what is high concept

[Joaneasley]

On the flip side

As some of you know, I have a small business writing loglines and queries for people. A lot of the scripts people want me to write queries for are not high concept. By figuring out what to emphasize and what wording to use, I do my best to help a script get requested. I won't take a job unless I think I can do something for it that will help its chances in the marketplace.

Part of logline-writing and query letter-writing is execution. It's wordsmithing. It's knowing what a producer expects to see in a query and making sure it's in there. It's knowing what will turn them off and leaving it out. It's taking a long, complicated story and finding the quickest way to get to the general idea, and making the general idea sound good. It's taking the story you've got and using lights and filters to create the most flattering image possible of a compelling protagonist struggling toward an interesting goal.

The point I'm making now is, if you have a good story but it's not high concept, you're not necessarily dead. Your query letter will make it sound like a good story. It will probably require a well-written synopsis in addition to the logline.

If you go to someone like me, we'll do the best we can to show off your story to best advantage. But our raw material will always be who your protagonist is, what he's struggling to do, why, and who's doing what to stop him. We can improve your chances for a script request to a certain extent, but the bottom line is still the protagonist and goal you chose to write about.

[Juno Styles]

Re: what is high concept

i'm surprised it lasted this long. good opinions/facts though.

[Joe Unidos]

Re: what is high concept

The importance of beginning with a solid, unique, compelling and simple cinematic concept can not be understated. Especially for a writer trying to crack the concept driven spec market.

I can't see how there could be any more to say on this particular subject.

[Deus Ex Machine]

Re: what is high concept

Is it just me or is anyone else suffering subject fatigue after three very recent and very lengthy threads on the same subject?

Joan's post is excellent.

To sum up, it's called high CONCEPT not high execution.

CONCEPT is what you pitch not execution.

CONCEPT is what entices people to read the script not the execution.

CONCEPT is what attracts audiences not the execution.

The importance of beginning with a solid, unique, compelling and simple cinematic concept can not be understated. Especially for a writer trying to crack the concept driven spec market.

EDIT, make that: The importance of beginning with a solid, unique, compelling and simple cinematic concept can not be OVERstated. Especially for a writer trying to crack the concept driven spec market.

Don't confuse what I said with anything except what I actually said.

I am not saying execution is not important, only that it is secondary to your concept and completely irrelevant as far as defining high concept.

[Joaneasley]

Re: what is high concept

There are varying degrees of high concept, ranging from "kinda good" to "great."

There can be no such thing as a bad high concept. That's like saying "an ugly beautiful girl."

If you have a concise logline describing your movie's concept, and everyone instantly understands it but no one likes it, the industry would not call that "high concept." There's no point to having a short-and-easily-understood logline if it's not also appealing. The practical result of that would be, people read your logline, they instantly understand it, and then you win the world speed record for having them say, "Nah, not interested. Next... "

The point is to write a movie that sounds appealing when you pitch it, because that's a movie industry people will want to read, and it's also a movie that someone is more likely to want to buy.

They know there are people standing in line at the multiplex figuring out which movie they want to see, and those people will pick the movie that offers the best answer to the question, "What's it about?"

> Can't a concept develop into a high concept as you are writing the script?

Not really. Your logline is shorthand for the concept of your movie -- who the protagonist is, what he struggles to do, why. When you start writing your script, those decisions have already been made. If you don't start out with a protagonist struggling to do something that instantly sounds interesting, that's not going to change as you write.

A girl struggles to get her cat out of a tree before it gets hungry.

That's a logline, it's concise, and it's a concept for a movie. But everyone can tell already that movie would suck. It's boring. The stakes are low. There's nothing clever. No one in their right mind would call it high concept.

While struggling to get laid, a 40 year old man falls in love... but she doesn't know he's a virgin. Title: 40 Year Old Virgin

When her boyfriend dumps her, a bubble-headed sorority girl gets into Harvard Law for the sole purpose of winning him back. Title: Legally Blonde.

See? The appeal is in the design of the story. Somebody thought up a high concept before they started writing, knowing that people would read their logline and a high percentage of them would say, "I want to see that."

That's what you have to do to write high concept. You make sure you have a high concept idea before you start writing. You reject ideas that don't pitch well. You wait till you have a killer idea. It has to have drama or comedy and a sustainable story, but besides that, it has to pitch well.

A lot of concepts are in-between. You think you have come up with a great high concept, and a decent number of people would agree with you. Some will like it, some won't. So one out of 10 requests your script. The ones who like it think it's high concept.

Maybe your idea is a twist on an older movie, and some will think it's too much like it, others will think it's just different enough to be cool. The ones who think your idea is great will call it high concept.

>I kinda thought that the high concept pitch was supposed to facilitate the "quick-decision- process: The story either appeals to me or it doesn't. Next.

True, but you want the verdict on your logline to be Yes! I love that! So you have to make sure you're writing something that will get you that response. So you write about a 40 year old virgin (if someone didn't beat you to it) instead of writing about lazy days at your grandma's farm.

If you don't make sure before you start writing that your protagonist is spending his Act II doing something fresh and appealing, you miss your chance to have a movie anybody would ever call high concept. You may have interesting scenes. You may have character depth. Great. But nobody will know about those from your logline. All they'll know is you wrote about a cat in a tree. And that doesn't sound like a movie anyone would pay to see, so no one wants to read it.

[odriftwood]

Re: what is high concept

Keep in mind that the concept of high concept was invented by and used by studio execs. It's what they all want. Nearly every movie released by a major studio is high concept in their world. Once it hits the theatres it becomes our world. Yeah, we get the concept but the movie still stinks. Doesn't matter. In those hallowed halls of exec offices it is still a high concept. You can chase "high concepts" until the cows come home but unless it works for them it don't matter. That is obviously stating the obvious but strong characters, engaging story, smart dialogue will go a long way. Write a great script and let the "concept" speak for itself. Of course if you want to play with the big guns, you'll have to play by their rules...

[yeehi]

Re: what is high concept

Only if that scene involved an aged nun being reamed by three sailors. [as defined above]

The title would be 'Old habits die hard'

[TwoBrad Bradley]

Re: what is high concept

I thought I was getting closer to understanding this, Joan, but you knocked me back a couple of squares.

You said " ... come up with a good high concept before you start writing ... ". Are there varying degrees of high concept? Good? Bad? Something else? Can't a concept develop into a high concept as you are writing the script?

If you shop your logline around to ten people and only the tenth person thinks it is fresh, clever and appealing is that enough to make it high concept?

Since you can't appeal to all the people all the time, I kinda thought that the high concept pitch was supposed to facilitate the "quick-decision- process: The story either appeals to me or it doesn't. Next.

[seh]

Re: what is high concept

I think High Concept is like the famous court ruling on pornography: I know it when I see it. In the case of High Concept, it goes like this: you read through the script sales, see something that leaps off the computer screen. "Oh my God" you say. "That's so simple. I could have thought of that. I SHOULD have thought of that. Anyone could have -why not me? Oh God, why not ME !?!?!"

And you bash your head against the wall for a little while till the pain fades...

Kevan, I agree that Tobin's book is great. Even better, when you email him questions, he gets right back to you with detailed thoughts.

[Joaneasley]

Re: what is high concept

We all send out what you'd call "normal loglines." It's when your logline sounds fresh and instantly appealing that we call it "high concept."

The reason we always tell people to come up with a good high concept before you start writing a script is, sooner or later, you're going to want someone to read your script. (Somebody has to want to read it before they could possibly buy it, right?)

Producers, agents and other industry people often decide which scripts they're going to read when they hear the loglines. The loglines that jump out at them as fresh, clever and appealing (aka high concept) are the scripts people instantly want to read, and the movies people want to see.

[TwoBrad Bradley]

Re: what is high concept

Thank you, Kevan, I must do some research on High Concept and loglines and the differences between the two.

It just so happens my premise is not very original and I really don't see it encouraging anyone to read the screenplay.

So, I guess it's a logline.

[Kevan]

Re: what is high concept

I have a story premise I can capture in two sentences, but they don't immediately intrigue the reader, don't seem unique or fresh or pleasantly surprising.

Should I just use a normal logline?

You don't have a High Concept idea then!

There's no such thing as a normal logline, each is individually structured to a particular premise.

What "High Concept" means is developing an idea which entails somekind of originality which encourages a reader to want to read the screenplay. Same can be said of the eventual movie, works the same way on potential audience expectations. Call it foreplay if you like.

I recommend you read up on what "High Concept" means in relation to a screenplay and I'd also do the same for the concept of a logline..

Alternatively, you could always write, as you call it, "a normal logline", and hope for the best...

[TwoBrad Bradley]

Re: what is high concept

"High concept- is the most important phrase in Hollywood right now, and has been for many years. It simply means that the concept, the premise of your story is so strong that it can be captured in one or two sentences in a way that immediately intrigues the listener, and that seems unique, fresh, and pleasantly surprising. It means, in other words, that your premise is so unique and exciting that you can sell your story or at least seriously interest someone in your story using only the premise itself.

Quoted from Rob Tobin's book:
HOW TO WRITE HIGH STRUCTURE, HIGH CONCEPT MOVIES

I have a story premise I can capture in two sentences, but they don't immediately intrigue the reader, don't seem unique or fresh or pleasantly surprising.

Should I just use a normal logline?

[DMNY]

Re: what is high concept

High concept = a paycheck
in order words, a high concept is something that attracts the readers by its originality and clarity.

[English Dave]

Re: what is high concept

No, I'm not a fan of Wodehouse..

I meant "antagonist" in screenwriting sense, as a joke.. Ruffle some feathers and all that..

Always best to think before you say anything, Dave, otherwise you'll venture into Meeting With The Mentor before The Refusal of The Call..

Yeah, okay.





What? Did you realise Chris Vogler is dysylexic