A recent look at the trades reveals that, as predicted, spec screenplay sales are up.
Just like the spec screenplay frenzy that occured after the writer’s strike in 1988, there is a similar rush to buy fresh scripts from fresh writers. The slowdown that occurred because of the strike has ended in major fashion. And like before there are a lot of opportunities for new screenwriters to break in.
What I keep hearing too is the repeated lament of studio executives about their ability to sell a movie. The top concern often is how a studio with a major release tells the public what it’s about. The competition for our attention has never been tougher — to get and keep an audience’s attention we all must participate and be welcomed to add to the solution.
Perhaps this is why Save the Cat! has been so embraced by executives, agents, managers, and producers as well as writers. Chapter One of Cat! is all about this ongoing challenge. And some of the tried-and-true solutions I laid out in that chapter are still resonating in the halls of filmdom.
Titled “What Is It?” this is the chapter that dissects that very problem: telling everyone all along the chain from you to your agent to the studio to the public what your movie is about. And though the phrase “High Concept” remains a dirty word, and the sense that a movie that is such is, on its face, “commercial” and therefore “lame,” it nevertheless describes the solution to the number-one problem we all face: communicating ideas. The non-lame high concept movie is only a matter of the same thing we’ve been talking about all along — avoiding cliche.
In my new book, Save the Cat! Strikes Back, I will again wade into this controversial debate with even more unique tools to figure out how to create ideas that grab us, or to re-configure existing ideas to identify the “white-hot center” of any story concept. The first chapter of my new book, titled “Wow! What a Bad Idea!” will cover not only how we go wrong in idea-generation, but will codify some revolutionary ways to fix lagging movie notions.
If it is the main hurdle that’s keeping an audience from “getting” what your movie is about — you and everyone who bet on you and your script — these new tools will be invaluable for those on the front lines of this communication challenge.
Meantime, our opportunites for “building a better mousetrap” have never been better. The smart idea, smartly executed and raised above the level of “formula” is being rewarded big time.
Be one of these writers, the one who is conscious not only of your own creative challenges,but also everyone connected to helping you launch your story, and you too will be listed in the spec screenplay pantheon.
And we all want to see that!
p.s. I will be discussing these ideas and others from the upcoming book in my special one day talk in Vancouver next weekend! Look forward to seeing everyone there!
Blake Snyder
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Hi Blake,
Thanks for being my personal (screenwriting) trainer. You always keep me psyched and focused and positive!
Some of the greatest movies ever made are considered “high concept”. There are lots of great high-concept movies that suck, but also lots that are great. Some of the best movies ever made are “high concept”. Just like there’s lots of “artsy” or “serious” films that suck, and lots that win Academy Awards. It all comes down to the writing, and the story. Sometimes a great high-concept idea is squandered by a poor script. And sometimes an idea that sounds un-pitchable, ends up being great because of how the writer executed it (and a great director and cast doesn’t hurt either). It all comes down to the quality of the work. A story well told.
But I think no matter who you are, a great idea for a story is a great idea for a story and makes people want to say “how does that turn out?” or “what happens next?”. And those thoughts have been going through the minds of humans ever since they sat around in caves.
I’m excited about this time in screenwriting. Never has there been such a pool of great teachers (thanks Blake!) and great resources available to the scriptwriter. I’m using Final Draft to polish the new spec I just finished a couple of weeks ago (boy, what a feeling that is), and I was thinking back to the days of typewriters and I couldn’t imagine what it must have been like to re-work and edit a script back then. What a job!
Anyway, I better get back to the script while my son is still napping!
David, I still haven’t moved to LA yet, but I’m proof that outsiders can break in! People are looking for a good story. If you can write a quality script and keep persevering until it’s noticed/read/purchased/produced, you’ll make it. It just takes a lot of patience and tenacity.
Hi Mike! Thanks so much for your words of encouragement. I’m my own worst enemy when it comes to reasons NOT to write (laugh?) I’m sure that is sadly familiar to many out there. If all I ever get is a sense that there are a lot of good people out there (i.e. Blake and you Mike)… then that is a reward in itself. Good luck to you Mike and I hope to see your work up on the big screen (or DVD)! – DM