Lesson 2

[Gill Kent]

My current logline: The true story of a princess who struggles to escape the stifling grip of the royal establishment, surviving madness, war, betrayal, and Nazi occupation to serve her people in a country far from the land of her birth.

What I learned in this assignment is that I still need to develop the less-is-more principle.

I think I have six of those ten components and I’m not sure which to focus on.

A. A princess descended from Queen Victoria who dresses like a nun and spends her days in orphanages and soup kitchens seems pretty unique.

C. It’s a true story, and I’m trying to keep as close to actual events as possible.

D. The royal family is constantly in the news at the moment, so it’s timely. Alice’s grandson Charles has just become king, and Alice goes into self-imposed exile to escape the demands of the royal establishment just as Harry and Megan have.

G. It has wide appeal, particularly to an international audience. Much of the story takes place in Greece, revolutionary Russia, and Germany during the rise of fascism, and Commonwealth audiences may enjoy insights into their former rulers. It has strong female roles that will appeal to a female audience but also scenes of action that will attract male audiences.

I. It has obvious parallels with The Crown, but the shifting focus of action between the various European thrones, along with the scenes of war, assassination, and international conflict, put it closer to Game of Thrones (no dragons, though).

J. I have a particular A-list actress in mind for the role of Alice, at least in her middle years. Not only does this actress look very much like the historical Alice, but by some odd coincidence she’s bought a house three or four miles from where Alice was conceived and spent her first months of life. And she’s known to love the kind of dramatic roles the central episodes offer.

I suppose my task now is to pick the two most important of these components.

• This reply was modified 1 year ago by  Gill Kent.

[Paul Hallasy]

ASSIGNMENT_Lesson 2
• Subject Line: (Paul Hallasy) Marketable Components:
I. Similarity to a box-office success. Two of the biggest-selling albums of all time are soundtracks: Saturday Night Fever and Grease. I see this as a film/soundtrack.
• J. A great role for a bankable actor. Although, ideally, I’d like to star in this myself, a bankable actor I had in mind is Simon Pegg. Another more bankable actor (but perhaps not as good a fit for the lead character) is Paul Giamatti.
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. 80 for Brady, but younger and with music
2. Look through the 10 Components of Marketability and pick one or two that have the most potential for selling this script.
• A. Unique.
• B. Great Title
• C. True.
• D. Timely — connected to some major trend or event.
• E. It’s a first.
• F. Ultimate.
• G. Wide audience appeal.
• H. Adapted from a popular book.
• I. Similarity to a box-office success. Two of the biggest-selling albums of all time are soundtracks: Saturday Night Fever and Grease. I see this as a film/soundtrack.
• J. A great role for a bankable actor. Although, ideally, I’d like to star in this myself, a bankable actor I had in mind is Simon Pegg. Another more bankable actor (but perhaps not as good a fit for the lead character) is Paul Giamatti.
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. The music festival this script is based on (the Cruel World festival) has a built-in audience of 70,000 people. Simon Pegg is widely known because of Mission Impossible, but probably not as expensive as the more well-known Paul Giamatti.
Example: If you say your script has a great role, in one or two sentences, tell us how you can emphasize that role as you pitch your concept. My lead character is a fan of ‘80s bands (particularly those from the UK) and a stand-up comedian. Simon Pegg is a comedic actor from the UK.
4. Answer the question “What I learned doing this assignment is…?” and post it at the top of your work.
Subject Line: (Your name’s) Marketable Components (in the first line of your post)

[Adite Banerjie]

Adite’s Marketable Components

What I learned: Instead of focusing on too many components, one should pick a couple that are likely to make the story attractive to producers and show how your story can fulfill them.

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.
When a forest ranger moves into a decrepit old house that is set on sacred grounds, his wife is forced to harness her long forgotten Tantric skills to confront the wrath of a powerful supernatural being (Yogini) even as their child is targeted by ruthless poachers.

2. Look through the 10 Components of Marketability and pick one or two that have the most potential for selling this script.
• A. Unique
• B. Great Title
• C. True.
• D. Timely — connected to some major trend or event. –
• E. It’s a first. – about Tantric practices
• F. Ultimate – Saving her child not just from poachers but from a supernatural being.
• G. Wide audience appeal. – there is a great deal of interest in supernatural stories and traditional folklore following the success of movies like Kantara.
• H. Adapted from a popular book.
• I. Similarity to a box-office success. – It is similar to a huge hit in a similar genre.
• J. A great role for a bankable actor. – the lead role would appeal to several lead actresses.

2. 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.

Have decided to focus on 2 components – F and I

A mother with an infant child is trapped in a house that is built on sacred grounds. She is caught between two powerful antagonistic forces. On one side are gun-wielding poachers who will kill her baby and on the other there is a wrathful supernatural being who will destroy her and her child unless they move out of the being’s sacred grounds.
The mother’s arc is that she goes from one who disowns her Tantric powers to one who learns how to use them to protect her baby.
The story is a supernatural thriller like Kantara and is filled with high-stakes action, and the unique synergy of mysticism and motherhood.

• This reply was modified 1 year ago by  Adite Banerjie.

[Carly-Ann Giene]

Carly's Marketable Components

What I learned doing this assignment is to trim the fat and focus on the most attractive selling points.

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 married couple is strapped for cash and grieving the death of their son when they're hired to clean out a deceased hoarder's home in Detroit where they unearth disturbing secrets about the house and each other.

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

B. Great Title – "Dredge"
G. Wide audience appeal. – Male and Female leads. Horror has a wide audience appeal. It is a very lucrative genre.
I. Similarity to a box-office success. – Comparable to "Hereditary" Budget of $10 million Box Office $82.8 million
J. A great role for a bankable actor. – Lilith, the Female protagonist that transmutes into our antagonist throughout the film is an incredible role that many A-list actresses would love to take on. There are fewer fulfilling roles for this age range so this is an enticing opportunity for actresses in their late 30's to 40's.

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: I will be highlighting I and J because money talks.

Example: If you say your script has a great role, in one or two sentences, tell us how you can emphasize that role as you pitch your concept.
Lilith: Outspoken, intelligent woman with unrealized potential that is repressed to the point of breaking.
Aaron: Reformed charismatic ex-con turned sympathetic family man.

• This reply was modified 1 year ago by  Carly-Ann Giene.

[Brian Bull]

BRIAN BULL – MARKETABLE COMPONENTS

“What I learned doing this assignment is… There is always ways to improve things that I have thought and written about. I have done both regarding my pitch and today I feel as though I just took my pitch one step further and made it that much better – I’m getting excited once again about going back to market.

1. Current Logline

THE ONE THAT GOT AWAY – A Fisherman’s Tale
For 25 years, a vengeful fisherman seeks to catch the fish he blames for his younger brother’s death, but uncovers the startling truth about fishing in the Louisiana Bayous.

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

UNIQUE – THE ONE THAT GOT AWAY – A Fisherman’s Tale is unique because it captures so many elements that are universal about fishing thus every fisherman will be able to relate to the story. Furthermore, it has such a great ending every fisherman will reference this movie every time they go fishing.

GREAT TITLE – THE ONE THAT GOT AWAY – A Fisherman’s Tale is so clique’ in the fisherman’s world with every fisherman having a fish that got away and then having the ironic ending is like having a one/two punch.

WIDE AUDIENCE APPEAL – THE ONE THAT GOT AWAY – A Fisherman’s Tale will most certainly appeal to the 50 MILLION fisherman in the United States, as well as, to every fisherman in the world.

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.

Regarding ways to elevate these components is by utilizing another component SIMILARITY TO A BOX OFFICE SUCCESS.

THE ONE THAT GOT AWAY – A Fisherman’s Tale is ORDINARY PEOPLE, THE OLD MAN AND THE SEA, MOBY DICK, ON GOLDEN POND, CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON, JAWS, and THE SIXTH SENSE, all wrapped up in into one.

• This reply was modified 1 year ago by  Brian Bull.
• This reply was modified 1 year ago by  Brian Bull.
• This reply was modified 1 year ago by  Brian Bull.
• This reply was modified 1 year ago by  Brian Bull.

[Edward Richards]

Edward Richards – Marketable Components

What I learned doing this assignment is to unzip my script and find the key marketable elements that will capture a producer’s attention.

Current logline : After a series of unsatisfactory relationships, a young man decides to end future ones at the end of the honeymoon period (six weeks), until he falls for an alluring French woman who secretly has her own agenda.

A Great Title.
It immediately says romcom.
It’s a universally understood expression, used here in it’s original context – the brief early stage of a relationship when everything is going well.
The target audience knows exactly what the story focuses on.
No other romcom deals with the honeymoon period.

Audience Appeal
The characters fulfil what the audience wants from a romcom.They are attractive (mandatory) charismatic, funny and click.
We, the audience, want them to fall in love and be in a real relationship, not a brief honeymoon period one, like the male character initially wants it to be. Until he realises, too late, that he’s fallen in love with the female character after she dumps him and disappears.
The theme is related to this: Relationships demand effort (they don’t just happen).
The story deals with fear of commitment – moving on to the next to chase the high – which is prevalent in today’s dating culture.

The Pitch
What else could THE HONEYMOON PERIOD be but a romcom? The first to centre on that brief, initial stage of a romance when things are all rosy. Or as the male character puts it, “all fun and physical”.
The audience will enjoy discovering that while the male character thinks he’s ‘playing’ the female one with his honeymoon period strategy, it turns out that he’s the one who gets played. It’s a case of the biter being bit.
But at the same time, we can see that they are made for each other – attractive, charismatic, funny and, importantly, they click. We want them to fall in love and be in a real relationship. Not a brief honeymoon period one.
It touches on an issue prevalent in today’s dating culture, fear of commitment – moving on to the next to chase the high.
The theme of THE HONEYMOON PERIOD is that real relationships demand effort.

[Edward Richards]

This is a readable version of the above!

Edward Richards – Marketable Components

What I learned from doing this assignment is to unzip my script and find the key marketable elements that will capture a producer’s attention.

Current Logline: After a series of unsatisfactory relationships, a young man decide to end future ones at the end of the honeymoon period (six weeks) until he falls for an alluring French woman who secretly has her own agenda.

A GREAT TITLE
It immediately says romcom.
It’s a universally understood expression, used here in its original context – the brief, early stage of a relationship when everything is going well.
The target audience of romcom fans knows exactly what the story focuses on.
No other romcom deals with the honeymoon period.

AUDIENCE APPEAL
The characters fulfil what the audience wants from a romcom. They are attractive (mandatory) charismatic, funny and ‘click’.
We, the audience, want them to fall in love and be in a real relationship, not a brief honeymoon period one, like the male character initially wants it to be. Until he realises, too late, that he’s fallen in love with the female character, after she dumps him and disappears.
The theme is related to that. Relationships demand effort (they don’t just happen on their own).
The story deals with fear of commitment – moving on to the next to chase the high – which is prevalent in today’s dating culture.

THE PITCH
What else could THE HONEYMOON PERIOD be but a romcom? It’s the first to centre on that brief, initial stage of a romance when things are all rosy. Or as the male character puts it, “all fun and physical”.

The audience will enjoy discovering that, while the male character thinks he’s playing the female one with his honeymoon period strategy, it turns out that he’s the one who gets played. It’s a case of the baiter being bit.

But at the same time, we can see that they are made for each other – attractive, charismatic, funny and, importantly they ‘click’. We want them to fall in love and be in a real relationship. Not a brief honeymoon period one.

The story touches on an issue prevalent into day’s dating culture, fear of commitment – moving onto the next to chase the high.

The theme of THE HONEYMOON PERIOD is that relationships demand effort (they don’t just happen on their own).

[Susan A. Smith]

LESSON 2 ASSIGNMENT

Susan Arnout Smith’s Marketable Components

1. Current Logline: A Hawaiian teacher, gutted over the loss of a child, is being consumed by the Dark, and God sends an Angel down to bring her back before her Dark consumes others.

2. 10 Components of Marketability: top 2

G. Wide Audience Appeal: Huge Faith-based market for good scripts.

J. Great Roles for Bankable Actors:
• Angel: Conflicted
• Shelly: Wounded
• Lolani: Warrior
• Lanny: Cunning

3. Elevating Wide Audience Appeal: G
Off-shoot of Faith-based films is a new category: Light-based films dealing not with religions but Spirit.
Popular to Christians and also popular with a secular audience, or audiences of other faiths, as it’s not about Christianity, but about Light dwelling in every heart and its vulnerability to corruption. Core: YOU MATTER. THE CHOICES YOU MAKE, MATTER.

Elevating Great Roles for Bankable Actors: J

• Angel: Powerful, conflicted, fierce
• Shelly: Wounded, scrappy, vulnerable
• Lolani: Invalid, warrior, truth-teller
• Lanny: Cunning, manipulative, hungry

4. What I Learned Doing this Assignment is:

I have participated in numerous classes here, and this time, have a changed attitude. I am committed to finishing this class and achieving my goal of getting my screenplay optioned and then made. I am shifting every fearful thing from avoidance and retreat into a powerful learning experience filled with joy, calm and resolve. I am tapping into the creativity I’ve always known is there, and using this process to fuel my growth, discovery and the gifts I am able to share with the world.

[LC Granger]

LESSON #2: Marketable Components

LC Granger

What I learned: I did not know about the 10 Components! I was aware of several just based on marketing experience. It is great to have them all on a tidy list. 🙂 This was an eye-opener.

Pick one or two components and tell us how your script already fulfills them AND how you might highlight these two to elevate the pitch: I’ll take J (great role for bankable actors). A, C, and E also fit, but J makes or breaks distribution potential.

J: GREAT ROLE FOR BANKABLE ACTORS
The Father’s (ex-preacher to attorney) role has an incredible arc. The ex-wife/Mother’s (bi-polar theatre-major to preacher’s wife to a born-again missionary) role is equally powerful and sometimes hilarious as she continuously spurs the father on his path. After numerous court battles Father prevails. The boys choose to live with their father and the ex-wife never stops her insidious undermining. The boys never bond with their father because of this. Father died at 56, on Father’s Day of that year. His court battles were one of 20 international cases taken to the Hague as foundational cases to create international law to repatriate children to their parents in their country of origin. Father never knew this.

What is my current Log Line? (I didn’t have one until just now)
A father arrives to pick up his sons for a weekend visitation only to find the house empty. The pursuit of his two stolen sons slingshots him through life-altering experiences and inadvertently changes the world for the better.
(This sounds like a Marvel plot. I’m adding Ryan Reynolds to my shortlist.)

[orlando Chavez]

Orlando Chavez Marketable Components

Unique: the story of a former Olympic wrestler taking over the Lucha Libre has never been seen before.

Wide audience appeal—caters to a wide audience who crave an interesting story that doesnt involve comic book superheroes.

The Black Elephant is a unique story with a wide audience appeal in the realm of Nacho Libre for laughs and The Wrestler for drama.

What I learned doing this assignment is discovering The 10 Components of Marketability and applying them to my pitch.

• This reply was modified 1 month, 2 weeks ago by  orlando Chavez.

[Kenneth Johnson]

Kenneth Johnson – Marketable Components
ASSIGNMENT 2

A. Unique – A writer tries to convince his father to tell the story of his Korean War service with the last all-Black regiment in the U.S. Army
B. Great Title – Combat Black
C. True – Based on a true story (the script is based on my notes and journals of trying to get my dad to tell his story).
D. Timely — The 80th anniversary of the Korean War.
E. It’s a first – No-one has presented the Korean War from the point of view of the Buffalo Soldiers, the last all-Black regiment in the U.S. Army.
F. Ultimate – War is an all-encompassing life-or-death struggle where wrong choices cannot be taken back. Leaving decades long consequences.
G. Wide audience appeal. This is a story that any veteran and veteran’s family will relate to. With the right lead actors and a strong budget this film can have wide audience appeal.
H. Adapted from a popular book. N/A
I. Similarity to a box-office success. – The storytelling style could be described as The Curious Case of Benjamin Button meets We Were Soldiers.
J. A great role for a bankable actor. This is a father and a son with diametrically opposing goals who must come to understand each other in order to understand themselves before they can grudgingly find common ground.

The Pitch would go something like this:
Based on a true story, a writer tries to convince his father to tell the story of his Korean War service with the last all-Black regiment in the U.S. Army. But his father doesn’t want the story told. This is something that any combat veteran and their family can relate to.

[Mark Turner]

Subject line: My Teenage Grandpa’s marketable components are that it is a unique, timely family story with a self-explanatory title, with great roles for an older bankable actor and bankable child actors, similar to several highly successful films.

“What I learned doing this assignment is…” My script has several marketable components.

Current logline: When a selfish workaholic grandfather bets the Devil his grandson’s soul, he wakes up as a 14-year-old boy on a ticking clock to become a better man or they both lose their souls.

1. Unique: A 65-year-old grandpa is forced back into high school to earn redemption, but as a 14-year-old boy in his grandson’s classes without the ability to tell him he’s, his grandfather.

2. Great Title: My Teenage Grandpa – high concept, clear, ironic, and family-friendly

3. Timely — recently read that family comedies are coming into demand now, because parents want movies the whole family can see together.

4. It’s a first. First time a 65-year-old goes back to high school as his younger self.

5. Wide audience appeal: Supernatural Family Comedy – it’s a coming-of-age story about second chances, generational disconnect and what it means to grow up — no matter your age, and how love — not legacy — defines us.

6. Similarity to a box-office success. Reverse – “BIG:” budget: 18 million. Box Office:152 million.

In the vein of Freaky Friday – Budget: 20 million. Box Office: 161 million;

Liar Liar, budget: 45 million. Box Office: 303 million;

Netflix’s Family Switch – no budget information.

7. A great role for bankable actors:
• Grandpa Mike: 65, Engaging / charismatic / selfish / wounded / regretful
• Grant Paul: same 65-year-old in a 14-year-old body who hated high school 50 years ago
• Drew Tanner: 15, shy / insecure / sheltered / athletic / witty / smart
• Randy Williams 16, brash / insecure / bully / hidden secrets / athletic

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:

My Teenage Grandpa is a supernatural family dramedy about redemption disguised as a body-swap buddy comedy. In the vein of Big, Freaky Friday, and Netflix’s Family Switch, it’s a story about second chances, generational disconnect, and how love — not legacy — defines us. With heartfelt issues, big laughs, and a supernatural twist, it reminds us it’s never too late to grow up — even if you have to do it all over again.

• This reply was modified 1 month, 1 week ago by  Mark Turner. Reason: it came out in one blob instead of separated the way I put in into the reply

[John Duvall]

John Duvall_Marketable Components_The Big Itch

What I learned doing this assignment is that it’s a challenge to identify and describe the most marketable features of my script.

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.

When clueless private detective Nick Bailey (on his first case) stumbles upon a link between a powerful pharmaceutical corporation and a zombie-like itching pandemic, he finds himself the target of powerful forces and a suspect in three murders.

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

Unique / High Concept: A comic combination of a mystery about corporate corruption and a zombie movie.

A great role for a bankable actor: Nick Bailey is a classic bumbling schlemiel who gets in over his head, makes constant mistakes, but still achieves his goal.

AND Great Title: The Big Itch evokes many classic noir mysteries – The Big Sleep, The Big Clock, and The Big Heat – as well as more recent films like The Big Lebowski and The Big Sick.

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.

Mixing a corporate conspiracy involving multiple murders with a zombie-like itch epidemic, not only combines two popular genres, but evokes memories of the recent Covid epidemic, giving the story a timely feel. And everyone loves a bumbler like Nick Bailey, who constantly overestimates his abilities and underestimates the dangers, but doggedly pursues his goals despite unanticipated setbacks.

• This reply was modified 1 month, 1 week ago by  John Duvall.

[Jesse Paxton]

Subject Line: Jess’s Marketable Components

High Concept: The Queen of England technically owns all of Canada, New Zealand, and Australia.

Great Title: The Firm Rules

Unique: Uses a law that has been ignored for centuries.

True Story: Inspired by true events.

Timely: Deals with the corporate takeover of the USA, and its corrupt expansion into small towns. Also the
tension between the two countries created by Trump.

Ultimate: A promotion, a family, and an entire city are at stake.

Wide Appeal: Will resonate with Hallmark romance lovers, but also aimed at viewers who find Hallmark too bland. Can
be rewritten for Hallmark.

Similarities: Uses the same plot engine as many Hallmark romances.

Great Role: Would be a good role for Scarlett Johannsen, Taylor Swift, or Madison Lintz.

What did I learn? Find the strengths of my script and push those.

[Brian Moon]

Love Curse

Logline: A woman who believes she’s cursed at love finds out she actually is and rallies her friends together to defeat the unique man responsible.

Unique story, a different take on the typical rom com.
Interesting title.
Rom coms are very bankable. Plus, it’s filmed in L.A. with no special effects. The budget is not an issue.
Combines the adventure and creative element of “Enchanted” with a diverse group of characters like “Crazy Rich Asians.”
A strong role for a 25-40 actress, as she takes the active role in stopping the curse.