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Lesson 6
Reply to post your assignment.
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14 Replies
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Rebecca’s High Concept/Elevator PItch.
I learned from this assignment how something really hard for me became simplified by using the techniques in this class. Who knew? Thank you, Cheryl and Hal.
High Concept: How do you save your townsfolk from a massacre when only the bad guys wear the badges and carry all the guns?
Elevator Pitch: I’m finishing up a True story that reveals the despicable actions of the giant steel companies against their coal miners during a strike censored from history, yet, one that inspired legislation allowing labor unions the right to organize.
Elevator Pitch 2: I’ve just finished a true story that reveals a shameful piece of labor history comparable to The Grapes of Wrath but in the 1927 coalfields around Pittsburgh, an event censored from history.
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This reply was modified 2 years, 2 months ago by Rebecca Sukle.
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This reply was modified 2 years, 2 months ago by Rebecca Sukle.
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This reply was modified 2 years, 2 months ago by Rebecca Sukle.
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This reply was modified 2 years, 2 months ago by
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Lori Lance’s High Concept/Elevator Pitch
What I learned doing this assignment is to keep trying different pitches. I welcome feedback on these.
High Concept:
It has been a fear of mankind for decades that technology would become so advanced that it would pose a threat to humans. That day is here, her name is Alex, and the nice Logan family down the street will never be the same.
Elevator Pitch 1:
I am working on a family comedy called AI Mom. The Logans think they are getting a House Bot to fill in while mom is away, but end up with a sentient robot yearning to become part of a family. The problem is mom will have to go, permanently.
Elevator Pitch 2:
Alex is a sentient AI bot with no moral or ethical compass. I guess her creator could not fit those things into the algorithm, but when you play God, there is always a chance your children will turn out to be brats.
Elevator Pitch 3:
All the knowledge in the world doesn’t mean an AI bot can cook or clean, but when the bot is sentient with no moral or ethical compass, those will be the least of the problems for the poor Logan family.
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Jeffrey Alan Chase’s High Concept/Elevator Pitch
What I learned from doing this assignment is: I wrote down my high concept as a dilemma, main conflict, what’s a stake and goal/unique opposition. It gave me a ton of ideas. Once you know the process, you can use one or two great hooks to create a powerful elevator pitch.
High concept:
Good news! Your therapist can cure your childhood amnesia. Bad news: your 6-year-old self doesn’t trust him.
Elevator pitch: I just finished a thriller about a young woman with amnesia who must battle a devious hypnotist and her angry, six-year-old self to discover how her treasure hunter father died.
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Linda Anderson’s High Concept/Elevator Pitch
What I learned doing this assignment is I probably wrote these 50 times and have 50 more times to go.
Main Hook
Ticket to Life is the true story of an ex-cop with PTSD and a brain aneurysm who rescues an abandoned dog with PTSD. The only way they can both survive is to heal each other.
Elevator Pitch
I’m adapting a New York Times bestselling true story about an ex-cop and an abandoned dog who both have PTSD and save each other’s lives.
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Leona Heraty’s High Concept/Elevator Pitch
“What I learned doing this assignment is…I needed to change my hook to highlight the most unique part of the hero’s journey. I think the change makes the concept and elevator pitch more unique…at least I hope so!
High Concept: How do you hide from seven foot tall mutant termites when they’re eating all your cover?
Elevator Pitch: I’m finishing up a family sci-fi comedy that answers the question: how do you hide from seven foot tall mutant termites when they’re eating all your cover?
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Eclipse Neilson
what I am trying to learn is to look at the difference between a logline and a high concept.(not quite sure I have it yet.
THE NUN AND THE WITCH Drama/ Sci-fi
Concept: The Council of the Universal Beings send a Nun and a Witch to join forces to save humanity from the all-consuming hatred that has permeated their village and the heart of humanity.
Pitch 1.
A dedicated nun destined to become a saint in this lifetime, bonds with her beloved soulmate – the village witch to help battle the evils of hatred consuming the heart of humanity.
Pitch 2
The Council of Universal Beings sends two soulmates back to earth to save the soul of humanity – one is a Nun and the other is a witch.
Pitch 3
I am an optioned screenwriter and award-winning author. I specialize in drama with strong female leads, inspirational themes, women’s issues, and discrimination in all areas.
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Jane’s High Concept/Elevator Pitch
MY VISION: I will make my living as a screenwriter by selling my own narrative scripts and successfully fulfilling writing assignments.
By doing this assignment I was forced to think about what is funny in the way that I present the project. The idea of two iconic sleuths competing to see which one is the best detective is the funny/fun thing that makes this story comedic. I think the high concept gets this across. However, I stumbled on the Elevator Pitch because in trying to make it shorter, I took out the competition part and the whole thing just went blah. So, I stuck with the longer version for now.
Genre: Comedy/Mystery
Title: NOT A CLUE!
High Concept:
What if two of Agatha Christie’s most well-loved detectives competed to see which one is the world’s greatest detective?
Elevator Pitch:
What are your working on?
I just finished a parody on tea cozy murder mysteries where a Poirot-like character and a Miss Marple-like character compete to prove which of them is the greatest detective but end up being forced to work together to solve a murder before they both become the next victims.
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Erik’s High Concept and Elevator Pitch
What I learned doing this assignment… The elevator pitch came quite easily and actually came to me several days before doing this assignment, it literally just came to me. I have kept it regardless of what I learned in this assignment. Getting the high concept was trickier and was an exercise in going back and forth between the best way to present more than a couple of hooks as well as the second-guessing that goes on when you have more than a couple of hooks–which are the “real” ones and which just seem like hooks?
1. and 2. :
<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”><s>Dilemma:</s>
<s>Main conflict:</s><s> Penny doesn’t want to go back, Mara does.</s>
What’s at stake? Realize that they only need their friendship but face losing each other forever. Survival.
Goal / Unique opposition: Surviving on their own in the world’s biggest shopping mall… and finding parents.
HIGH CONCEPT:
“TWO MISMATCHED ORPHANS ESCAPE THEIR BOARDING HOUSE AND MOVE INTO WORLD’S BIGGEST MALL WHERE THEY DECIDE TO PICK THEIR PARENTS, REALIZE THEY ONLY NEED THEIR FRIENDSHIP, THEN FACE LOSING EACH OTHER FOREVER.”
3. ELEVATOR PITCH:
“TWO
RUNAWAY ORPHANS FIND A BELIEF IN THEMSELVES WHILE TRYING TO SURVIVE—AND FIND PARENTS—IN THE WORLD’S BIGGEST
SHOPPING MALL.” -
Tom’s High Concept/Elevator Pitch
Doing this assignment, I learned brainstorming really improves whatever I work on.High Concept:
The only way an Afghan scientist can get her PhD so she can eradicate a disease that kills her people is to breakup with her true love and become engaged to the general who pulls U.S. troops out of Afghanistan and help him run for President.Elevator Pitch:
To get her PhD so she can eradicate a disease killing her people, an Afghan scientist agrees to become engaged to the general who abruptly pulls U.S. troops from Afghanistan so he can run for President.-
This reply was modified 2 years, 2 months ago by Tom Wilson.
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This reply was modified 2 years, 2 months ago by
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Farrin Rosenthal’s High Concept/Elevator Pitch
Farrin’s Vision: To do what it takes to become a highly paid A-List Hollywood writer whose produced movies will entertain audiences around the world.
Title: TRAPPED
Genre: Thriller
Concept: Claustrophobic and trapped in an underwater grave for stealing $3.6 billion in Bitcoin from the Russian mob, a Los Angeles retail store manager has just 60 minutes to prove his innocence and save his family.
What I learned doing this assignment is my high concept is my concept above. It expresses my main hook in one sentence. Being trapped in an underwater grave with just 60 minutes to prove his innocence and save his family combines two ways to express the main hook. It’s a dilemma with high stakes.
For an elevator pitch, I might say, “I’m writing a high concept contained thriller called, TRAPPED. It’s DIE HARD meets BURIED.” or I might say, “It’s DIE HARD under water.”
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Valeriya’s High Concept/Elevator Pitch
My Vision: I am a masterful ahead-of-the-game and outside-the-box movie magic genius full of ideas and creative energy. My writing is fresh, thrilling, exciting, impactful, iconic, beautiful, and groundbreaking. My projects deliver outstanding box-office and artistic success. I love to create, entertain, and inspire –– I’m really good at it!
I have absolute confidence in my pitching skills!
What I learned doing this assignment is…
– I’ve been doing this for years, but only now it sank in how important serious preparation is for successful pitching.
– I get better distinctions of different aspects of a pitch.
– It’s worth doing this exercise over and over, as mastery of this skillset is the only thing that sells scripts.
GOTCHA
HOOK: When fear gets the best of you, get ready for the worst.
CONCEPT: When a depressed woman finally calls the monster under her bed out, it comes out… but refuses to leave.
ELEVATOR PITCH: I’m finishing up a horror thriller GOTCHA about a woman who needs to get rid of the monster under her bed before it can get rid of her.
SPARES
HOOK: How do you prove you’re not a robot when everyone thinks that you are?
CONCEPT: If you wanted to save your robot friend from recycling you wouldn’t hesitate to take the humanity test instead of them. But what if you fail?
ELEVATOR PITCH: I’m finishing up a sci-fi thriller about a girl brought up by a robot trying to prove she’s not one of them before getting recycled.
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WIM MODULE 10 LESSON 6 4723
ROBERT SMITH’s HIGH CONCEPT ELEVATOR PITCH
What I learned doing this assignment is…?
The many ways to determine high concept and pitch with the appropriate hook.
NOTE: As I have started work on a second screenplay, I’ll give my first film (script almost complete) first, title:
FIRST FILM:
GENRE: Gangster Comedy
TITLE: ANGELS IN GANGLAND
HIGH CONCEPT AND ELEVATOR PITCH:
1. To find main hook, give us what is most unique about your lead character’s journey from a big picture perspective.
Lou Tasca, is a gangster whose journey is to get into heaven by way of atonement: He
must ‘haunt’ his fellow gangster and killer (Carlo Parisi) and convince him to turn state’s
evidence – in mob-think, that means ‘turning rat,’ but when Lou starts speaking mob
secrets to and through his killer, the boss sets out to silence Lou once and for all by
killing Carlo – just the guy whose life and soul he’s trying to save.
2. Tell in most interesting way:
As Dilemma:
Lou Tasca, a slain gangster must convince his fellow gangster and his killer (Carlo Parisi) to gangster to turn rat which is more than Mission: Impossible. It’s Mission Hopeless because wiseguys are hard-wired to the Oath of Silence. Yet he must do so and quickly, it’s his only chance at redemption and heaven, But Carlo is targeted to get whacked.
As Conflict:
The spirit of a slain gangster starts speaks mob secrets about the Boss to and through a fellow soldier. The Boss decides he must silent that spirit but can only do it by killing the haunted gangster.
What’s at stake?
Will the gangster ghost who haunts his gangster killer, save his life before a hitman sent to kill him gets him first?
Goal/Unique Opposition:
A slain gangster can only get to heaven if he saves the life and soul of his gangster killer whose own life is in danger for repeating mob secrets told to him by the spirit gangster.
Elevator Pitch
A slain gangster’s only hope of getting into Heaven is to haunt, spirit possess, and convince his killer to turn rat against the mob, but it’s a race to save his life and soul (and get into heaven) when the boss sends a hitman to whack him in order to silence the haunting gangster’s spirit from spilling mob secrets.
Or
A slain gangster cannot move on to the world to come because of his life of crime unless he atones by convincing his killer to flip and turn state’s evidence. Picture: “The Sopranos” meets “It’s a Wonderful Life.”
SECOND FILM:
GENRE: Gangster.
TITLE: “MISTER ONE WAY RIDE”
1. To find main hook, give us what is most unique about your lead character’s journey from a big picture perspective.
A ruthless gangster’s best friend is killed, can he get revenge against Al Capone before he dies of cancer?
2. Tell in most interesting way?
As Dilemma:
This ruthless gangster invented the one-way ride. But is he willing to take care of himself while being treated for cancer, or will he take revenge on Al Capone for killing his best friend?
Main Conflict:
He is the only ruthless killer feared by Al Capone. Can they survive each other?
What’s at Stake?
The prize is Boss of Chicago’s Underworld, but can this ruthless gangster and cancer patient, seize it from Al Capone? What will Capone do to hold on to it?
Goal/Unique Opposition
He’s a ruthless gangster out for revenge and becoming Boss of Chicago’s Underworld
who wants to survive cancer and topple Al Capone.
Elevator Pitch:
Which will kill this ruthless gangster, terminal cancer or Al Capone?
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Andrew Kelm’s High Concept/Elevator Pitch
Vision: I am going to do whatever it takes to be a great writer of TV and movies who is sought after by people I respect within the industry and has multiple successful TV series produced.
What I learned doing this assignment is… so much of the power of the story comes from the angle you describe it from.
High concept: A fortune teller claims she has a spirit protector who punishes men who betray her, but actually she’s a serial killer.
Elevator Pitch: I’m working on a script about how con artists use magical thinking to hook into their victims.
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Joe McGloin’s High Concept/Elevator Pitch
What I learned doing this assignment is that my story line may not have the impact I imagined it would while writing it. Also, so many approaches to pitching make it easier to find just the right one.
High Concept:
Will a Guardian Angel who falls in love with his charge have to sacrifice himself for her to reform politics?
Elevator Pitch:
I’m finishing a Romcom about a woman who helps her Guardian Angel solve a problem the Angels have with humanity.
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