Thread by @bryanedwardhill

It's Saturday night, and no one is really on twitter, but here's a HIGH CONCEPT FORMULA that can give you a solid sample screenplay that might open doors, but it's science-fiction, so there's that.

Okay, here we go --

#Writing

Step One - Be a futurist and think of an issue western civilization will face in the near, to semi-near future. Doesn't have to be existential, but something compelling. Overcrowding. Genetic birth manipulation. Yadda. Yadda. Yadda.

Step Two - Create a character class that is tasked with solving that near-future problem. By "class," I mean a specific jobber that solves this problem you've created. Make sure it's a morally gray kind of work.

Step Three - Name the script the name of that character class. Come up with a cool name.

Like "DREAMFINDER"

(I have no idea what that means. Just made it up right now, but you get the point.)

Step Four - Here's your plot. Your protagonist begins as a true believe in his/her cause but at the end of the first act they experience something that changes their perspective, and they now have to break away from that cause and decide to fight against it...

...with their former friends, allies, protegés now using his/her same tactics against that protagonist.

In the second act, they'll have to form allegiances with the same people they were trying to stop/destroy/imprison/erase in the first act.

Step Five - Make sure there's something unique about the way they do that job. Cool, new fighting style. Unique weapons, etc. Not a gimmick, per se, but just something AESTHETIC for the trailer.

You're gonna sell that stuff in your cold open, the first 5 pages of the script.

Step Six - Try to work in a LOVE STORY in the middle, if you can. Make sure it begins FRAUGHT with both character on opposite philosophical sides. The protagonist will evolve at the same pace of the love story.

Step Seven - Action every 10-15 pages.

Have a strong MIDPOINT of your script where something raises the stakes and new information shifts the story in a powerful way.

Step Eight - Rewrite until the concept is very clear, the script is very lean and easy to read.

Make sure you build that world with FRANCHISE POTENTIAL. Don't end on a cliffhanger, but make sure there can be a part two, part three.

Step Nine - Try to look at your script and the size of current films and make sure you can make it for less than 100 million dollar. Ideally, closer to 25 million. Study films to know what that means on the page. Look at lower budgeted "franchise starters."

Final Step - When you've written it, and rewritten it, then send out queries to managers/agents with a concise, compelling description of the project.

It may not sell, but all of the above can show that you know how to craft a potential hit. Might get you in the game.

/END

POST-SCRIPT:

I outlined the above because a script like this can demonstrate nearly every aspect of what you need to show in order to adapt other works, or rewrite existing projects.

It's a high-concept script as "demo reel."

And you can adjust outside of genre. You might lose some elements, but the framework is there. MINORITY REPORT, LOOPER to MICHAEL CLAYTON.

Find your voice, and you can make a lot of different genres work. Play with the beats so it's not clichéd, you know, make it your own.