Is high concept holding you back?

So I made this long drive to Phoenix yesterday and during that drive, I was working out some story elements on my rewrite but I also kept going back to this high concept debate.

Then it dawned on me…

98% of screenplays are shit and while I cannot with any degree of certainty SPEAK for all of Hollywood, I can tell you that I’ve read a hell of a lot of scripts within the last year and a half and EASILY, 98% — NO, scratch that… 99% of those screenplays were shit.

Okay, maybe SHIT is too harsh a word. How about BULLSHIT?

Easily, at least 90% of those screenplays that I personally read (over a hundred) were flawed with the following…

Clichéd characters… Tons of exposition. Typos. Formatting problems. Extremely long dialogue passages… One of them went five pages!

You know…
The usual.

I think we can all agree that if your screenplay has a significant amount of the above, you shouldn’t even bother sending the damn thing to anybody.

But now that I think back… Only ONE of those screenplays had a high concept and remember what a high concept is:

Tall order? It must be since over 99% of the scripts I read didn’t even come close to hitting these three elements. And, according to other producers, directors, and readers, this same fact SEEMS to hold true for the most part.

Got one? Got two? Cool but you need all three.

So, let’s go back to the 10% of the screenplays that didn’t have all the usual problems. Why did we pass?

No high concept. Plain and simple.

They were definitely stories that held my attention. I somewhat cared about the characters but I also remember that I didn’t feel like I was on a “ride.” However, the biggest problem was that there was nothing new here. Just snapshots of life about characters that we already know pretty well.

One screenplay that I did like but couldn’t recommend was about a guy who finds his wife in bed with his best friend when he gets home early one day. Inciting incident… I can buy that. Seen it before but this writer handled it DIFFERENTLY. Cool. From there, the poor guy has a string of bad luck.

I guess you’d call it a black comedy and yeah, some parts of it were pretty funny but the main problem I had with the script was that the string of bad luck JUST WASN’T BAD ENOUGH.

Every bad luck situation was small and really didn’t keep building to an overall climactic piece of bad luck before things went well for the guy. Just a lot of little incidental snippets of bad luck here and there. Some of the bad luck we’ve seen before… Not good. Sometimes the bad luck was supernatural i.e., IT JUST HAPPENED for no good reason. There was no action on the part of the Protagonist that caused this piece of bad luck… No explanation.

But I liked the script and saw its potential so I called the writer up and said, “We had to pass but hey, if you’re willing to make a few passes on the script and ramp certain things up and tie certain things together, I would be happy to read it again.”

The writer was really happy to hear that and assured me that I would get a new draft within 90 days… Cool.

It’s been over a year and I’m still waiting… LOL.

Interesting too because like in the previous discussion here, this particular screenplay was well written. The characters all had their own voices. The dialogue was snappy and original. Format was SPOT ON. Good page count. Could be done for a low budget. You could almost say that it was actually worth buying and THEN have the screenwriter do a rewrite or hire someone else to rewrite it.

Almost.

Aye, there’s the rub.

It was that little bit EXTRA that we didn’t see that made us PASS. Now, over a year later and no word from the screenwriter, I’m glad I made that decision because it’s very likely that we’d still have a similar screenplay and end up hiring someone to ramp it up.

So why didn’t we do that? Because there’s just too many screenplays out there! Granted, you’ve gotta go through a lot to get down to those precious few but hey, that’s what readers are for, right?

By the way, I’m NOT a reader. I’m a producer. These are screenplays that ALREADY HAD COVERAGE so that should give you some idea of the level of writing we’re dealing with. These are readers with a lot of experience and granted we ended up looking at a lot of scripts that the reader gave a PASS on but because the logline and concept READ WELL, we wanted to see if there was something salvageable there.

Nope. The readers got it right for the most part. Out of roughly 3 recommended screenplays and 8 barely recommended writers, we got nothin’.

So why did I read all those fuckin’ screenplays? Hey, needle in the haystack, Baby… Diamond in the rough.

Do most prodcos do that?

Uh… No.

We went the extra mile because we’re a prodco that consists of screenwriters, one director, and one hell of a lawyer.

We like writers… We want their screenplay to be GOOD. We want to buy it.

But hell, take anything that has a lot of competition in it… Take figure skating. I know absolutely NOTHING about it but it sure as hell seems like there’s a lot of people competing with each other for those very chosen few spots that could take you to the Olympics, World Championships, etc.

No different than football or baseball players… They fucking PRACTICE and PRACTICE and PRACTICE day in and day out and most of them never make it to the big leagues and, at some point, these people quit. Most likely, they quit because of injuries or age but they quit. They might HAVE to quit… They might be FORCED to quit but the bottom line is that they quit.

Screenwriters don’t have to quit! That’s what’s so cool about this profession. Didn’t get it right? Do it again. Didn’t get it right? Do it again.

From where I’m standing, we don’t have quitters that are forced to quit from injury or age…

They just quit.
They just quit because they didn’t sell something or win a prize.

Probably a good thing because that’s just one or more less bullshit scripts we gotta go through. Point being is that you’ve got to find the high concept in your story and then put it on the page.

You don’t like the phrase, HIGH CONCEPT?

No problem… Call it something else if that’s what it’ll take to get you off your ass and find it.

It could be the very thing HOLDING YOU BACK.

More to follow…

Unk

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November 7, 2006 | Filed Under Uncategorized

19 Comments 

HIGH CONCEPT debated…

I Forgot the high concept!

Josh,

Always happy to debate you on this… I’ll try to hit your points one by one but first let me just say this to preface my reply…

You are absolutely correct that EXECUTION is critical. You can throw a high concept at me and that might get me to read your script but if, after I read the first few pages, I can sense a script with problems and poor execution, I probably won’t read any further…

*NOTE: I’m talking about the average producer here… A marketing logline is simply another tool to get your screenplay read.

I agree with you on that however, if you throw me (the average producer) a marketing logline that really grabs me and then you don’t clearly pull that logline off with your script EVEN IF IT HAS OUTSTANDING EXECUTION, I’m gonna take a pass on it. Another thing I’m talking about here is SPEC SCRIPTS. Not pitches. Not studio projects. I’m talking about a screenplay written on SPECULATION by an unknown screenwriter so let’s keep this debate within that context as well.

Okay… point by point…

*NOTE: To read Josh’s comment, CLICK HERE. Then scroll down toward the bottom of all the comments… Josh’s is the REALLY REALLY LONG ONE… LOL.

You said, “Again, Unk, you recall I mentioned BROKEBACK earlier? Not high concept. High story, sure . . . “

Gotta totally DISAGREE with you here. Two Montana cowboys fall in love with each other in the 60s.

Josh, that is DEFINITELY HIGH CONCEPT. As soon as I read that line, I immediately conjur up images about that scenario. I immediately see the obvious conflict here. Then, if you extend that logline to say something about how they hide their love for one another over the next 20 years…

Whoa… High concept again but still an adaptation and not really considered a spec.

Let’s move on…

You said, “I can also think of TRAFFIC, which made big bucks, but at the time it was made, no one really thought it would make a profit, they were hoping for some awards and make back costs, not that it would gross over a hundred mil.“

TRAFFIC. Not even sure that was originally a spec script.

You said, “High Concept is really about marketing, not about story. There is high concept and there is high story.”

I think that statement is definitely PARTLY TRUE for sure but here’s my take on HIGH CONCEPT:

It’s NOT a film with a high budget.
It’s NOT a film that’s necessarily BIG like an epic.
It’s NOT a film with a boatload of CGI or special effects.
It’s NOT a film with amazing characters (although that’s always a plus).
It’s NOT a film with tons of twists and turns that keep the audience guessing.
It’s NOT a film with a story that you fall in love with.
It’s NOT a film with bigger than life action sequences.

To be perfectly honest, I don’t think that any of the elements above have to have anything to do with HIGH CONCEPT and IN FACT a HIGH CONCEPT film might have NONE OF THE ABOVE elements.

My argument? There is a huge difference between story and CONCEPT.

You very well may have the most compelling, interesting, and well executed story around but the concept could still not be a High Concept.

My personal experience is that when a studio, producer, or prodco says or refers to High Concept, they’re actually talking about a story idea that has ALL THREE OF THE FOLLOWING ELEMENTS:

On the face of it, that might sound pretty simple but in reality, if your story idea is missing one of the above elements, it probably ISN’T high concept.

Sure, you can go ahead and say this is simply a marketing ploy but so what? It’s still the kind of story you have to write to get your SPEC screenplay read the majority of the time.

You said, “You may be able to find the “high” concept in each film above, but I guarantee you that concept had nothing to do with why each movie above got made, in fact, they got made IN SPITE of their high concept. They were, however, successful because of their highly executed stories.”

How can you guarantee that? How can you say that BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN got made IN SPITE of its high concept? Of course the movie made money because it was in fact well executed. LOL. I’ve NEVER ONCE recommended having a high concept OVER a well executed screenplay.

YOU GOTTA HAVE BOTH. True, a well executed screenplay without a high concept can get made… It happens. But it sure happens a hell of a lot less than a well executed screenplay with a high concept.

You seem to be lumping HOLLYWOOD into this one huge mixture and to be honest, it’s several different mixtures. The fact is that BM did get made. It might have been a difficult sale that’s true… But am willing bet $10K that what got the damn thing read in the first place was its concept not its execution. Then, once it was in fact read, the execution pulled off the high concept and PEOPLE WANTED TO MAKE A MOVIE.

It doesn’t matter if everyone in town originally passed on it… It only takes one. Remember, I’ve never once said that a high concept spec screenplay guarantees ANYTHING. What I am saying however, is that a high concept spec screenplay swings the odds a little more in your favor.

That’s all.

Actually, a lot more in your favor most likely… Even if those odds are still gigantically against you.

You said, “Did that make the “high concept” of their story bad? Or the concept of PULP FICTION, which was also turned down all over town?”

Nope. Of course not. Again, it ONLY TAKES ONE person to say, “WE GOTTA A MOVIE HERE!”

You said, “It seems to me, again, that high concept is an idea for MARKETING the film that often has nothing to do with the STORY of it.”

Sure it does happen and of course a studio/prodco is going to exploit the high concept when marketing a film… WHY SHOULDN’T IT? It’s the marketing of that high concept that puts asses in theater seats, isn’t it? How many times has a studio spent ten to twenty times MORE MONEY ON MARKETING than it did to purchase or finance the film?

That still doesn’t make a case NOT TO HAVE A HIGH CONCEPT for your spec screenplay, does it?

I’m telling you that IF YOU HAVE BOTH high concept AND execution, you definitely gotta WINNER.

You said, “The thing is, marketing is fluid and the idea doesn’t account enough for changes and evolutions in audience tastes. Most suits would have held their view, even while being waterboarded, that no one really wants to see a gay cowboy movie. Because at that point, no one had. They would have swore upon their lives it would be a failure.”

I don’t get your point… The fact is that the movie did get made and the fact is that the movie did make money. The fact is that this movie very likely opened the door for a lot of movies that the “suits” might hesitate to make otherwise.

Isn’t that a good thing? Isn’t THIS THE KIND OF EVOLUTION we want to see take place?

You said, “That’s the weakness of high concept. It only reflects what happened. Not what will happen or could happen. Or what you could make happen if you got behind a movie no one’s ever seen before.”

Nobody ever said that high concept can reflect what will happen or what could happen. I know I never said that. What I said and what I will continue to say is that the odds of getting your spec screenplay read and made will swing more in your favor if your screenplay contains a high concept. If your high concept spec screenplay is also well executed, obviously, the odds once again swing more in your favor.

I don’t see that as a weakness at all and to be honest, a well executed screenplay (there’s THOUSANDS of them) doesn’t reflect what will happen or what could happen either… Does it? For every one well executed NON high concept screenplay that gets produced, there are literally thousands of the same that do not and never will get produced so again, what’s the point?

You said, “Again, when I use the words high concept, I’m really talking about marketing. Because the logline where you can fill in the blanks without hearing the rest, that’s marketing, that’s a TV commerical. That’s not high story, that’s an ad.”

Josh, I know exactly what you’re talking about when you say high concept. That’s fine. We can agree to disagree which we obviously are… Hey, it’s America, right? LOL.

But to be honest…

FUCK ALL THAT.

That’s not what I’m saying… I am talking about SCREENWRITING ONLY. The bottom line is this… You go ahead and create a well executed screenplay without a high concept.

Then I will go ahead and create high concept spec screenplay that’s also well executed AND actually REFLECTS the high concept of the logline.

Are you really telling me that your screenplay has as good or a better chance of getting READ and PRODUCED?

Or are you acknowledging that this is in fact the case and you’d like to see it change?

Either way, the bottom line is that my screenplay (all other things being equal of course) will get the nod a hell of a lot more than yours will.

Is that good?
Is that bad?

I don’t give a shit. That’s simply the way it is and all I am is the messenger. On top of that, as both a screenwriter AND producer, I gotta tell ya…

I LIKE HIGH CONCEPT. LOL.

With high concept, you maximize your potential of having a WINNER. A winner is a film that people like. A winner is a film that makes money. A winner is a film that spawns careers and reputations.

I take NOTHING away from the well executed screenplay. If someone wants to write a well executed screenplay about the worm farm debutante, GO FOR IT. I wish them nothing but the best of luck when it comes time to marketing the thing… Because the fact of that matter is that writing is only part of the equation… The other part is getting the script OUT THERE and GETTING IT READ.

Very hard to do without the high concept but after reading all this, if somebody still wants to proceed without the high concept, so be it…

You asked, “The high concept is a way for suits to control product without being terribly informed about writing and story, is it not?”

See now you’re talking about marketing and I’m talking about screenwriting. These are two different subjects but sure, the suits use high concept as a marketing tool. I guess you could say it is a way to control product i.e., that the suits don’t really want to take any risks on non high concept material and since they don’t allow themselves to take risks with non high concept material that, in effect, does tend to control the market.

So what? They’re the ones with the money, right? It’s a free country so if someone finds a non high concept screenplay and wants to make it, it will be up to them to find the money to do so. I don’t have a problem with that.

However…

The market is REALLY controlled by the boxoffice. Every movie that does WELL, spawns a boatload of similar type projects i.e., projects containing elements that will hopefully keep the ticket buying demographic BUYING TICKETS.

You said, “They don’t have to read it, if it’s about gay cowboys, forget it. Nobody makes movies about that.

If it’s a movie about an assassin hired to kill his best friend, forget it, there are too many movies in development like that.

Completely bypassing EXECUTION.

The execution of an idea can make something that may seem ordinary on the surface, but once done by the right writer, can kick some serious ass.”

I agree with you but I also contend that a well executed screenplay probably does have some kind of high concept going for it. Obviously, there are a lot of movies getting made that suck and that most likely means that the screenplay sucked too.

So what?

You seem to know exactly what I am saying here AND more importantly, you seem to know that what I am saying is very likely TRUE… You just don’t like it NOR do you agree with it. Well guess what? On very many levels, I’m right there with you my friend…

That’s WHY I tell people wanting to get into this business to DO BOTH… i.e., write a well executed high concept spec screenplay and make damn sure that the execution you did so well reflects the high concept that you promised in your logline.

Given the current world that we have to play with, those are simply the rules… The way YOU can beat them at their own game is to do BOTH. Not one or the other… BOTH. Keep doing BOTH and you’re gonna get more work. Do both and eventually, you’re gonna be able to just write a well executed screenplay without the high concept (assuming that is in fact your desire) and get it produced. Will it make money? Who knows. But by doing BOTH now, you broaden your opportunity to DO WHAT YOU WANT in the future.

You said, “LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE. Dysfunctional family goes on road trip. Wait, we already have something like that, shooting now, called RV. We got Robin Williams, and it’s a tired concept, to tell the truth, Ice Cube just did one like it, didn’t make any money. So we’re going to pass on your little movie. Robin Williams will make all the money on this road comedy stuff. Which one do people remember? And why? Because of the story. Not the concept. Because of the execution. Not the concept. Because of the high story.”

Again, I agree with you! But that movie does have BOTH high concept AND outstanding execution.

BOTH.

You said, “Again, not a bad thing to be able to sum up a film in 25 words. It helps to solidify whatever it is. You can come up with an idea, a concept, that is good and have the story executed well (I’m looking forward to the upcoming STRANGER THAN FICTION). But it’s not the only way to create product that people really want to see in cinema (I’m thinking BORAT, which I cannot wait to see). And high concept can lead to real stinkers as well, right?”

You get no argument from me again… But even so, I prefer to write and produce well executed screenplays with high concepts. Then, go ahead and use that high concept as a marketing tool because after all… This is a business too.

You said, “A really great story has a voice, in theatre and in literature, they’re always looking for new voices. By voices, I mean people who tell stories really well. Like Neil Gaimann. Quentin Tarantino. Tony Kushner. Stephen “The Fucking Man” King. The living writing who has the most movies to his credit? Stephen “The Fucking Man” King. MISERY? High concept. STAND BY ME? bunch of kids go look at a dead body? Not really. Great movie. SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION? With a title like that, what’s it about? And it’s in prison? And there’s no love story? I don’t think so.”

Josh… Were these SPECS? Come on… These are Stephen King adaptations, not specs. Suffice to say that Stephen “The Fucking Man” King can do any fucking thing he wants… LOL. Get him to allow you to adapt one of his stories as he did with Frank Darabont with SHAWSHANK and I’m willing to bet that you’re gonna get your script READ. Execute it well and I’m willing to bet that you’re gonna get your script produced.

You said, “All three are great movies because all three are great stories, regardless of what the concept is. In fact, I would argue that Shawshank, one of the most rented videos ever, didn’t succeed when first released because they never really knew how to market it (tied down by the “high concept” method of selling, though I bet Miramax would have figured it out) until after it got to the video stores.”

So what? These weren’t scripts written by unknown screenwriters attempting to break into the business.

You said, “In reality, the story matters more than the idea, when you think about it. It’s one reason why you cannot copyright an idea, only the specific expression of an idea.”

I will be the first to admit that I love a good story whether or not there’s a high concept contained within… Nobody is arguing that fact.

What I am saying… No. What I am SHOUTING is that in order for an unknown screenwriter to MAXIMIZE his or her opportunities to break into the business is to DO BOTH i.e., write a spec screenplay with a high concept. Write a well executed spec screenplay that reflects that high concept.

This way, everybody UP THE LINE FROM YOU, will immediately RECOGNIZE the potential of your material to make money for everyone involved.

Focus JUST ON THE STORY and NOT THE HIGH CONCEPT within the story and you’ve just extended your quest to get into the business unless you can find an Indie Producer who loves your stuff and doesn’t care about the project making money… Remember, a good story does not guarantee boxoffice.

You said, “A movie is a story, at its core, its DNA is story-based. It’s not the same creature as a novel or play, it’s not the same creature as a TV show, but they all share the story DNA and stories work best when told in voices born to tell them.”

I agree 100%.

You said, “Again, Unk, I’m not whining or bitching . . . these are just thoughts I’ve had while observing a lot of what’s going on and the develop execs I talk to here in the big apple - in my mind, I think good stories will find their audience, eventually.”

Josh, love debating this with you, really. Good stories already have found their audiences… Maybe not WIDE AUDIENCES, like a well executed high concept screenplay but hell, I’m one of them. I love Indie films. I Just watched ART SCHOOL CONFIDENTIAL and loved it. I don’t think it made any real money but I definitely think it found its audience albeit not a WIDE AUDIENCE.

I think in then END, we basically agree that STORY IS KING… RIGHT? I can settle for that.

Unk

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November 3, 2006 | Filed Under Uncategorized

16 Comments 

What market are YOU writing for?

Low prices on spec scripts!

It occurred to me today that we toss around the phrase, SPEC SCRIPT as if we know what we’re talking about.

The overwhelming hypothesis is that a spec script is simply a script written on SPECULATION. No guarantees that you’ll sell it. No guarantees that anyone will be interested.

No guarantees.

PERIOD.

Sounds grim, doesn’t it?

On top of that, once you write a spec script (I mean when it is COMPLETELY finished), it’s ready for the spec script market isn’t it?

Maybe not.

Here I go again with the HIGH CONCEPT RANT. I get a lot of email and comments about HIGH CONCEPT and before I get deeper into the spec script market, I need to clear up HIGH CONCEPT.

We’re writers… It’s UP TO US to write a compelling story that’s riveting and keeps the attention of the reader and hopefully, an audience.

Cool. We know this. We accomplish this. Cool.

So if YOU’RE writing for the spec script market, shouldn’t you know exactly what the spec script market IS?

Let me tell you what it AIN’T.

It ain’t the repository for the worm farm debutante spec UNLESS you’ve found the high concept within that story and EXPLOITED the hell out of it.

Ask ANY producer, director, agent, manager, or pro screenwriter what kind of script everyone is looking for and one consistent element that you’re going to hear OVER and OVER and OVER again is HIGH CONCEPT.

High concept doesn’t have to be a bad thing.
High concept doesn’t mean you have to sell out.
High concept doesn’t mean formula.

I WHOLEHEARTEDLY believe you should write what you want to write… Write your passion. Write what you know (this is an entirely different post that I will get to), write what makes your heart beat.

But do yourself a favor and find the high concept within that story that’s aching to come out.

One of the older posts here talks about writing what FASCINATES YOU. Let me once again shout this out at the top of my virtual lungs…

WRITE WHAT FASCINATES YOU!

In other words, SOMEWHERE in your story that’s aching to get out of you OR that you’ve already purged from your heart, mind, spirit, body, and soul is a high concept waiting to escape. That’s right, it’s in there somewhere even if your story is about the worm farm debutante.

You just gotta find it.
Then once you find it, you gotta show it to us.

Some if not MOST of my favorite films are Indie films and yeah, maybe a lot of these don’t make a hell of a lot of money but SOMEBODY’S GOTTA WRITE ‘EM and guess what?

SOMEBODY GETS PAID.

So I’m NOT sitting here trying to tell you to write the next PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN. Not the next TITANIC. Not the next Matrix. If you’ve got a story like that – cool. Write it!

What I am telling you however, is that as a spec screenwriter, it’s YOUR JOB – strike that… IT’S YOUR DUTY to find the high concept within your story. It’s that elusive SOMETHING that’s going to make us FOCUS our attention directly at you and say, “Wow! I’d pay $10 to see that!”

There’s SOMETHING about your story that MAKES YOU WANT TO WRITE IT. What is it? Do you know? If not, WHY NOT?

I’m hoping that the SOMETHING is something that fascinates you about the story. Find that one thing that fascinates you and focus on it for a few days.

Stand back from it.

When you’re far enough away from it, turn it upside down. Turn it inside out. Change the sex of the Protagonist. Change the period. Change the relationships between the characters. Change the locations. Change the events i.e., RATCH ‘em up as high and tight as they will go and see how that changes the story. Often, a simple little change creates a domino effect for the entire story and can create or DISCOVER the high concept within the concept.

Yes, you can do all this without selling out.
Yes, you can do all this without losing your vision.
Yes, you can do all this without being formulaic.

I will go a step further and say, THIS IS YOUR JOB “IF” you’re writing for the spec market or should I say, the CURRENT spec market.

You’ve read the magazines.
You’ve read the books.
You’ve read the blogs.
You’ve taken the workshops.
You’ve discussed it on forums.
You’ve entered the contests.

Yet you still write something that contains no high concept.

Why?

Find the high concept within your concept and then ratchet, ramp, and tighten up the conflict and action and don’t stop till you’ve blown us away.

High concept. It’s in there. You just gotta find it.

The spec script market is the high concept market. There, I said it. Notice I say, SPEC SCRIPT. Don’t tell me about all those movies that get made that do not SEEM to have a high concept because I’m gonna be the first son of a bitch to find the high concept and throw it right back at you.

Sure there are movies being made that seemingly have no high concept… On the face of it.

And sure there are vanity movies getting made because somebody somewhere has the power to greenlight the project.

I’m not talking about that shit.

I’m talking about the spec script market. I’m talking about the high concept market.

It’s there.

Right under your nose.

Unk

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November 1, 2006 | Filed Under Uncategorized

23 Comments 

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