Lesson 2

[Michael HARRIS]

Michael Harris’s Marketable Components

What I learned doing this assignment is that great marketing components are the basis of a pitchable and saleable project.

1. Unique: Combination of historical setting, coming-of-age, and conspiracy thriller.

2. Great Title: “Wawasee”, is an intriguing and unique title that reflects the series’ rich historical setting, core themes of hidden histories and mysteries, and the significant role of the location in the narrative.

3. True: Grounded in historical reality with figures like Al Capone and the depiction of the Great Depression.

4. Timely: Resonates with current themes of truth-seeking and fighting corruption.

5. It’s a First: Fresh blend of genres and themes.

6. Ultimate: Aiming to be the definitive historical adventure series for younger audiences.

7. Wide Audience Appeal: Mix of adventure, historical intrigue, and coming-of-age themes.

8. Similarity to Box-Office Success: Comparable to “Stranger Things” and “Indiana Jones.”

9. A Great Role for a Bankable Actor: Byron Connolly and Lily Marie Ridgely Lilly roles provide opportunities for established actors to bring depth and star power.

• This reply was modified 1 year ago by  Michael HARRIS.

[Eric Jr]

Eric Edge Jr’s Marketable Components
What I learned doing this assignment is…?” that you have to focus on the business and story hooks instead of the plot.
1. Current logline.: A group of documentary filmmakers get more than they bargained for when their new project that may provide them a big break lands them in a sex and drug-fueled commune of Western fun-loving youth worshipping an evil snake God deep in the Amazon jungle.
2. 10 Components of Marketability :
• A. Unique: A nerd-filled camera crew goes in search fame only to run headlong into beautiful, cool-kid hippies with evil intent.
• B. Great Title: The Serpent’s Tongue
• C. True: N/A
• D. Timely — As seen in the news, drug tourism is a popular and sensational curiosity even for those who don’t partake
• E. It’s a first. To my knowledge, no one has exploited the subject of drug tourism for horror. It’s also unusual in the type of humor used to temper the dark tone. Instead of campy humor, very bawdy humor is the flavor of the day. (Picking this one to highlight)
• F. Ultimate. Evil sexed and drugged-up hippies are luring innocent youth into the jungle far from family and the modern world.
• G. Wide audience appeal: If you are conservative, you will hate this movie. But everyone else will be strangely attracted to it. I can see it being white hot with 18-35-year-olds as well as popular with the older hippie generations of the 60s and 70s.
• H. Adapted from a popular book.- N/A
• I. Similarity to a box-office success. It mixes the intensity and magical elements of Stranger Things with the bawdy humor of The Hangover.
• J. A great role for a bankable actor.(Picking this one to highlight)

• Dave: Nerdy director calling shots to hide his insecurities
• Travis: The lovable hunk that has grown up protecting his nerdy childhood friends
• Ethan: The nerd with a strong moral compass who is comfortable in his own skin
• Bosch: A laid-back bad boy cult leader with a dark edge
• Mama D: A strong black woman who is second in command
• Venus: A heart-breaking blonde who is a fierce warrior
• Jest: A joker there to dismantle insincerity and hypocrisy
• Sir Cumalot: A quick-witted comic and gay advocate
• Mr: Thick: A gifted physical comedian who is a gay top
• Thunder Tongue: A quick-witted comic and lesbian advocate
• Madam Fiddle: A gifted lesbian comedian with a knack for impersonations

3. Quick brainstorm session: I think the sensationalism of drug tourism paired with horror that is tempered with very bawdy humor is completely unique. I think the large ensemble cast will provide interesting and layered roles for 20 to 30-year-old actors to sink their teeth into. It's the naive nerds who have bitten off more than they can chew vs the beautiful, cool kid hippies who have made a pact with an evil entity.

• This reply was modified 1 year ago by  Eric Jr.
• This reply was modified 1 year ago by  Eric Jr.
• This reply was modified 1 year ago by  Eric Jr.
• This reply was modified 1 year ago by  Eric Jr.
• This reply was modified 1 year ago by  Eric Jr.
• This reply was modified 1 year ago by  Eric Jr.

[anna harper]

Project and Market

Title Alfie’s Christmas Adventure

Genre Holiday/Family

Logline It’s Christmas in a quaint English village where we meet a young teenage boy hiding from bullies in a rubbish skiff.
What if a ginormous Newfoundland dog comes to his rescue, and becomes the boy’s life coach?

Which market would I target first? Producers. Why? They can make green-lit decisions.
Christmas-themed movies often make great financial returns; a fabulous dog, a family in trouble and an English village setting are Irresistible to the international market. We now need entertainment that tackles evolving the EQ of us humans. Why me? I have experience in working with traumatized people.

• This reply was modified 1 year ago by  anna harper.
• This reply was modified 1 year ago by  anna harper.

[anna harper]

Marketable Components
Alfie’s Christmas Adventure
What I learned from this lesson; the homework helped to think in terms of effective pitch elements I could draw upon.

1. Wide audience reach. As demonstrated by the voracious international appetite for British drama. All ages have demonstrated via box office their interest in dog-centric stories which have proven to be evergreen. The hero of the piece is a teenage boy facing universally experienced difficulties that young people and adults can identify with. The paradox of the Christmas season contrasted with the troubles of everyday life is a common relatable experience.
2. A-List actor Joe Solomon has been a much-loved character in the Doc Martin series of ten seasons running. In an interview regarding Joe, he said that his character was much like himself in real life. His demeanour is perfect for Steve, the widowed father of Dylan. His participation will draw on his significant Doc Martin fan base.

[Joyce Davidson]

WIL:The lesson erases some concerns that the script has to be elevated to attract a reader.
Wide audience appeal:The locatons and the plot of this comedy are aimed at worldwide appeal.
A great role for a bankable actor: A shorter under six feet actor could make this role memorable.
Unique: Zed, double O nine and a half is an poor recruit for spying, but he saves the world.

[Ian Patrick Williams]

Ian’s Marketable Components
What I learned doing this assignment is to focus on just a few elements to create a successful pitch that will attract producers
A. Unique: one man must take action because of the FBI’s slow by-the-book response to an imminent threat
B. Great Title: The Coming Storm refers to the American Storm Troupers’ upcoming plan to cause a race war
C. True: N/A
D. Timely: The North Carolina Nazi march and the coup from January 6th
E. It’s a First: N/A
F. Ultimate: if the protagonist fails, America erupts into chaos
G. Wide Audience Appeal: non-stop action; romantic subplot; mounting suspense
H. Adapted from a popular book: N/A
I. Similarity to Box-Office Success: The Equalizer meets Civil War
J. A Great Role for Bankable Actors:
Detective Miles Broussard: Black/headstrong/heroic
Detective Sid Silver: mentor/seen-it-all/paternal
Carl Tilson: racist/unhinged/expert marksman
Current logline: A brash young Black detective goes against protocol to stop a neo-Nazi group from launching a terrorist event meant to start a race war across America.
Pitching through two components:
F & J
MILES: John David Washington; Michael B. Jordan; SID: Paul Giamatti, John C. Reilly; CARL; Mads Mikklesen, Walter Goggins

[Brad Best]

Brad Best’s Marketable Components
1. Logline: When a clueless young attorney loses his job, he impulsively decides to run for political office, go up against the town hero and prove to his wife that he’s the better candidate and the better man.
2. Components of Marketability
• D. Timely — connected to some major trend or event.
• E. It’s a first.
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.
Timely – Election issues are omnipresent and a campaign creates a sense of drama. A love triangle also adds tension.
It’s a first – Focused around the campaign for state senator in South Dakota. This comedy deals with Native American issues, independent women, LGBT, guns and more, all from a South Dakota perspective.
4. What I learned doing this assignment is to focus more on the audience.

• This reply was modified 1 year ago by  Brad Best.

[Eden De Ruse-Moore]

Eden De Ruse-Moore: (1) Unique=High Concept / (2) Similarity to a box-office success.

What I learned doing this assignment is that it is best NOT to make your pitch a hodgepodge and hooks MUST create curiosity.

Yankee Doodle Daddy – Logline:
When a former Yankee goes from dugouts to diapers he’s determined to prove to a nation that he’s an ALL Star stay-at-home Dad, while his wife the first female president, leads the greatest nation on earth.

1. In Yankee Doodle Daddy: The President finds out she’s pregnant on Inauguration Day, and tells her spouse the news as she’s about to be sworn in, (that’s unique). Given the situation, Operation First Fetus is to remain confidential until the State of the Union but when there’s a leak – the White House needs to spin it. In my pitch, I pose the question, does POTUS get maternity leave? Why does her husband, the former Yankee not want to hire a Nanny? Will a Senate Investigation (coined Babygate) have legs and lead to an impeachment? How will perpetual cut-throat politics collide with parenting?

2. Joe’s entire adult life has been based on one thing: being a Yankee. But as the First Daddy he experiences a crisis of identity, and later a reckoning of his own masculinity and personal flaws. Similar to Barbie, (box office success). Think Ken in the White House – Joe is known to most as a dumb jock, which gives him anxiety, and he’s often criticized for: “not being in touch with his feminine side.” Yet while POTUS runs the nation he’s devoted to all things baby; 24/7. Joe doesn’t fit in anywhere. I’d add to the pitch that the media reacts to his baby blunders every chance they get.

• This reply was modified 1 year ago by  Eden De Ruse-Moore.

[Eric Jr]

Interesting concept.

[William Whalen]

William Whalen – Marketable components
1. LOGLINE: Mafia princess wants to break with the family and become a sophisticated lady but the family pushes back attempting to thwart her attempts to go her own way.
2.
A. Unique – No other movie combines the world of the Mafia and the Pygmalion myth.
B. Great Title – Lady Wiseguy conveys the essence of the story.
3. Pitch: Lady Wiseguy combines America’s fascination with the world of the Mafia with the beloved makeover myth of Pygmalion for a story that is both Romcom and Thriller.
4. What I learned doing this assignment is to formulate marketable components for my screenplay.

[Michael Wallace]

Michael Wallace’s Marketable Components –
What I learned from doing this assignment is to focus on the marketable elements of the script to help Producers visualize a path to success.
Logline A Wall Street executive returns to his hometown to win back his childhood sweetheart by mentoring a kid in a school stock trading club, until it is discovered that the kid is trading real stocks using his inside knowledge.
Marketable Components
Unique- There have been many successful movies about Wall Street, but none from the perspective of a twelve-year-old kid.
Great Title – “The Kid from Lynbrook” is about a Wall Street executive that returns to his hometown and inspires another kid like him to follow in his footsteps. Great irony.
Wide audience appeal – and similar to box office successes – This will appeal to fans of Wall Street movies like “Wall Street”, “Boiler Room”, “The Wolf of Wall Street” and “The Big Short”, and be attractive to teenage kids, as it provides a comedic look on how a kid can expose the whole system.

[David Ennocenti]

David Ennocenti, Marketable components of Sniper Queen. The story is unique in that it’s a women excelling in what was considered a man’s role in World War Two. It’s the ultimate because she was not only the best women sniper but the most deadly sniper of all-time.
What I learned from this lesson is to be concise and to the point as succinctly as possible.
1) Sniper Queen tagline: No enemy soldier escapes her crosshairs.
Logline: When Nazi Germany invades her Ukraine homeland, a University of Kiev student enlists in the rifle division of the Russian Red Army, over the objections of the recruiter and her family. She struggles with the resistance of her own army and the difficulties of being a woman in combat; when all seems lost, she finds an ally in U.S. First Lady, Eleanor Roosevelt.
2) The two most important components are it’s Unique and It’s the Ultimate.

• A. Unique. It’s about a woman war hero in WWII. She was a sniper in the Russian Red Army Rifle Division.
• B. Great Title – Sniper Queen. Similar to American Sniper
• C. True. Based on a true story.
• D. Timely — connected to some major trend or event. It’s connected to WWII and the current debate of Women in the Military.
• E. It’s a first. It’s about a woman hero in combat.
• F. Ultimate. This woman was the best of the best.
• G. Wide audience appeal. It should appeal to the audience that liked American Sniper, other action/war movies, and movies about influential and trailblazing women.
• H. Adapted from a popular book. n/a
• I. Similarity to a box-office success. American Sniper, G.I. Jane
• J. A great role for a bankable actor. What young actress wouldn’t want to play this lead character. The movie also has other iconic figures, including famous Americans like Eleanore Roosevelt and 5 star general George Marshall.
3) The screenplay has a number of great roles, especially the main protagonist. The best sniper of all-time and it’s a 24-year-old woman. It could be a breakout role for an actress or even for an experienced actress.
4) What I learned from this lesson is to be concise and to the point as succinctly as possible.

[Hiram Taylor]

POWER PLAYERS – LESSON #2

HIRAM TAYLOR

What I learned: I realized everything I write almost always has two or more of the 10 components. I took a win on realizing that.

LOGLINE:

A reporter exposes a coven of witches gaining power by stealing human souls to feed a monster in the 4th Dimension. First, she must defeat the witches, then travel into the 4th Dimension to kill the monster.

MARKETABLE COMPONENTS

UNIQUE = It’s world. A horror story in which the hero must travel to the 4th Dimension to confront the monster.
GREAT ROLE FOR A BANKABLE ACTOR = The lead is a strong female and she is in every scene. Great role for Jenifer Lawrence, Margot Roby, etc…
Similarity to a box office success. INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS, MATRIX, SANDMAN etc…
GREAT TITLE = BEYOND THE 4TH DIMENSION or RAZOR BLADE TEETH

[Paul McGregor]

Paul’s Marketable Components

4. What I learned from this assignment is that my script has only a very tenuous claim to any marketing components. I still have work to do to emphasize them.

1. Current logline:
After retiring from his job as a welder in the shipyards, Frank is looking forward to peaceful retirement, spending time with his daughter, Monica, and her children. It's not going to happen. Monica brings him the news that her husband, Jimmy, has disappeared, leaving her with a delinquent second mortgage on the family home, that he obtained by forging her signature. Frank and Monica team up to take on the bankers and lawyers. Frank has to quickly tool-up with new skills to talk and walk like the bankers, lawyers and bureaucrats. Frank and Monica gain a first win. But then Jimmy's drug-supplier turns up to demand payment. Now Monica doesn't just risk losing her house; she risks losing her life. Luckily her dad believes attack is the best form of defense, and Jimmy is about to find himself between a very angry father bear and his cubs.

2. Components of marketability.
C. True: the story is inspired by real events involving the writer's family.
G. Wide audience appeal: the scripts has elements of important elements of family life, making it attractive to parents as well as teenage children. It is about a family fighting back against a corrupt system, and just vengeance is a popular theme.
And maybe:
J. Great role for a bankable actor. It is very much a Liam Neeson type of movie, with the hunted becoming the hunter.

3. Improved pitch: my current pitch doesn't emphasize the "family under attack" motif that could attract a wider audience. I could also emphasize Frank's vengeful character to attract a Liam Neeson type actor.

END

• This reply was modified 1 year ago by  Paul McGregor.

[Pamela Milton]

Lesson 2
Pamela Milton’s Marketable Components:
What I learned in this lesson – As stated in the lesson plan both a solid sales pitch ad a viable project must be present.
Logline: In 1980, an ambitious, female, IRS agent is sent undercover by her boss to discover what became of the money stolen in 1934 during a bank heist by the Chutney Gang. Her investigation uncovers embezzlement hidden for decades and her corrupt boss’s own design on the money, It all ends in a wild “Chaplinesque” shoot-out to claim the money between the IRS, hired henchmen and geriatric bank robbers.
Unique: Set in two distinct and pivotal times. Shows the repercussions of actions of the main characters forty decades later.
Title: Peak the audience’s interest as what made it great particularly in a time in which bank robbers were celebrities.
Similar movies: Oh ,Brother, Where Art Thou, The Grand Budapest Hotel
Great Role: An actor can show their skill playing young and old versions of their character. Or, they may choose to have their own family members portray the same role. Making it truley a family film.

[Lyn Embree]

Lyn’s Marketable Components

1. An American teen is confronted by an evil, shape-shifting goddess from her ancestral home of Colombia and once she discovers she possesses the same powers, must decide to surrender to the goddess or replace her.

2. G. Wide Audience appeal – the combination of a strong female leads, fantasy elements, and high adventure should attract viewers from all ages and demographics.

J. Great role for a bankable actor – with so few films out there that focus on strong Latina leads, this film is an opportunity that will hopefully attract big names hungry for this kind of representation.

3. I can elevate the wide audience appeal by making sure that strong points of view are equally attractive to both men and women, and that the characters’ needs and wants are primal and universal. In the pitch, I would then use this fact to emphasize that the whole family will be entertained.

I would also emphasize how this film fills a major gap in onscreen representation of Latinas, with not just more screen time, but with dynamic, unforgettable characters that viewers will love to love and love to hate.

4. What I learned doing this assignment is how thinking through the marketable components of your script can really improve your story, so do it as early in the process as you can.

[Janis Pryor]

Janis A. Pryor’s Marketable Components
What I learned: this is an art form all unto itself!
Current Logline
1. This is the true story of a woman born as a “caul bearer” to an upper middle-class family carrying the blood of three races, she’s forced to embrace her psychic abilities to stay in touch with the love of her life (who spent twenty years watching her before speaking to her), after he dies in a freak boating accident.

2. Two components of marketability that have the most potential for selling this script:
…it’s true
…Great roles for two bankable actors

3. Ways to elevate the two components:
…The two actors already have a ground breaking, built in fan base from television.
…The fact that it’s a true story can add authenticity to a question everyone wants answered with back up from a range of scientists, evidentiary mediums, research and social media platforms.

[Sandra Fox-Sohner]

Sandy’s Marketable Components

“What I learned doing this assignment is that I have more marketable components than I realized.”

1. Tell us your current logline.

In this true story, 19th-century self-taught math genius, Sofia Kovalevsky, breaks free from her noble family, determined to solve a problem that vexed mathematicians for 100 years and become Europe’s first female professor, despite a dangerous world where women have no voice and a university director who is determined to stop her.

2. Look through the 10 Components of Marketability and pick one or two that have the most potential for selling this script.

• A. Unique. Story about a true change agent who opened opportunities for women in education.

• B. Great Title: Mathematical Mermaid: describes the name of the elusive mathematical problem regarding rotations in space that Sofia solved to worldwide acclaim.

• C. True. Yes, based on a true story.

• D. Timely — As women’s rights are being eroded today, such as the Dobbs’ decision, it is uplifting to hear about a woman who had no rights at all in 19th century Europe, but who fought anyway to open up opportunities for women to have the right to an education.

• E. It’s a first. This story has not been told before in an English film (films, now outdated, were made in Russia and Sweden).

• F. Ultimate. The first female professor.

• G. Wide audience appeal. Young people and older folks who love history, and an uplifting story of a successful change agent who made inroads into the rights and freedoms we have today.

• H. Adapted from a popular book. Many books have been written about her and her work, festivals, stamps, coins, scholarships, and a crater on the moon are named for her.

• I. Similarity to a box-office success. Similar to Hidden Figures

J. A great role for a bankable actor. Sofia Kovalevsky is a spirited, brilliant, charming, and caring individual who is attractive and sassy.

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.

• (J) GREAT ROLE: Sofia Kovalevsky is a spirited, brilliant, charming, and caring individual who is attractive and sassy. This is a great role for an actress. She is the dynamo throughout the story. Her character dispels the myth that a brilliant mathematician must be nerdy, unattractive, and awkward. She is a great role model for young women, and the men who helped her are great role models of enlightened men.

• D. TIMELY — As women’s rights are being eroded today, such as the Dobbs’ decision, it is uplifting to hear about a woman who had no rights at all in 19th century Europe, but who fought anyway to open up opportunities for women to have the right to an education. The tumultuous backdrop of dictators and revolution highlights the dangerous similarities we are facing in our politics today.

[Dorian Stone]

Subject Line: Dorian’s Marketable Components
1) Logline: Two scientists in an underground lab working on neural implant technology that can alter people’s minds begin to realize that their own minds have been altered.
2) Unique (big hook), Timely
3) “Unknown” is a sci-fi suspense drama revolving around a neural implant technology that alters people’s minds. (Neural implants are microchips implanted in the brain.) Using this experimental technology, people can change their personalities in much the same way that people alter their physical appearances with cosmetic surgery. Patients can eliminate the parts of their own personalities that they don’t like, for instance, making themselves more intelligent and productive.
The story centers around two scientists – a man and a woman – who are running these experiments in a lab with an AGI. AGI stands for artificial general intelligence – which is the term for an AI that has achieved consciousness. As the experiments grow increasingly morally questionable, the two scientists begin to discover that their own minds have been altered and that they are not who they think they are, and that the AGI is on the cusp of enslaving the human race using this mind altering technology.
4) What I learned doing this assignment is the importance of really focusing on just one or two big things from Ten Components of Marketability as opposed to many little things when pitching a script.

[Rebecca Sukle]

Rebecca’s Marketable Components
What I learned from this assignment is that making a small change in one element can inspire a change that elevates another.

Title: Many Wives and Lives

Series logline: Sherwood Anderson, a former child of poverty and a successful failed businessman, gives up wealth and family to become an internationally known writer and ex-husband to three progressive women, happily married to number four but still friends with number one and despite conflict by his two egos, he finds contentment as the editor of two small newspapers in a rural Virginia mountain town.

Unique: To make it more unique than just Sherwood Andersons relationship with his wives, I decided to put Sherwood into more of a Forrest Gump type role and focus on his four wives especially his first and last that highlight female resilience during a repressive era forcing women to depend on men for their survival or go rouge.

Changing Unique allowed me to change timely.
Timely: The history of gender inequality and female innate resilience.

[Danielle Dillard]

What I learned about this assignment is making my concept more intriguing.
Logline: A lonely choir singer, who turns away from God for romantic relationships, gets involved with an abusive man at her church and must return to God for help.
Component – unique, this is a faith based script that has a character arc which some may be able to relate to based upon their own experiences. It captures the journey of our inner struggles and the importance of faith.

[David gollob]

David Gollob´s Marketable components:

DnGollob´s marketable concepts
Logline: A sci-thriller set against the grimy chic of Medellin, Colombia, “Nerves… of Glass” tells what happens when the formula for a breakthrough cure for Parkinson´s is stolen and turned into the “next cocaine” by a ruthless druglord
What I learned doing this assignment is to focus on “less is more”
1. Unique: Never-been-done-or-seen combination of a Medellin cartel yarn and the sci-thriller genre
2. Great Title: “nerves of glass”, is intriguing. Reflects the subject matter and the emotional anguish of the characters.
3. True to life: Grounded in contemporary reality of a city haunted by the legacy of Pablo Escobar
4. Timely: Resonates with current themes of drugs and corruption.
5. It’s a First: highly original concept, never been done
6. Ultimate: N/A
7. Wide Audience Appeal: strong love story with ethical dilemmas
8. Similarity to Box-Office Success: N/A
9. Great RoleS for  Bankable ActorS: EVA LONGORIA OR SOFIA VERGARA AS MELISSA; JAVIER BARDEM AS HARRY will bring star power, talent and authenticity to the script
 

• This reply was modified 12 months ago by  David gollob. Reason: Screwy formatting when cut and paste from word

[Robin McDonald]

Robin McDonald’s MARKETABLE COMPONENTS

I learned that I do not have all the answers! I learned that I must know my script inside and out to passionately pitch it.

TITLE: NOT FADE AWAY

A 55-year-old alcoholic actress, teetering on the edge of oblivion, is forced to confront her past and rediscover herself when she returns to her tiny hometown in upstate New York to care for her dying mother.

It's a great role for a bankable actress.
An actress with great comedic timing who has possibly in her own life was/is challenged by the glittering facade of Hollywood. Someone who can relate to a once-promising actress who spirals into a dark abyss of addiction to booze and plastic surgery, struggling to reclaim her identity before the lights fade forever.

Based on a true story.
The script is loosely based on my own experience and inspired by real-life friends and family.

• This reply was modified 12 months ago by  Robin McDonald.