high concept – Almost An Author

What is “High Concept”?

After the fifth editor said, “I am especially looking for high concept picture books. I can’t explain that, but I know it when I see it!” I’ve been researching this elusive children’s book category. A high concept book idea is so immediately engaging and plot-driven, that a pitch is a single obvious and action-packed sentence.

1 Premise-driven

The story is about the action, with less emphasis on character, dialog, or lyric writing. The story is easily summarized in one, intriguing sentence: what if ocean trash were art?

2 Suited for a wide audience

The high concept book is as much fun for parents to read as for kids. It is highly visual to engage all ages and has strong commercial appeal by being immediately relevant or a twist on easily understood situations.

3 Unique

As in “Wow I never thought of that before! If your premise has been done before, take a new twist and then push it further. Imagine your book ad on a poster. What if the SUPERHEROES were at the Christmas manger?

4 Immediately intriguing

There must be an obvious source of conflict that grabs the attention from the title and delivers what it promises.

The book will undoubtedly include all the expected characteristics of a children’s book: story arc, problem-solving and relatable characters, three attempts and a climax in the plot, excellent word choice, rhythmic pattern, or flawless rhyme.

The best way to find examples of high concept is to read the tag lines from hit movies. (High Concept Movies – IMDb) Groundhog Day, Jurassic Park, Tootsie, Inside Out, Sister Act, The Incredibles. Each one has a poster where one picture and a phrase tell you exactly what you are getting.

The best way to dream up a high concept is to find a relation between two unrelatable things: Vacation on Jupiter. Dining out with various Australian animals. Then push it two or three steps wilder! A really boring vacation on Jupiter. Taking my Wallaby to the Waldorf Astoria.

And the best person to ask for a high concept story idea: any 7-year-old!

Author note: And without ever calling it high concept, my most recent book is *How to Dress a Dinosaur* (How to Dress a Dinosaur – Familius.com Shop) and checks many of the boxes! The editor could not describe it, but she knew it was right!

Award Winning author Robin Currie learned story sharing by sitting on the floor, in library story times. She has sold 1.7 M copies of her 40 storybooks and writes stories to read and read again!

Recently, I was motivated to start work on a new screenplay, one that has been a passion project of mine for some time. It involved taking a cult classic from my childhood and updating the storyline for the present day.

Before I could begin plotting out the story events, I wanted to do some brainstorming to see what modern-day twists I could add to a dated story. My first step was to go back to the writing basics:

Who
What
Where
When
Why

We’ve already discussed the what (takeaway,) but this month I want to look at the “why.” Why does this story need to be told? Why is it relevant now? Why will people want to invest time and money into watching it?

In the screenwriting business, this is called a concept and if the stakes are high enough, it becomes a high concept. I cannot emphasize the importance of screenplays being high concept. Producers, studios, and investors want projects that are high concept.

High Concept?

Let’s face it; Hollywood is a business town as much as New York City is. It doesn’t matter what kind of story you’re telling or what your takeaway is, if it isn’t going to make money, studios won’t produce it—high concept typically means a high return on the investment.

In my opinion, this is why the Christian film industry sells itself short; they want to change or save the world, but they only target Christian audiences. Even though their messages about salvation, hope and love should be a very high concept.

If you’re still not sure how to tell if your screenplay is high concept, I found a few pointers in Script magazine:

High level of entertainment value
High degree of originality
High level of uniqueness (different than original)
Highly visual
Possesses a clear emotional focus (root emotion)
Targets a broad, general audience, or a large niche market
Sparks a “what if” question[i]

A way to test if your screenplay is high concept is to ask, what if this or that doesn’t happen? The answer to your what-if should be high risk. This doesn’t necessarily mean complicated. Just that the possibilities are high.

Overly complicated narratives can lose the entertainment factor by overwhelming the audience. A high concept film should be easy to understand: light versus dark, good versus evil, pride versus humility. Keep the stakes high, but keep the story easy enough to follow.

Keep It Simple?

Screenwriting coach and legend Scott Myers suggests “the six-word rule.” “So, if you’ve got a story which has you confused, do this: Try your hand at a logline or short summary. Then zero in on the six words in your description which do the best job communicating the essence of your story.”[ii] I don’t think the descriptions need to be that brief, but no more than two sentences. Below are a few of my favorite high concept movies.

Home Alone What if a young boy is left home alone while the family is on vacation and burglars tried to break in?
Jurassic Park What if scientists cloned dinosaurs and put them in a park for people to visit?
Transformers What if alien robots invaded earth and hid in plain sight?
Groundhog Day What if I a weatherman relived Groundhog Day over and over?

High concept movies have box office appeal, but not necessarily blockbuster budgets. Stories don’t need to be showy or flashy to appeal to a broad audience. Sometimes it’s as simple as touching the heart of an audience or a universal curiosity that makes a movie high concept.

Martin Johnson survived a severe car accident with a (T.B.I.) Traumatic 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.

[i] https://scriptmag.com/features/story-talk-high-concept-yes-it-actually-means-something

[ii] https://gointothestory.blcklst.com/dumb-little-writing-tricks-that-work-the-six-word-test-f1bc38a8122d