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What FASCINATES YOU? –continued…

I just sat here writing a response to a comment Jonathan left for me. I sat here really thinking and writing — thinking and writing and by the time I was finished, I had a enough for an entire blog post…

So go read Jonathan’s comment down below and then come back and read my response if you are so inclined…

Jonathan,

I definitely think there is value in writing a NON-HIGH CONCEPT screenplay… Anytime you write anything, you’re gaining valuable experience.

As for focusing on one or the other… I think I made that clear for ME. I certainly wouldn’t advise you NOT to write NON-HIGH CONCEPT screenplays. I might RECOMMEND it but I would never advise it… LOL.

I simply wanted to point out that in my opinion, this is definitely the harder road of an already difficult route to selling a screenplay.

I know several screenwriters who have won and become finalists in several screenplay competitions. Every screenplay was NON-HIGH CONCEPT.

None of these screenwriters have ever sold a script. None of these screenwriters have an agent. None of these screenwriters have any industry contacts but ALL of these screenwriters continue to write NON-HIGH CONCEPT screenplays and submit them to contests.

Is that a bad thing?

Not at all. But everything is relative.

I hate to keep beating a dead horse here but just to let you know… It’s probably MORE DIFFICULT to sell a well written NON-HIGH CONCEPT screenplay to an Indie Producer than it is to sell a well written HIGH CONCEPT screenplay to a mainstream Producer.

That being the case… You have to make a decision. If you like writing small non-high concept scripts and want to enter screenplays into contests and or market to Indie Producers, then definitely go down that road.

If you want to do BOTH… DO BOTH.

All I am trying to do here is dispel the idea that screenplay competitions (except for a handful) help screenwriters break into the business.

I posted this blog in an effort NOT to discourage contest submission but rather to clue those of you in as to how it really works out there.

You say in your comment that the process seems worthwhile. Great. No problem. As long as you realize that the numbers say that the most you’ll probably get out of the exercise is valuable
experience.

Hollywood only wants HIGH CONCEPT stuff. I have yet to meet anyone in the mainstream that isn’t looking for HIGH CONCEPT and as Dave points out in his comment, high concept need not be HIGH BUDGET hence, the reason my blog post says to FIND THE HIGH CONCEPT in your story and then write it into the screenplay.

If you can’t find the high concept or one does not exist and you still move forward, simply be prepared not to make a sale or even get too many mainstream producers to read it.

Nobody I know wants to know that you can write a non-high concept screenplay so they can have you go right back out and write them a high concept screenplay.

Why do that when we can simply read high concept screenplays all day long?

It’s all about numbers, time management, and good writing.

That BROADER net you talk about… Where is it?

Let me explain it in a different venue…

Let’s say you’re a mechanic and you’ve become very proficient working on Porches. Let’s also say that you can only work on one Porsche at a time.

Later, you get to thinking… “Hey, I can make some extra money working on Hyundais.” So you take classes and learn how to work on Hyundais.

Now you get back to the shop and you have a Hyundai and a Porsche to work on. Which do you choose? If you fix the Porsche, you can make $500. If you work on the Hyundai, you can make $250.

Which do you fix first?

Let’s further assume that it takes the same amount of time to fix the Hyundai as it does the Porsche but you can’t mark the parts up as much even though the labor is the same.

Which do you fix first?

Let’s say you fix the Hyundai and get your $250. Great. Now you fix the Porsche and because you know MORE about Porsches and have more experience working on them, you fix it in 6 hours in contrast to having fixed the Hyundai in 8 hours.

See where I’m going?

If you decide to keep working on both Hyundais and Porsches, you’ll get experience on both but you’ll probably work harder on the Hyundais until you are as proficient on them as you are on the Porsches and not only that, making less money doing it.

It takes working on 2 Hyundais to equal the benefit of working on 1 Porsche.

And, since you can realistically only work on ONE of these cars at a time… What car would you want to work on the most? You are in business are you not?

Now the last explanation of my post… LOL.

Let’s say you finally wake up one day and decide to stop working on the Hyundais and focus strictly on the Porsches.

You bust your ass for a few years and you’ve had enough success to hire three more mechanics and you kind of feel bad that you stopped working on those Hyundais so you decide to devote one of your Mechanics to work on those Hyundais while the other two keep working on the Porsches.

You can make this decision now because you’ve achieved some success.

I see this occupation of screenwriting to be NO DIFFERENT from the above scenario. Write several high concept screenplays that SELL and you can pretty much do whatever you want. Produce. Direct. Whatever.

Keep writing non-high concept screenplays and in my opinion, you’ll get really good at writing non-high concept screenplays.

Is that a bad thing? HELL NO! If your PASSION and FASCINATION is to write non-high concept screenplays then that’s probably what you should do I guess. While the prospect doesn’t thrill me, I would never tell someone NOT do follow their passion and fascinaton.

On the other hand, specialize in say… Action, Horror, and Thrillers (or whatever genres you are passionate about) and write high concept screenplays in those genres and you still gain just about as much valuable experience to be able to write a non-high concept screenplay as you would actually writing a non-high concept screenplay.

Unk




Saturday: 29 July 2006|0430|Under Uncategorized

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Comments

6 Responses to “What FASCINATES YOU? –continued…”

  1. The Moviequill on Saturday: 29 July 2006|0735

    my advice for someone NOT writing high concept is, you better know how to write a damn good logline then (smirk). I saw a CNN review on Miami Vice where it is said the film has to make back $300 million to break even on production costs. If that is what gets made in Hollywood then we better have a good high concept where Hollywood at least THINKS it can possibly make back its production costs

  2. Dave on Saturday: 29 July 2006|1000

    Bingo! Funny how you and I both go to the car analogy… mine is thus:

    High Concept = Car = 4 wheels, body, motor, etc.

    Low budget = motorcycle = 2 wheels, body, motor, etc.

    Both motor vehicles, but not the same.

    High concept and character scripts are both stories, but Hollywood is really only interested in the high concept ones.

    Thus, if you want to sell to Hollywood, don’t go pitching them motorcycles when they want cars. Just ain’t gonna fly.

    The only reason Hollywood has any “motorcycle” movies coming out at all is because of who drives them. That’s the people that are established and have the clout to pull in the talent and the finances to get it made.

    It’s also part of the reason Hollywood doesn’t make a habit of making them - they just don’t make enough money. The high concept pieces, when they hit, make enough money for all the little movies that don’t break even.

    A good character script is a show-piece or a contest piece, but probably not a spec sale.

  3. Poke on Saturday: 29 July 2006|1349

    It comes down to how much of an artiste you consider yourself to be.

    An artiste scoffs at the idea of writing HIGH CONCEPT screenplays as a means to writing and directing NON-HIGH CONCEPT screenplays. They consider art to be sacred, and anything you do with that art has to be of purest intention — which means no writing for success now so you can work on passion projects later.

    I scoff at that idea — mainly because I used to hold to it.

    In Unk’s mechanic scenario, does anyone scoff at the business owner/mechanic for wanting to make more money now so that in the future he can hire extra people and work on those cars that he’s passionate about, making his business all the more successful?

    What about a Doctor who works at an upscale clinic so that one day he can open his own free clinic downtown?

    See the problem I see is that we tend to think of making money as evil — that goes for all of society as well as screenwriting. But is it? The wealthiest people on the planet routinely give gigantic chunks of their money to charitable organizations — Bill Gates recently donated a whopping $287 Million to AIDS research. Now the question is: who’s more noble? Gates or the lab tech who works for chicken scratch at an AIDS clinic in NYC? Both help AIDS vicitims. Both make a sacrifice for what they deem an important cause. But who helps out the War against AIDS more?

    A good friend of mine once told me something to this nature — Yes, Indie Scripts tend to be written better, and yes, Hollywood only wants HIGH CONCEPT screenplays. But why assume that a HIGH CONCEPT screenplay means it’s poorly written? Write your HIGH CONCEPT screenplay as well as these Indie Scripts and you hold the key to Hollywood.

    Don’t think that writing a HIGH CONCEPT screenplay is in any way making your work any less than art or you any less of an artist.

    Poke

  4. Jonathan on Saturday: 29 July 2006|1422

    Good reply. I hear what you’re saying.

    I think it’s an important point that high concept need not mean high budget, which I often forget. And it’s true, even screenplays marketed to independent studios should be built around original concepts.

    From what I’ve read, there seems to be little or no correlation between winning screenwriting competitions and having success in the industry, so I think the facts bear out your point.

    The one script I wrote that could in no way be described as “high concept” was a very personal, autobiographical script which I’ve been planning to write since high school. I’d never attempt to market it. The only way it gets made is if I make it myself someday.

    I agree that any script written with the intent (or hope) of selling it must have an original idea or premise. If there’s no central idea (or “high concept”), then you’re dead in the water before you begin. I don’t think I’ll ever start a screenplay if I haven’t come up with a central idea that I think is completely original. Hopefully, the scripts I’ve written so far manage at least that.

    Thanks for the detailed reply. I think your best point is that if you practice writing lots of non-high-concept scripts, that’s exactly what you’ll get good at writing. I’m planning to stay away from repairing any more Hyundais.

  5. Unknown Screenwriter on Saturday: 29 July 2006|1525

    The good news is that Hollywood is drastically reducing budgets after letting it get out of hand for so long…

    Unk

  6. Dave on Saturday: 29 July 2006|2040

    Something nobody’s said yet is that non high concept movies can suck just as bad as high concept ones.

    Just because a movie is “personal” or “indie” doesn’t mean it’s better or even good.

    You still have to write it well. :)

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