I am in such a good mood these days. The movie business is so dynamic, there are so many opportunities for creatives like us, and I personally am feeling very optimistic about it all!
This also corresponds to all the stuff happening in Cat!Land:
–At long last we have our Save the Cat! story structure software ready. It will be out in mid-October just in time for my back-to-back appearances at the Screenwriting Expo.
–I have two appearances in the UK before then: a talk in London that is being organized by Suzy Greaves (who can be reached at [email protected]). I will also be returning to Penzance courtesy of the Cornwall Film Council who have invited me to speak to their filmmakers.
–And my book reached #908 on Amazon the other day! That qualifies Cat! as the fastest seller in my publisher’s history and a certified hit! Consider that Amazon tracks over 700,000 books!
A lot happening. And my gratitude to you who make it all possible is immense!
In the midst of all this, though, I keep meeting with writers and hearing pitches and waiting for that one solid out-of-the-ballpark idea. That is what we’re all about here — making sales.
It occured to me that certain trends repeat themselves and just when that old idea is seeming to be really old, someone comes along to make it fresh. This is how Porky’s became American Pie, how Oh, God begat Bruce Almighty, and how Risky Business morphed into The Girl Next Door.
So I sat down the other day and made a list of tired, old movies and story concepts that might just be ready for a comeback — if any smart writers out there can think of a way to write them in new ways. I call this “Isn’t it about time for…” and it’s a great idea-generating exercise. See if you agree or can add to the list!
Isn’t it about time for…
… a funny vampire movie. I’m thinking of Love At First Bite as the model, loved that silly thing when it came out, but isn’t it time for some smart person to make it fresh??
Isn’t it about time for…
… a reformulization of the Burt Reynolds movie Cannonball Run. With the success of Cars, why not?
Isn’t it about time for…
… a kid empowerment comedy like Home Alone? We have seen very few films starring anyone under 15 lately and, except for Dakota Fanning, few kid stars to fill the bill. Maybe the right concept would introduce a younger star to family audiences?
Isn’t it about time for…
… another Rocky? Not an actual one, THAT’S being made already, I’m speaking of a big, root for the underdog, feel good popcorn movie about one hero beating the odds? We shy away from those, but perhaps there’s a way to do a new one?
Isn’t it about time for…
… an original musical. The success of American Idol and even such dance films as Step Up and the Disney Channel mega-hit High School Musical seems to indicate that this is a certified trend, so why aren’t the majors churning these out?
Isn’t it about time for….
… a new bad guy? We’ve done Nazis, we’ve done aliens, we’ve done terrorists, who can we make into the new bad guy that can bring in audiences who want to see a real “mustache twirler” — who is that?
Isn’t it about time for…
… a new version of the buddy cop movie? Surely there must be a way to put two cops together again? But what’s the hook? Ten points to the writer who can give me a movie about a cop and an Eskimo! I’ve got the perfect title: Nanook & McClain. I’ve even got the perfect poster line: “He’s got thirty different ways to say ‘You’re busted!'”
I welcome all your ideas on this exercise, both answers to my ideas and gaps you see out there in movieland that need to be exploited. Finding those needs and filling them is what it’s about!
Blake Snyder
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I think you’re right on target… there are some musicals already in development, including:
UNTITLED (20TH CENTURY FOX/CANINE MUSICAL)
Logline A live-action canine musical, where purebreds battle mongrels for street rights.
Twentieth Century Fox and Regency Enterprises jointly paid mid against high six figures to option the pitch.
Also, don’t know how active they are, but there are musical projects with both Andre 3000 and Usher attached.
How about (and yes, I have this one sitting around):
A widowed soccer mom turned contract killer is just trying to keep her daughter happy, but when things get out of control she must fight to keep her daughter innocent of her actions while rescuing her from her not quite so deceased exhusband.
McClain is a bitter, divorced, absentee father, LA cop whose son disappears on an ice fishing trip in Alaska. He goes to Alaska to find him and meets the last person to see him, Nanook, ice fishing guide and laid back family man. They discover that the son ran afoul of the dirty oil company he was secretly investigating for an environmental group. McClain and Nanook must rescue the son and expose the oil company. McClain must also repair his relationship with his son (with the help of easy going Nanook.)
It’s like Lethal Weapon if Danny Glover were an Eskimo/Inuit.
Blake – I have a VERY funny vampire comedy – any time you fancy a read, drop me a line :-)
Blake your awsome, I love reading your blog, can”t wait to see the software, just what a geek like me needs, more distractions.
JD
PS Hope your ball can take the force of the bat.
Boy, Blake, some interesting thoughts.
I remember we were discussing the horror genre at the L.A. workshop. My theory is that we’re seeing so much horror these days, because people need to imagine that there is something worse out there than what they see on the news every single day. Not unlike the era of the Cold War, that generated an abundance of horror and horrible alien films.
I don’t know if a “celebrity” villian will capture the public’s imagination at this time because it’s difficult to face the monster within when we see examples of man’s inhumanity against man played out day after day Live! from Baghdad, Darfur, New Orleans and that little house down the street. I think that society needs the faceless, nameless villian at this time, not unlike that damned shark in Jaws that has one agenda – to kill, and won’t stop until its mission is accomplished. Relentless, inhuman, machinelike in nature – the Killing Machine.
Which is also why I believe that comedies – adult comedies specifically – are doing gonzo. Spike Lee’s Requiem had me shedding a sea of tears; not to mention the everyday news that surrounds me. I need to LAUGH a good, naughty belly laugh, so I turn to THE 40 YEAR OLD VIRGIN or WEDDING CRASHERS to scratch that itch.
in terms of a new villian that is an old one, what about the Children are From Hell themes as in THE BAD SEED and VILLAGE OF THE DAMNED? Perhaps the devil is a beautiful woman in a red dress, or could it possibly be that tween next to her? In times of war, I think we deal with the fear of disempowerment and castration – so what is it that really makes the alpha male afraid? We’ve seen that happen in FATAL ATTRACTION and, to some degree, MISERY – what other PRIMAL fears prey on the male psyche? There lies the answer(s).
NANOOK AND MCLAIN
GOLDEN FLEECE
A disgraced undercover FBI agent sent to a remote Alaskan township is partnered with an embittered Inuit sherrif after a series of attacks on the Alaskan pipleline. Together, they must compete in the Iditarod in order to entrap the suspected saboteur – the sherrif’s estranged activist daughter.
A side note – while this deals with television and not film, I was cheered by the pilot of STUDIO 60 ON THE SUNSET STRIP. Just a gorgeous opener, with Judd Hirsch paying homage to Chayefsky’s Howard Beale – tightly written, great, rich characters … and the overall belief that what we do is Good and Meaningful. It’s been a long time since I’ve heard a “co-consprirator” so publicly cheer us on. Great show. ~ anne
One more pass at the logline:
NANOOK AND MCCLAIN
Wrongfully accused of trading illegal immigrants, a disgraced sherrif in an Arizona desert town finds an unusual ally in a visiting Inuit shaman, who’s there to buy a lead sled dog.
:)
Nanook & McClain
College educated Inuit, vacationing Federal Marshal Nanook decides to hit Los Angeles just to get away from it all. Except that the crazed brother of the last killer he brought in is stalking him. When his hotel room is vandalized, Nanook has to deal with rumpled, Colombo-like LA detective McClain, and they have to work together. Neither of them is ready for a fast-moving cat & mouse game roaming over Southern California.
Might not get a chance to do a new Cannonball Run in theatres – it looks like Tim Minear may be in charge of a series in that vein for your television.
http://www.thefutoncritic.com/devwatch.aspx?id=drive&view=details
Hi Blake,
Joe from Disney here.
Here’s a different take:
NANOOK and MCCLAIN
(Comedy – Buddy Love)
A loose-cannon FBI agent, banished to Alaska where his boss thinks “he can’t destroy anything”, is called to investigate a murder that occurs on an old Inuit burial site – and is met the ghost of the victim – Nanook – and together they track down the killer – an thrill-kill hunting guide leading an illegal polar bear hunt.
In the process, Nanook gets revenge and can go to his rest in peace, and McClain gets in touch with his spiritual side through Nanook’s teaching, allowing him to return to New York a kinder, gentler, loose-cannon of an FBI agent.
Home Alone in an airport
Warner Bros. presents UNACCOMPANIED MINORS about kids stranded at a big city airport during the holidays. It is based on a true story aired on the NPR radio show “This American Life”
Hi Blake:
I just got your book this week and started working with chapter one. It’s great. So I figured maybe I should put my 2 cents in here to get some practice.
Home Alone struck me.
A young resourceful kid finds himself riding with hi-jackers; as he takes a cross-country bus trip to spend Christmas with his Grandparents
I think the title could be “Alone on a Busâ€
OK and the tagline for the poster?
“Home Alone†on a bus.
Alrighty it’s corny, but it would be one heck of a bus trip.
Jennifer
How about The Grandmother–The Godfather meets the Golden Girls. The story of an elderly lady who bakes bread when she’s not breaking heads.
Thought I’d try some more hopefully fresh loglines.
A new bad guy:
An evil US president becomes dictator and turns the country into a grim prison camp – Blackhouse
A new Rocky/underdog:
An old has-been baseball star stumbles across a secret elixir and gets a shot to return to the majors – ‘Ey Batter
A funny vampire movie:
A vampire bat gets a chance to become human for a week and falls in love with the perfect woman – A Bite of Life
Now all we need is to give the vampire and the ball star some of that potion and go after the evil dictator. Not the greatest film idea, but it would help me sleep better.
If an action story line is to mean anything fresh, then they have to at least plausible. For example, the comments about the FBI agent. First, there are no Inuit sherifs, the troopers run a village safety officer program. Second, the pipeline is in the interior (Athabaskins), the Inuits on the coast. Third, the FBI does not have permanent undercover guys, its an assignment after completing required training. I should know, I’m an FBI agent in Fairbanks and I’m running the Iditarod this year.