Written by Scott Neustadter & Michael H. Weber, Webb’s ”(500) Days of Summer” is like a celebrated jazz-ballet dancer  - it doesn’t put a foot wrong; nor make a wrong move, and even when others might have lost their step, or energy, it just keeps on moving – as vibrant as ever. There’s been so much thought and imagination been poured into the screenplay (not to mention, I’m guessing, real-life experience – in fact the movie opens with the author’s note : “The following is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to persons living or dead is purely coincidental. Especially you Jenny Beckman. Bitch”) that it bursts out of the screen like a breath of sweet-smelling, smiling-provoking fresh air. It’s, quite simply, a flawless masterpiece. To coincide with the release of the DVD, Moviehole caught up with writers Neustadter and Weber.

What was the origin of the story?
Scott Neustadter: It was a true story of a relationship that had happened to me. A lot of it is based on real things that happened.

Did you find out she was engaged at a birthday party?
Scott Neustadter: Actually it was my birthday party and she wasn’t actually there…..a friend informed me and it was still the same world collapsing moment.

How long did it take to realize she wasn’t the girl of your dreams?

Scott Neustadter: It takes a really long time. It helps to find an Autumn to get you over the first one.

You are the anti romantic movie – but there is still a happy ending?
Scott Neustadter: He is very influenced by pop culture and very influenced by happy endings, and he gives that up and looses all hope and that’s the moment it changes for him.

Did you come up with the non linear structure from the beginning?
Scott Neustadter: We had always intended that way. It started as an extended diary.

Michael Weber: You were in a bad place. You were suffering and you were listening to music but you were looking for a certain kid of movie out there and it wasn’t there.

Scott Neustadter: When we hit upon the structure that was the point I thought that someone else might enjoy it, that it wasn’t just me writing about all the horrible things a girl had done to me. This whole thing came from rejection and sad stuff and now people are embracing this in a way we never thought would happen

How do you write together?

Scott Neustadter: He lives in NY and I live here. We never write in the same room. If we are together we get nothing accomplished.

How did you meet?
Scott Neustadter: We are old friends. I hired him as my intern 10 years ago. I was working for a film co and he came as the intern.

Michael Weber: We would sit around and read a lot of bad scripts and we started writing our own just to make each other laugh.

Did you write that he would dance to work the morning after?
Scott Neustadter: Yes. I think that is the kind of feeling you have. We loved it – it was a scene that was from the beginning and everyone loves it.

Why did you decide to feature LA?

Scott Neustadter: We first wrote that it was set in San Francisco because we thought it was very picturesque, but because of budget constraints we had to shoot it in LA. We went on a walking tour of downtown LA and we figured we could afford to do it there and we all said lets do an LA most people don’t see. In Entourage they are never down town and a lot of people who live in LA never go down there.

Is there a gap in the market for this kind of movie?

Scott Neustadter: When I was going through my break up I listened to a ton of music that was very healing and read books but there wasn’t any movies in the last 30 years I felt that I could relate to in that way. The Graduate was a big movie for me, but the way romantic comedies have been made recently have no relevance to anything I’ve experienced and we didn’t intend to fill the void but now its one of those things that seems so obvious to make a movie where the guy has feelings.

Michael Weber:: I think that’s one thing that is misunderstood about men particularly her in America is that our friends talk about relationships. We do all the time.