It’s a rewrite weekend…
Trying to finish up… Enjoy these articles…
Bill Marsilii Interview, Screenwriter of Déjà Vu
Million-dollar ideas can be easily stolen in Hollywood
This Academy Award? Instant Film Clout
INDIANA JONES AND THE WASTED SCREENPLAY
Nebraska Women Market L&C Screenplay
Student writes scripts for Hollywood
The Englishman Who Went Up the 405 but Came Down a Screenwriter
And when you’re in a real hurry, be sure to check out THE SCRIBOSPHERE for regular updates on the Scribosphere at large. There’s also a new CHAT function at the Scriboshpere and yeah, every once in a while you can find me in there.
Keep writing!
Unk
Prepare to get inspired…
You’ve got to read this article in the Hollywood Reporter:
‘Closet screenwriter’ Arndt comes into light
If stories like these don’t get you off your ass, NOTHING will…
By the way… More HIGH CONCEPT DEBATE over at 1000DollarFilm.com.
Unk
Response to stephen v2…
Ya know… I can’t help it. I guess I just like to argue. Yeah, that’s definitely gotta be it. Okay, I sat there banging out a response to stephen v2 in the comments section and before I knew it, I had WAY too much for a comment… And for the two of you out there that sent me a nasty email for saying that stephen v2 was full of shit…
Eat me.
Here’s stephen v2’s last comment from the post yesterday:
“You mentioned “wikipedia†7 times and yes, I read the wikipedia link. I did “read and understand†but I disagree, both with the wikipedia entry and your points. Per your points:
(1) Star Wars was not a unique, original story. It’s arguable there a few, if any “unique, original†stories, but even if we say they are, Star Wars borrowed heavily from Hidden Fortress and other Kurosawa films which in turn were based on earlier works by others. The screenplay underwent huge changes (60 year old Skywalker and green-skinned Han Solo) and Wikipedia details many of the direct influences:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Wars_Episode_IV:_A_New_Hope
(2) My goof on Star Wars box office - I meant to say “within weeks of releaseâ€. I meant to refer to the difficulty booking the film in theaters i.e. they did not see the success coming nor did most at Fox etc. That’s clearly not what you mean by high concept.
Per Jaws, Casablanca, Great Escape etc. You are writing about high concept for people writing original screenplays. Citing examples of adaptations of what you believe are high concept books is probably only helpful to those with deep pockets to acquire rights/options to those works. How does this help original screenwriters?
Furthermore, you don’t cite evidence that those books/sources were “high concept†either.
Finally you state that point of your post is that the high concept is not a new concept. But if it’s not a concept at all (and just as I argue, a pitching technique not an indicator of great cinema), then your post has a internal logic problem ie.
High concept is valid concept for aspiring screenwriters because all these previous classic films are high concept yet you don’t have solid evidence that any of the cited films follow your high concept model and most are adaptations or remakes involving costly rights.
If you really want to sell high concept, concrete examples of great films (or at least great box office) written and pitched of the high concept model would far better make your case. Unfortunately, many cited examples of “high concept†I’ve seen elsewhere are just post-mortem summaries that often miss much of what made a film memorable.
I think there’s good evidence of connection between “high concept†and “great pitchâ€. Having a idea/script that you can pitch as high concept will get your script read, get your meetings and enhance your ability to get a script sold/movie made (again, see The Player).
But I still don’t see much if any connection between great cinema and high concept, mostly because getting people to agree on what is great cinema is an exercise in futility and even if you settle on “great box office†or “the most awardsâ€, the I find the concept of high concept is ephemeral at best, meaningless at worst.
I think passion and authenticity are better base for screenwriters to write compelling stories than high concept.â€
stephen v2,
Per your points…
1) Of course there are influences… I don’t think anyone who’s making films or screenwriting doesn’t know about elements that influenced STAR WARS. I contend that AT THE TIME, STAR WARS was quite original. I could care less about the influences and how the script changed and evolved. It’s high concept PLAIN and SIMPLE. You don’t have to agree with me… I don’t care. LOL.
2) Same as above.
You didn’t make a number 3 but I’ll do it for you…
3) The point of my post was simply that screenwriters have been writing high concept screenplays for a hell of a long time. Are you REALLY FUCKING TELLING ME that there are no OLDER movies that were ever made from original high concept screenplays? Are you really telling me that? Because if you are, I’ll be happy to list a few more that I’ve seen:
HIGH NOON
NORTH BY NORTHWEST
THE APARTMENT
GUESS WHO’S COMING TO DINNER
ADAM’S RIB
CAT PEOPLE
SHADOWS
I’m sure a few hours worth of digging on the net would easily add to this number.
But that was never my my point… My point was, and always has been, that high concept has been around a lot longer than the phrase itself. We’ve simply put a NAME to something that’s been going on for decades.
By the same token, a lot of non high concept films have been made but on average, these kinds of films are a much harder sell and therein lies my presumption BASED on actual experience i.e., high concept screenplays can be pitched (as well as high concept pitches WITHOUT screenplays) based on the three criteria I mentioned in a previous post.
However, non high concept ideas and screenplays have a much harder time going through the exact same process (unless you are already a produced writer and even THEN, there’s no guarantees) because they cannot easily be summed up in that simple sentence and thus, require a read of their execution. But even then, a well written screenplay nor a well written high concept screenplay guarantees movement of that screenplay up through the food chain and to be clear, I never said that anyway… What I did say and what I will continue to say is that it’s just plain fucking EASIER with a high concept screenplay.
4) Cite evidence? Now my ass is starting to hurt… Hmmm. Dude, this isn’t rocket science. No studies have been made that I know of. My PRESUMPTION is based on my own experience as well as the experience of many other screenwriters… In fact… Now GET A GRIP here… This rant of mine is NOTHING NEW. I didn’t make this shit up. I’m simply passing on information… Can you seriously sit there and prove OR successfully argue that non high concept screenplays have just as easy of a time getting sold? I don’t think so…
Obviously, you do not believe the same as I do i.e., what high concept is. I’m not preaching the gospel here… It’s a blog. It’s opinion. It’s presumption and hypothesis based on my own experience and the experience of others.
You have your opinion – I have mine. I’m sure if I wanted to waste my fucking time finding evidence, I could easily dig up references that the above films are high concept. Hmmm. You want me to cite something… How about the Wikipedia link for the 8th time. LOL. You kill me, Dude… You really do. What kind of evidence do you want? Articles? Book passages? Interviews? Science? Death bed confessions? What the FUCK kind of evidence would even come close to convincing YOU that any of the above films are high concept?
None. Trust me… One look at your web site and I can tell.
5) My post has no internal logic problem. You haven’t proven anything with your opinion… It’s JUST YOUR OPINION. Just as my opinion is just my opinion but at least my opinion is based on experience.
You yourself say, “if it’s not a concept at all…” To me, you saying, IF means that I might just be fucking correct since you didn’t absolutely say I was wrong. Again, just differing opinions but you are correct in that there certainly are high concept pitches and having a technique of pitching as you state, is no guarantee of great cinema. The only problem there is that I never fucking said that high concept made great cinema NOR have I ever said that pitching a high concept makes great cinema. So what the fuck, OVER? I thought you were all caught up! What I’ve said is simply this… It’s easier to get a well written high concept screenplay pitched, read, recommended, sold, etc. than it is a NON HIGH CONCEPT screenplay ASSUMING you are somebody trying to break into the screenwriting game.
6) You said, “High concept is valid concept for aspiring screenwriters because all these previous classic films are high concept yet you don’t have solid evidence that any of the cited films follow your high concept model and most are adaptations or remakes involving costly rights.†— Here we go with the evidence again… LOL. Dude… If you don’t think any of those ADAPTED films/screenplays are high concept, I seriously doubt citing anything would convince you. Wait… I just read that point again… YOU LOST ME. LOL. You’re saying that the above named films are in fact high concept but that they do not follow my model?
WHAT THE FUCK MODEL IS THAT?
That it’s easier to get a high concept screenplay sold and produced easier than it is to get a non high concept screenplay sold and produced?
Even though those films were adapted from either novels or stories (as most older films were in those days), I contend that their high concept was in fact one of the determining factors that made them a GO. Model?
You lost me.
7) You said, “If you really want to sell high concept, concrete examples of great films (or at least great box office) written and pitched of the high concept model would far better make your case. Unfortunately, many cited examples of “high concept†I’ve seen elsewhere are just post-mortem summaries that often miss much of what made a film memorable.â€
Ah… I’m not trying to sell anything. Just passing along information my friend. One only need look at MANY of the top grossing movies of all time to find a myriad of high concepts. One only need look at the several available resources out there of SOLD SPEC SCRIPTS to find a myriad of high concepts. Since I’m not selling anything, I think I’ll leave finding the concrete examples to those that are interested:
ALL TIME BOX OFFICE WORLDWIDE GROSSES
Peruse the list and I’m reasonably sure that you’ll find some high concepts in there somewhere… LOL.
8) You said, “I think there’s good evidence of connection between “high concept†and “great pitchâ€. Having a idea/script that you can pitch as high concept will get your script read, get your meetings and enhance your ability to get a script sold/movie made (again, see The Player).â€
I’ve seen THE PLAYER but you’re not seriously citing dialogue you heard in THE PLAYER as evidence are you? Whew… Glad I didn’t go searching for something concrete. LOL. You know… I read the above sentence and then I fucking wonder what the hell I’m doing writing all this bullshit since you seem to FUCKING agree with me after all.
9) You said, “But I still don’t see much if any connection between great cinema and high concept, mostly because getting people to agree on what is great cinema is an exercise in futility and even if you settle on “great box office†or “the most awardsâ€, the I find the concept of high concept is ephemeral at best, meaningless at worst.â€
Probably a good thing because who the hell said there was a connection?
Listen, I never said high concept makes great cinema. Where the hell you got that, I have no fucking clue. I can ONLY HOPE that the readers that are interested in this kind of information will do the work necessary to write great cinema but in the end, isn’t that for the audience to decide?
10) You said, “I think passion and authenticity are better base for screenwriters to write compelling stories than high concept.â€
You think? You THINK? You want me to cite EVIDENCE but it’s okay for YOU to just fucking THINK? You kill me. I also THINK that passion and authenticity are important elements of writing a screenplay. In fact, DON’T LEAVE HOME WITHOUT THEM! What I’m also saying however, is that high concept can live right there among passion and authenticity… Right alongside structure, subtext, research, and every other Goddamn thing that good screenplays consist of.
Whew.
That sucked… My brain hurts.
Unk