Scott Myers

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

Interview: Lindsay Devlin (“Devil’s Due”) — Part 1

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.

“Social Anthropology in Film: The Narratives of Darren Aronofsky” (Video)

From Indiewire: You may not know that [Darren] Aronofsky studied both film and social anthropology at Harvard, and it’s through that lens that [Nelson] Carvajal has crafted a short video essay about the director’s work. Cutting together scenes from his films, with overlapping dialogue and more, the five-

How To Be Prolific: Guidelines For Getting It Done From Joss Whedon

Not sure how this link came my way, especially given the fact it was published in January this year, but I’m always glad to read about Joss Whedon whose film (Toy Story, The Cabin in the Woods, The Avengers, Much Ado About Nothing) and TV (Buffy the Vampire Slayer,

Movie Trailer: “Chef”

Written and directed by Jon Favreau. A chef who loses his restaurant job starts up a food truck in an effort to reclaim his creative promise, while piecing back together his estranged family. IMDB Release Date: 9 May 2014 (USA)  Comment Archive

A Story Idea Each Day for a Month — Day 21

This is the fifth year in a row I’ve run this series in April. Today’s story: Ten Days in a Madhouse: The Woman Who Got Herself Committed. “The insane asylum on Blackwell’s Island is a human rat-trap. It is easy to get in, but once there

On Writing

“If there is a secret to writing, I haven’t found it yet. All I know is you need to sit down, clear your mind, and hang in there.” — Mary McGrory Comment Archive

Daily Dialogue — April 21, 2014

CHRIS: So my associate tells me you’re interested in one of our stocks. DR. JACOBS: Yes, MSC sounds like it might be interesting. CHRIS: Might be? Might be doesn’t sell stock at the rate MSC is going, Dr. Jacobs. We’re talking about very high volume here. DR.

Go Into The Story Week In Review: April 14-April 20, 2014

Links to the week’s most notable posts: 2014 Cannes Film Festival Lineup: Screenwriters A Story Idea Each Day for a Month — Day 14: F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Lost Years A Story Idea Each Day for a Month — Day 15: Woman hits multimillion scratchcard jackpot 4 times A Story Idea

“The Hateful Eight” staged reading round-up

Last night at the United Artists Theatre at the Ace Hotel in downtown LA, Quentin Tarantino directed a staged reading of his original screenplay The Hateful Eight. This is the script that Gawker leaked to the web back in January that led to a lawsuit by the filmmaker against the

Interview [6 part series]: Elijah Bynum

The Black List is a pretty exclusive club, especially so for those writers who manage to land two scripts on the List in a single year. That’s what Elijah Bynum did in 2013 when two of his original screenplays — “Mississippi Mud” and “Hot Summer Nights”. I sought out Elijah

Screenwriting News (April 14-April 20, 2014)

Jesse Armstrong writing comedy “Border Guards” for Sony and Gary Sanchez Productions. David Berenbaum writing sequel Mrs. Doubtfire 2 for Fox 2000. TJ Fixman sells action thriller script “Men Who Kill” to 20th Century Fox, Michael B. Jordan attached to star. John Hlavin sells period action pitch “Nekome” to GrandElectric

A Story Idea Each Day for a Month — Day 20

This is the fifth year in a row I’ve run this series in April. Today’s story: 7 tips for keeping your man (from the 1950s). Woman, you have no idea how lucky you are to have landed a man. But as the literature of the mid-century’s

Interview [Video]: David S. Goyer

The BAFTA Lecture Series is one of the best resources available to hear screenwriters talk directly about the craft. Another example released recently: Writer-director David S. Goyer (Batman Begins, Man of Steel). Comment Archive

Daily Dialogue — April 20, 2014

“My predecessor in this job left a man named Charles Grady as the Winter caretaker. And he came up here with his wife and two little girls, I think were eight and ten. And he had a good employment record, good references, and from what I’ve been told he