THE DEFINITIVE 3 STEP GUIDE TO NAILING YOUR SCREENPLAY CONCEPT

by Alex Bloom

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THE DEFINITIVE 3 STEP GUIDE TO NAILING YOUR

SCREENPLAY CONCEPT 

by

Alex Bloom

(In this excerpt from ScriptReaderPro's online course. Alex Bloom discusses the core elements that make up a great screenplay concept and ways to avoid falling into the trap of starting a screenplay without first making sure the idea is watertight and bulletproof.)

Now, this may sound kind of woo-woo, but there is a direct link between a poorly executed concept and a poorly executed screenplay. In this article, though, I will take you, step-by-step, through how to avoid falling into the trap of starting a screenplay without first making sure the concept’s water-tight, bullet-proof and generally capable of blowing an agent or manager’s mind. 

There are three elements that go toward creating a rock solid concept and logline. If you apply each of these three elements to your idea you’ll be putting yourself at a major advantage over the thousands of specs scripts currently floating around Hollywood, and potentially save yourself some major headaches in the middle of the first draft.

Here are the three elements of every great concept:

Protagonist + Struggle With Antagonist + Death Stakes 

The reason why so many concepts and loglines fail at the first hurdle is usually because they’ve missed out one of the three steps in that equation. But before we go into each of the steps in more detail, let’s take a look at how they’re illustrated in some loglines to well known movies. 

Bridesmaids: “A down on her luck pastry chef [protagonist] clashes with a competitive bridesmaid [struggle with antagonist] while struggling to handle maid-of-honor duties for her best friend’s wedding.” [death stakes] Birdman: “A washed-up actor who once played an iconic superhero [protagonist] battles his ego, family, and cast members [struggle with antagonist] while putting on the Broadway play intended to revive his career.” [death stakes]

World War Z: “A United Nations employee [protagonist] traverses the world in a race against time to stop the zombie pandemic that is toppling armies and  governments, [struggle with antagonist] and threatening to destroy humanity  itself.” [death stakes] 

Se7en: “Two detectives — a rookie and a veteran [protagonists] — attempt to catch a serial killer who uses the seven deadly sins as his modus operandi  [struggle with antagonist] before he kills again.” [death stakes]   

Paranormal Activity: “A young couple [protagonists] become increasing  disturbed by a seemingly demonic presence in their new suburban home [struggle with antagonist] and must figure out how to stop it before it’s too late.” [death stakes] 

By writing out your concept in a logline — a short one or two sentence summary of your screenplay’s main idea — you’ll force yourself to get down to the nuts and bolts of your story’s conflict. So, once you have an initial idea it’s time to write it out in a logline by following these three steps: 

Step 1: Add Protagonist

A concept, story, or plot, isn’t much without a protagonist to identify with, and this should be the first thing you establish. The trick, though, is to make sure you define your protagonist(s) as clearly and evocatively as you can in a short  thumbnail sketch: “a female FBI cadet,” “a middle-aged beach bum,” “an aspiring pop singer,” etc. 

This is a great way of giving us an impression of who we’re rooting for, as jobs and life statuses often tend to hint at personality too. Don’t be afraid to add an adjective too: “an uptight businessman,” “a confused graduate,” “a meek hobbit of the Shire,” etc. In either case, always lean toward the specific rather than the general. For example, write “an insurance salesman,” rather than “an office worker,” as it says more about who we’re dealing with. Also, “office worker” is genderless, so we wouldn’t know if the character is male or female.

The trick is to build as specific and as vivid a thumbnail sketch of your  protagonist as possible in as short as many words as possible. “A loving father of four who works as a mechanic, enjoys playing online poker, and dreams of one day emigrating to New Zealand,” could obviously do with some trimming. Also  remember that names aren’t important in loglines. We don’t need to know that your protagonist is called Cindy Schwartzman, just that she’s “a hard-nosed New York Post reporter.” 

Step 2: Add Struggle With Antagonist  

We could’ve called this step “Add Antagonist,” but that would’ve missed the point. It’s much easier to come up with an effective concept and logline if you do it from the perspective of a protagonist’s struggle with an antagonist, rather than simply “hero vs. villain,” which feels static. 

Whether your antagonist is a physical person, a storm, a pack of wolves, an  asteroid, or whatever you choose, what’s important to get across in the logline is just how super frustrating this struggle will be for your protagonist. By adding a struggle with an antagonist to any idea, concept or logline, it can be immediately improved. Consider this logline for the film Sideways: 

“A failed novelist, still hung up on his ex, embarks on a wine tasting road trip with a friend right before the latter’s wedding.”  

It’s not bad. It paints a good picture of who the protagonist is, and tells us the  basic facts of what the story’s about. But it’s still missing something — and that something is the second step of the formula. The problem here is that, “embarks on a wine tasting road trip with a friend right before the latter’s wedding,” doesn’t give us any sense of the conflict and struggle between protagonist and antagonist. A better version would be something like: 

“A failed novelist, still hung up on his ex, struggles to handle his soon to be  married best friend’s attempts to get them both laid while on a wine tasting road trip right before the wedding.”

Once the protagonist has to struggle to do something — in this case “handle his soon-to-be-married best friend’s attempts to get them both laid while on a wine tasting road trip,” the logline immediately gains conflict and increased interest. The stakes of “right before the wedding” are also increased because now we know the antagonist’s intentions too. 

Another popular mistake when writing loglines is to write something like: 

“A World War II nurse faces death at every turn in an epic story of love, loss and redemption.”  

These kind of loglines summarize the conflict thematically, but don’t actually tell us what the actual conflict is or who the antagonist is. Make sure we know how your protagonist has to “struggle to,” “battle against,” “clash with,” “attempt to,” etc. against an antagonist in order to make the conflict clear as clear as possible. These kind of adjectives really help us to see the movie in a logline. They add movement to the story and are the best way of making us envisage what the  protagonist’s journey and conflict will be throughout the film.

If you have a hard time imagining who, or what, your protagonist struggles against, then there’s a strong chance you need to go back and rethink just what the conflict is in your story.

Step 3: Add Death Stakes

Many writers already appreciate that there needs to be something more at stake in a film than a cheese sandwich, but still come unstuck producing major stakes for us to care about in the logline. The reason for this is often that they’re not  applying “death stakes.”   

In order for a movie to have high enough stakes for an audience to care about, it needs in one way or another to be about the protagonist’s death — either literally, or figuratively. This is why we care so much about what happens in (most) films, because death is about as big a set of stakes as you can get. 

Action / Adventures, Thrillers, Horrors, generally all involve literal life and death stakes for the protagonist, and usually for others too — either for their immediate family, or for the wider world. 

Raiders of the Lost Ark: Indiana Jones is literally threatened with death at the hands of the Nazis, and so are millions of others if he doesn’t stop them from capturing the Ark. 

Prisoners: Keller Dover has to find his missing daughter before she’s literally killed.

It Follows: Jay will be literally killed by the evil entity if she doesn’t pass on the curse by sleeping with someone else.

The stakes in Comedies and Dramas on the other hand, tend to revolve around a figurative death of the protagonist, in which we know they’re running the risk of never being healed, or “complete” ever again. The stakes you need to focus on for protagonist’s in these genres are usually more personal and / or relationship  related. 

27 Dresses: Jane will figuratively die inside if she continues to always be the bridesmaid and never find love herself. 

It’s a Wonderful Life: George Bailey will figuratively die if he doesn’t lead the life he wants — traveling and seeing the world.

Planes, Trains, and Automobiles: Neal’s relationship with his wife and kids will figuratively die a little more if he doesn’t make it home in time for  Thanksgiving.

The number one thing you must do when considering the stakes of your movie is always ask yourself: “How does my protagonist risk dying in this film, either  literally or figuratively?” If there’s no clear sense of the protagonist’s imminent death inherent in the concept then it could more than likely be strengthened by adding one. 

We hope you found our guide to establishing a rock solid concept useful. Make sure you avoid the rookie mistake so many aspiring screenwriters make by not applying these three essential elements to their concept before you start writing the screenplay. Thanks so much for reading and good luck!

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About Alex Bloom

 Alex Bloom is a co-founder of ScriptReaderPro — a screenplay consultancy made up of working Hollywood writers, speakers, and consultants. They love helping screenwriters by simplifying theory, giving actionable feedback and setting hands-on, practical exercises to improve their craft from the ground up. 

Learn more about their services and sign up for their newsletter to get a free screenplay structure hack, plus other tips and special offers at www.scriptreaderpro.com