“The Quest”: Why do you need to think in terms of genres?
I am pleased to announce “Go Into The Story: The Quest,” my attempt at creating a new pathway into Hollywood for aspiring screenwriters: A 24-week online screenwriting workshop which I will offer for free to as many as 4 writers. I introduced the idea in this post last week [if you haven’t read it, please do so now], and I will be talking about this initiative each day this week on GITS at 6PM Eastern / 3PM Pacific to give readers a complete understanding of what it’s about. If you are interested to learn more, click here.
NOTE: I WILL NOT BE ACCEPTING ANY LOGLINE SUBMISSIONS BEFORE TUESDAY, MAY 29, 2012. PLEASE RESPECT THIS SCHEDULE!
If you did not read this post from Monday [“The Quest”: What is it?] and this post yesterday [“The Quest”: Why is story concept critical to your success?], do so now.
Today I’m going to go into the subject of why you need to think in terms of genres, but first a bit more about the philosophy of The Quest workshop which I offer through Screenwriting Master Class.
As far as I can tell, most of the educational resources and screenwriting ‘gurus’ focus almost exclusively on writing a screenplay. Obviously that is important: Your best shot at breaking into Hollywood is a great spec script.
But what then? Let’s say you sell your spec script. Are you prepared to be a professional screenwriter? Have you learned enough about yourself as a writer to be comfortable taking on writing assignments? Have you put into place writing habits that enable you to turn around a writing assignment in as little as two months? Do you have a coherent approach to the craft, a combination of principles and practices that gives you the confidence that yo know what you’re doing? Do you have an understanding of the business side of screenwriting?
With The Quest workshop, you not only end up with an original screenplay, you learn all of the above, so that when you break into Hollywood, you can also build a career there.
It’s one of my mantras for The Quest: “It’s not just about the screenplay… it’s about the screenwriter.”
Why do you need to think in terms of genres?
Let me go at this subject by once again dipping into a Core lecture from The Quest:
A writer is free, of course, to write any story they want. Hopefully fortune smiles upon them and they sell a script to Hollywood or elsewhere. However if they have any realistic chance of developing a career as a professional screenwriter, they need to understand the mindset of people involved in the acquisition and development part of the filmmaking process — agents, managers, producers, studio executives. Comprehending how these industry insiders look at movies can help a writer make more informed choices about the stories they choose to write.
In terms of getting a sense of what types of stories studios are looking to buy, there are two fundamental dynamics at work: (1) Script genre. (2) Similar but different. In today’s lecture, we look at the former.
Regarding genre, let’s go through some basic questions:
What do I mean by ‘genre’? Genre is “a class or category of artistic endeavor having a particular form, content, technique, or the like.” In relation to movies, that means the categorization of a story in terms of its premise, setting, and mood.
What are the main movie genres? There is no official list, but here are eight of them we can say with confidence that pretty much cover the spectrum of stories studios routinely buy, develop, and produce:
Action
Comedy
Drama
Family
Fantasy
Horror
Science Fiction
Thriller
What do I mean by ‘cross genre’? These are movies in which the story has narrative elements representative of more than one genre (e.g., Action-Thriller, Comedy-Drama).
What do I mean by ‘sub-genre’? These are specific story types within a genre (e.g., Romantic Comedy, Action Adventure).
Why are genres important to movie studios? A studio has what they call a development slate. In that slate of potential movies, they seek a balance of genres. While some studios may focus more on one genre over another, if you looked at a studio’s slate, you’d more than likely see projects representing most if not all these eight main genres.
One way of discerning a studio’s development inclinations is to look at the movies they release in a given year. For example, here is the slate of movies Warner Bros. released in 2010 listed chronologically and with their genres, cross genres, and sub-genres.
The Book of Eli, January 15, 2010, Action Adventure
Edge of Darkness, January 29, 2010, Drama-Thriller
Valentine’s Day, February 12, 2010, Romantic Comedy
Cop Out, February 26, 2010, Action-Comedy
Clash of the Titans, April 2, 2010, Action-Fantasy
The Losers, April 24, 2010, Action
Sex and the City 2, May 27, 2010, Romantic Comedy
Splice, June 4, 2010, Science Fiction-Thriller
Jonah Hex, June 18, 2010, Action-Drama
Inception, July 16, 2010, Action Crime
Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore, July 30, 2010, Action-Family
Flipped, August 6, 2010, Comedy-Drama
Lottery Ticket, August 20, 2010, Comedy
Going the Distance, September 3, 2010, Romantic Comedy
The Town, September 17, 2010, Drama Crime
Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole, September 24, 2010, Fantasy Animation
Life as We Know It, October 8, 2010, Comedy-Drama
Hereafter, October 22, 2010, Drama-Fantasy
Due Date, November 5, 2010, Comedy
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1, November 19, 2010, Fantasy Adventure
Yogi Bear, December 17, 2010, Comedy Animation
While there is a focus on Action and Comedy, you will note a wide mix of genres, cross genres, and sub-genres. Why do studios seek this mix? Three primary reasons:
Seasonal programming: There are two big ‘seasons’ for movies in the United States and Canada: Summer (May-August) and Thanksgiving-Christmas holidays (November-December). Since these are periods where some age groups have more free time (i.e., no school), typically studios schedule movies for release that target children (like Cats & Dogs and Yogi Bear) or teens (like Splice or Jonah Hex), or so-called “four quadrant movies” that appeal to adults, children, males and females like Harry Potter. During the other months (January-April, September-October), the studios tend to develop movies with a narrower targeted audience like Edge of Darkness and The Town (adults) or Going the Distance or Life as We Know It (females). In addition there are special holidays when the studios develop movies like Valentine’s Day.
Counter-programming: If all six major movie studios (20th Century Fox, Disney, Paramount, Sony, Universal, Warner Bros) schedule the release of big blockbuster action-adventure movies on Memorial Day weekend, they know that makes no sense because there simply isn’t a big enough audience to support six movies in the same genre at the same time. So the studios develop movies they can slot against other genre pictures. For example on the weekend of July 9, 2010, when 20th Century Fox went wide in opening Predators, an Action-Science Fiction movie, Universal Pictures counter-programmed with Despicable Me, targeting the family audience, and The Kids Are All Right, released through its specialty division Focus Films, which went after the adult crowd.
Minimize risk: Just as mutual funds reduce risk by investing in a variety of different types of companies, so it is with development slates. If, for example, action movies suddenly tank at the box office, would a studio be better suited to survive with a slate filled with action movies or one that has some action projects, along with comedy, dramas, thrillers, etc? Having a number of movie projects representing different genres allows a studio greater flexibility in terms of what it chooses to produce and when it decides to release those films.
Note: The movies you see released in theaters today represent the studio’s acquisition and development philosophy anywhere from 2–5 years previous as that’s generally how long it takes to go from purchase of script to the movie premiere.
What does all this mean to me as a screenwriter? Practically speaking it means whenever you come up with a story idea, one of the first questions you should ask yourself is what genre is it. This is important from a creative standpoint to help steer how you develop the characters and plot. But it’s equally valuable in terms of maximizing the viability of your script with buyers. For example, if you come up with an idea you think feels like a Mystery, perhaps you can make it a more marketable script if you shift its genre to Action or Thriller.
The underlying principle here from a writing perspective is that the same idea can be a different movie if you switch genres. For example, let’s look at the logline of the Warner Bros. hit comedy Due Date:
High-strung father-to-be Peter Highman is forced to hitch a ride cross-country with aspiring actor Ethan Tremblay in order to make it to his child’s birth on time.
Let’s go down the list of the other main genres to see what variations we come up with:
Action: Peter is forced to hitch a ride with Ethan on a road trip in order to make it to his child’s birth on time, only to discover Ethan is wanted by the FBI, sparking a frenzied cross-country manhunt.
Drama: Filled with self-doubts about his ability to be a father, Peter discovers heretofore unknown parental instincts by tending to Ethan’s emotional needs and psychological wounds on their cross-country trip to get Peter home in time for the birth of his child.
Family: Peter is forced to hitch a ride with Ethan, a single father traveling with his infant septuplets creating hijinks and mayhem on a cross-country trek to get Peter home in time for the birth of his child.
Fantasy: Desperate to get back in time for the birth of his child, Peter’s cry for help is answered when Ethan shows up, claiming to be the Stork King, patron saint of fathers-to-be, driving Peter on a magical cross-country trip home.
Horror: Driving cross-country to get home in time for the birth of his child, Peter stops at a backwater town to get his car repaired, only to discover the mechanic Ethan is a psychopath with deep-seated father issues.
Science Fiction: Peter desperately tries to get home for the birth of his child, but he begins to believe he has been abducted by aliens who have implanted the story of his potential fatherhood in his brain — for some ulterior motive.
Thriller: Peter is forced to drive a rental car across country to get home in time for the birth of his child, but runs afoul of a hostile motorcycle driver Ethan who pursues Peter in a deadly game of chase.
Okay, not the greatest ideas in the world and doubtless you could come up with some better ones. But these variations make the point: An idea becomes a different story if you switch its genre. In fact, this is one of the more helpful methods a writer can use to generate and develop story concepts, something I call genre-bending which we will explore in a later lecture.
Three more reasons to think genre when you think story ideas:
Indie films: Let’s say your interests lie not so much in writing mainstream Hollywood movies, but rather independent cinema. Even here genre is an important consideration, in fact perhaps even more so. The name of the game in the indie film world boils down to two things: funding and distribution. You are more likely to be able nail both of those if your script has a strong story concept and a popular genre. For example, successful indie films like The King’s Speech (Drama), Black Swan (Drama-Thriller), and 127 Hours (Drama Adventure) fall into major genre, cross genre, and sub-genre categories.
Writing assignments: Let’s assume you sell your spec script, line up a few other projects, and you’re settling in as a Hollywood screenwriter. Something like this will happen. The phone rings. It’s your agent. “Hey, Sony is looking to develop an action-comedy for Will Smith and Ben Stiller. Can you work up something?” So you’ve got two actors and a cross genre. If you’re used to brainstorming story concepts and working within genres, you’re more likely to put yourself in the position to go up for open writing assignments.
Find your voice: Perhaps you already know (A) you like this genre and (B) you’re good at writing this genre. Great. That makes things much simpler. What if you do not know what type of genre for which you have that right mix — interest and talent? The best way to find out is to write scripts in various genres to test your chops. But you can also get a good idea by working up story concepts within certain genres. The goal is to find your voice. In what type of stories and genres does your distinctive writing style and approach emerge? Determining that will make it much more likely you will write strong, evocative, and entertaining scripts.
So in terms of “Go Into The Story: The Quest” what does it mean? Let’s bring in Producer Scott to offer some of his keen insight for you.
“Genres? Here’s what I gotta say to writers about fucking genres. Get your ACT together. You know, A.C.T. as in Action, Comedy, Thriller. That’s what they’re buying, so that’s what I’m selling. Hey, you wanna write a story about an 18th century frontier family struggling to survive in the wilderness of Missouri or wherever the fuck, go with God and go make your movie, something that you and four other lonely souls will enjoy. Me? I’m all about popcorn movies. You know that fake buttery crap they pour on popcorn at the movie theater? When I pick up your script and I turn those pages, I want my fingers to be dripping in that shit. I wanna smell the popcorn on every goddammed page. ‘Coz you know what? When I smell popcorn, I smell money. And believe me, if I can smell it, I can sell it. So you want my goddammed attention for your story? You better know how to ACT. Action. Comedy. Thriller. Now get the hell outta here and come up with a great story!”
It’s true. If you’ve been paying attention to spec script sales trends since 2008, those are the top three genres: Action, Comedy, Thriller. Now that’s not to say when I go through your loglines, I’ll just toss out everything else. Not true. I’m looking for a great story in any genre. Because if you send one my way, science fiction or horror, drama or family, and it really is a great story concept, I can’t promise you I can get it past Producer Scott, but I’m pretty good at knowing how to work that guy.
So first and foremost, just come up with a great story concept. But the line of least resistance for “The Quest” and Hollywood in general, your best bets are Action, Comedy, Thriller. That includes cross genres [like Action-Thriller] and sub-genres [Romantic Comedy].
By the way, as I’ve stated on the blog a few times, I have a hunch that we’re going to see the return of Action-Comedies. Match up two great characters in a buddy story type, put them into an action scenario and make it funny. As long as the humor is primarily driven by visuals, that could work internationally and domestically. I would love to see someone submit a great Action-Comedy vehicle that could become a franchise like Beverly Hills Cop or Bad Boys.
NOTE: I WILL NOT BE ACCEPTING ANY LOGLINE SUBMISSIONS BEFORE TUESDAY, MAY 29, 2012. PLEASE RESPECT THIS SCHEDULE!
To fully prepare you for the submission process, you should read posts from the next two days:
Thursday, May 24: Why is your passion for your story important?
Friday, May 25: How should you write a logline?
“Go Into The Story: The Quest” is my humble attempt to do what I can to create an alternate way into Hollywood for those outside the system, and in the process provide participants principles and practices that maximize their chances of success as a professional screenwriter.
If you have any questions, please post in comments. Only email me if you have some personal matter related to this initiative.
Good news! Every single person who applies for “Go Into The Story: The Quest” wins a free 1-week Craft course taught by me at Screenwriting Master Class! You can check out those classes here under the Curriculum / Craft tab.
Good luck with your brainstorming!
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