THERE ARE MANY COMPREHENSIVE BOOKS on the fundamentals of writing a screenplay.1 However, I want to begin by establishing the broad concepts that are germane and key to my later explanations of how to write popular film genres. My intention is not to be all-inclusive here, but rather to give you a short course in the chief storytelling concepts.
This is important because in order to write strong genre screenplays, you must be able to write a good old fashion drama. Look at the drama as the chassis on which to build all the popular film genres: action-adventure, thriller, science-fiction-fantasy, comedy/romantic comedy and horror-fantasy all begin with a strong dramatic framework.
Create an Enticing Film Premise
Nearly every film studio executive will tell you he or she is interested in purchasing screenplays based on a high-concept premise. But exactly what does this phrase mean? Basically, in a high-concept premise, the situation in the premise is more important than the characters in the story. I will provide specific examples of this in each genre that I discuss because nearly every screenplay written in a popular genre is based on a high-concept premise.
Since moving into the twenty-first century, film studio executives have realized that the âhigh-conceptâ approach to screenplay development is getting a bit stale. So they have come up with a new approach to widen their search for unique film premises. The search is now on for whatâs being called the low-high-concept premise. This is a simple variation that takes character into account more than the situation of the story but still relies on a unique situation in which the characters are involved. Essentially, the low-high-concept premise is a focused drama. Since actors love drama because it gives them a chance to strut their stuff on screen, this approach has become a way for the studios to help dramas earn more money at the box office. Thatâs a big reason why high-profile-popular actors tend to be involved on the production side of these films, and not just on the screen. Just look at the top drama films made since 2000, and youâll find that the most successful of them involve high-profile actors who also work behind the scenes as directors and/or producers. Two excellent illustrations of this are George Clooneyâs Good Night & Good Luck (2005)âwhich he co-wrote, acted in and directedâand Clint Eastwoodâs Million Dollar Baby (2004), in which he acted and which he directed. Both of these movies won Academy Awards and made money for the studios. Theyâre both based on low-high-concept premises.
Use Theme in Your Story
Whatâs the story really about? Whatâs the big, shiny idea underneath the story? Answer this and youâll have the theme of the story. If you analyze all the great films, both past and present, youâll find that they all have strong and important themes that are life-affirming. What does that mean? Life-affirming themes reassure the audience that their own existence matters. Films, more often than not, offer the audience a chance to go through the perils of lifeâboth physical and emotionalâas spectators, allowing them to learn from the experience without the jeopardy. I know that sounds a bit pretentious, but deep down you know itâs true when you experience a well-made film.
One technique is to start with a one-word theme that broadly describes what your story is about. An excellent source for a thematic word is Rogetâs Thesaurus. Go to the Table of Contents and look under Class Eight: Affections. Of special interest is the section on moralityâthatâs where youâll find the themes most used in storytelling. The struggle between right and wrongâmoralityâis eternal and universal, because people and films are about people. So this is a natural and very organic approach.
There are other sources of themes, and the most popular are:
â˘The Seven Deadly Sins
â˘The Seven Heavenly Virtues
â˘The Ten Commanders
â˘Popular Bible Stories
Once youâve decided which one-word theme applies to what you want to write, come up with a clichĂŠ that would be appropriate for what youâre trying to say. Here are few examples:
â˘As Good as It Gets: Trust. . . âNo man is an island.â
â˘Jerry Maguire: Honesty . . . âHonesty is the best policy.â
â˘Titanic: Dishonesty . . . âIf youâll lie, youâll steal.â
â˘Shrek: Tolerance . . . âDonât judge a book by its cover.â
This is the only time when using a clichĂŠ is really helpful in creative writing. Otherwise, avoid them.
Next, develop the physical theme for your story. This involves giving the audience a clear sense of what the storyâs main character is up againstâa problem/predicament. So, if your main character is a police detective, then her physical goal in the story needs to have an underlying theme. In this case, it could be to stop a serial killer who preys only on young women, which is an underlying theme that embraces feminism or the idea that women are objectified in American culture (and, to be fair, elsewhere on the planet, too).
Next there should be a metaphysical theme for your story. This involves the audience in an emotional sensation that underlines a more universal idea in the story, exemplified by the main characterâs efforts to solve the problem/predicament in which she finds herself. So, following the female police detective, the more universal theme could embrace the idea that women must act on their own behalf in order to level the playing field and not sit around waiting and hoping that men will see the light. Of course, this theme could go in other directions as well.
This theory may strike you as highbrow, but you can easily bring it down to earth by converting both the physical and meta-physical themes into concrete central questions that are to be answered (or not) by the storyâs end.
For example:
Female Police Detectiveâs physical central question: Can she catch the serial killer before he or she kills another young woman?
Female Police Detectiveâs metaphysical central question: Must women take more control of their lives in order to protect themselves?
Now letâs look at a real-life example of this, using the drama Brokeback Mountain, which received an Oscar for WritingâAdapted Screenplay in 2006. (Brokeback Mountain also won two more Oscars and was nominated in five other categories2):
Ennisâ (Heath Ledger) physical central question could be: Can he have a secret homosexual relationship with Jack (Jake Gyllenhaal) while maintaining his heterosexual life with his wife?
Ennisâ metaphysical central question could be: Can a person live happily by hiding his or her true self from the ones he or she loves?
No matter what genre youâre writing in, donât forget that theme plays a vital role in the storytelling. It also serves as a guiding light throughout the writing process.
Create Interesting Characters
Stories are, first and foremost, about people. Hereâs my definition of a screenstory:
One person with a problem who is trying to solve that problem through other people, and the more other people get involved, the more complicated the problem and its solution become.
Your primary goal as a writer is to create a main character with whom the audience can sympathize. Note that I didnât say agree with, because the most important feeling you want the audience to have is that of understanding the characters, no matter how they feel or what they do in the story.
One way to accomplish this is to think of the specific role each character plays in the story The three primary roles are:
Protagonist: Who the story is about; the main character.
Antagonist: The person who opposes the protagonistâs efforts.
Pivotal Characters: Those people who help or hinder the protagonistâs (and/or antagonistâs) efforts and/or bring a different point of view to the storyâs problem/predicament, regardless of whose side theyâre on.
Often, new or less-experienced writers consider a protagonistâs problem in a story to be the antagonist. For example, you might say that alcoholism is the antagonist. But technically, the love of booze is actually the problem that serves to fuel the kind of behavior that creates conflict in the story. So, in this case, a better way to create an antagonist would be to add a loved oneâa wife, girlfriend, brother, doctorâwho wants the character to quit drinking, thus opposing the use of alcohol. In this way, you turn the inner conflict into an outer conflict through a living, breathing person with whom the protagonist interacts. This technique is called personification.
Use Character Triangles
When analyzing most well-written screenplays and films, youâll find that at their core is what I call character triangles. There are two basic triangles: one for the mainplot and one for the subplot. Hereâs a visual representation of the concept.
Note that the two triangles are connected by the protagonist. This prov...