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Day 2 Assignment
Reply to Post Your Assignment.
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40 Replies
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Stephanie’s Marketable Components
What I learned doing this assignment: marketable components are everything to a producer, and therefore, to me too.
1. Current Logline: A slacker high school student discovers he is the reincarnation of King Tut and battles the immortal wizard who killed him 3000 years ago.
2. Great Title: King Tut’s Revenge
Timely for trend toward greater visibility and larger box office for domestic and international distribution of movies with Black leads
Wide Audience Appeal for teens and all ages from worldwide awareness of King Tut and his exhibit being the #1 tourist attraction in the world
Great Role for bankable actors as lead is iconic figure in real life, and villain role is three-dimensional. Plus it’s sequelizable like a superhero movie.
True because all of the historical and archeological elements are accurate facts.
3. I will first pitch the script to viable top tier Black actors who have production companies or who already have wide audience appeal like fan favorite Caleb McLaughlin and Idris Elba who would be ideal for the juicy villain role which was singled out in prior conversations with managers and agents as a uniquely strong role.
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Lonnie’s marketable Components: Unique, It’s A First, and possibly title
l learned what “market hooks” or bullets are, and how they are important when pitching to producers…know what they need!
1. “ELEVATOR DOWN” logline: A kidnapped young boy seeks to escape an underground cult of shape-shifting reptoids who kidnap and clone world leaders, then send them to the surface to take control of the governments and economy…solidifying their control matrix.
2. Unique: UNDERGROUND REPTOIDS CLONING HIGH PROFILE/POWERFUL PEOPLE TO SEND BACK TO CONTROL THE INTERNET AND THE POWER GRID
It’s a first: KIDNAPPING THROUGH A DEEP ELEVATOR AND THEN CLONING PEOPLE THEN
Great Title: ELEVATOR DOWN; ALTERNATE: REPTOID DOWN
3. UNIQUE: This concept hasn’t been used before to my knowledge: UNDERGROUND REPTOIDS CLONING HIGH PROFILE/POWERFUL PEOPLE TO SEND BACK TO CONTROL THE INTERNET AND THE POWER GRID. Combining the concept of reptilians doing this action makes it unique. This could be a big hit, as reptilians and underground civilizations are also a popular subject.
It’s a first: Same as #2: no other like it
Title: The title, “Elevator Down”, is unique and seems to “grab” people. It has action that is intriguing.
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This reply was modified 3 years, 7 months ago by Lonnie Nichols.
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This reply was modified 3 years, 7 months ago by Lonnie Nichols.
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This reply was modified 3 years, 7 months ago by
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Jeff’s Marketable Components
What I learned doing this assignment is to focus on the strongest components for the pitch.
Logline: After he is swindled by a boat broker, an anesthesiologist steals from criminals to pay for his grandson’s life-saving treatment. Inspired by a true story.
Components: I think the script has three components: great title, wide audience appeal (18+), and a few great roles for bankable actors. The best two are title and roles.
Originally, I called the project Clearwater, which is the name of the villain’s company, and is juxtaposed with the movie’s scummy waterfront, and ties into the end scene of clear water in a northern lake. I changed it to The Best Painkiller, which is intriguing and is a play on words for the hero’s profession. It is geared for 18+ due to language, violence, partial nudity, and drug use. So, this is likely less attractive to use in a pitch. I could pitch the ensemble cast and the use of bankable actors for the leads and cameos for some of the smaller roles and voice over.
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Mark’s Marketable Components
What I learned from this assignment is to lead off the pitch by emphasizing the hook.
The logline mentions the hook, but that is only designed to get the producer to want to know more. And now the pitch takes it to the next level by creating a new layer of interest.
LOGLINE: A Navy weapons test creates an intelligent lightning storm that hunts and kills the scientists who have burned a hole in the atmosphere. The last survivor must escape Mother Nature to save himself, and outwit malevolent human agencies working against him.
The two marketable components seem to be, first, that the hook is Unique. There has never been the concept of a sentient force of nature with purpose. And the story also has an Ultimate. This killer storm can move around the whole planet and never stop.
I thought of a way to emphasize these qualities: This antagonist, this character of the storm is like the Terminator — with the same unrelenting menace, and is also unstoppable. It is always out there, coming after the protagonist and his colleagues, from the south Pacific to the US to Greenland.
After thinking of this, I wonder if I should re-work the logline. Does anyone have any thoughts about this logline, compared to the first one?
LOGLINE 2: What if lightning isn’t random, but happens with a purpose? Four scientists realize with100% certainty that lightning is coming after them one by one. Fleeing for his life, a meteorologist is forced to outwit Mother Nature herself to survive and save his family.
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Thomas’s- Marketable Components
What I learned doing this assignment is the power of the hook and selling more with less, a focused pitch.
1. SAVING GRACE – Logline: A NHL practice goalie struggles to make the save of a lifetime to protect his daughter and his team’s season.
2. Similarity to a box-office success. A great role for a bankable actor.
3. Danny Murphy was on top of the world: the star goalie of his college hockey team, playing for a championship, with a loving wife and baby, and destined for a long NHL career. In a moment, it was gone. His wife dead, his daughter swept away by his wealthy mother-in-law, and his body, dreams and body crushed in a tragic car accident. Ten years later, a down and out Danny must pick up the pieces of his shattered world or he will lose any chance to put his life and family back together again.
Abigail Thornton: wealthy / over-protective grandmother / determined
Jennifer: feisty / intelligent / wary
Grace: fragile / caring / precocious
Lou: handsome NHL star / loyal / good friend
Nevin: NHL coach / crafty / zen
Similarity to a box-office success – A true ROCKY sports underdog story of redemption, pain and perseverance, with a thrilling, on the edge of your seat ending audiences love.
An actor would be able to play a complex, meaty role that pushes his chops as an actor. Playing the younger, successful Danny against the down-trodden ex-athlete he becomes, and his determination to get his life and family back, create a character on the brink, with an equal chance of doom or redemption, that actors and audiences love.
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DEADLY REFLECTIONS Logline:
A male teen and his friends who are trying to pull off a “zombie scam” in a deserted cabin are stalked by a serial strangler from the 1800’s who uses black magic to travel through mirrors and reflections.
Primary marketing components/ business hooks:
Wide audience appeal: Teenager and 20’s demographic
Unique: 1) A new world within mirrors and reflections.
2) The killer travels from another period of history into the present.
Secondary marketing component/business hook: Engaging horror title
Pitch: DEADLY REFLECTIONS. A dependable and high-grossing genre of “Teenagers running from an evil killer, struggling to stay alive” but what is unique is the killer travels through a mirror from a period in history, the 1800’s, into the present. And we experience with the hero and his new-found female partner, a new world that is inside mirrors and reflections.
Doing this assignment, I learned a valuable lesson: tailor your pitch according to the most engaging marketing components. I also learned how beneficial it is to realize an engrossing pitch’s marketing components can aid in my writing. (I’ve already decided to make specific and major changes in the script that came from looking at it from a marketing standpoint.)
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Cara’s Marketable Components
What I learned from this assignment is that I need to define a logline with a hook (still refining). That will help drive my overall story structure and make my script more relatable and urgent. Then, I can identify the most marketable components of my script and use them to make the pitch more attractive.
Logline: A heartbroken poet must leave his most inspiring relationships to find his true genius before his time runs out.
G.) Wide audience appeal. Rilke Rainer Rilke remains one of the most popular of all best-selling poets and his artistic influence continues to inspire pop culture icons, artists, and famous writers.
– Lady Gaga has a Rilke poem tattooed on her inner arm.
– Artist Cy Twombly is currently showing a piece at The Broad in downtown LA with a painted quote from Rilke.
– Rilke is quoted in Woody Allen’s “Another Woman.”
– A Rilke poem is used in Robin Williams’ “Awakenings.”
I.) Similarity to a box-office success.
– Shakespeare in Love
– Dead Poets Society
– Il Postino
– Dr. Zhivago
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This reply was modified 3 years, 7 months ago by cara star.
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This reply was modified 3 years, 7 months ago by cara star.
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This reply was modified 3 years, 7 months ago by
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Phyllis MacBryde – Marketable Components
1. Current Logline: Ceating Zinzi tells the story of white American playwright developing a musical about an African child and the Black American producer who almost against her will, helps her finance it.
2. Marketable components:
Great roles: Complex, relatable characters for two bankable female leads.
Unique: Distinctive supporting characters. Evocative and spectacular settings that are organic to the story.
Timely: Themes that are timely and relevant in the current socio/political climate.
3. To pitch, I would lean heavily on story and lead roles:
A powerfully emotional story – part character drama, part multi-cultural awakening, part ‘the-show-must-go-on’ excitement. The driving force is the playwright. She’s engaging. Fiercely determined, to the point of being funny. And she doesn’t shy away from the minefield of authoring a play outside her culture. As she says to the African American producer, “It’s racial, it’s cultural, it’s political (a gesture to them both) — just like this.”
The high-powered producer is overly rigid. A bit sanctimonious. Yet she’s worthy of respect. She clearly has a sense of humor and enjoys the fun of being “smarter than all the men in the room.” Still, she’s flummoxed when the Ancestor Spirits – who prevail over the African cast – determine the fate of the musical.
4. Because it’s a long-shot to get a movie made, I learned from this assignment that the project must attract bankable stars and an experienced producer. These are my first steps in learning how to represent the film.
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Assignment 2: Power Players, Karen Crider
My script has a good title: How to Train your Tutu. At least, that’s what I’ve been told. The title leads the story, defines the script and unifies the theme, plot, and characters. At Stage 32, I had interest, and also with other venues. The only gripe I have with them, is they wanted me to pay to pitch. There were only five of us they said. I backed away, though I had initially pitched to a small degree upon my introduction. I talked freely with three of them and had a great conversation. They liked what they heard, at least that’s what they said; unless, that’s a line ascribed to every script they hear, so as not to lose opportunity. I don’t know. I’m upfront. Not everyone is. I have loved and lost at one competition and coverage has not always been favorable. This, too, is part of the learning process. An they all require a fee. Some of them higher than my aspirations.
I tend not to follow through after sending a query. They sometimes send a note saying they received my script. If they contact me, I respond. But if they do not get back to me. I do not contact them again. If someone wants the work of a writer; all well and good, but if there’s no interest, that’s okay too. I cut my teeth on writing, so to speak; in other words, I have written for decades. I know the drill. Most writers bug a company/producer after they submit a script/manuscript/ etc. I don’t do that. My writing should do that for me.
The title is either good or it isn’t. It either strikes a chord or it doesn’t. People react to the title. I react to the humor, the catchy, the catch-all –a lead in from another title, but bearing a different meaning. I love irony, laughter, meaning, depth, the way words can be utilized like paints on a canvas. Since I am an artist, dormant and otherwise, everything links together inside an overall schematic. It plays in the writing, allowing imagination to takes the lead across a wilderness of words; dredging up character; the stubble of plot, the landscape of hills and valleys inside scenes and dialogue. But it all starts with the title, concept, logline and then outline.
My script is timely. It emphasizes the angst of a motherless teen, who dreams of being a ballerina against her father’s will, a weaselly competitor and a doughnut addiction during Covid 19. Yet, it does not bear the tidings of death and dismay. It bears the tone of humor; instead of loss– optimism. Instead of darkness we’re sometimes steeped in—light. But it does carry the angst of being young, and not being understood by those we seek approval. Its theme is a noted one: Does the tutu make the ballerina, or does the ballerina make the tutu? Which amounts to: Can the tutu be trained as a permanent fit for life for a young ballerina, even when it’s a second- hand tutu, that comes from a second hand store, with its second-hand odors, free of charge. Odors as engrained as her doughnut addiction, that threatens her fitting into the only tutu she can afford.
What I learned: I head into writing like a general to war. I pick my field, my weapons, my warriors and my plot. They unify their fortifications. And I battle against them till I take the field. I seldom consider marketing rules. The writing makes its own rules. It’s ironic that my wriiting tends to fall inside these rules. Which is good, because it’s one less battle–one less Custer’s last stand. So, this has left a larger impression on me this time over. Learning is repetition. By the time, repetition leaves a new wrinkle on the brain, which is an indication of learning, I hope to utilize what makes good writing, better, and to make better writing, great. Thanks…
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Gordon Roback Marketable Components
1. Current Logline:
Before Camerone they were the scum of the earth. After the battle of Camerone the men of the French Foreign Legion were regarded as some of the best soldiers in the world.
2. Two elements that will help sell the script:
1. Timely – The United States spent billions of dollars to train and equip the Afghan army yet when the Taliban attacked the army evaporated even though they were fighting against the forces of reaction and repression. In contrast the men of the French Foreign Legion who had no home and no reason to fight the Mexicans – fought against overwhelming odds and refused to surrender. Finally, when there were only six men left standing and they were out of ammunition, instead of giving up the Legionnaires fixed bayonets and attacked the Mexican army.
However, given how painful the debacle in Afghanistan to many, especially those who fought and lost friends in the conflict, this might be a bit too on the head. So rather than dealing with this element I will focus on the fact that it is based on a true story. I changed some of the characters to make them more interesting but the major characters are real as is the course of events leading to the Legionnaires being overwhelmed. Even then they refused to surrender. It was only when the Mexicans agreed to allow them to keep their weapons and promised to treat their wounded did they agree to stop fighting. Colonel Milan, the commander of the Mexican forces, demanded to see the survivors. He looked at them and said to his officers, “These are not men, these are demons”. He said it with awe in his voice. The 67 Legionnaires left 500 Mexican dead on the field as well as scores of wounded.
2. It is similar to three recent highly successful films:
It is similar to Zulu – one of the great war films where a company of Welsh soldiers fought against thousands of Zulu warriors who had just wiped out a British army at Isandlwana. The film made Michael Caine a star overnight.
It is also similar to the end of Fury where a US tank crew defends a crossroads against hundreds of SS troops until they are overwhelmed.
It is also similar to “300” where a small group of Spartans stood against the might of the Persian Empire until they were overwhelmed.
The film also incorporates the romantic mythos of such French Foreign Legion films as Beau Geste, Morocco and March or Die.
3. Before Camerone they were the scum of the earth. After the battle of Camerone the men of the French Foreign Legion were regarded as some of the best soldiers in the world, like the British soldiers in “Zulu”, the Americans in “Fury” and the Spartans in “300”. Camerone is based on the true story which made the Legion a legend.
4. What I learned in this lesson is that making reference to other seminal, successful films and a true story will help sell the screenplay.
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Michael’s Marketable Components
What I learned doing this assignment is that by focusing on what components of the story are most important to the person I am pitching to, I have a better chance of generating interest.
Logline: A hot shot Wall Street executive returns to his hometown to win back his childhood sweetheart by mentoring a kid is a school stock trading club in the school where she teaches, until it is discovered that the kid is trading teal stocks using his inside knowledge.
Great title: KIDSIDE TRADER
Unique: A kid becomes a huge online trading success before being targeted by regulators and exposing the ironic hypocrisy of Wall Street, the financial regulators and the media.
Timely: While set in the “dot com” boom of the late 1990’s, a theme running through the story is that to many traders it is like a game with it’s highs and lows, and history has a way of repeating itself as traders manipulate the market; like the traders of Gamestop and AMC stocks today.
This story has a wide audience appeal from teenagers to lovers of Wall Street movies of all ages. It offers great roles for bankable actors:
Ex: Brendan Malone: Wall Street rock star trying to recapture the love of his youth, finding redemption in the process.
KIDSIDE TRADER is family friendly film with a social message told in an entertaining way.
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Stephen Maynard – Marketable Components
What I learned doing this assignment is that adjusting a script to incorporate some of the Components of Marketability is not difficult and potentially productive and that one should strive to incorporate these and other components in new scripts in their earliest outlines.
1. CURRENT LOGLINE: A sexually frustrated loser launches on a transformational journey when he murders his professor to steal genetically engineered worms that transmogrify old hags into teen beauties – that devour men.
2. COMPONENTS OF MARKETABILITY:
B. Great Title: PANDORA’S OTHER BOX. I believe my title is provocative, expository and that it subtextually suggests the tone of the movie. (I’ll continue to test it as I work on new drafts.)
G. Wide audience appeal: A horror movie with a UNIQUE horror CREATURE, lots of TEENAGED GIRLS doing teen and adult things that comment on both TIMELY and UNIVERSAL themes.
J. A great role for a bankable actor: The villain of PANDORA’S OTHER BOX makes Iago look like an altar boy.
THE PITCH:
The cunning, ruthless villain of PANDORA’S OTHER BOX makes Iago and Satan look like altar boys.
He cons old ladies into surrendering their wealth and accepting worms that will turn them into terrifying LAMPREY HUMANOIDS who must eat their husband’s brains to attain youth and beauty.
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This reply was modified 3 years, 7 months ago by Stephen Maynard.
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This reply was modified 3 years, 7 months ago by Stephen Maynard.
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This reply was modified 3 years, 7 months ago by
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Barry’s marketable components:
This lesson identifies the discreet components that define the parameters of marketability and guide-if not dictate-the screenwriter to incorporate telltale indicators that producers are searching for in a screenplay.
1) Logline: As a Chicago gangster’s estranged son attempts to reunite with his brother, his efforts threaten the organization. He’s convicted of murder and targeted for death in prison. From his hospital bed he plots his revenge, unaware that what he does may lead to his brother’s death.
2) Components of marketability:
(b)-Title: A Taste of Cold Steel. This term is loosely used to describe a minimal prison sentence or use of a needle to inject drugs. It is a phrase used by some felons and hard-core addicts.
(f)-Ultimate: This screenplay has the best or worst, depending on your perspective, addicts, judges, lawyers, psychopaths and cops.
(g)-Wide audience appeal: In this current political and social climate, I believe many people are interested in understanding better addiction and its consequences, law and order, and the criminal justice system with its often competing parts against the backdrop of Chicago’s organized crime.
3) How to enhance the components and integrate them in the pitch:
A) As to the title, it is in dialogue between two characters.
I don’t know how to enhance the characters beyond what I have done. I have fleshed out the characters enough to inspire the reader to visualize their subjective conception of how these characters should appear.
Regarding wide audience appeal, implicit in pitching the storyline line will be references to crime, corruption and pursuit of brotherly love at all costs.
B) Pitching the components will be the window dressing, or external aspects of the storyline, while emphasizing the compulsion to find his brother is the internal motivation that jeopardizes his life and his brother’s.
4) Lessons from this exercise:
In a short time, I’ve become more conscious of writing with a two-fold purpose: Writing my story in a cinematic and entertaining manner while cognizant of what producers need to sell content.
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This reply was modified 3 years, 7 months ago by barry Voss.
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This reply was modified 3 years, 7 months ago by
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Philip’s Marketable Components
Logline: A bungling pair of American zoologists quit their dead-end jobs to track down a hoax animal in the Australian Outback, testing the limits of their bromance.
A. Unique – a pair of clueless zoologists go in
search of a hoax animal in the Australian Outback in a desperate attempt to
resurrect their careersJ. A great role for a bankable actor;
Ben – nerdy zoologist with a bug obsession and a touch of Asperger’s
Owen – loud, impulsive taxidermist seeking instant fame and fortune through his crazy schemes
Regina – a museum director relishing total control over her man-child underlings
I learned to look at a broader range of marketing elements for the script and develop some hooks to address these elements. Also changing the ending of the script to better deliver on the theme and more clearly convey its hook.
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John Alen’s Marketable Components
1. A corrupt cop doing time gets a shot at redemption when he’s released to help stop a ruthless drug lord from waging violence in the streets.
2. I have a unique antagonist which would be a great role for a bankable actor.
3. What you get with Octavia Velasco is not only a female drug lord, but the one of most ruthless villains audiences have ever seen. It would be an amazing part for Salma Hayek or another Latina star.
4. What I learned doing this assignment is the importance of zeroing in on those aspects of your script which make it the most marketable.
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Stephen Joubert – Marketable Components
Logline: In 1977, when the NYPD closes the case of her mother’s disappearance, 16 year-old Lizzy begins her own search for her mother, thrusting her into the midst of a battle for control of the Irish mob, which may utltimately hold the answer to her mother’s fate.
Timely First – Sister Lizzy shows two women competeing for control of an all-male mob syndicate. It is a truely female driven story that delivers on one of Hollywood’s biggest trends.
Great Role – The role of Lizzy’s advisor, Anne, is written for a sixty something black actress. Sister Anne is a nun who seems traditional on the surface but is in reality a very well connected woman.
Through this assignment I a learning to look at my story through the lens of what will sell.
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Stephen’s Marketable Components
What I learned doing this assignment is the importance of breaking down the script into selling points. To think of a script as a product I need to sell and to do that, I need to create a demand for it.
1. Logline: After an insecure, struggling actor rescues a stray dog, he must decide the fate of the old dog nobody wants to adopt, while his long-awaited chance at stardom approaches.
2. Timely: Right now, producer, studios, actors, and streamers are clamoring for family-friendly films.
Wide Audience Appeal: People love dogs. They love having them as part of their family. They love watching dog videos on YouTube, and they love dog movies.
3. Based on all the discomfort and uncertainty that’s been going on and continues to go on with the pandemic, people are hungrier than ever for feel-good movies that will leave them feeling uplifted and hopeful.
Parents are always looking for a family-friendly, feel-good movie to enjoy with their children, teens included. And those people whose faith is important to them, will appreciate the solid moral values this movie depicts.
Animal lovers everywhere will appreciate one of the movie’s significant messages: old dogs have value and need to be cherished. Laredo is not much to look at, but he is one of the smartest dogs you’ll ever see in the movies.
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Debbie’s Marketable Components
What I learned doing this assignment is to find the hooks that will interest a producer. I also learned that this assignment will help me tweak my script to make it more marketable.
Title: Invasive Species
Logline: When archaeologist Abby Resnik becomes impregnated by alien sperm, she loses her wife, her family, and her identity as she fights the invasion of not only her womb but of the earth.
The title is one of my strongest elements.
Similarity to Box Office Successes: Rosemary’s Baby meets Aliens
Unique Characters:
Abby: Archaeologist/Bad ass Warrior/Mother
Debora: Zealot/Mond Controlled/Betrayer
Cathy: Straw Bale House Contractor/Environmental Activist/Wife to Abby
January: Professor of Religious Studies/Powerful Witch
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Leland’s Marketable Components
Logline: Young cop protects her autistic computer genius friend from mercenaries, fights internal discrimination as she chases a serial killer
Wide audience appeal: We have a young, tall woman trying to be a cop in Dallas where the system fights her every step of the way. She fights back and beats the system. She’s beating the odds, an underdog who makes it work for her. Audiences like underdogs who make things work.
Great Title: Dick & Jane go to War
This may be an age thing, but anyone who read the Dick & Jane readers in the first grade would have fun with this one.
Great role for a bankable actor: The title role was designed around Aisha Tyler, who is six feet tall and attractive, but too old. It would work for certain model/actresses who are the right age, six feet tall, beautiful, and have had some success in movies like the Vikings.
Pitching: I would play the underdog winning against the odds. Audiences like to see underdogs win, and this is where our heroine excels when the system is fighting against her. You have a stunningly beautiful, tall, athletic, and intelligent woman trying to make it in the Dallas police department where most of the men can’t get passed googling her body. She has a knack for talking back, speaking her mind which makes the brass angry, then becomes the hero when fighting the bad guys. And…she has a geek friend who’s a little autistic, but a genius when it comes to breaking into computers. Together they fight the system and catch criminals.
What did I learn: There are 10 things that make a movie marketable. Sell one and you sell the movie.
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John Vanis’ Marketable Components
What I learned today is that marketable components are the first thing to attract a producers attention. It is what they need to see if a project can make them money. I am a writer that should think like a producer!
Current logline – We hear the vulgar, inner thoughts of two infants as they are left with their inexperience dads for five days.
Components of Marketability
B) Title – Potty Mouths. I think it’s to the point and catchy. Some kids do have a potty mouth. Can you imagine what a fussy infant would say if they could talk?
G) Wide audience appeal – Yes. Parents new and old can relate to the story.
H) Adapted from a popular book- It might not be popular but it was spawned from my picture book.
I) Similarity to box office success-
Look who’s talking
Bad moms
Good boys
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Day 2: Paul’s Marketable Components
4. What I learned from doing this assignment is exactly how, when you examine these top 10 components of marketability, it all enriches your script. It feeds back into the script to produce something far more interesting.
For example, as I brainstormed my title, I came up with several variants that gave me new insight into my protagonist.
I was quite happy with the original title “Scarred Not Scared”. Unless Cheryl or Hal tell me that’s fantastic, I decided it might be good line of dialogue, but there could be better titles.
For the moment, I am settling on “Scarred For Life”. What this title brings out is the fact that the protagonist has been on the battlefield to defend people back home from threats abroad. Now, aboard a cruise liner, where she is seeking R&R, she will be forced to apply the battle experience that gave her those scars to save the lives of her fellow-passengers.
The assignment also led me to think of the difference between a good title and good lines of dialogue. One of my brainstormed titles was, “Ugly Is As Ugly Does” (à la Forrest Gump) but I decided that was too light-hearted for the serious theme of the movie, but could fit in as dialogue.
1. Current logline:
A young woman with a badly scarred face and body is scorned and ignored by fellow passengers on the cruise ship until it is hijacked by terrorists and their lives depend on the skills she learned while getting those battle scars.
3. Pitching great role for bankable actor.
The protagonist breaks the mold for a “leading lady” since she is battle-scarred and not pretty to look at. She will also be forced to do some unsavory things to save the lives of hundreds of passengers on the cruise ship, hijacked by terrorists. She will emerge as a heroine and be acclaimed for her selfless courage and fighting skills if not for her Hollywood looks.
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Day 2: Paul’s Marketable Components
4. What I learned from doing this assignment is exactly how, when you examine these top 10 components of marketability, it all enriches your script. It feeds back into the script to produce something far more interesting.
For example, as I brainstormed my title, I came up with several variants that gave me new insight into my protagonist.
I was quite happy with the original title “Scarred Not Scared”. Unless Cheryl or Hal tell me that’s fantastic, I decided it might be good line of dialogue, but there could be better titles.
For the moment, I am settling on “Scarred For Life”. What this title brings out is the fact that the protagonist has been on the battlefield to defend people back home from threats abroad. Now, aboard a cruise liner, where she is seeking R&R, she will be forced to apply the battle experience that gave her those scars to save the lives of her fellow-passengers.
The assignment also led me to think of the difference between a good title and good lines of dialogue. One of my brainstormed titles was, “Ugly Is As Ugly Does” (à la Forrest Gump) but I decided that was too light-hearted for the serious theme of the movie, but could fit in as dialogue.
1. Current logline:
A young woman with a badly scarred face and body is scorned and ignored by fellow passengers on the cruise ship until it is hijacked by terrorists and their lives depend on the skills she learned while getting those battle scars.
3. Pitching great role for bankable actor.
The protagonist breaks the mold for a “leading lady” since she is battle-scarred and not pretty to look at. She will also be forced to do some unsavory things to save the lives of hundreds of passengers on the cruise ship, hijacked by terrorists. She will emerge as a heroine and be acclaimed for her fighting skills and selfless courage if not for her Hollywood looks.
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Mark Abel’s Marketable Components
What I learned doing this assignment is…
I ended up applying all ten Components of Marketability to ESCAPEGOAT and gained a more clear picture of the project and its selling points
Logline: Exiled after his entire audience dies in a theater fire, a reckless escape artist can only alleviate his guilt by solving the ultimate trap within a mysterious, lost oasis
D. Timely — connected to some major trend or event – The story puts scapegoating in a modern context then illustrates how our guilt is relieved once we stop blaming others
F. Ultimate – What if the world’s greatest escape artist was thrown into inescapable circumstances?
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This response is from Phyllis, a classmate. I think your last sentence makes one helluva logline. Concise. And it made me sit up. “What if the world’s greatest escape artist was thrown into inescapable circumstances?”
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Thanks for the reply, Phyllis!
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You might want to test it with people who know nothing about your project. See which log line sparks their interest. This one certainly grabbed mine.
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Kristina’s Marketable Components
What I learned from this assignment: by emphasizing the hook, I can see how to make the script more engaging.
Current logline:
Oliver wants to deliver Tony from an abusive relationship with a writer who is obsessively jealous and a possible murderer. What Oliver doesn’t know is that Tony’s genetic makeup has resulted in him being seized by strange compulsions at certain times.
Unique: This movie contains Tarot readings, which I’ve never seen in a movie, but which I also cannot figure out how to get into the logline without providing too much detail
Great title: Murder Your Darlings
Timely: It’s set in New York City during the early days of the pandemic, and is a contained movie, which is still in demand due to Covid restrictions on movie sets; or
Timely: Magical creatures are popular? Tarot is popular?
Great roles for bankable actors:
• Oliver, engaging handsome lead
• Tony – sexy bad boy, victim, perpetrator
• Indigo – tough love Tarot reader
• Michelle – the proactive, nosy, Trans superintendent
• Nolan – needy, controlling, and as mesmerizing as a snake
Things I need to work on:
I need to keep honing the logline, and look for a similar box office success I can compare to. Also to think about the audience.
3. Elevate the components:
Tarot, werewolves, a love affair, murder, taking control of one’s destiny
I need to do some serious brainstorming on this, but also some of it will become apparent as I finish out the final scenes of the script, which I’m doing now.
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This reply was modified 3 years, 7 months ago by Kristina Zill.
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This reply was modified 3 years, 7 months ago by
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logline: While a man struggles with his identity, he discovers evidence of it at his fingertips. Taking a funny and unusual trip to his uncle’s ranch in Texas results in a dynamic change in his life.
I noticed Great Title (B) and Timely (D) as the two components of marketability that will hook a producer into requesting my script.
The title Fingerprints is a Great Title because the man relates his unique fingerprints as he holds a water glass, with condensation, at his fingertips to his bold choice to go to his uncle’s ranch in Texas. This is similar to many other people when they discover their uniqueness choose to take bold actions in their lives.
The script is Timely because it reveals how a man can come to have hope in his life in the midst of harsh realities. This is important in these times because people are looking for something to have hope in.
People don’t know what to believe about the pandemic.
People don’t know what to believe about themselves.
People don’t know what to believe about the government.
A comeback reality story can give people, who also are caught in harsh realities, hope.
Fingerprints is a funny simple story that people can apply to their lives.
What I learned in lesson (2) was that producers are looking for hooks in a person’s pitch that they can use to produce a marketable film. I learned what components are needed to market /pitch my script to a producer. The producer is looking for a major hook to draw an audience into a theatre. Fingerprints is a comeback story of a man with no hope. Instead of fear, he takes the action: I’m heading to my uncle’s ranch in Texas because he has old time values and he will help me.
Learning hooks and skilled pitching will increase my marketing skills.
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Michael Mercer’s Marketable Components: (1) Wide Audience Appeal + (2) Great Role for Bankable Actor
1. Tell us your current logline.
In this coming-of-age drama-romance, six teenage girls go through the most intense emotional roller coasters of their lives – because of the one handsome, fun, very affectionate guy they all adore.
2. Look through the 10 Components of Marketability and pick one or two that have the most potential for selling this script.
(1) Wide audience appeal.
(2) A great role for a bankable actor.
3. Do a quick brainstorm session about ways to elevate those two components for this script and tell us how you might pitch the script through the two components.
(1) <b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>Wide audience appeal.
This movie will attract huge audience of teenage and adult females
(2) A great role for a bankable actor.
This movie is perfect for the next Leonardo DiCapria – a young, handsome, romantic male actor – whom females immediately develop a crush for and crave to see.
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Andrea Higgins – Marketable Components
What I learned doing this assignment:
Use the 10 components as a guide, but stress the one(s) that your project hits out of the park.
1. Logline
A young boy who befriends a rare baby Sea Dragon must outrun and outwit a rogue scientist, intent on using the dragon’s DNA to create a biological weapon that will destroy the human capacity to love.
2. 10 Component Examples
✅Wide audience appeal:
While there are some scary moments and thrills, like E.T. this is a story about a young protagonist on a hero’s journey. It will appeal to young and old alike.
✅Similarity to box-office success:
The story has been likened to E.T. and FREE WILLY by early readers.
E.T.: Budget $10,500,000 / Gross: $792,910,554
FREE WILLY: Budget 20,000,000 / Gross: $153,698,625
✅Great roles for bankable actors:
There are strong roles for kids, adults, and seniors alike in this story.
-Two great kids roles (boy and girl).
-Four great supporting roles for actors age 50+ (2 male, 2 female), which are central to both the story and the action.
-A great leading man/undercover FBI agent type (30s – 40s)
-6 supporting roles that, though smaller, make strong character impact.
✅Great title: DANIEL AND THE SEA DRAGON
I think it is clear. You have the sense from this title that it will be a kid & family friendly film, and also have a fantasy (live action hybrid) element.
✅Unique/Timely:
While the struggles of the protagonist may be similar to stories we have seen, there is a bio-espionage and extremist undercurrent to the story line that makes it relevant to today. This story line also opens the possibility for sequels/world building that focus on the backstories of some of the adult characters.
3. Pitch Concept:
At a time of unrest in much of the world, there is a collective need for stories that remind us of goodness, family values, love, and friendship. In this family friendly tale of an awkward young boy who befriends a baby sea dragon, we find the makings of the hero we all hope to be, when that which we love most in the world is threatened. Like Eliot in E.T., Daniel will risk everything to reunite the baby sea dragon with its mother, thereby preventing a rogue scientist from destroying the creature, and perhaps life as we know it.
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This reply was modified 3 years, 7 months ago by Andrea Higgins.
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This reply was modified 3 years, 7 months ago by Andrea Higgins.
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This reply was modified 3 years, 7 months ago by
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Robert Barhite’s Marketable Components
TV Pilot: Cry Havoc
Genre: One hour Drama/Western Serial
Logline: To clear his name of murder, a Black ex-Cavalry officer and gang leader detectives must infiltrate a powerful stock growers association hell-bent on wiping out rival homesteaders before he’s hunted down by Pinkerton detectives.
Unique: The number of television Westerns with a Black central protagonist is zero. Westerns with strong Black characters, like “Hell on Wheels,” feature a strong White protagonist with the Black character taking a back seat.
Timely: “Cry Havoc” holds a mirror to today’s societal ills like economic disparity and racial injustice. Not much has changed since the late 1880’s where millionaire cattle barons could declare war and openly recruit an army to attack legal homesteaders and get away with it.
What I learned from this assignment is that writing and marketing go hand-in-hand. I found opportunities to rewrite parts of the pilot based on this exercise. It’s going to make for a long night 😊
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What I learned doing this assignment is seeing different ways to appeal to a producer.
Logline for “Are We Home”: After climate change wipes out their community, a family of U.S. refugees have to figure out how to belong again.
2 Components of Marketability
<div>
Timely — connected to some major trend or event: Climate change
</div><div>Wide
audience appeal: Compelling family drama</div>
Elevating the components:
– Everyone is affected by climate change. We follow other families in a Refugee Camp in Chicago who are inventing ways to survive/thrive.
– Sarah, age 15, is fed up with her blended family and tries to run away … but the weather, then guilt, keep her bonded to them. She winds up becoming the glue that holds the family together.
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ASSIGNMENT
Guil, Marketable Components.
Pick one or two components and tell us how your script already fulfills them AND how you might highlight these two in order to elevate the pitch.
1. Tell us your current logline.
A jaded screenwriter with a mean streak, a desperate director, a shark producer with a past, and a gullible porn actor are woven into a tale of kidnapping, betrayal and murder.
2. Look through the 10 Components of Marketability and pick one or two that have the most potential for selling this script.
A. Unique: a world of kidnapping, betrayal and murder… seen that before, but in a world of filmmakers… A screenwriter kidnaps a producer… seen that too, but after an accidental death which may implicate both of them, the screenwriter and producer are forced to team up to evade a cunning detective. It’s a film noir set in the world of filmmakers.
I. Similarity to a box-office success. The Player, Reservoir Dogs, Swimming with Sharks, Sunset Boulevard.
3. Do a quick brainstorm session about ways to elevate those two components for this script and tell us how you might pitch the script through the two components.
Unique? The Dreammaker’s Revenge is a contained Crime Drama with a dark comedy undertone. The world of kidnapping, betrayal and murder has twists and turns that can keep the audience guessing until the end. The story makes use of the tropes: 1) kidnapping a producer (Swimming with Sharks), 2) the dysfunctional co-dependence between two characters (Sunset Boulevard), and 3) an accident that has irreversible consequences (Detour); and it immerses the audience into the world of a movie-obsessed and crazed screenwriter who will do anything it takes to “make it” and exact revenge on those who get in his way. The consequence is a point of no return.
Similarity to a box-office success? Yes. Since this is a contained script, it makes Covid-safety issues more manageable. Additionally, two interior main locations can also make it logistically feasible. Of the comps: The Player, Reservoir Dogs, Swimming with Sharks, Suicide Kings, and Sunset Boulevard, Reservoir Dogs might be the most similar because of the possibility of having a great ensemble with a few locations.
4. Answer the question “What I learned doing this assignment is…?” and post it at the top of your work.
By doing this assignment, I was able to brainstorm what may be my strengths and weaknesses when developing a marketable plan. It was easier to see where the holes are and how I can improve.
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Liz’s Marketable Components
I learned that you can’t just tell a story that interests you. There are marketable components producers/buyers look for, and they need to be brought up front and emphasized within the script and the pitch.
1. Current logline: When a young boy’s father takes a traveling sales job in a new town, he is left to save his sister and pregnant mother from a dead girl who will kill to be part of their family.
2. Flint Hill’s Components of Marketability that have the most potential for selling the script…
A. Unique: Flint Hill is unique because it takes us on an up and down journey from the perspective of a child haunted and trapped by a ruthless supernatural child. Flint Hill has the usual horror film and BOO! moments, but its real scare is its building emotional level of fear and dread like A Quiet Place.
D. Timely — connected to some major trend or event: Poverty, bullying and neglect are ongoing social issues that have affected children for generations.
G. Wide audience appeal: People will associate with Evan’s love of his family, his willingness to risk himself for their safety even though they seem to block his best intentions, and his drive and determination although he’s unlikely to win. People also can’t get enough of their horror and supernatural movies.
I. Similarity to a box-office success: With its paranormal antagonist pitted against a child, and its dysfunctional family dynamics, the movie lives within the world of The Others and It.
J. A great role for a bankable actor: The antagonist evil spirit is a girl. Girl roles are traditionally quiet-pretty-good-girls, and we all know we are so much more than that. The children’s roles, antagonist and protagonist, are comprised of clever and equal opponents. The mother is a dismissive almost neglectful parent, but by the end, she turns into a mother protector. The sheriff is a sage man with a heart and secrets of his own. He’s the closest thing to a good father figure Evan’s had and is his only helper.
Jotted down a few things I thought of while going through the list. Wondering from the selling/marketing standpoint which two are the most important? Grateful to know I should pick two and will focus on them when I have more time. Playing catch up.
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Debbie’s Marketable Components
What I learned during this assignment is to really boil down the story to the most marketable components.
Logline: When archaeologist becomes impregnated by alien sperm, she loses her wife, her family, and her identity as she fights the invasion of not only her womb but of the earth.
Great title: Invasive Species
Similarity to box office success: This is a cross between Rosemary’s Baby and Aliens. Abby must protect her hybrid reptilian/human newborn not only from the Reptilian invaders but from her own family.
Bankable Actor: Abby is an archeologist who was trained to be a bad-ass warrior against a reptilian invasion. She becomes impregnated with alien sperm and must decide whether to destroy the child or protect it.
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Unique: Three terminal patients on a last hurrah road trip across the country
Great Title: The Mortality Game
True: N/A
Timely: A dramedy about death and the appreciation of life is ALWAYS timely.
It’s a First: N/A
Ultimate: On the road trip our trio play a game where they do dangerous things to come as close to death as possible without actually dying or suffering serious injury.
Wide Audience Appeal: My three headed lead include a middle-aged curmudgeon, a young collegiate, and a kid involved in this trip, so it certainly has the chief demographics covered.
Adapted From A Popular Book: N/A
Similar to Box-Office Successes: The Bucket List Budget 45 million, Gross 175.4 million.
Great Roles For Bankable Actors:
Schubert – Hard drinking, chain smoking, middle-aged throwback to the tell it like it is generation.
Halada – Good natured, resourceful, with a huge brain tumor which causes him hallucinations, and memory loss and makes him our rather unreliable narrator of the story.
Tugger – Pre-teen hell-spawn, a tough, gritty, plucky, foster kid that DOESN’T want to go through chemo again.
Dragenfeld – Tough yet tender police detective, who listens to Halada’s story thru the lens of a loss of her own.
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What I learned doing this assignment is plan out an idea, market test with people, plan, test, plan, test, don’t get caught up in writing in that shiny tempting world until it’s passed several back to back plans & tests!
Current Logline: When her family mysteriously disappears down a toilet drain, a wannabe pilot and her rag-tag friends hunt down clues which embroil them in a battle with the newly-sentient monster garbage strangling the city.
Marketability:
– unique – sentient monster garbage
– should brainstorm alternate titles with more common words
– adapted from a graphic novel – still in the works
– timely – putting a face on the climate change enemy
How to Elevate:
The problem with climate change as an enemy? You can’t see it. But you can see the disasters that arise and the people that are displaced. O’AHU 2080 takes that disaster to a new extreme – forget a novel coronavirus, this is a novel sentient being! And if you can see one monster… that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
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Logline
Two dancing brothers, one adopted, compete in a Las Vegas showcase, but when they fall for the same girl, their definition of family is tested and destroys the team’s chance of winning.
These marketable components have potential for selling my script
1) Wide audience appeal
Dance movies have a faithful audience with the international box office often doubling the domestic numbers. MOVE, with a diverse cast of lead actors (African-American, Asian-American, and Southeast Asian) will attract an international and a domestic audience.
2) Similarity to a box office success
Similarly to STEP UP and other dance films, MOVE has innovative dance set pieces, romance, and a emotional core that will resonate with a global audience.
3) A great role for a bankable actor
The antagonist, Jeffrey Cortes, is a master manipulator who’s willing to use his money, connections, and cunning to win the showcase.
I learned a writer needs at least one marketable component to get a script request.
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Audrey’s Marketable Components
What I’ve learned doing this assignment is that both more focus and expansion could be created and utilized to make this more exciting, humorous (!) and varied.
MARKETABILITY
A. Unique: Grief and Humor.
B. Great Title: (still experimenting)
Love, Loss, Longing
The Laughing Widow
Family Trust
Naïve OptimismC. True. Inspired by a true story. Own experience plus
fictionalized.D. Timely — connected to some major trend or event.
We all experience loses. Can laughter help or hurt for
healing.E. It’s a first. May be a new take. Why we laugh in grief.
F. Ultimate. Is optimism toxic or healing.
G. Wide audience appeal. All ages want to heal fast.
H. Adapted from a popular book. Personal journal. Own
rights. Extensive grief work research and experience.I. Similarity to a box-office success.
J. A great role for a bankable actor. Showing the gambit
of traditional standards and expectations and taboos regarding grief..Areas for improvement for A. C. G. and J. Especially the humorous aspects such as Blue is the new Black. How to respond to supporters, and how supporters can positively respond in ways that are helpful rather than critical .Coming of a new age after loss.
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