Screenwriting Lesson: “Inception” (Part 1 — Story Concept)
It is impossible to overestimate the importance of the story concept to the viability of a screenplay in the Hollywood script marketplace. This sentiment is echoed by Terry Rossio, one of the top screenwriters working today who with writing partner Ted Elliott has co-written the screenplays for such hit movies as Aladdin, The Mask of Zorro, Shrek, and all of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. Rossio says:
“Most aspiring screenwriters simply don’t spend enough time choosing their concept. It’s by far the most common mistake I see in spec scripts. The writer has lost the race right from the gate. Months — sometimes years — are lost trying to elevate a film idea that by its nature probably had no hope of ever becoming a movie.”
Why is a screenplay’s story concept so important? Here are a few reasons:
• Every aspect of the script acquisition process begins with the story’s logline, a one-to-two sentence summary of the concept. The only way to circumnavigate the tens of thousands of story submissions each year is to use some sort of shorthand and the logline, which typically sits right up top on the first page of script coverage, is the default way of doing that.
• During a script’s development phase, the story concept provides a touchstone to which everyone involved can continually refer to help steer creative and pre-production choices.
• The same is true during production as the concept helps to remind the filmmakers what is at the core of the story.
• Perhaps the most important point of influence for the story concept is with marketing. An increasingly important — and expensive — aspect of the entire filmmaking process, the story concept can become the foundation upon which all the TV, web, radio and print ads are developed. Because in a noisy consumer marketplace, it is often a movie’s concept which can hook a potential viewer’s attention.
A film’s story concept influences the acquisition, development, production, and marketing of a movie. But from a writing standpoint, all of these pale in comparison to how important a story concept is to the most creative part of the process: Writing the screenplay:
• A story concept creates the story’s set-up.
• A story concept almost always implies, then defines the story’s end point.
• A story concept generates key characters, most notably the Protagonist.
• A story concept can provide the spine of the story’s Plotline (structural plot).
• A story concept can suggest the heart of the story’s Themeline (emotional plot).
• A story concept determines the story’s genre.
• A story concept helps to shape the story’s tone.
Consider the story concept of the movie Inception, a hugely successful Warner Bros. movie that generated $825M of box office revenues worldwide. From IMDB:
“In a world where technology exists to enter the human mind through dream invasion, a highly skilled thief is given a final chance at redemption which involves executing his toughest job to date: Inception.”
Let’s consider the story concept of Inception per the considerations listed above:
• A story concept creates the story’s set-up: With Inception, the concept carries with it the central conceit — dream invasion — as well as the premise for the plot: A thief [Cobb] given one final chance at redemption.
• A story concept almost always implies, then defines the story’s end point: In Inception the concept establishes the end point: Will Cobb pull off the inception?
• A story concept generates key characters, most notably the Protagonist: The thief in question who is Cobb.
• A story concept can provide the spine of the story’s Plotline (structural plot): It is the execution of the inception.
• A story concept can suggest the heart of the story’s Themeline (emotional plot): It is implied in the logline, but specified by the end of Act One set-up: Cobb agrees to do the inception in order to have a chance to reunite with his children.
• A story concept determines the story’s genre: It is a caper movie laced with science fiction.
• A story concept helps to shape the story’s tone: The stakes are significant (pressurized), the execution of the inception is complex (intense), and there is lots of action (pulsating).
A final consideration: Is the concept big enough to be a movie? Even low-budget indie films have to have enough narrative scope and emotional heft to sustain one-and-a-half to two hours of time. With a major motion picture, especially a big budget summer film, this concern is even greater. Is the story concept of Inception big enough to sustain a two hour movie? Actually it’s big enough to sustain a 148 minute movie, its official run time.
Takeaway
Does my story concept indicate the set-up? The end point? Does it provide a Protagonist? Does it suggest the spine of the story’s Plotline? Themeline? Does it make clear what genre the story is? Does it convey a sense of the story’s tone? Finally is the concept big enough to be a movie?