Writing Screenplays Hollywood Wants

Premise. What is your story about?

High concept refers to “genre movies with one-line plot summaries, compelling enough to attract audiences with their promise of a big emotional experience..”

Generally speaking High Concept is a story that captures the imagination of the reader and sparks them to start imagining the story even before they have read a word. High concept drives the film and television industries.

The High-Concept Idea accomplishes as many of these as possible:

High degree of originality
High level of uniqueness
Highly visual
Triggers an emotional response
Targets a broad audience
Presents a “what if” question

The 5 Hero Objectives for High Concept Hollywood movies:

1. Hero has to STOP something
2. Hero has to ESCAPE something
3. Hero has to RESCUE or FIND something
4. Hero has to DELIVER something
5. Hero has to WIN something

What Is A Synopsis?

A synopsis is a page description of what your screenplay is about. A word count would be from 300-500 words, approximately.

The synopsis covers the major events (plot points). It offers some details about the protagonist, including supporting character or characters (but not a lot) and/or love interest. It will cover only the pertinent details about your antagonist. It should include any twists and turns of your screenplay. It should entice the reader to want to read your screenplay. Whereas the logline shows off the High Concept of your idea, a synopsis gives you the opportunity to display your writing. A synopsis should be taken very serious and be well crafted.

Have a logline and synopsis for every screenplay. Together they need to be good enough to convince a producer or agent to request your script.

See attached file for more on writing loglines.

Ever have a movie haunt you? What I mean is, days later you’re still thinking about it, it impacted you on an emotional level that resonated. That is theme. Not very many movies seem to do this.

As screenwriters we focus on creating a well-crafted story that follows one of the paradigms of structure, includes a sound premise, well-drawn characters and a clearly recognized narrative spine. Yet still when completed our screenplays often lack that something extra that separates it from the genuinely great stories—especially the ones that sell. That missing element is often theme, something that is overlooked, misunderstood, and frankly completely ignored by far too many screenwriters.

Even accomplished professional screenwriters sometimes admit that they don’t “really know what it [theme] means — at least in any practical sense.” So where does the confusion come from? Well it starts with the loss of any distinction between “premise” and “theme,” as some
think there is no difference between the two. Well for me there is a difference and it’s important for you to understand the difference.

Watch the video lesson and download the file below to learn more.

One of the most asked questions by new screenwriters is how to hook the reader? The first ten pages are critical, as is the first act itself. However, there's also some confusion over the differences between a Hook, Inciting Incident, and First Act Plot Point. (Please make sure to watch the lecture and download the handout at the bottom of the page.)

Let's first talk about the Hook. This technique grabs your reader in some way right from the get go. It's a page one element. It can be the way you introduce a character or how you set the mood and tone of the story in some intriguing or interesting way. You might even quickly raise a question in the reader's mind. You're creating an opening image (or series of images) or an event that engages the curiosity of your reader.

The Inciting Incident is essentially the call to action. It has to take place in the first 10-15 pages to be effective. It has to disrupt the protagonist's life. It has to be unexpected and require urgent action. And finally, it has to have significant consequence if not resolved.

Finally, the First Act Plot Point. Generally speaking, you've hooked your reader in that opening scene. You've changed up the protagonist's life and established the story's trajectory, got the protagonist moving essentially, and then WHAM... something happens or is discovered that sends the story in a NEW and UNEXPECTED direction. This ends the first act (around page 25) and nicely sets up the second.

**Review: The 5 Hero Objectives for Hollywood movies.

1. Hero has to STOP something

2. Hero has to ESCAPE something

3. Hero has to RESCUE or FIND something

4. Hero has to DELIVER something

5. Hero has to WIN something

(If you noticed I completely botched these during the video. My bad.)

Character is revealed through their actions and words, obviously. What your central character (protagonist) does and how he or she does it, says a lot about them as a person. The word protagonist comes from the Greek words protos—first—and agonistes—actor. He or she is the conveyor of your theme. How your protagonist resolves the conflict by the story’s end will usually reveal your story’s main theme.

One way to develop character is through the peeling away of the character’s layers, showing us more and more of the character’s true nature. As the audience learns more and more about the character, they begin to assimilate whether or not this is a character they like or want to spend any time with. Okay, yes there are movies where there were no redeemable qualities for the main character. There are always exceptions to the rule. You have to have the audience connect with at least one of your characters, that being the central character.

CHARACTER ARCHETYPES (These are not mine)*

1) The Explorer

2) The Outlaw

3) The Jester

4) The Sage

5) The Ruler

6) The Innocent (Romantic Dreamer)

7) The Hero

8) The Creator (Artist, Visionary)

9) The Magician

10) The Lover

11) The Caregiver (Altruistic)

12) The Everyman (Worker)

Also strongly recommend Victoria Lynn Schmidt's book 45 MASTER CHARACTERS for perhaps the best presentation on archetypes for screenwriters.

(Please watch the video and download the file on archetypes at the bottom of this page.)

The well known saying "a picture is worth a thousand words" applies to screenwriters in a way as we have to visually tell a story without using a thousand words; we have to use attrition and well constructed exposition to set the atmosphere and tone of the scene and movie.

Dialogue is just as great of a challenge. Elmore Leonard once said if it sounds like dialogue rewrite it. Character dialogue should be natural and organic. Bad dialogue is unnatural. Natural sounding "Staccato" dialogue is where you speak in fragments in short sentences and is usually how people truly talk and communicate.

Here is a simple and easy exercise to help you pick up on that natural staccato dialogue that screenplays must have.

Go to various public places like a restaurant, bar, coffee house, wherever you feel it would help you and simply listen to people talk.

Take a notebook with you (okay maybe use the notes app on your phone to look less creepy) and when you get situated near people listen to their interaction, the dialogue between them, and take notes as much as possible. If you can, later write some of the interaction as a scene.

Let your notes or your scene sit for a while then go back to it and reread the interaction when you’re at your computer. Then try to write a follow-up scene and keep the tone or voice of each character in sync with what you recorded.

This exercise can help you develop a "natural" and "authentic" approach to writing good

The most difficult thing is knowing when to get into your scenes and when to get out. How to effectively build tension and drama. How to establish motives and present characters. All of these things that you have to communicate to the audience and do so in such a way that it works, this is where screenwriters are made. This is why so many screenwriter hopefuls can never finish their script. The grinding process of producing one, building it scene by scene, is the hardest part.

One of the most important thing you can do is read screenplays for those movies you enjoy. Many are available on the Internet.  Pay attention to the "voice" of the writer. When we say voice, we mean the word usage and style of description and diagolue; it all adds up to that writer's "voice."

Please watch the lecture and then read the attached document below for more details and specifics on writing the scene.

Western culture dictates that a story is a series of events, told in order, with a beginning, middle and end (Linear). There’s typically a lone protagonist at odds with an antagonist. What has dictated this reliance on linear structure is a conception that audiences would be lost if the writer violated what was called the unity of time and place.

Act 1: Setup
Act II: Confrontation
Act III: Resolution

Though this first started during the silent era, studios today are hesitant to greenlight a film that does not conform to their perceptions of story structure. Luckily, there have been financial successes like Pulp Fiction, The Usual Suspects, and Memento to open the door for those of you who want to write your stories organically.

The goal of your screenplay’s structure is to enhance the story. So, is there a more dynamic way to tell your story? That’s always something to ask of your story, even as you’re writing it.

Selecting the right structure to use is important. I always suggest to my students to let the script unfold organically. When you are ready to sit down and write it, you should already know how you want to tell it (but this can and sometimes does change during the process, and that’s a plus because it means you’ve struck a nerve and found the sweet spot of the story that maybe you were missing).

Review: The 5 Hero Objectives for Hollywood movies.

1. Hero has to STOP something

2. Hero has to ESCAPE something

3. Hero has to RESCUE or FIND something

4. Hero has to DELIVER something

5. Hero has to WIN something

Joseph Campbell calls the period between the beginning and the end as being “in the belly of the beast”. A time where the writer enters the slough of despair. A framework wherein both the protagonist and the writer doubt themselves and wish the journey had never begun. We’ve all been there and done that.

As writers we know that Act One is an easy thing. You come up with a great idea and it just pours out of you. Act Three usually isn’t that hard either, you’ve seen your ending and you know where to go, so you go there in a fury. However, it’s when we are inside the belly of the beast – the Second Act – that we realize we didn’t really have this all the way thought out. Some of you misidentify this struggle as Writer’s Block, but it might not be.

Frankly, Writer’s Block really isn’t a block at all, it typically occurs somewhere between page forty and page sixty and it really is a symptom of a larger issue. So, thinking that we have entered that blockade, we do all those things we read about: we meditate, relax, go for walks, do other things and let our creative mind ferment the story. But still nothing.

The Second Act is truly where your story is made.

It’s not that you as a writer have suddenly lost the ability to write, it’s that you started either too quickly, without a clearly defined narrative spine, or truly didn’t know where you were really going with the story. There are ways to avoid Second Act pitfalls before you even set out to write.

But even then, you could have taken all the proper steps before writing and still hit that Second Act wall once inside the belly of the beast. Even then don’t despair as there are proven ways to reevaluate your story, assess the narrative spine, and fix those problem areas and get you back on track.

I’ll share one thing right now with you that causes screenwriters to experience Second Act problems and that’s structure. No, I’m not talking about using a Field or Vogler et al approach, but that when you look at the thing you don’t account for the “why.” Structure is a result of the central character’s relationship with a central dramatic premise. Character creates plot. Who wants what, why, and what happens if they don’t get it? Important things to know, things that if not properly fleshed out in your mind or outline, can truly cause Second Act angst.