Genre

When I first started pursuing a career as a writer of the screenplays and began learning the craft, I learned that the first rule is to know your audience. And this isn’t just for screenwriting; it’s across the board for all writers, because, ultimately that is who we are writing for.

Knowing our audience helps us determine what we want to say and how we’re going to say it. We may not know the details of the narrative or how it will play out, but we can determine what we want to say.

Your theme or takeaway will be your message to your target audience. To help decide who you want to write to, look around at the world and pay attention to what is going on. There are so many possibilities with the new year; people are looking for fresh starts and new adventures.

People are looking for different things; our job as writers is to provide new adventures and new messages. In film different messages and narratives are divided into many genres. For the sake of this post, I will briefly discuss the top seven of 2018.

• Action- $3,936,789,020 via 55 movies
• Adventure- $2,776,858,544 via 38 movies
• Drama- $1,571,656,896 via 261 movies
• Horror- $875,245,579 via 33 movies
• Comedy- $771,190,520 via 71 movies
• Thriller/Suspense- $617,768,392 via 55 movies
• Musical- $309,165,560 via 8 movies
• Romantic Comedy- $240,993,609 via 15 movies[i]

The general rule in screenwriting is for the writer to establish the genre of the film of the screenplay in the first 10 pages. That way the reader, studio, execs or whoever the first audience is will understand the kind of film or genre it is.

GENRES?

The word genre comes from a 19^th-century French word that means, “a kind.” It’s also where we get our word gender from. The idea here is rather simple. Genres are different kinds of films that contain similar structures, themes, and characteristics.

There are endless possibilities when it comes to genres, subgenres, and hybrid genres. Robert McKee wisely notes, “You must not only respect but master your genre and its conventions. Never assume that because you’ve seen the films in your genre you know it. “[ii]

McKee notes six primary genres not necessarily in this order. [iii]

1. Maturation Plot Big
2. Westerns Butch Cassidy
3. Modern Epic Mr. Smith Goes To Washington
4. Horror Nightmare On Elm Street
5. War Story Saving Private Ryan
6. Love Story A Very Long Engagement 

There are always multiple combinations or subgenres of each of these and it’s common for them to overlap. For instance, the last movie listed above is a romantic story set in war times. But the romantic theme of love never gives up is the ultimate theme of the film.

By the end of the film, it is clear that undying love is the heart of director and screenwriter Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s message. It is a love story from the first scene until the end.

The Heart of it All!

Throughout this year we’ll explore a few of these different genres from time to time. But we must never forget that regardless of the genre, what we want to say to our audience through the basics I discussed last year:

• Action
• Character
• Setting
• Plot

That is the heart of our narrative and will determine our genre.

[i] https://www.the-numbers.com/market/2018/genres

[ii] McKee R. (1997).  Story: Substance, Structure, Style, And The Principle of Screenwriting (Kindle edition) pg 89.

[iii] McKee R. (1997).  Story: Substance, Structure, Style, And The Principle of Screenwriting (Kindle edition) pg 80-81.

Martin Johnson survived a severe car accident with a (T.B.I.) Truamatic brain injury which left him legally blind and partially paralyzed on the left side. He is an award-winning Christian screenwriter who has recently finished his first Christian nonfiction book. Martin has spent the last nine years volunteering as an ambassador and promoter for Promise Keepers ministries. While speaking to local men’s ministries he shares his testimony. He explains The Jesus Paradigm and how following Jesus changes what matters most in our lives. Martin lives in a Georgia and connects with readers at Spiritual Perspectives of Da Single Guy and on Twitter at mtjohnson51.