WIM+AI – WIM Module 10 – Lesson 2: The 10 Components of Marketability

[Edward Lusk]

ED’S Marketable Components.

What I learned doing this assignment is how to gauge and decide what matters the most when it comes to marketing my project. Then taking those main components and begin to form it into a project pitch.

What I would emphasize in my pitch is the uniqueness of the story, being a LGBT Christmas rom-com with a hint of whimsy – the main character, gay man, falls in love with a stranded sexually ambitious North Pole elf who has in inadvertently broken the magical chimney blocking Santa’s visits. Howie is torn between holding onto his love for Jasper or sending him back to the North Pole to save Christmas for everyone.

Second component I would emphasize is the diverse characters engaging in this comedic love triangle as actor attractors.

Howie, being the main character, he’s disillusioned, gay romantic, needing to rekindle heartfelt connections, returns to his grandparents manor-home for Christmas where he discovers…

Jasper, has a big secret, he is an endearing, sexually ambiguous, and surprise, stranded, North Pole Elf.

In the middle, Jesús, Howie’s friend, who’s caught between being a supportive friend while honoring his self-help discipline by expressing his true feelings for Howie and mistrust of Jasper.

[Terrie Shaft]

Terrie’s Marketable Components
What I learned from this assignment is that I have several of the components – but that’s why I picked this project.
1. Tell us your current logline. An alien crashes into the home of an off-the-grid hippie and they accidentally swap bodies. Can they repair the spaceship and un-swap their bodies before Deputy Rhoades discovers their secret?
2. Look through the 10 Components of Marketability and pick a few that have the most potential for selling this script.
A. Unique = high concept. Body swap, but with an alien hasn’t been done
B. Great Title. Good title – Freaky Fusion calls to Freaky Friday.
C. True. – not that I know of
D. Timely = connected to a major trend or event – Freaky Friday sequel coming out
E. It’s a first. – no
F. Ultimate. – sort of, body swap with a non human
G. Wide audience appeal. – yes
H. Adapted from a popular book. – N/A
I. Similarity to a box-office success. Freaky Friday $20M budget against $160M Box office
J. A great role for a bankable actor. Both lead actors play two characters – their original character (hippie or alien) and the other when their bodies are swapped.
3. Do a quick brainstorm session about ways to elevate the components you chose for this script and tell us how you might pitch the script through those components.
I think these are pretty much as elevated as possible.

• This reply was modified 6 months ago by  Terrie Shaft.

[Kathryn Gould]

Kathryn’s Marketable Components

What I learned: I have four possible options for marketability. Right now I think the best one is great roles for bankable actors.

1. Tell us your current logline.

A team of young biohackers discover a nefarious scheme that uses medical nanotechnology to turn innocent people into mind-controlled sleeper agents, while their own mentor harbors a deadly secret agenda.

2. Look through the 10 Components of Marketability and pick a few that have the most potential for selling this script.

• A. Unique.

• D. Timely.

• G. Wide audience appeal.

• J. A great role for a bankable actor.

3. Do a quick brainstorm session about ways to elevate the components you chose for this script and tell us how you might pitch the script through those components.

Unique – there haven’t been very many movies about biohacking or nanotech – this concept has the potential to be really stylized and visually stunning

Timely – we are in a healthcare crisis and lots of people are upset about how corporations are profiting off of people being sick and dying

Wide audience appeal – the heroes are young to attract teens and up, their mentor is middle aged and has a compelling story of her own

Great roles – The hero would be a great role for a young actor like Timothy Chalamet – the character is a brilliant hacker who has given himself superpowers, but is struggling with the consequences of those choices. He matures from just trying to protect his family and friends to being willing to step up and fight for everyone, while losing his powers in the process. The mentor/antagonist is a really complex character who could be played by a big star like Sigourney Weaver, Michelle Yeoh, or Whoopi Goldberg – she goes from being someone the hackers all look up to, to the person who is willing to kill millions of people for her cause.

[David Zelitzky]

have you seen the movie Upgrade? Leigh Whannell movie… really good nanotech controlling a paralyzed guy…

[Kathryn Gould]

No, I’ll check it out, thanks!

[Pat Fitzgerald]

Pat’s Marketability Components

What I learned is that I’m happy to take to heart everything that this module has to offer regarding marketing a screenplay.

Logline: A serial killer uses her skills to rid a retirement village of undesirables, not knowing she’s being set up for a fatal revenge plot.

Marketability components:

Unique: A sexy serial killer whose deadly skills are welcomed in a quirky retirement village.

Title: Retirement Pillage

It’s a First: A senior citizen serial killer, and it’s a comedy.

Wide Audience Appeal: I can’t say as the audience appeal is altogether wide, but I am aware that there are lots of 50+ folks who would love to see more stories about an older generation.

Great Role for a Bankable Actor:
Protagonist: Tammi, A sexy egotistical serial killer, who’s not as brilliant as she proclaims that she is.
Antagonist: Violet, A conniving, controlling, jealous woman, bent on getting the better of Tammi.
Triangle Character: Maynard, Surreptitiously controls both Tammi and Violet, in a plot for revenge over a past murder.

I might pitch the script as having great roles for mature actors, ala Jennifer Coolidge who I believe is perfect for the lead role.

• This reply was modified 6 months ago by  Pat Fitzgerald.

[Margaret]

Margaret’s Marketable Components

What I learned doing this assignment: Identified the marketable components of my script.

Unique: N/A
Great Title: Beyond the Shadow
True: Based on a true story
Timely: With the increase of cancer rates in children/young adults, this makes the story timely.
It’s a first: N/A
Ultimate: N/A
Wide Audience appeal: Heart warming, uplifting drama. Appeal for anyone going through a difficult medical journey.
Adapted from a popular book: N/A
Similar to Box-Office Successes: N/A
Great Roles for Bankable Actors: Jacob- Persistent, struggles with cancer, perseveres under duress.

[Michael Collado]

Mike’s Marketable Components

Logline: Suspended from a misogynistic workplace, a female detective enters the same type of environment when she coaches her goddaughter’s baseball team of brainiac misfits. She turns them into baseball geniuses through science, math, and physics. Then, she uncovers that one of the Little League’s corporate sponsors uses the other kids as lab rats to test their secret nanotechnology breakthrough.

• A. Unique. Using math, science, and physics to teach baseball to a bunch of brainiacs how to play baseball. Coaches will love and use some of the coaching techniques shown in this script. Coaches will use some of the techniques from this movie in real life.
• B. Great Title. Smart Ball, Baseball Geniuses, Little League Prodigies, Curveball Calculations, Pitch Perfect Prodigies, Field of Schemes
• C. Timely. Everyone watches the Little League World Series, which includes nations from all over the world.
• D. Ultimate. Using Kids as Guinea Pigs for an Experimental Breakthrough in Nanotechnology
• E. Wide audience appeal. It is heartwarming, with cute love interests, emotional, and appealing to kids and young adults.
Baseball is a rich tradition that’s as much about community as it is about the game itself.
• F. Similarity to a box-office success. Bad News Bears, Little Giants, Mighty Ducks, and the most recent Champions.
• G. A great role for a bankable actor.
o Jocinda/Coach Jo – Gung Ho don’t need anyone's help detective/wounded from college World Series/resourceful
o Mr. Black – Business Moguel/hard nose/
o The Team – caring/individuals/learning to think outside the box (Teach me the rules and strategies before you give me the problem to solve.)

This is a great role for a woman because of the misogynistic incident at the police station and the same type of environment in the Little League structure.

This a great role for kids to go from brainiacs cast out to one team and then conquer the league because they are brainiacs.

• This reply was modified 6 months ago by  Michael Collado.

[David Zelitzky]

David Z’s Marketable Components

What I learned doing this assignment is to focus more directly on what makes tmy script attractive to people who make movies!

LOGLINE: In a dying small town where a deadly new drug has decimated the youth, Tessa has lost her brother to an overdose and makes the desperate decision to sacrifice herself by overdosing to find him in the underworld and bring him home

A. Unique. – New Drug transports users forever to the underworld
B. Great Title. The Devil’s Diner
D. Timely. There’s drug epidemic killing kids and we barely talk about it!
F. Ultimate. the DEADLIEST DRUG to hit the streets!
I. Similarity to a box-office success. – CONJURING meets UNDERWORLD
J. A great role for a bankable actor. – SEVERAL – Coming of age young badass woman and flamboyant troubled confused younger brother
3. Do a quick brainstorm session about ways to elevate the components you chose for this script and tell us how you might pitch the script through those components. – have changed the log line… making it the DEADLIEST and most FINAL drug..

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.
This young quiet woman keeps her abilities to herself until she is forced to use all her strength to fight anything in her way of saving her brother

[Kristin Donnan]

Kristin’s Marketable Components

What I learned doing this assignment: I always struggle when translating my “sense” of a story into marketable components…however, in this case I’m stuck on the strength of the main hook. I remember formulating it painstakingly at the beginning of this program, but when I read it now, I can’t tell if I’m projecting a bunch of “what I know about the story” onto it, or if it stands on its own. Also, as I consider the “bankable actor” component, which I do think is the strongest one, I can’t tell if the information I’m choosing is what will excite someone. Am I too close to the story?

Current logline:
When a dead woman is discovered on his property, a reclusive rancher is forced into a highly publicized murder investigation, and he must untangle a labyrinth of crimes before his family’s secrets are exposed.

Strongest Components of Marketability

Several might be worth mentioning, but the strongest is the “great role” component. I’ll list the ones that have any relevance, and then expand on the role:

• B. Great Title — Shoot, Shovel & Shut Up
• C. True — Based on a real person.
• G. Wide audience appeal — In the way that Coen Brothers movies have a wide appeal—funny, quirky—I think this would land. Also, it’s a more realistic, accessible view of ranch life in the plains states while still having some of the intrigue of Yellowstone.
• J. A great role for a bankable actor —This earthy, quick-witted rancher lives by a stubborn code of honor that has shaped his very existence, and will define his most profound decision: Will he sacrifice himself—as usual—to protect one of his many shameless brothers, or finally surrender this brother to the merciless laws of nature? Well…and the Norwegian Mafia.

Brainstorm about how to best utilize the “great role” component in the pitch:

This film is absolutely character-driven. In the pitch, I would have to capture the essence of the main character, which is based on a real man called Rowdy—a coarse, jocular person whose moral code has been defined by absolute family fealty and self-sacrifice. Rowdy sees his only value as the protector of his many selfish siblings, but even he has to think twice when dead bodies start piling up. The next one might be his.

[Sylvia Krawczyk]

WIM+AI – WIM Module 10 – Lesson 2: The 10 Components of Marketability
Sylvia’s Marketable Components (Business Hooks)
What I learned doing this assignment is…these components are game changers. The certainly get to the heat of the film. I need to up the logline for certain. Perhaps put more details in it to explain it.
Title: Identity Crises
Current Logline: An artist’s unexpected reunion with her first love reveals mutual passion that turns to sinister betrayal leading to a crises that unravels her life.
Look through the 10 Components of Marketability and pick a few that have the most potential for selling this script.
• A. Unique. Yes, needs to be better/strengthened.
• B. Great Title. YES.
• C. True. N/A
• D. Timely. Perhaps… good question.
• E. It’s a first. N/A
• F. Ultimate. N/A but open to ideas
• G. Wide audience appeal. No, it’s for adults. My thought anyways.
• H. Adapted from a popular book. N/A
• I. Similarity to a box-office success. Loosely based on 1945, “Scarlet Street”
• J. A great role for a bankable actor. I am hoping.

• This reply was modified 5 months, 3 weeks ago by  Sylvia Krawczyk.

[Joan Butler]

Joan Butler Marketable Components

I learned that if I rewrite my script it could be very successful.

LOGLINE: A wheelchair-bound woman accepts a job at a crumbling asylum, only to uncover a dark conspiracy led by a priest: at 6 pm on her 25th birthday, she’s to be sacrificed to cleanse the sins of the US president.

• A. Unique:

Many thrillers feature able-bodied heroes, but a disabled protagonist offers a fresh perspective, allowing for an exploration of physical and psychological limitations and how these challenges are overcome.
The idea of the U.S. president being involved in a dark, sacrificial conspiracy is an unusual and powerful twist. This high-stakes conspiracy connects the personal (the protagonist’s fate) with the political (the president’s sins and cleansing), and the religious (a priest and a Mother Superior) creating a larger-than-life context for the thriller.

• B. Great Title.

The Cleansing Hour creates a sense of mystery and suspense with religious or ritualistic overtones.

• C. True. N/A

• D. Timely. N/A (although it could be very timely ha ha joke)

• E. It’s a first. N/A

• F. Ultimate. N/A

• G. Wide audience appeal.

Supernatural thrillers overlap with horror and mysteries. Streaming services like Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime offer supernatural thrillers regularly, and these films often perform well in terms of viewership and streaming rankings.

• H. Adapted from a popular book. N/A

• I. Similarity to a box-office success.

Shutter Island meets Pelican Brief

Shutter Island $294 million (worldwide); Pelican Brief $195 million (worldwide)

• J. A great role for a bankable actor.

The protagonist deals with psychological issues as well as physical threats.

The villain is a charming, evil priest.

• This reply was modified 5 months, 3 weeks ago by  Joan Butler.