Reader Question: Are today’s adult comedies more about the concept than the screenplay?
An open forum question from j :
Are today’s adult comedies more about the concept than the screenplay?
It’s unfair to generalize, but if I had to, I’d say both — concept and screenplay — are equally important, and that’s been the case since the early days of Hollywood to today. For example, here’s the premise of the 1934 rom-com It Happened One Night:
A spoiled heiress, running away from her family, is helped by a man who’s actually a reporter looking for a story. But then he falls for her…
Simple, clean concept. Highly marketable especially with Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert in the lead roles. But without a wonderful script from Robert Riskin, would it have been the commercial success that it was? I don’t think so.
Note: It’s also ranked as the #147 best movie on IMDB.com.
Then take the 2009 smash comedy The Hangover:
A Las Vegas-set comedy centered around three groomsmen who lose their about-to-be-wed buddy during their drunken misadventures, then must retrace their steps in order to find him.
I fell in love with this concept the moment I first read about it and said so here, here, and here. But while a studio can market a movie with a great high concept ensuring a strong first weekend, there’s no way the movie grosses $467M worldwide like The Hangover has done without it being based on a good script.
Now j, if the subtext of your question is — “Do I stand a better chance of selling a spec script if the story is based on a great concept” — the answer is an unequivocal yes. Apart from the value the concept may provide the writer in giving him/her a direction for writing the story (i.e., plot, tone, pace, narrative voice), the simple fact is that movie studios prefer a movie with a strong story concept because they’re easier to market. For more on this subject, you can go here for a 5-part Q&A I did with a marketing executive from one of the major Hollywood studios.
Let me use this occasion to ask a question to GITS readers: How much importance do you put on a story concept when determining what you choose to write?
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