Scott Myers

Movie Trailer: “Last Vegas

Written by Dan Fogelman Three sixty-something friends take a break from their day-to-day lives to throw a bachelor party in Las Vegas for their last remaining single pal. IMDB Release Date: 1 November 2013 (USA)  Comment Archive

Hidden Movie Gem: “The Third Man”

Today’s Hidden Movie Gem guest post comes from Jonathan Melikidse. MOVIE TITLE: The Third Man YEAR: 1949 WRITER: Graham Greene LEAD ACTORS: Orson Welles, Joseph Cotton, Alida Valli, Trevor Howard DIRECTOR: Carol Reed PLOT SUMMARY: Pulp novelist Holly Martins travels to shadowy, postwar Vienna, only to find himself investigating

Script To Screen: “Witness”

From the 1985 movie Witness [screenplay by Earl W. Wallace and William Kelley, story by William Kelley and Pamela Wallace & Earl W. Wallace]. Setup: Samuel, a young Amish boy, is traveling with his mother. Needing to use the facilities, he enters the bathroom at a train station in Philadelphia.

Daily Dialogue — October 16, 2013

“Ah, little lad, you’re staring at my fingers. Would you like me to tell you the little story of right-hand/left-hand? The story of good and evil? H-A-T-E! It was with this left hand that old brother Cain struck the blow that laid his

What one word best describes your experience as a writer?

Like one word can do it justice, right? But look at this question as a chance to step back from who you are and what you do as a writer, and reflect on it with a long view. Joy? Suffering? Relentless? Endless? Inspiring? Take a one word snapshot of how

Dispatch From The Quest: Troy Klith

Over the course of the 24 weeks I am working with the writers in The Quest, each will write a weekly dispatch to share with the GITS community. There are several reasons for doing this, the main one educational: Hopefully you will learn something of value for your own understanding

Spec Script Sale: “Reminiscence”

Legendary Pictures acquires spec script “Reminiscence” written by Lisa Joy. From Variety: Legendary Pictures has paid low seven figures for Lisa Joy’s sci-fi thriller “Reminiscence,” beating out several studios for the rights to the spec over the weekend making it one of the biggest script deals of the

Spec Script Sale: “The Strategist”

Millennium Films acquires thriller spec script “The Strategist” written by Inon Shampanier. From Deadline: It is the story of a most unusual CIA recruit, a chess master who is brought in to mastermind the takedown of a dangerous dictator. The adversary is himself a brilliant man with impenetrable security who

Go On Your Own Quest — Week 14: Prep

The 2013 version of The Quest starts Week 14 today. Don’t let this opportunity pass you by because you can Go On Your Own Quest by following the structure of The Quest to dig into screenwriting theory [Core — 8 weeks], figure out your story [Prep — 6 weeks], and write

Movie Trailer: “The Fifth Estate”

Screenplay by Josh Singer, books by Daniel Domscheit-Berg and David Leigh and Luke Harding A dramatic thriller based on real events that reveals the quest to expose the deceptions and corruptions of power that turned an Internet upstart into the 21st century’s most fiercely debated organization. IMDB Release

Hidden Movie Gem: “Repo Man”

Today’s Hidden Movie Gem guest post comes from David Joyner. Movie Title: Repo Man Year: 1984 Writer: Alex Cox Lead Actors: Harry Dean Stanton and Emilio Estevez. Director: Alex Cox Plot Summary: Young punk Otto becomes a repo man after helping to steal a car, and stumbles into a

Screenwriting 101: Jeffrey Leiber

“If the end of the scene is obvious from the beginning of the scene, there’s no point to having the scene. If the beginning of the scene is we’re going to dig for treasure, at the end of the scene you find the treasure, you don’t have

Daily Dialogue — October 15, 2013

Ripper: Mandrake. Mandrake: Yes, Jack? Ripper: Have you ever seen a commie drink a glass of water? Mandrake: Well, no I… I can’t say I have, Jack. Ripper: Vodka. That’s what they drink, isn’t it? Never water? Mandrake: Well I… I believe that’s what they drink,

How to write a great scene

Consider the airplane scene from the movie Almost Famous. Or the big standoff scene in Se7en. The beautiful ending scene from the movie Big Night, five minutes without one word of dialogue. The touching ice skating rink scene from Rocky. Or these scenes from The Dark Knight, Goodfellas, Jaws, or

Dispatch From The Quest: Miranda Sajdak

Over the course of the 24 weeks I am working with the writers in The Quest, each will write a weekly dispatch to share with the GITS community. There are several reasons for doing this, the main one educational: Hopefully you will learn something of value for your own understanding

30 Essential Movies for Screenwriters to Watch

A bit of recent synchronicity in my life led to this idea for a blog series. Two parts to this tale, so please bear with me as I walk you through the process that led to this particular inspiration. My wife Rebecca (@bf4tbrainy) is not only founder of the popular

Go On Your Own Quest — Week 14: Prep

The 2013 version of The Quest starts Week 14 today. Don’t let this opportunity pass you by because you can Go On Your Own Quest by following the structure of The Quest to dig into screenwriting theory [Core — 8 weeks], figure out your story [Prep — 6 weeks], and write

Movie Trailer: “The Monuments Men”

Screenplay by George Clooney & Grant Heslov, book by Robert M. Edsel and Bret Witter In a race against time, a crew of art historians and museum curators unite to recover renowned works of art stolen by Nazis before Hitler destroys them. IMDB Release Date: 18 December 2013 (USA)

Hidden Movie Gem: “Eve’s Bayou”

Today’s Hidden Movie Gem guest post comes from Jace Serrano: Title: “Eve’s Bayou” Year: 1997 Writer: Kasi Lemmons Lead Actors: Samuel L. Jackson, Lynn Whitfield, Jurnee Smollett, Debbie Morgan Director: Kasi Lemmons Plot Summary: Ten-year-old Eve Batiste lives with her family in a well-to-do

On Writing

“Character is the very life of fiction. Setting exists so that the character has someplace to stand. Plot exists so the character can discover what he is really like, forcing the character to choice and action. And theme exists only to make the character stand up and be somebody.” — John

Daily Dialogue — October 14, 2013

HANS BECKERT: Who are you? All of you. Criminals. Probably proud of it, too… proud you can crack a safe or sneak into houses or cheat at cards. All of which it seems to me you could just as easily give up if you had learned something useful, or if

Go Into The Story Week In Review: October 7–13, 2013

Links to the week’s most notable posts: 2013 Academy Nicholl Screenwriting Fellowship Finalists 32 Qualities of Better Film 9 Horror Films Under 9 Minutes Daily Dialogue Theme for Next Week: Psychotic Daily Routines of Creative Minds Declare Your Independents: Volume 13 Diablo Cody: The 7 Things No One Tells

Interview: Destin Daniel Cretton (2010 Nicholl Winner)

This week’s interview is with Destin Daniel Cretton, writer-director of the critically acclaimed independent movies I Am Not a Hipster and Short Term 12. Here are links to the six installments of the entire interview: Part 1: “The first time I caught the bug was when my grandma

Studying Aristotle’s “Poetics” — Part 11: Reversal, Recognition and Suffering

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 (October 7-October 13, 2013)

Frank Baldwin adapting John Grisham novel “The Racketeer” for Fox 2000. Aaron Berg sells spy drama thriller spec script “Section 6” to Universal for seven figures in a bidding war. Jamie Denbo sells comedy pitch “The Wedding Dance” to Universal. Andrew Dodge writing untitled R-rated comedy for Paramount with