Scott Myers

Movie Trailer: “Step Up: All In”

Written by John Swetnam, characters by Duane Adler All-stars from the previous Step Up installments come together in glittering Las Vegas, battling for a victory that could define their dreams and their careers. IMDB Release Date: 25 July 2014 (USA) Comment Archive

Movies You Made: “Fathoms”

March is Movies You Made month at Go Into The Story where we feature the work of some independent filmmakers. Today: Fathoms. Production notes from writer-director Joe Russ: One of the goals was to create a story rooted in my personal experience of losing my father to cancer at

Great Character: Garth Algar (“Wayne’s World”)

This month’s theme: Sidekick. Today: Guest poster Jason Cuthbert looks at Garth Algar from the 1992 movie Wayne’s World, written by Mike Myers and Bonnie Turner & Terry Turner. What do George W. Bush, James Stewart, John Travolta, Robin Williams and Arnold Schwarzenegger have in common? Dana Carvey

Daily Dialogue — March 21, 2014

JOKER: Hey, Lone Ranger. COWBOY: Holy shit! JOKER: You old motherfucker. COWBOY: It’s the Joker. JOKER: What’s happenin’? COWBOY: Boy, I hoped I’d never see you again, you piece of shit! JOKER: What’s happening, man? COWBOY: Oh, I’m just waiting to get back to the

Black List and Hasty Pudding Institute Screenwriting Fellowship

An announcement that went live today: The Black List and the Hasty Pudding Institute of 1770 are pleased to announce the Hasty Pudding Institute Screenwriting Fellowship, which seeks to increase the visibility of satire and social commentary in the arts. The inaugural fellowship will include a $20,000 grant to

Interview (Part 4): Rob Meyer and Luke Matheny

When I saw the trailer for the movie A Birder’s Guide to Everything, I immediately sought out its filmmakers: Writer-director Rob Meyer and writer Luke Matheny. It’s a wonderful story starring some terrific young talent as well as Oscar winning actor Sir Ben Kingsley. The movie comes

Movie Trailer: “The Signal”

Screenplay by Carlyle Eubank, William Eubank and David Frigerio, story by William Eubank and David Frigerio A group of college students are lured to the middle of the desert by a hacker. IMDB Release Date: 13 June 2014 (USA)  Comment Archive

Movies You Made: “Feeding Mr. Baldwin”

March is Movies You Made month at Go Into The Story where we feature the work of some independent filmmakers. Today: Feeding Mr. Baldwin. Production notes from writer-director Will Prescott: Feeding Mr. Baldwin is a feature dark comedy about a house sitter (played by Dalton Leeb) who bites off

Writing and the Creative Life: “Believing is seeing”

A twist on the old saying, “Seeing is believing.” As writers, we do everything we can to enable our characters to come to life. Whether it’s questionnaires, biographies, interviews, monologues, anything we can do to engage our characters and immerse ourselves in their lives can help us eventually to

Daily Dialogue — March 20, 2014

The Johnsons load their guns and point them at Bart. Bart then points his own pistol at his head. Bart: [low voice] Hold it! Next man makes a move, the nigger gets it! Olson Johnson: Hold it, men. He’s not bluffing. Dr. Sam Johnson: Listen to him, men. He’

Why write?

A guest post from Tom Benedek, screenwriter (Cocoon) and co-founder of Screenwriting Master Class: Here’s a mystery story all of us live in. Why write? I ask myself that question a lot and then — I start writing. It always seems that I am measuring the next season, set

Interview (Part 3): Rob Meyer and Luke Matheny

When I saw the trailer for the movie A Birder’s Guide to Everything, I immediately sought out its filmmakers: Writer-director Rob Meyer and writer Luke Matheny. It’s a wonderful story starring some terrific young talent as well as Oscar winning actor Sir Ben Kingsley. The movie comes

Movie Trailer: “The Maze Runner”

Screenplay by James Dashner, Grant Pierce Myers, T.S. Nowlin, Noah Oppenheim, novel by James Dashner Set in a post-apocalyptic world, young Thomas is deposited in a community of boys after his memory is erased, soon learning they’re all trapped in a maze that will require him to

Movies You Made: “Sly Sylvester”

March is Movies You Made month at Go Into The Story where we feature the work of some independent filmmakers. Today: Sly Sylvester. Production notes from writer-director Kim Nunley: Logline: An apartment renter so desperate for love pretends to own a cat in order to make contact with the

Script To Screen: “The Social Network”

The final scene from the 2010 movie The Social Network, screenplay by Aaron Sorkin, based on a book by Ben Mezrich. Plot Summary: Harvard student Mark Zuckerberg creates the social networking site that would become known as Facebook, but is sued by two brothers who claimed he stole their idea,

Daily Dialogue — March 19, 2014

Bowtie Driver: Me and the bookkeeper are walking out of here, getting into a car, and driving away. Or else he dies! He dies! And you ain’t got nothing! You got five seconds to make up your minds! Ness: You got him? Stone: Yeah, I got him. Bowtie starts

People are stories

Monday was a travel day for me. In some respects, it was quite unusual, beginning with an earthquake in Los Angeles, ending with an ice storm in Chapel Hill. In one other way, however, it was utterly typical: I was surrounded by people every step along the way. And almost

Interview (Part 2): Rob Meyer and Luke Matheny

When I saw the trailer for the movie A Birder’s Guide to Everything, I immediately sought out its filmmakers: Writer-director Rob Meyer and writer Luke Matheny. It’s a wonderful story starring some terrific young talent as well as Oscar winning actor Sir Ben Kingsley. The movie comes

Movie Trailer: “Kid Cannabis”

Screenplay by Mark Binelli and John Stockwell, article by Mark Binelli and Kevin Taylor An eighteen year old high school drop out and his twenty-seven year old friend start trafficking marijuana across the border of Canada in order to make money and their lives are changed forever. IMDB Release

Movies You Made: “Thirteen”

March is Movies You Made month at Go Into The Story where we feature the work of some independent filmmakers. Today: Thirteen. Production notes from writer-director Markham Cooke: Thirteen is a short I wrote and directed. It premiered at the Palm Springs Short Film Festival. It was shot in

Screenwriting 101: Horton Foote

“For me there was a whole period of unlearning the bad habits I had picked up in my conventional training as an actor, which was to be very vocal and to work things out vocally rather than to find my inner life. They gave us a whole series of exercises

Daily Dialogue — March 18, 2014

Nice Guy Eddie: Let me say this out loud, ’cause I wanna get it straight in my head. You’re saying that Mr. Blonde was gonna kill you, then when we got back, he was going kill us, take the satchel of diamonds, and scram. I’m right about that,

Reader Question: Do you actually plot out the Protag’s Emotional Arc, or just go with your gut?

A tweet from @CaveDude21: Do you actually plot out the Protag’s Emotional Arc, or just go with gut? I’m tempted to go to my default point: There’s no right way to write. Every writer is different. Every story is different. But you know what? I’m going

Interview (Part 1): Rob Meyer and Luke Matheny

When I saw the trailer for the movie A Birder’s Guide to Everything, I immediately sought out its filmmakers: Writer-director Rob Meyer and writer Luke Matheny. It’s a wonderful story starring some terrific young talent as well as Oscar winning actor Sir Ben Kingsley. The movie comes

Movie Trailer: “13 Sins”

Screenplay by David Birke & Daniel Stamm, based on “13: Game of Death” by Chookiat Sakveerakul and Eakasit Thairatana A cryptic phone call sets off a dangerous game of risks for Elliot, a down-on-his luck salesman. The game promises increasing rewards for completing 13 tasks, each more sinister