Scott Myers

Audio Q&A: Joshua Oppenheimer, Werner Herzog (“The Act of Killing”)

For the next two weeks in this time slot (Mon-Fri), I will be featuring Q&A’s from L.A. based screenings recorded and edited by Wendy Cohen. It’s a fantastic resource for those of you who live outside Hollywood or in Southern California, but missed these

Special Screening: “Thanks For Sharing″

From Wendy Cohen: For you L.A. folks — the KCET Cinema Series continues its fall season tonight at 7pm with TIFF 2012 favorite THANKS FOR SHARING, which will feature a Q&A with producer Leslie Urdang following the screening. The quarterly series is hosted by nationally recognized film expert

Go On Your Own Quest — Week 7: Theme

The 2013 version of The Quest starts Week 7 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: “American Hustle”

Screenplay by Eric Singer and David O. Russell The story of a con artist and his partner in crime, who were forced to work with a federal agent to turn the tables on other cons, mobsters, and politicians — namely, the volatile mayor of impoverished Camden, New Jersey. IMDB Release Date:

Scene Description Spotlight: “Cast Away”

The screenplay for the 2000 movie Cast Away was written by William Broyles Jr. One of the big challenges he faced once the story transitioned to the island was creating a specific sense of place, not only the actual topography, but its atmosphere. Here are some scenes just after Chuck

Screenwriting 101: Stan Chervin

“I always try to bang out a first, rough draft as fast as I can. There’s a story of George Abbott, the theatre director, coming into the theatre of a musical he was rehearsing and seeing the choreographer with all of the dancers on stage, but none of them

Daily Dialogue — August 27, 2013

(Thanks to Jason Bourne, CIA officer Pamela Landy has found the traitor in her department: Ward Abbott, whose crimes include killing his own aide, Danny. Confronting Abbott in his hotel room, she finds herself at the wrong end of his gun…) Ward Abbott: I’m a patriot. I served my

Concept = Hook

Whatever degree of importance you attribute to your script’s story concept… it’s probably not enough. Here’s how I begin Lecture 1 of my Core II: Concept class: The foundation of any movie is the screenplay. The foundation of any screenplay is the concept. Therefore it stands to

Dispatch From The Quest: Waka Brown

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

Audio Q&A: Jim Rash (“The Writers’ Room”)

For the next two weeks in this time slot (Mon-Fri), I will be featuring Q&A’s from L.A. based screenings recorded and edited by Wendy Cohen. It’s a fantastic resource for those of you who live outside Hollywood or in Southern California, but missed these

How about September as scene-writing month?

I’ve gotten attached to this pattern of a monthly series in the noon (Eastern) time slot. It started in April with A Story Idea Each Day for a Month. In May, it was Movies You Made month. June, 30 Days of Screenplays. July, Movie Story types. And this month

Go On Your Own Quest — Week 7: Theme

The 2013 version of The Quest starts Week 7 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: “Antisocial”

Written by Chad Archibald, Cody Calahan Five university friends gather at a house party to ring in the New Year. Unbeknownst to them, an epidemic has erupted outside, causing outbreaks around the world. IMDB

Scene Description Spotlight: “(500) Days of Summer”

One of the best moments in the delightful film (500) Days of Summer is the morning-after-having-sex-with-Summer-big-dance-bit. Here’s a plot summary: He’s Tom, from New Jersey, working in L.A. writing greeting cards even through he’s an architect by training.

Want a free script evaluation on the Black List website?

Time to hunt for Easter Eggs! I’ve planted an Editor’s Note in one of my nearly 13,000 blog posts dating back to May 2008. The first person to find it and follow its directions wins a free script evaluation on the Black List website, courtesy of Franklin

On Writing

“The writer has to have patience, the perseverance to just sit there alone and grind It out. And if it’s not worth doing that, then he doesn’t want to write.” — Elmore Leonard

Daily Dialogue — August 26, 2013

“I’m Spartacus!” — Spartacus (1960), screenplay by Dalton Trumbo, novel by Howard Fast. http://static.movieclips.com/embedplayer.swf?shortid=ZJhts The Daily Dialogue theme for the week is less with more suggested by hobbs001. Today’s suggestion by Daniel Cossu. Trivia: Kirk Douglas, as co-producer of the film

Go Into The Story Week In Review: August 19-August 25, 2013

Links to the week’s most notable posts: Daily Dialogue Theme for Next Week: Less is more Declare Your Independents: Volume 6 Dispatch From The Quest: Waka Brown Dispatch From The Quest: Christian Fontenot Dispatch From The Quest: Troy Klith Dispatch From The Quest: Sandy Leviton Dispatch From The Quest:

Interview: Will Simmons

Will Simmons made a splash when he wrote the 2012 Black List script “Murder City” which was subsequently acquired by Aldamisa Entertainment. He also has two other projects in the works: “Romeo,” a modern day re-imagining of Shakespeare’s play, and “Defenders,” a science fiction thriller pitch bought by

Movies You Made: “I Forgot My Phone”

Written by/Starring Charlene deGuzman Directed by Miles Crawford With (in order of appearance) Jacob Womack Nick Luciano Ani Baker Sabrina London Sean London Garrett Hanson Alana Dietze Oleana Taalman-Koch Reshma Gajjar David Brown Mark Schroeder Yak Manrique Ele Woods Cynthia Kao Josh Kaplan Dylan Booth Vigus Zach Fairless

Studying Aristotle’s “Poetics” — Part 7©: Story Length and Change of Fortune

Studying Aristotle’s “Poetics” — Part 7(C): Story Length and Change of Fortune 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

Screenwriting News (August 19–25, 2013)

Aron Eli Coleite adapting science fiction tentpole “The Twilight Zone” for Warner Bros. Scott Cooper to rewrite and direct “The Stand” based on the Stephen King novel, for Warner Bros. Amanda Harwood and Laura Sandler sell drama spec script “Sorta Like a Rock Star” to Fox Searchlight based on a

Video Interview: David Gordon Green (“Prince Avalanche”)

A DP/30 interview with David Gordon Green, writer-director of the film Prince Avalanche, an adaptation of an Icelandic film by Hafsteinn Gunnar Sigurðsson. The movie’s premise: Two highway road workers spend the summer of 1988 away from their city lives. The isolated landscape becomes a place of

Daily Dialogue — August 25, 2013

“I find I’ve been sitting with my head in my hands. And an hour has gone by or longer. Like this. And I’m completely numb. The kettle can be boiling away or telephone… and I’m crying, I’m crying. I mean, I can be on the tube

Kickstarter: “Be Natural: The untold story of Alice Guy-Blaché”

I only know about Alice Guy-Blaché because I teach a class called History of American Screenwriting, but her story is one that deserves to be told to the wider audience of film fans: The first female director whose extensive contribution to the development of an infant narrative form has