Post-TFIOS buzz phrase: “Grounded” Teen Movies
When a movie with a production budget of $12M generates $120M in worldwide box office in its first two weeks — that is a 10-to-1 ratio for all you math geeks out there — you can be sure Hollywood will pay attention.
That movie is The Fault in Our Stars… and the suits from Burbank to Culver City have apparently seen the light. From THR:
For the past 13 years, the young adult book-to-film landscape has been dominated by wizards (Harry Potter), vampires (Twilight) and teens battling for survival in dystopian futures (The Hunger Games, Divergent). In fact, those three categories make up the top 15 YA book-to-film domestic box office earners.
But given the unexpected success of Fault — envisioned merely as summer counterprogramming, the Shailene Woodley-Ansel Elgort cancer drama bowed to $48 million domestic during a competitive weekend — the YA terrain has a new map. Producers and executives say the economics of Fault are impossible to ignore: The Fox 2000 film cost just $12 million to make and dwarfed Warner Bros.’ Tom Cruise vehicle Edge of Tomorrow, which cost at least $178 million.
“I’m sure we’ll see knockoffs because this is the knockoff business,” says Erik Feig, co-president of Lionsgate’s Motion Picture Group, who is steeped in the ebbs and flows of the YA business, having shepherded Twilight, Hunger Games and Divergent. “It’s like those old perfume ads: ‘If you liked Obsession, you’ll love Perseverance.’ You always see a success and then the wave it fosters.”
Indeed, in the wake of Fault, based on John Green’s wildly successful YA novel, look for a shift from the epic/expensive toward the personal/modestly budgeted.
Hwood execs actually have a name for TFIOS-type stories: “Grounded” Teen Movies. Teenage characters who actually live in situations and look like… you know.. actual teenagers sans capes, fangs or post-apocalyptic environs. More from the article:
“I think moviegoers want stories and characters that feature reality over heightened reality,” says Michael H. Weber, who adapted Fault with Scott Neustadter. “Hopefully the success of [Fault] will open the door for more stories that resemble the modern young adult experience.” Weber and Neustadter, who also co-wrote (500) Days of Summer and The Spectacular Now, are key figures in the “grounded” YA movement. They are reteaming with Fox 2000 and Fault producers Temple Hill on Green’s novel Paper Towns, with Fault actor Nat Wolff attached to star. The pair also are writing Rosaline, a comedic retelling of Romeo & Juliet from the point of view of Romeo’s ex-girlfriend, which was inspired by Rebecca Serle’s When You Were Mine. That project has picked up steam at Universal in recent weeks and has leading lady Felicity Jones in place, whereas the studio’s more FX-reliant YA titles Daughter of Smoke and Bone and The School for Good and Evil (both produced by Joe Roth) have no cast yet.
Here’s hoping Neustadter and Weber ride this wave for all its worth because every movie they’re involved in, I end up tweeting, “More movies like this, please.” But does this mean you, as a writer, should jump on this grounded teen movie bandwagon?
If you like this type of material… if you are good at writing these type of stories… if you already have a killer concept in this arena, prepped and ready to go to FADE IN… maybe.
Just know that right now, you can be sure every studio exec and producer is being inundated with scripts tagged as “It’s like The Fault in Our Stars”. The competition is undoubtedly fierce. Moreover these lower budget, more realistic teen movies run against years of what Hollywood has been trafficking in: more fantastical, big budget, tentpole franchises. They’re used to swinging for the fences looking to hit grand slams. And as great as the performance has been for The Fault in Our Stars, I’m sure many, if not most suits look at it as a double at best, if for no other reason than it’s not easily translatable in to a franchise (though you can be sure they are doing everything they can to summon a sequel out of it).
Plus there’s this: TFIOS is based on a hugely popular novel with a built-in social media empire of young adults, teens and tweens, so you can be sure a lot of people look at this project as a unique confluence of elements that are unlikely to be reproduced any time soon.
In other words, I have doubts about how deep this new-found interest in grounded teen movies may be. I mean there was an entire decade in which the movie business was largely fueled by these type of stories: The 80s. If you need a reminder about how prevalent teen movies were back then, go here, here, and especially here.
Maybe we’re on the cusp of a resurgence. But again, if you’re thinking about diving into those waters, just make damn sure you like these stories, you have a knack and ear for writing them, and you have a strong story concept to work on.
If not, probably best not to follow this trend, rather focusing on discovering what type of stories are uniquely suited for your interests and skills, then keep working them until you find your voice.
How about you? What are your thoughts on grounded teen movies? Fad or here to stay?
And for old times sake, here are ten memorable 80s teen movies:
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For the rest of the Hollywood Reporter article, go here.
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