Pick The Right Idea BEFORE You Write One Word

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  • Pick The Right Idea BEFORE You Write One Word

    Do what you want. Good luck.
    Last edited by Bono; 05-04-2021, 08:18 PM.

  • #2
    Provided you can execute at a reasonably competent level, I think concept is more important to making a sale and getting a movie made than execution.

    Here are my Black List ratings from 2017. I didn't make it through every script on the list, but I read roughly the top half.

    It's almost four years later and a bunch of those have been produced: POWER (aka Netflix's PROJECT POWER), BREAKING NEWS FROM YUBA COUNTY, INFINITE, and THE OTHER LAMB.

    These were not the best scripts from the list, but they were some of the strongest concepts (except THE OTHER LAMB, which was a weirdo indie A24 type of thing). A 7/10 script with a 10/10 concept can get made. A 10/10 script with a 7/10 concept may be a tougher sell. You are selling the one sheet. "What's it about?" The importance of that can't be overstated.

    When I had my little foray as an intern/assistant in development, one of the execs used to throw around the question, "Is it a movie?" Not all great stories are movies. The Sound and the Fury is not a movie. The Trial by Kafka is not a movie. I've wasted a lot of time and energy in the past writing stuff that was dead in the water from the start. If you don't have a compelling core premise, right away your target shrinks, leaving you very little margin for error. If you have that killer idea, you can get traction even without perfect execution because the idea itself will excite people.

    The ability to recognize a viable concept is important. The ability to come up with your own viable concepts is important.

    This is great reading on that subject from a guy who knows the biz well:

    http://www.wordplayer.com/columns/wp...Attractor.html

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    • #3
      Dude or Dudette? I love that you took time to rank the blacklist concepts. That's awesome. To me the comedy writer, I get more excited by Elves and Santa than anything else on the list...

      Great post by DW... wait, I just realized your name is a lot like Walt Disney. Can't believe I never noticed that before.

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      • #4
        Originally posted by DaltWisney View Post
        The ability to recognize a viable concept is important. The ability to come up with your own viable concepts is important.

        This is great reading on that subject from a guy who knows the biz well:

        http://www.wordplayer.com/columns/wp...Attractor.html
        Great pull. I think I read all these columns years and years ago. But always good to hear it again.

        When you choose to write one idea, you are maybe ignoring your better idea that could actually help you break in. And at my advanced age, I don't have time for the just mess around stage as I did when I was in my 20s, early 30s. Time is very limited. Got to pick ideas that have real shots of becoming movies or make me so happy I have to write them.

        But to write that middle of the road idea that you only sort of like is so depressing...


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        • #5
          I rated them by overall quality, not concept. I thought Newsflash was the best script. Definitely not the best concept though.

          A lot of people like the concept for Infinite and that's supposed to come out soon (Mark Wahlberg starring, Antoine Fuqua directing). Power wasn't even my favorite script by Mattson Tomlin on the list, but it was the better concept for sure compared to Brosio, which I had ranked higher.

          I'm going through the 2021 scripts now, and I've added a new column to rate the concept independent of script quality.

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          • #6
            Originally posted by DaltWisney View Post
            I rated them by overall quality, not concept. I thought Newsflash was the best script. Definitely not the best concept though.

            A lot of people like the concept for Infinite and that's supposed to come out soon (Mark Wahlberg starring, Antoine Fuqua directing). Power wasn't even my favorite script by Mattson Tomlin on the list, but it was the better concept for sure compared to Brosio, which I had ranked higher.

            I'm going through the 2021 scripts now, and I've added a new column to rate the concept independent of script quality.
            OH I misread... I thought you were grading just the concept alone...

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            • #7
              Originally posted by DaltWisney View Post


              The Trial by Kafka is not a movie.

              Well, technically it was. Directed by Orson Wells in the 60s.
              Advice from writer, Kelly Sue DeConnick. "Try this: if you can replace your female character with a sexy lamp and the story still basically works, maybe you need another draft.-

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              • #8
                --
                Last edited by Bono; 05-04-2021, 08:18 PM.

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                • #9
                  Originally posted by Bono View Post

                  This isn't twitter. We are supposed to understand the point around here not miss it on purpose...
                  Well, la di da. "The Royal We."

                  So what is this point I missed? Even though a Kafka classic was adapted for the screen by Orson Wells it's not really a movie?

                  Proclamations like: Pick The Right Idea sound like more reductive screenwriting guru babble to me.

                  Sounds profound but doesn't work in practice because there is no golden bullet to a career.

                  How many success stories have we heard where a writer breaks in with a script, a "wrong" idea, that no one wanted to produce, but the execution was so awesome it got the writer assignments.

                  A lot.

                  Edited to add: Faulkner's "The Sound and The Fury" was also produced for the screen. Twice.
                  Advice from writer, Kelly Sue DeConnick. "Try this: if you can replace your female character with a sexy lamp and the story still basically works, maybe you need another draft.-

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                  • #10
                    Originally posted by sc111 View Post

                    Well, technically it was. Directed by Orson Wells in the 60s.
                    Hah. I stand corrected.

                    Anything is possible, especially if one of the best filmmakers ever is involved.

                    I think my meaning was pretty clear though.

                    In general, you're probably going to have an easier path to a sale with a Speed/Predator/Mr. & Mrs. Smith/40 Year Old Virgin type of premise than a Naked Lunch/The Trial/The Swimmer/etc.

                    The flipside is that people read so much genre fare that something offbeat is probably refreshing, but I'd still argue that you're aiming at a smaller target with that type of material.

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                    • #11
                      Also relevant from an industry pro/former DDer:

                      http://www.screenwritersutopia.com/article/7abc945e

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Originally posted by DaltWisney View Post

                        Hah. I stand corrected.

                        Anything is possible, especially if one of the best filmmakers ever is involved.

                        I think my meaning was pretty clear though.

                        In general, you're probably going to have an easier path to a sale with a Speed/Predator/Mr. & Mrs. Smith/40 Year Old Virgin type of premise than a Naked Lunch/The Trial/The Swimmer/etc.

                        The flipside is that people read so much genre fare that something offbeat is probably refreshing, but I'd still argue that you're aiming at a smaller target with that type of material.
                        I believe more people break in with a never-produced sample script that gets them assignments than those who land a sale out of the gate.

                        Contemporary novels and classics like those you mentioned continually get adapted for the screen. How many of Hollywood's iconic films are book adaptations? A lot.

                        Why is that?

                        When Mario Puzo wrote The Godfather, I don't think his priority was a commercial hook. He wrote a sprawling, Shakespeare-like story with rich, complex characters, different than any mafia novel or movie that went before.

                        He tapped a market in book sales no one imagined existed. Then the screen adaptation made movie history.

                        What's the right idea. It's the idea that only you can write like a master craftsman.

                        Advice from writer, Kelly Sue DeConnick. "Try this: if you can replace your female character with a sexy lamp and the story still basically works, maybe you need another draft.-

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Originally posted by DaltWisney View Post
                          Also relevant from an industry pro/former DDer:

                          http://www.screenwritersutopia.com/article/7abc945e
                          Oh. CE.
                          Advice from writer, Kelly Sue DeConnick. "Try this: if you can replace your female character with a sexy lamp and the story still basically works, maybe you need another draft.-

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            ---
                            Last edited by Bono; 05-04-2021, 08:07 PM. Reason: waste of time

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                            • #15
                              Originally posted by Bono View Post
                              If a writer had success with an idea -- then it must have been a good idea... so I don't buy that argument that there are execution based ideas...
                              I'm going to argue against myself - I think there are execution based ideas. Ones that turn into movies that are just so filled with voice that you ignore how small or non-existent or non-commercial the story is.

                              But they're usually made for a very low price by a passionate filmmaker with a vision. One of my favorite movies is Welcome To The Dollhouse, written and directed by Todd Solondz. He made it for less than a million bucks, and was partially funded by a friend who believed in him. Juno's another one - the logline of "a girl wrestles whether with whether or not to have an abortion or give her kid up for adoption" doesn't scream commercial. But Cody is just such an amazing writer with such voice that a producer who was already working with her read it, then gave it to a director who was equally taken by her writing.

                              But those are absolutely exceptions, and notable because they're so rare. Not having a compelling core idea is putting fifty hurdles in your way. And even Diablo Cody, with all her skill, has made mostly really high concept projects since then - "Juno" was just supposed to be a writing sample so she could get the job adapting her own book for a studio.

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