Squeeze the life out of high concept…

Squeeze the life out of high concept!Yeah, you read it right. I’m not done. Not by a LONGSHOT.

Before I continue the high concept rant, let’s go over high concept again… Now remember, I’m speaking and defining from a screenwriter’s viewpoint.

For a screenplay to be HIGH CONCEPT, it should, at a minimum, contain the following elements:

Again, this doesn’t mean you’ve got to be a sellout or write to some kind of formula but remember one thing…

MAKING A FILM IS A COLLABORATION!

You heard that, right? A screenplay IS NOT A BOOK. Too many of the screenwriting masses out there seem to forget WHY they’re writing a screenplay in the first place i.e., TO GET A FILM PRODUCED.

In other words…

If you’re writing a screenplay to have other people read it, maybe you should be writing a book.

If however, you’re writing a screenplay that you eventually want to see be made into a film, read on.

Okay… Since the above definition of HIGH CONCEPT didn’t meet with hardly any disapproval from commenting readers, let’s assume that the definition basically holds true.

So now that we understand the definition of high concept, maybe we need to understand more about high concept itself.

Let’s go back to high concept’s genesis and rest assured that THIS is where it starts to get a little dicey but bear with me here… Who invented HIGH CONCEPT?

The studios INVENTED HIGH CONCEPT. Hmmm. Maybe “invented” isn’t quite right. Screenwriters have been writing HIGH CONCEPT screenplays for a long long time but what came first? The high concept or the screenplay?

I’m gonna have to go with the high concept.

Way before the phrase, HIGH CONCEPT was invented, screenwriters were in fact creating high concept screenplays… The studios just hadn’t made up the phrase yet. says that JAWS and STAR WARS are commonly referred to as the first high concept movies. Thank God that it does go on to say that “some” consider CASABLANCA and CITIZEN KANE to be high concept movies as well.

What about THE GREAT ESCAPE? THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN? Trust me, we screenwriters have been writing high concept movies for a hell of a long time but it wasn’t until somebody decided to say the words HIGH CONCEPT out loud that we had the proverbial .

The fork in the road being of course the DEFINITION of high concept. Studios and SOME PRODUCERS use the phrase to describe a marketing concept. That’s fine… Let’s go ahead and let them do that… It is important however, for US to know what these people mean when they say .

The studios and producers have tweaked high concept for very good reason.

HIGH CONCEPT WORKS.

Like a logline, breaking a story down into that high concept sentence that allows and motivates us to SEE the rest of the movie in our head and consequently, UNDERSTAND what the story is about WITHOUT outlines, WITHOUT treatments, WITHOUT long overdone explanations, WITHOUT anything other than that one simple sentence.

HIGH CONCEPT WORKS.

I cannot convey to you how valuable that one simple sentence can be BUT you also need to know how valuable it is so that you too can use it, manipulate it, own it. For one thing, I have yet to meet anyone in this business who isn’t pressed for time. Everybody’s in a hurry. Meetings. Phone calls. Conference calls. Email. Meetings. Phone calls. Conference calls. Email.

Get the picture? While it would be nice if everyone could take a little more time, trust me… IT AIN’T GONNA HAPPEN. If anything, it’s just going to get worse thus, the HIGH CONCEPT. Well thought out high concept ideas and well written high concept screenplays move through the system much more smoothly than complicated, non-high concept ideas and screenplays… No contest.

HIGH CONCEPT WORKS.

Your high concept idea and screenplay allow others in the system to easily turn right around and tell it to someone else in the system. The more complicated your story is, the harder it’s going to be to get others in the system to get “on board” with the idea and help it along.

HIGH CONCEPT WORKS.

Let’s say you have in fact written a high concept screenplay but you don’t know it. In other words, you’ve got a great story… One that we can all easily get. One that will get our asses into the theater seats. So you’ve got this great screenplay and by accident, you and I meet at a coffee shop. You see me writing in my little back room and you make a comment, “Cool, you’re writing a screenplay. I just finished one myself.” I look up from my laptop and depending on the mood I’m in (I’m usually in a pretty good mood), I go ahead and ask, “What’s it about?”

Those dangerous three little words. No, I am not asking you to sit down at my table with your espresso latte mocha whipped whatthefuckever… LOL. I just want ONE SIMPLE SENTENCE from you.

Can you give it to me? No? SeeYa.

HIGH CONCEPT WORKS.

Just remember… Writing a well written high concept screenplay from a well thought out high concept simply makes it easier to move your screenplay up the movie making food chain. Easier to tell it to someone else. Easier to understand. Easier to pitch. Easier to sell. Easier for others to get it and pass it on. Easier for an audience member to tell their friends about it. Easier to recommend.

EASIER.

HIGH CONCEPT WORKS.

More to follow…

Unk

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November 15, 2006 | Filed Under Uncategorized

17 Comments 

In Honor of Veterans Day…

World War I officially ended on June 28, 1919, with the signing of the Treaty of Versailles. The actual fighting between the Allies and Germany however, ended seven months earlier with the armistice, which went into effect on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month in 1918.

Armistice Day, as November 11 became known, officially became a holiday in the United States in 1926, and a national holiday 12 years later. On June 1, 1954, the name was changed to to honor all U.S. veterans.

In 1968, new legislation changed the national commemoration of to the fourth Monday in October. It soon became apparent however, that November 11 was a date of historic significance to many Americans therefore, in 1978 Congress returned the observance to its traditional date:

11 NOVEMBER…

Please take a few extra minutes out of your day to call, write, hug, talk, or email a today and THANK them for serving you and our country.

You’d be surprised at how much a little gesture like this will mean to a you know.

Unk

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November 11, 2006 | Filed Under Greatness

15 Comments 

I bow to greatness…

Jack Palance in City Slickers

LOS ANGELES
Jack Palance, the craggy-faced menace in “Shane,” “Sudden Fear” and other films who turned to comedy at 70 with his Oscar-winning role in “City Slickers,” died today, 10 November 2006.

Palance died of natural causes at his home in Montecito, California, surrounded by family. He was 87.

Read about Jack’s career on IMDB. See a picture slide show of Jack on Yahoo.

On a lighter note… HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO THE UNITED STATES MARINE CORPS!

Did I say lighter?

Marine to receive Medal of Honor for Iraq heroism

Unk

November 10, 2006 | Filed Under Greatness

6 Comments 

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