Scott Myers

In memory of Kurt Brown

Last week, author, poet and good friend Kurt Brown died after a sudden illness. Every night this week at midnight Pacific, I am posting something to honor his memory including one of his poems each day. If you wish to read tonight’s reflection, hit More. This is the last

Daily Dialogue theme for next week: Profanity

We’ve spent a week delving into interrogations, thanks to the suggestion from Def Earz. This upcoming week, we provide an aural assault on any censors who might happen by with the theme of profanity, offered up by JasperLamarCrab. “Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a golly gosh darn.

Interview: Liz W. Garcia — Part 6

Liz W. Garcia is an American television producer and writer. As a writer, her credits include “Dawson’s Creek,” “Wonderfalls” and “Cold Case”. With her husband, actor Josh Harto, she created and produced the TNT series “Memphis Beat”. Most recently Liz wrote and directed the independent feature film The Lifeguard

Great Scene: “Jaws”

Monologues are common with stage plays, but not so much with movies. Of course, “motion pictures” are primarily a visual medium — motion pictures — so dialogue, while important, is a secondary form of communication cinematically. However, great dialogue can transcend the adage, “show it, don’t say it.” And perhaps nothing

30 Days of Screenplays, Day 29: “Gladiator”

Why 30 screenplays in 30 days? Because whether you are a novice just starting to learn the craft of screenwriting or someone who has been writing for many years, you should be reading scripts. There is a certain type of knowledge and understanding about screenwriting you can only get from

Spec Script Sale: “No Quarter”

Thunder Road Pictures and Michael De Luca Productions acquire crime drama spec script “No Quarter” written by Alessandro Camon and Michael Wilson. From Deadline: Set in Los Angeles in 2007, two friends who were combat Marines and side by side survived some of the toughest fighting in the Iraq War,

Saturday Hot Links

Time for another installment of Saturday Hot Links! Today: The Hollywood Celebrates Canada Day Edition! 79 actors we can thank Canada for. The 29 most Canadian things in Canada. 38 reasons everything is way better in Canada. What it would look like if Canada took over the world. William Shatner

Written Interview: Evan Goldberg

Screendaily interview with co-writer/director of the hit comedy This is the End: How did This is the End come together, creatively and financially? It started out years ago with our old friend Jason Stone and us sitting around drinking one night and coming up with the idea for

Daily Dialogue — June 29, 2013

COCCOTTI: Do you know who I am, Mr. Worley? CLIFF: I give up. Who are you? COCCOTTI: I’m the Anti-Christ. You get me in a vendetta kind of mood, you will tell the angels in heaven that you had never seen pure evil so singularly personified as you

In memory of Kurt Brown

Last week, author, poet and good friend Kurt Brown died after a sudden illness. Every night this week at midnight Pacific, I am posting something to honor his memory including one of his poems each day. If you wish to read tonight’s reflection, hit More. About three years ago,

“The Heat” and “White House Down”: A Tale of Two Spec Scripts

While most folks were frothing over big franchise movies coming out this summer, I’m sitting here fanning the embers for indie films including The Way, Way Back (July 5), Fruitvale Station (July 12), The Spectacular Now (August 2), I Give It A Year (August 9), Drinking Buddies and Short

Interview: Liz W. Garcia — Part 5

Liz W. Garcia is an American television producer and writer. As a writer, her credits include “Dawson’s Creek,” “Wonderfalls” and “Cold Case”. With her husband, actor Josh Harto, she created and produced the TNT series “Memphis Beat”. Most recently Liz wrote and directed the independent feature film The Lifeguard

Q&A: Franklin Leonard

Recently Franklin was in Toronto to participate in the TIFF STUDIO program and gave an interview with Toro magazine. A few excerpts: Is the Black List more useful for getting film projects off the ground, or helping to fund / promote those that are already in pre-production? Both of the

Movie Trailer: “I Give It a Year”

A look at the trials and tribulations of a newlywed couple during their first year of marriage. Written by Dan Mazer IMDB Release Date: 9 August 2013

30 Days of Screenplays, Day 28: “The King’s Speech”

Why 30 screenplays in 30 days? Because whether you are a novice just starting to learn the craft of screenwriting or someone who has been writing for many years, you should be reading scripts. There is a certain type of knowledge and understanding about screenwriting you can only get from

Great Character: Professor Henry Jones (“Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade”)

This month’s theme: Father figures. Today’s guest post by Jason Cuthbert features Professor Henry Jones from the 1989 movie Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, screenplay by Jeffrey Boam, story by George Lucas and Menno Meyjes, characters by George Lucas and Philip Kaufman. “Raiders of the Lost Ark”

Daily Dialogue — June 28, 2013

Vargas: Did your intuition also tell you about my wife? District Attorney Adair: Wife? Vargas: She was accosted in the street a little while ago… and led across to some dive on your side of the border. Captain Quinlan: The Vargas family seems to be getting into quite a lot

In memory of Kurt Brown

Last week, author, poet and good friend Kurt Brown died after a sudden illness. Every night this week at midnight Pacific, I am posting something to honor his memory including one of his poems each day. If you wish to read tonight’s reflection, hit More. Kurt and I used

Writers Guild Foundation event contest winners

Here are the 8 winners of yesterday’s contest for the upcoming Writers Guild Foundation event as selected by Franklin Leonard: Santamoniker Peter Dwight GNetterville miketobias KevinLinke Paul Quade nole5000 cristopherous Would each of you please email me for details how to get your free ticket. “Craft Your Future: Surviving

Words of inspiration to first-time writers…

…from the GITS community. We ran a contest yesterday tied to an upcoming Writers Guild Foundation event, asking people to do this: Write words of encouragement to someone you don’t know about to embark on writing their first complete screenplay. No more than 100 words. I was so impressed

@GoIntoTheStory

If you do not follow me on Twitter, you should. In addition to tweeting links back to every GITS post, I have started plowing through the archives and tweeting those throughout the night. There are nearly 12,000 blog posts. That is a lot of content, much of it seen

Interview: Liz W. Garcia — Part 4

Liz W. Garcia is an American television producer and writer. As a writer, her credits include “Dawson’s Creek,” “Wonderfalls” and “Cold Case”. With her husband, actor Josh Harto, she created and produced the TNT series “Memphis Beat”. Most recently Liz wrote and directed the independent feature film The Lifeguard

Spec Script Sale: “Hostile Engagement”

The Solution acquires action comedy spec script “Hostile Engagement” written by Josh Campbell and Matt Stuecken. Logline: A brash young undercover FBI agent must first prove his love and mettle in the field when he seeks the blessing of his fiancee’s menacing undercover CIA agent father. Sale date: June

Spec Script Sale: “Cops and Robots”

BCDF Pictures acquires action comedy spec script “Cops and Robots” written by Matteson Perry. From Deadline: About an odd couple police duo — one a veteran cop, the other the world’s first android officer — who must learn to work together to avoid being replaced by newer models. Sale date: June

“World War Z”: From unhappy ending to happy ending

You may remember the year-long series I ran in which we went through the 1920 book “How to Write Photoplays,” written by Anita Loos and John Emerson. Loos was a prodigious ‘screenwriter’ [that term wasn’t popularized until years later] with 137 writing credits. Emerson has 45 writing credits.