven Knight: So what is Locke? Why was I so excited to see it? What’s so great about talking with Steven Knight? Well, Locke (read my review here) is an 85-minute movie featuring Tom Hardy as Ivan Locke, a

Daily Dialogue — May 10, 2014

Michael: All right. This one time I’ll let you ask me about my affairs. Kay Adams: Is it true? Is it? Michael: No. Kay smiles and walks into his arms. Kay Adams: I guess we both need a drink, huh? Kay goes to the kitchen to fix a drink,

“A great film reveals itself in five minutes”

A pair of smart folks at the New Yorker — Richard Brody and Emily Nussbaum — have been engaged in a back-and-forth about whether we really find ourselves in the midst of the Next Golden Age of TV. Amidst all of their analysis, Brody in his latest article makes this

Featurette: “Frank”

Now this is a movie I want to see! From Indiewire (Russ Fischer): One of my favorite films so far in 2014 is Frank, the movie in which Michael Fassbender plays a musician who spends every minute of every day wearing a giant fake head. That’s a pretty good

Highlights of “How to Succeed Without Representation” (WGA)

Excerpts from a recent presentation at the Writers’ Guild of America, West including a familiar face: The WGAW Writers Education and New Members Committees Present: How To Succeed Without Representation: Strategies for the Un- and Underrepresented Writer. Event Co-Chairs: Alan Kole (moderator) and Lauren Hynek & Elizabeth Martin. WEC

How To Succeed At Screenwriting… By Really Trying — Part 5: Do It

You may remember a 1967 movie How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying. Here is the IMDB plot summary: Twenty-seven year old New York window washer J. Pierpont Finch believes he can be a success in the corporate world after he impulsively picks up the book “How to

Movie Trailer: “Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day”

https://movies.yahoo.com/video/alexander-terrible-horrible-no-good-152210430.html?format=embed Screenplay by Lisa Cholodenko and Rob Lieber, book by Judith Viorst Alexander wakes up with gum in his hair, and things just get worse as his day progresses. IMDB Release Date: 10 October 2014 (USA)  Comment

Classic 90s Movie: “Goodfellas”

May is Classic 90s Movie month. Today’s guest post comes from John Saraka. Movie Title: Goodfellas Year: 1990 Writers: Screenplay by Martin Scorsese and Nicholas Pileggi; based on the book Wiseguy by Nicholas Pileggi Lead Actors: Ray Liotta, Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci Director: Martin Scorsese IMDB Plot Summary:

Great Character: Nola Darling (“She’s Gotta Have It”)

This month’s theme: Attractor characters. Today: Nola Darling from She’s Gotta Have It, written and directed by Spike Lee. For Spike Lee’s 1986 feature film debut, Brooklyn New York’s Dean of Cinema transformed roughly $185,000, 12 shooting days, black and white film stock and a

Daily Dialogue — May 9, 2014

“He’s at 250 52nd Street. And she’s on Avenue X at Cicero.” — The Dark Knight (2008), screenplay by Jonathan Nolan and Christopher Nolan, story by Christopher Nolan & David S. Goyer, characters by Bob Kane The Daily Dialogue theme for the week: Lying. Trivia: Christian Bale stated in

Reader Question: Is it typical to hate your script when you’re writing it?

From GITS reader Mahmoud: I heard many times of writers who fall in love with their scripts and stories. Their love could blind them from the fact that this whole story is maybe nonsense. Now my question is: Is it normal to hate your script when you’re writing? Not

“They Came Together”: Who is the target audience for this movie?

On June 27, this movie will hit theaters and be available on VOD: They Came Together is written by Michael Showalter and David Wain, and stars a slew of top comic talent including Paul Rudd, Amy Poehler, Bill Hader, Ellie Kemper, and Ed Helms. Indiewire describes it this way: “It’

How To Succeed At Screenwriting… By Really Trying — Part 4: Set Goals

You may remember a 1967 movie How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying. Here is the IMDB plot summary: Twenty-seven year old New York window washer J. Pierpont Finch believes he can be a success in the corporate world after he impulsively picks up the book “How to

Movie Trailer: “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes”

Written by Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver & Mark Bomback, characters by Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver Survivors of the simian plague trigger an all-out war between humanity and Caesar’s growing forces. IMDB Release Date: 11 July 2014 (USA)  Comment Archive

Classic 90s Movie: “Fight Club”

May is Classic 90s Movie month. Today’s guest post comes from Josh Barkey Movie Title: Fight Club Year: 1999 Writers: Chuck Palahniuk (novel), Jim Uhls (screenplay) Lead Actors: Edward Norton, Brad Pitt, Helena Bonham Carter Director: David Fincher IMDB Plot Summary: An insomniac office worker looking for a way