Scott Myers

Break your story in prep

A message from my friend and colleague Tom Benedek: Happy New Year, Writers! My new year’s resolution: Pay attention to the emotional components of film genres. Look at what I’m writing in terms of its originality, quality of character and story AND how it fits into its own

Update: 85 free, legal movie script PDF downloads

Last week, we had this announcement: Faithful readers know we have been tracking the various FYC (For Your Consideration) websites to access as many of the 2013 movie scripts as studios and production companies make them available. The total at last count was 38 as this post demonstrates. Over the

Interview (Part 1): Writer-Director Tze Chun (“Cold Comes the Night”)

Tze Chun is a talented young filmmaker who first gained attention with his indie drama Children of Invention. Indiewire describes his latest movie Cold Comes the Night, starring Alice Eve and Bryan Cranston, as a “tightly wound noir thriller.” Having screened the movie myself, I concur wholeheartedly. It opens in

The Theology of Screenwriting: Purgatory

This week I continue to explore theological themes in relation to screenwriting, considering them metaphorically because in my view, we see these themes in movies all the time. By understanding them, we can use these theological themes to enhance the meaning and depth of our stories. For background on the

Movie Trailer: “Veronica Mars”

Writers: Diane Ruggiero, Rob Thomas Veronica Mars returns home — just in time for her high school reunion — in order to help her old flame Logan Echolls, who has been accused of murdering his girlfriend. IMDB Release Date: 14 March 2014 (USA)  Comment Archive

Matthew Hickman: Independent Screenwriting Fellowship Winner [Part 2]

Less than a month ago, there was this announcement: The Black List and Cassian Elwes have announced the winner of their first Independent Screenwriting Fellowship. Unrepresented screenwriter Matthew Hickman will attend the upcoming Sundance Film Festival with the producer behind 2013 awards contenders Lee Daniels’ The Butler, All Is Lost,

Screenwriting 101: John D. Brancato

“I’ve read screenplays, plenty of them, where the writer obviously hates what he’s doing, and thinks it’s bullshit. That kind of cynicism is pernicious. It hurts the project. It hurts movies in general. So I try not to be cynical about the thing itself — about the screenplay,

Daily Dialogue — January 7, 2014

INT. STATE DEPARTMENT — SEVENTH FLOOR OFFICE — ANGLE — DAY A concept drawing from Argo. TURNER (O.S.): Aliens and robots. MENDEZ (O.S.): Yes, sir. ANOTHER ANGLE The four men are gathered in the back of Vance’s office, around a table. Over them we see the STATE DEPARTMENT EMBLEM. TURNER

The Official 2014 GITS Spec Script Sales Prognostication Contest!

Yes, it’s time once again for The Official 2014 GITS Spec Script Sales Prognostication Contest! Or as we refer to it around the Myers household TO2014GSSSPC [much easier to remember, don’t you think]. Put on your prognostication glasses and take a guess at how many spec scripts sales

WTF with all these screenwriting “rules”?

It seems like every few months, some furor breaks out online about some supposed screenwriting “rule”. Yesterday it happened again, this time about the frequently cited commandment: Thou shalt not use “we see” in scene description. Here are a few choice tweets from that particular Twit-Storm from the perspective

The Theology of Screenwriting: Chosen

The archetype of the Chosen One is common to movies, echoing the Messianic presence in Judeo-Christianity. As some of you may know, I have a background in the academic study of theology, a B.A. in religious studies from the University of Virginia and a Masters of Divinity degree

Movie Trailer: “Lone Survivor”

Screenplay by Peter Berg, book by Marcus Luttrell and Patrick Robinson Based on the failed June 28, 2005 mission “Operation Red Wings”. Four members of SEAL Team 10 were tasked with the mission to capture or kill notorious Taliban leader Ahmad Shahd. IMDB Release Date: 10 January 2014 (USA)  Comment

Matthew Hickman: Independent Screenwriting Fellowship Winner [Part 1]

Less than a month ago, there was this announcement: The Black List and Cassian Elwes have announced the winner of their first Independent Screenwriting Fellowship. Unrepresented screenwriter Matthew Hickman will attend the upcoming Sundance Film Festival with the producer behind 2013 awards contenders Lee Daniels’ The Butler, All Is Lost,

On Writing

“It is just pebble by pebble by pebble by pebble. I write one sentence until I am happy with it until I go on to the next one and write that one until I am happy with it. And I look at my paragraph and if I am not happy

Daily Dialogue — January 6, 2014

INT. REHEARSAL HALL — DAY Barris sits with a several network executive and some other staff members watching a fat man tap dance badly and, because of his weight, extremely loudly. It’s painful for everybody to watch. The fat man finishes. BARRIS: Thank you. Thanks. That was great. The fat

Go Into The Story Week In Review: December 30, 2013-January 5, 2014

Links to the week’s most notable posts: 6 Box-Office Takeaways From a Record Year of Hits and Flops 78 free, legal movie script PDF downloads 80s Movies and Story Concept: Part 2 Classic 80s Movie: Back to the Future Classic 80s Movie: Caddyshack Classic 80s Movie: Coming to

The 52 Most Anticipated Movies of 2014

Scott Beggs (@scottmbeggs) at FilmSchoolRejects spotlights 52 notable movies to be released this year. You can check out the list here. Here are a few from the list that have piqued my interest: Dawn of the Planet of the Apes Gone Girl Grand Budapest Hotel Inherent Vice Interstellar Jupiter Ascending

Studying Aristotle’s “Poetics” — Part 17: Plot and Episode

As I’ve been interviewing screenwriters, I typically ask what some of their influences are. One book title comes up over and over again: Aristotle’s “Poetics”. I confess I’ve never read the entire thing, only bits and pieces. So I thought, why not do a weekly series with

Screenwriting News (December 23, 2013-January 5, 2014)

Ryan Binaco options western spec script “Eden Folly” to BCDF Pictures (Date: June 12, 2013). Brandon Boyce sells thriller spec script “No Good Deed” to Electric Entertainment (Date: September 16, 2013). Joe Burke and Kevin Oestenstad sell horror spec script “Stolen” to 1984 Private Defense Contractors (Date: November 12, 2013)

Interview [Video]: Steve Coogan (“Philomena”)

A DP/30 interview with Steve Coogan who co-wrote and stars in the movie Philomena (co-writer Jeff Pope, based on the book “The Lost Child of Philomena Lee” by Martin Sixsmith. Another interview with Coogan from RTÉ, Ireland’s National Television and Radio Broadcaster. The movie’s trailer:

Daily Dialogue — January 5, 2014

“So what resolution should we make for the new year? It’s to let God know that you have the guts and the will to do it alone. Resolve to fight for yourselves, and for others, for those you love. And that part of God within you will be fighting

Daily Dialogue theme for next week: Explain the mission

As we watch the holiday season — and specifically New Year’s Eve — retreat in life’s rear view mirror, we move back into the hard work of learning the craft of writing good dialogue. And nowhere do we have more of a challenge with dialogue than handling exposition. Which is

Script Excerpts: “Enough Said, Her, Before Midnight, Kill Your Darlings”

The New York Times had a nice feature yesterday: Script excerpts from four movies: Enough Said, Her, Before Midnight, and Kill Your Darlings. Here is the excerpt from Her, written and directed by Spike Jonze: Theodore (Joaquin Phoenix) is separated from his wife, isolated and lonely. Slowly, almost inevitably, he

Great Scene: “To Kill a Mockingbird”

I’ve been going through my various Lists and was shocked to discover that in Great Scenes, I currently do not have anything from one of my favorite movies of all time To Kill a Mockingbird. I determined there and then to do something about it — now! The problem is

Saturday Hot Links

Time for the 118th installment of Saturday Hot Links! Today: The Mind-Blowing Images From The Hubble Telescope Edition! FastToCreate analyzes the 2013 Black List. Legendary Hollywood movie producer Saul Zaentz dies at the age of 92. 12 letters that didn’t make the alphabet. 30 movies turning 30 in