Scott Myers

Page One Writers Conference (Chicago)

For writers in the Midwest, there is an excellent opportunity coming up on Saturday, May 3 in Chicago: Here’s the lineup of participants: With Josh Stolberg & Pete Goldfinger, the writers behind SORORITY ROW, PIRANHA 3D & the next installment of HALLOWEEN. Moderated by DePaul Screenwriting faculty member Chris

Interview: Lindsay Devlin (“Devil’s Due”) — Part 4

January has turned out to be a reliable month for Hollywood with regard to one genre in particular: Horror. This year was no different when Twentieth Century Fox released Devil’s Due, a movie that thus far has brought in over four times its production budget in box office revenues.

Vladimir Propp’s “31 Narratemes”: Another approach to story structure

If you were a member of The Black Board, The Official Writing Community of the Black List and Go Into The Story, you might have seen this post by Dean Scott. It refers to a Russian scholar named Vladimir Propp. From Wikipedia: Vladimir Yakovlevich Propp (Russian: Владимир Яковлевич Пропп; 29

Movie Trailer: “I Origins”

Written by Mike Cahill A molecular biologist and his laboratory partner uncover evidence that may fundamentally change society as we know it. IMDB Release Date: 18 July 2014 (USA) Comment Archive

A Story Idea Each Day for a Month — Day 24

This is the fifth year in a row I’ve run this series in April. Today’s story: Town turns table on school prank. High school student Whitney Kropp was shocked earlier this month when she was named to the homecoming court. Her happy surprise turned to humiliation when she

Writing and the Creative Life: What to do when you feel out of touch with your creative energy

When a creative spark seems so very far, far… FAR… away… Awhile back, I received this question from a reader: Scott, I’ve been reading your blog. I’ve been feeling out of touch with my creative energy as of late.Tell me, does this happen to you at all?

Daily Dialogue — April 24, 2014

Ms. Sanchez: [at the meeting with the PG & E lawyers] Let’s be honest here. $20 million dollars is more money than these people have ever dreamed of. Erin Brockovich: Oh see, now that pisses me off. First of all, since the demur we have more than 400 plaintiffs

“Creativity, Inc.”: New book on Pixar

I find Pixar fascinating. Not only because they have produced some of my favorite movies including Toy Story, Monsters Inc., Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Wall-E and Up, but because of how they do it, their utter and absolute commitment to story, and as I discovered in my interview with

Interview: Lindsay Devlin (“Devil’s Due”) — Part 3

January has turned out to be a reliable month for Hollywood with regard to one genre in particular: Horror. This year was no different when Twentieth Century Fox released Devil’s Due, a movie that thus far has brought in over four times its production budget in box office revenues.

Movies You Made: “Travellers”

I recently received an email from filmmakers Christian H. Clark & Angela Trevino: We weren’t sure if you were still taking “Movies You Made” submissions, but just in case you are, here’s our latest short, Travellers, which we made for the Cornetto Cupidity series of shorts about young

10 Ways to Make People Laugh

As readers may know, I’m not a big listicle guy… except for Saturday Hot Links which is where I tend aggregate the countless types of these items which skitter my way over the course of a week via the web. However I found this particular list to have some

Movie Trailer: “Wish I Was Here”

Written by Adam J. Braff, Zach Braff ‘Wish I Was Here’ is the story of Aidan Bloom, a struggling actor, father and husband, who at 35 is still trying to find his identity; a purpose for his life. He winds up trying to home school his two children when his

A Story Idea Each Day for a Month — Day 23

This is the fifth year in a row I’ve run this series in April. Today’s story: Best Dad Ever Sells Amazing Spider-Man #1 To Fund Daughter’s Wedding. This is love. An Ohio man remembered he might have a copy of the first Spider-Man comic ever

Script To Screen: “Short Term 12”

Sometimes you can say it… not show it. Short Term 12 was just about my favorite movie in 2013. Written and directed by Destin Daniel Cretton, and produced with a reported budget of just $400K, it is an utterly compelling drama with incredible performances all down the line, led by

Daily Dialogue — April 23, 2014

CAROLYN: You know, you could have some really fun backyard get-togethers out here. WOMAN #1: The ad said this pool was “lagoon-like.” There’s nothing “lagoon-like” about it. Except for maybe the bugs. WOMAN #2: There’s not even any plants out here. CAROLYN: (re: shrub) What

Do your characters exist beyond FADE OUT?

Last week, Film School Rejects ran a piece honoring the 25th anniversary of the Cameron Crowe movie Say Anything called “Are ‘Say Anything’ Lovebirds Lloyd Dobler and Diane Court Still Together?” Sometime during the spring of my freshman year at college, a friend of mine decided to break out a

Interviews: Daniel Kunka, Seth Lochhead, John Swetnam

Longtime blog readers who follow the Sunday roundup Screenwriting News may have noticed something intriguing about last week’s deals: Three writers, who I have interviewed, made headlines: Daniel Kunka sells action drama spec script “Yellowstone Falls” to QED for a reported six figures against near seven-figures. Seth Lochhead

Interview: Lindsay Devlin (“Devil’s Due”) — Part 2

January has turned out to be a reliable month for Hollywood with regard to one genre in particular: Horror. This year was no different when Twentieth Century Fox released Devil’s Due, a movie that thus far has brought in over four times its production budget in box office revenues.

Franklin Leonard talks Black List, screenwriting on The Treatment [Audio]

Franklin Leonard appeared with Elvis Mitchell on the KCRW show The Treatment. Scheduled for airing on Wednesday, April 23, you can get a jump on it and listen to their conversation here. A description of the episode: In 2005, Franklin Leonard was working for Leonardo DiCaprio’s production company, looking

The Future of Film and Why Story Still Matters

The Tribeca Film Festival is underway, running from April 21–26. You can visit its website here. If you are in the New York area this week, check it out. Indiewire ran a recent interview with Jane Rosenthal, TFF Co-Founder and CEO, and she touches on two subjects of

Movie Trailer: “Planes: Fire & Rescue”

Written by Jeffrey M. Howard When world-famous air racer Dusty learns that his engine is damaged and he may never race again, he must shift gears and is launched into the world of aerial firefighting. Dusty joins forces with veteran fire and rescue helicopter Blade Ranger and his team,

A Story Idea Each Day for a Month — Day 22

This is the fifth year in a row I’ve run this series in April. Today’s story: Struggling Immigrant Artist Tied to $80 Million New York Fraud. Pei-Shen Qian’s neighbors on 95th Street in Woodhaven, Queens, knew he scratched out a living as an artist: he often

Screenwriting 101: Lisa Joy

“The thing that is first and foremost to me is, ‘Do I love the character? Do I empathize with them?’ I even think you have to love and empathize with the villains you write, especially them, in a way. Otherwise it just becomes caricature.” — Lisa Joy (GITS Interview, March 6,

Daily Dialogue — April 22, 2014

Stansfield Turner: Aliens and robots? Tony Mendez: Yes sir. Stansfield Turner: You’re telling me there’s a movie company in Hollywood right now that’s funded by the CIA? Tony Mendez: Yes sir. Cyrus Vance: What’s wrong with the bikes again? Jack O’Donnell: We tried to get

“The script will write itself”

Over the weekend, @UnkScreenwriter tweeted something with this startling headline: “UNIVERSAL PICTURES READY TO TURN SCREENWRITING OVER TO COMPUTER ALGORITHMS”. Clicking on the link, I read this: Hollywood, CA — For years computers have been making the job of making movies easier and easier, more efficient in some areas, more expansive