What makes a movie idea "good?"
How to know, quickly, whether you're on to something
Hi Hollyweird! Per last week’s thoughts on “always knowing what’s next” I’ve been spending a lot of time this week reading a few different pieces of writing that have been sent my way with some variation of “hey, could this be something?” So far, nothing I’ve read has given me that real “Wow!” feeling, and it’s gotten me thinking about what it is that even causes that feeling to occur.
Obviously, a big part of whether an idea for a movie will connect with you as a writer/director is personal taste. If you’re someone who hates action movies, that makes it easy when a premise that would need to be an action movie comes to mind to say, “No, not this one.” But… outside of personal taste, is there any way we can sort of systematize what is and what isn’t a good idea? Whether you’re a working writer being sent books/articles/ideas or you’re on your own trying to cook up an original concept for something… wouldn’t it be nice to be able to have some sort of metric to help you answer… is this a good idea?
Well… let’s take a shot at putting something like that together.
More “quick tricks for which ideas to pick” after this…
A lot of good movie ideas ask the question… “What if?”
What if you were stuck in a skyscraper during a terrorist attack? What if you were visited by an alien stranded on our planet? What if a concert was actually a Trap? These are what are known as a “hook.” There’s a big, crazy question at the core of the film’s premise, and it’s one we as an audience immediately understand the ramifications of. I want to see what happens in that skyscraper!
I’ve written before about Hollywood’s obsession with finding Intellectual Property, when the thing we really should be trying to find is “The Big Idea.” This is what we call a “High Concept” movie idea. And while it’s not easy to come up with an original one, if you can, you have a great idea for a movie.
A key caveat to what makes a good High Concept. The question must be specific enough to not become confusing. “What if you could predict crime?” is simple, and we as an audience can start to develop expectations about what then might happen. Which is perfect, if you want to make a movie, because playing into and subverting our expectations is the stuff of drama. However, if the “what if” of the story were to be too broad, say… “What if everyone could predict everything about the future?” that actually starts to ask a lot of questions. And if the movie’s premise is asking a lot of questions, it’s going to be hard to shepherd your audience through a story. We’re instead going to be focusing on how that really works, what that really means, what the rules of the world are, whether anyone gets into car accidents anymore… It starts to become a mess. A clean, simple, dramatic question = pretty good movie idea.
There is something emotionally meaningful you can say
Don’t let the first rule being about needing a good High Concept idea turn you off. I am hardly out here suggesting the only good movie ideas are ones that M Night Shyamalan might someday make. If you’re trying to crack a more grounded, real-world story, whether it’s a relationship drama or something ripped from the headlines, it’s important to remember that this is not just entertainment but also an art form. If you don’t have something meaningful to say within the realm of the idea you’re noodling on, it might not be the one. There are an infinite number of true crime adjacent stories about con-men.
The only thing that can really make a piece of art interesting is its Point of View. If you don’t have a point of view on the thing you’re writing about… sorry, probably should think about that a little bit more.
Phantom Thread is hardly a high concept story, but it is absolutely interrogating something meaningful emotionally about love, caring, compassion, pain, and power. Even Mrs. Harris goes to Paris, Phantom Thread’s “normcore” cousin, has something to say about fashion being needlessly snooty, and everyone deserving to be able to feel beautiful.
The point of view is the thing we’re tuning in for at the end of the day — and the fact that it is missing in a lot of larger commercial projects is part of why they feel so stale. If the answer to “why did they make this movie?” is “to leverage our intellectual properties across a broad spectrum of platforms…” not gonna feel super satisfying!
It’s about one thing
You hardly have to know the meaning of life, or even the meaning of your next project, when you’re just starting… but… be forewarned. As you’re thinking about an idea, if you get the sense that it’s asking a lot of different questions, or that it’s about a really long and winding story of a movement, those are definitely red flags. Film is an unforgiving medium. You have 90min-2.5hrs (make movies shorter) to tell the entire story. There isn’t room for anything superfluous or unnecessary.
If you have an idea that feels like it wants to broaden and expand, to explore every nook and cranny of a universe… that may be a television series or a novel. The nice thing about TV and novels is exactly that, they are designed to allow room to look at things from different angles, and to leave our main cast of characters behind for an episode. But a movie doesn’t have that luxury. For better or worse we are turning on a movie to watch ONE STORY.
That doesn’t mean it has to be about one person — I am a big proponent of expanding our ideas of story structure AWAY FROM THE HERO’S JOURNEY! But it does mean that the entire story needs to lend itself to a clear beginning, middle, and end, without too many interruptions or sidebars.
But a lot of films are made up of vignettes, Colby! What about any road trip movie? Or a coming of age story? Yes! Those are often made up of vignettes, however, I would argue that at their core those are still stories about one thing in particular — whether it’s getting from here to there, or a relationship’s development, or someone growing up.
There is a big (enough) audience for it
There is always going to be some form an audience for just about any story. But, you need to be sure that the story you’re telling has enough of an audience to warrant the expense. At the end of the day, film exists at the marriage of art and commerce, and even if you’re going totally indie and doing it all yourself, there really isn’t a more prohibitively expensive medium out there.
Think about the idea you’re thinking about and ask early on “Who is this for?” It can feel like a crass or commercial question. But it’s an important one to be able to answer. Knowing the size of the potential audience you hope to reach can at least help you triangulate just how big the movie does or doesn’t need to be.
You’ve never seen it done like this before
Some people say there are only seven basic plots, others three, six, or 36. But there really are only so many different types of movies out there. The point isn’t to reinvent the form with every single idea — although if you have that idea, please, please do — the point is instead to be sure that the idea you’re going to be investing years of creative energy to is original enough.
Another way to think about it is to ask what is this film’s unique selling point? Think about the bad trailers with record scratches in them… It was your ordinary story of an underdog overcoming the odds to beat his boxing rival… on Mars?! That’s not to say that taking a crazy left turn is always a good idea, but it’s definitely a way to ensure that your movie idea stands out from the crowd — and in a crowded environment of entertainment options it’s more important than ever that your movie idea feel like something we haven’t seen before.
And there you have it! Fulfill those five “rules” and you have a great idea for a movie! Or not! Remember, all film analysis is simply that. Analysis after the fact. It’s a lens through which we can better understand work.
My thoughts on writing are never meant to tell anyone how to do anything, so much as provide a framework for how I think about breaking a story, and why I think about it that way.
So… whaddaya think? Any other good tips for judging the good ideas from the bad ideas? I’d love to hear them!
Perfect timing, I’m finalizing the script for a short I’m planning to direct and I’ve been thinking about needing to move on to writing my next feature. Lots to noodle on here, thanks!