Do you have some amazing high concept movie ideas? Starting next Friday, you get to pitch them!
The High Concept Club Contest starts Friday July 9th!
Last year, we had the screenplay pitch contest of the century, The Blood & Ink Contest. And this year? We’re going to one-up it, with The High Concept Club Contest.
If you weren’t around last year, the way it works is, you can pitch me 5 movie loglines each weekend for four weekends. I’ll tell you right there in the comment section whether it’s a ‘yes,’ a ‘no,’ or a ‘maybe.’ The goal is to get one of your ideas approved by me, in which case, you will be officially entered into the contest. You will then have six months to write your script. The contest, like all Scriptshadow contests, is free.
My standards are going to be high. I lost count of how many loglines were pitched last year but I think it was somewhere around 6000? And just 90 got through. Why is the bar so high? Because the whole point of this contest is to only approve scripts that have a shot at selling.
The problem with screenplays on the amateur level is that everyone writes whatever the heck they want and doesn’t figure out beforehand if producers would actually be interested in making that movie. There are numerous avenues towards getting a script made. But this contest is about finding ideas that have a legitimate shot at getting managers, agents, producers, and studios interested.
Wildman, the Bigfoot pitch from last year, is into 10 production companies as we speak. And even the people who passed were excited when they heard the pitch. That’s exactly what this is about. It’s about writing scripts we know production companies around town are going to be excited by.
So, now comes the obvious question. What is “High Concept?” Cause we always bump against a definition whenever we talk about it. High Concept will always be, on some level, up to interpretation. Part of this contest is likely going to be people realizing, after the fact, that their concepts aren’t big enough.
But, to give some context to it, here are some definitions to work with…
Michael Hauge: A high-concept film is one with a unique premise that can be easily communicated and attracts a broad audience.
Terry Rossio: A concept that is inherently intriguing before execution enters the equation.
Justin Wyatt: Movies built around a striking, marketable premise that can be easily promoted through advertising, posters, trailers, and ancillary media.
Carson Reeves: A high-concept is one where the premise itself creates immediate excitement, curiosity, and marketability before execution enters the equation. If I can hear the pitch and immediately see the poster, trailer, and movie, it’s likely high concept.
As far as strategy for this contest goes, you can practice pitches in the comments section of this post and get feedback. That way, you’re not wasting pitches on weak loglines that people already told you sucked. By the way, if someone pitches a weak logline here, tell them. Don’t coddle them. Cause if you do, they’re wasting a pitch next week.
If you don’t want to do it publicly, find a few people on the board to privately share concepts with. If you want to go straight to the horse’s mouth, get a logline consult from me ($25). In addition to my analysis and rewrite of the logline, I’ll tell you straight up if it has a shot at getting into the contest. I believe that four entries in the Blood & Ink Contest came from writers who workshopped loglines with me. But, it’s no guarantee. I rejected a lot of those as well.
E-mail me at: carsonreeves1@gmail.com if you want a logline consult.
And just to give you a little more context, here are some high concept ideas that were turned into movies….
Inception – A thief who steals corporate secrets through the use of dream sharing technology is given the inverse task of planting an idea into the mind of a CEO.
The Purge – A wealthy family is held hostage for harboring the target of a murderous syndicate during the Purge, a 12 hour period in which any and all crime is legal.
Obsession – After wishing his crush would fall in love with him, a hopeless romantic finds himself getting exactly what he asked for, but that love soon becomes a dangerous and violent obsession.
A Quiet Place – In a post-apocalyptic world, a family is forced to live in silence while hiding from monsters with ultra-sensitive hearing.
Yesterday – A struggling musician realizes he’s the only person on Earth who can remember The Beatles after waking up in an alternate reality where they never existed.
Beverly Hills Cop – A rough, street-smart Detroit cop has to investigate a murder in the most polished, wealthy, image-conscious place on earth — Beverly Hills.
Good Will Hunting – When a janitor anonymously solves a mathematical proof that has stumped the brightest minds at MIT, a professor takes him under his wing and tries to steer him toward greatness, only to discover that the young genius would rather cling to the life he’s always known.
Free Guy – A bank teller discovers he’s actually a background character in an open-world video game and decides to become the hero of his own story.
Freaky – After swapping bodies with a notorious serial killer, a teenage girl discovers she has less than 24 hours before the change becomes permanent.
65 – After a catastrophic crash on an unknown planet, a pilot discovers he’s stranded on Earth during the age of dinosaurs just 12 hours before the meteor that wiped them all out hits.
Novocaine – When the girl of his dreams is kidnapped, a man with a rare condition that prevents him from feeling physical pain turns his disability into an unexpected advantage.
The Gorge – Two elite snipers stationed in watchtowers on opposite sides of a mysterious gorge are forbidden from communicating or entering the chasm below, but when they uncover evidence that a deadly secret has been buried there, they must risk everything to investigate it.
