Scott Myers

Write a Worthy Nemesis

If the Protagonist is most often your story’s most important character, the Nemesis is not far behind. Indeed some of the greatest characters in film history have been Nemeses including Darth Vader (Star Wars: Episode IV — A New Hope), the Wicked Witch of the West (The Wizard of Oz)

Interview: James DiLapo (2012 Nicholl Winner, 2012 Black List) — Part 2

James DiLapo’s original screenplay “Devils at Play” not only won the young screenwriter a 2012 Nicholl fellowship, it also landed on the 2012 Black List, garnering 28 votes, the 9th highest total of any script on the list this year. In January, Warner Bros. hired DiLapo to write the

Reader Question: How easy is it to steal a story?

A question from Chris B: Hi Scott, First of all, I love your blog. NOW TO THE POINT. (I know you read a lot.) So I recently had the opportunity to talk to an assistant to one of the agents at CAA. I told him briefly about me as a

Movie Trailer: “The Hunt”

Written by Tobias Lindholm, Thomas Vinterberg A teacher lives a lonely life, all the while struggling over his son’s custody. His life slowly gets better as he finds love and receives good news from his son, but his new luck is about to be brutally shattered by an innocent

Movies You Made: “şort”

For several months, I’ve been tagging a bunch of emails from filmmakers who have contacted me about their film projects, so I figured we should feature them this May. If you have a movie, either short-form or long, with which you were involved — writer, actor, director — please either

Screenwriting 101: Michael Werwie

“I think when an idea has story potential, it’s something that sticks with you. I’ll often carry it in my head, sometimes for a few years before I actually get to breaking a full story.” — Michael Werwie

Daily Dialogue — May 14, 2013

“It begins with the king as a boy, having to spend the night alone in the forest to prove his courage so he can become king. Now while he is spending the night alone he’s visited by a sacred vision. Out of the fire appears the holy grail, symbol

Update: Word Cloud Logline Challenge — Winners Revealed!

So after all the entries here, here, here, and here, and waiting around for Max Millimeter to return from MIA status, we finally have the winners of this most recent Word Cloud Logline Challenge. As a reminder, here is the word cloud: This is a collection of all the words

Interview: James DiLapo (2012 Nicholl Winner, 2012 Black List) — Part 1

James DiLapo’s original screenplay “Devils at Play” not only won the young screenwriter a 2012 Nicholl fellowship, it also landed on the 2012 Black List, garnering 28 votes, the 9th highest total of any script on the list this year. In January, Warner Bros. hired DiLapo to write the

The value of low-budget filmmaking

Last week I posted this from Tom Benedek: The last spec script I wrote got me a wonderful manager. He loved the script. AND he refused to send it out to market. Because it was too expensive — oh, my poor hundred fifty million dollar sci fi epic. His perception — there

Movie Trailer: “Byzantium”

Teleplay by Moira Buffini based on her play Residents of a coastal town learn, with deathly consequences, the secret shared by the two mysterious women who have sought shelter at a local resort. IMDB site Release Date: 28 June 2013 (USA)

Movies You Made: “Payload”

For several months, I’ve been tagging a bunch of emails from filmmakers who have contacted me about their film projects, so I figured we should feature them this May. If you have a movie, either short-form or long, with which you were involved — writer, actor, director — please either

On Writing

“If your fidelity to perfectionism is too high, you never do anything.” — David Foster Wallace

Daily Dialogue — May 13, 2013

“I am, beyond a doubt, the last of the old-timers. My name is Jack Crabb. And I am the sole white survivor of the Battle of Little Big Horn, uh, uh, popularly known as Custer’s Last Stand.” — Little Big Man (1970), screenplay by Calder Willingham, novel by Thomas

Word Cloud Logline Challenge

Well, I had hoped to announce the winners of the recent Word Cloud Logline Challenge tonight, however I received a bizarre voice mail from a woman who claimed to be using Max Millimeter’s cell phone on his behalf. Something about a party in Montecito, a tub of mojitos, I

Go Into The Story Week In Review: May 6-May 12, 2013

Some notable posts from this week: About THAT New York Times Article GITS Interview: Screenwriter-Director Spenser Cohen and Producer Anna Halberg Great Character: “Monsters, Inc.” Hot Topics: The Black Board If You Won the Lottery, Would You Do This? Interview [Video]: John Milius and Oliver Stone Interview [Written]: Leigh

Interview: Screenwriter-Director Spenser Cohen and Producer Anna Halberg

In December 2011, writer-director Spenser Cohen sold the action-thriller spec script “The Driver” he wrote with Zach Luna. In November 2012, Cohen sold the action spec script “High Value Target”. Then in January 2013, Spenser sold another spec script: “Pantheon”. A writer who sells 3 spec scripts within

Movies You Made: “When Harry Tries to Marry”

For several months, I’ve been tagging a bunch of emails from filmmakers who have contacted me about their film projects, so I figured we should feature them this May. If you have a movie, either short-form or long, with which you were involved — writer, actor, director — please either

Studying Aristotle’s “Poetics” — Part 1: Structure and Imitation

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 series with a

Screenwriting News (May 6-May 12, 2013)

Daniel Antoniazzi and Ben Shiffrin horror script “Squirrels” at Bekmambetov Projects. Piers Ashworth adapting “Fear of Flying” for Blue-Sky Media. Brandon Camp sells untitled romantic thriller pitch to Universal. Casper Christensen and Frank Hvam hired to write “The Lesbian” for Paramount Pictures with Sacha Baron Cohen to star. Adam

Video Interview: John Milius and Oliver Stone

From the Austin Film Festival, twenty minutes with filmmakers Oliver Stone and John Milius: HT to Shaula Evans for the link. Comment Archive

Daily Dialogue — May 12, 2013

C.D. Bales: Let’s start with… Obvious: ‘scuse me, is that your nose or did a bus park on your face? Meteorological: everybody take cover, she’s going to blow! Fashionable: you know, you could de-emphasize your nose if you wore something larger, like… Wyoming. Personal: well, here

Daily Dialogue theme for the week: Recounting a legend

As we round out a week of profanity free insults [thank to Mark Walker for that theme], it’s time to turn to next week’s selection: Recounting a legend suggested by alexmatu: This theme got me thinking and it occurred to me there are plenty of instances in movies

Interview: Spenser Cohen and Anna Halberg — Part 6

In December 2011, writer-director Spenser Cohen sold the action-thriller spec script “The Driver” he wrote with Zach Luna. In November 2012, Cohen sold the action spec script “High Value Target”. Then in January 2013, Spenser sold another spec script: “Pantheon”. A writer who sells 3 spec scripts within

Movies You Made: “Table 7”

For several months, I’ve been tagging a bunch of emails from filmmakers who have contacted me about their film projects, so I figured we should feature them this May. If you have a movie, either short-form or long, with which you were involved — writer, actor, director — please either