December: Classic 80s Movie Month

Something that has emerged this year on the blog is a rotating monthly series of daily posts occupying the Noon (Eastern) 9AM (Pacific) slot. Thus far, we have had the following:

April: Story Idea Each Day for a Month

May: Movies You Made

June: 30 Days of Screenplays

July: Movie Story Types

August: Scene Description Spotlight

September: Scene-Writing Exercises

October: Hidden Movie Gems

November: 30 Things About Screenwriting

We had such a successful run with the guest posts for Hidden Movie Gems, it occurred to me why not give it a go again with something I have been wanting to do for awhile: Classic 80s Movies.

Two things. First, if we look at some of the titles of non-sequel, non-franchise movies that have fared well at the box office this year like World War Z, The Heat, Meet the Millers, The Conjuring, Identity Thief, Now You See Me, and This is the End, they have one thing in common: They are all high concept movies. Not to say high concept has ever gone away in Hollywood, but it does seem to me, at least anecdotally, to be front and center in the minds of The Suits at present. And what better way for a screenwriter to bathe in the commercial waters of high concept than by diving into the 80s which gave us a tsunami of hits like:

So I’m looking for 22 volunteers to write guest posts Monday through Friday in December, each entry featuring a notable high concept 80s movie.

Here is a template you can use for your guest post:

Movie Title

Year

Writers (both screenwriters and any authors whose books were used as the basis for adaptation)

Lead Actors (Just the main ones)

Director

IMDB Plot Summary (You can find that directly under the Your Rating box. If you don’t feel the summary does the story justice, feel free to write up a logline of your own.)

Why I Think This Is A Classic 80s Movies (Feel free to write as much as you’d like up to a half-page or so.)

My Favorite Moment In The Movie

My Favorite Dialogue In the Movie (IMDB has a Quotes section for almost every movie, so you can find key dialogue in your movie’s site.)

Key Things You Should Look For When Watching This Movie

Please use this exact template to help me in the editing process.

If you can find a YouTube clip from the film or its trailer, please include that URL.

When you are done with your guest post, you may simply copy and paste the content into an email to me.

I will run the posts in the order I receive them.

Here’s the other thing: If this series proves popular, I’d like to follow it up with other decades: Maybe the 70s next. Then the 90s. How about the 60s? Yet another way to try to excite people to watch movies. Better yet, provide information and guidance on which key movies to cover

If you are interested in doing a guest post, please indicate in Comments or send me an email with the movie you would like to cover.

If you would like to check out some examples of guest posts, you can go here to see the Hidden Movie Gem series.

Flashdance, Splash, Fatal Attraction, The Terminator… the list of high concept 80s movies goes on and on. Here’s your chance to feature a personal favorite. And for every contributor, I will send a special gust of creative juju your way.

See you in comments!

UPDATE: Thanks to all who responded. Here is what we have thus far:

Dean: Say Anything

J. Hörnschemeyer: A Fish Called Wanda

TheQuietAct: Trading Places

jbwilke: War Games

bigjonslade: Better Off Dead

Simon: Blame It On Rio

David Laudenslager: Tron

writerhaha: 48 Hrs.

jhenderson: Back to School

Jacob Moreno: Real Genius

Mary Pocrnic: Back to the Future

Chris Neumann: Coming to America

Illimani: Jumping Jack Flash

Daryl: Night Shift

Still looking for more, so if you’re up for it, head to comments with your selection.

Also two folks have already emailed me their guest posts, so you can get on that as well.

Should be fun!

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