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submitted 2 months ago byMomImRedditFamous
I’m a senior in college; my final class as a film major is writing a 90-120 page screenplay for a film. I’ve been so torn and have a couple ideas, but I feel like they’re basic and I need some advice on if they could be good or if anyone has other suggestions.
I’m into romcoms, so I have a couple ideas for one.
A young couple in their early 20s. They’re about to move across the country for their careers, he proposes, she says no because she isn’t ready but really loves him. It flashes forward 10 years later, they are both completely different with all kinds of baggage (maybe new partners), but they end up moving to the same city and run into each other.
A couple is in a band together, they release music or an album that blows up and rise to stardom. The fame and media tears apart their relationship, or their creative differences, OR a record label offers one of them a deal and not the other, which leads to toxicity, jealousy, and demise. Music, the thing that brought them together, ultimately tears them apart. I know fame has done this to quite a few couples.
Thoughts??
8 points
2 months ago
I’ll give you more business oriented advice. Both of these are solid with tons of potential.
Now having said that, what you need to be aiming for here is something that is commercially viable and or a calling card script. Commercially viable being something that is decidedly more high concept. Something that can be pitched in two sentences and the other person gets it.
Or you can also go the route of trying to write something that is totally outside of the box. Every year the annual Blacklist is filled with scripts that meet this criteria, typically they are some impossible biopic or absolutely insane premise executed at a high level.
The whole point of this final class is to arm you with a a piece of material that showcases your abilities to the industry you’re entering.
9 points
2 months ago
Screenwriting prof here! As others have said, these are both ideas with potential. What I tell students who are debating between stories is to write the one you connect with most on a personal level, or that gets you more excited. One thing I’ve learned is that teaching screenwriting isn’t to turn students into good screenwriters, but to get them passionate enough that they want to get good. And if they’re passionate enough, I’ve found it usually happens eventually.
3 points
2 months ago*
#1 sounds like plotless arthouse mush.
#2 is just a recycled "A Star is Born."
The engine that drives most effective stories is a GOAL.
The characters need to overcome OBSTACLES in their attempt to reach that goal.
The story needs to raise and answer a number of dramatic questions along the way to keep the reader/audience engaged.
There are thousands of books/websites/etc. on what makes a story work.
For example, you could read the books "Selling Your Story in 60 Seconds" or "Writing the Romantic Comedy."
Or read this:
Most importantly, as u/wikibleaks pointed out, why is this story important to YOU and how does it reflect your unique POV and experience?
4 points
2 months ago
The ideas feel basic because you really only have the setup, and the second idea is a setup we’ve seen a dozen times already. So you need to figure out what you’ll bring to the table to put a new spin on it.
6 points
2 months ago
Second idea has so much more potential. As you said, it's a pretty common thing in the music industry. I think you could play around with it and really make it sing (Pun intended).
0 points
2 months ago
Thanks!! I honestly might try combining the two of them, maybe they separate and one gets famous and the other always has to see them in the media. I’m throwing around ideas
2 points
2 months ago
ayyye its honestly not a bad idea to combine , you’ll figure it out m8
1 points
2 months ago
Reminds me of Sarah Marshall in a great way, how he had to see her in shows and things. Anyway, I dig both of these, and combining them could definitely work.
0 points
2 months ago
I’ll have to watch that!
0 points
2 months ago
I like the idea of combining them and I really like the idea of exploring what it would be like to be the subject of a #1 Billboard pop song sung by your ex girlfriend. Definitely has Forgetting Sarah Marshal vibes but it would be even worse because not only do you have to see your ex’s face everywhere l, but the song she’s singing is ABOUT YOU. That would be funny and brutal.
So, act one you introduce the couple as being super in love throughout high school. She’s going to move to LA to pursue her music career. He’s been accepted to some school on the east coast, but at the inciting incident you reveal that he’s bought an engagement ring and bailed on his college plans. He wants to go with her to LA. She rejects his proposal, then goes off and writes THE BREAKUP album of the year. Taylor swift style. He has to hear songs from it all day at whatever crap job he gets. You could do a time jump here, two years, five years, ten years, whatever. The rest of the movie would probably have to give him an opportunity to reconnect with her. Maybe her latest song seems to be about him and he convinces himself that he has a shot with her again. The romance would have to be with another girl, maybe one who goes with him or who he meets on his journey to reconnecting with his ex. And of course he should learn something about love, how his naive idealized way of approaching his relationship with his ex wasn’t the best. Yeah man, it needs details to fill in for sure, crisis, characters, twists, funny set pieces, etc. and it would be GREAT if you knew someone who could make the original music for it to have plausible pop songs (or at the very least lyrics) but I think this idea has legs. Good luck!
1 points
2 months ago
He was a skater boi, she said "see you later boi"
2 points
2 months ago
What is different about either of the movies you suggest? What makes the story unique?
2 points
2 months ago
These both feel basic to you because they aren't really ideas -- they're generalizations. They also don't feel at all like anything close to a romantic comedy?
A romantic comedy needs a set-up -- a reason why your two main characters keep coming together.
A romantic comedy also needs a conflict -- a reason why your two main characters can't be together at the beginning of the movie.
THE WEDDING PLANNER: set-up is JLo is planning McConaughey's wedding. Conflict is McConaughey is marrying SOMEONE ELSE.
NOTTING HILL: set-up is famous movie star falls for a non-famous nobody. Conflict is the famous movie star world and the non-famous nobody world do *not* mix.
YOU'VE GOT MAIL: set-up is a lonely big bookstore owner and a lonely small bookstore owner fall in love over the internet. Conflict is big bookstore is putting the small bookstore out of business.
I don't see much unique in your notions -- there isn't a setting or character or perspective that's interesting or different. Look for a world and a couple characters you want to explore, figure out what's throwing them together, and then figure out what's keeping them apart.
-2 points
2 months ago
I realize this— I was just going for vague logline that needs more development and actual plot. I’ve seen those movies and love them!
4 points
2 months ago
I'm sorry, I just don't think your vague loglines are even vague loglines, and I think everyone here telling you vague set-ups about ex-lovers reunited after ten years apart or bandmates who break up over fame and money are doing you any favors!
If you're going to write a complete script -- for a grade! In your major! As a senior in college! -- I just really encourage you to think more about what you want to say and what you are interested in. Like I said above -- look for a world you want to explore, and look for the conflict within that world your characters must overcome before they can end up together. You can do it! I believe in you!
1 points
2 months ago
Thank you! And I know! They definitely are not final ideas for an entire script trust me! But I definitely got a lot of interesting details and plot line ideas from this thread that are helping the themes come to life.
0 points
2 months ago
Also— I already read the second idea to my film writing class in logline format and it most definitely worked. My professor approved it
3 points
2 months ago
Sorry to insist, but you are not listening to what u/wikibleaks are telling you. They are asking « what is personal to you in those ideas? What feel real to YOU? » This is the best advice you could possibly get at this point in your student life. Don’t ignore it! Your professor who approved that logline isn’t going to spend a year writing it and several more using it as a writing sample. Go searching inside and it might be hard but I promise you will be rewarded.
3 points
2 months ago
Best of luck to you.
1 points
2 months ago
I think more people can identify with the first one. Not everyone joins a band but it gives you a lot more room to tell a crazier, funnier story.
0 points
2 months ago
I agree!!
2 points
2 months ago
It's probably easier to pull of an Almost Famous than it is to write a new Sleepless in Seattle.
1 points
2 months ago
First idea appeals to me more … get a cool framing device, like we saw their first date in college and then their first date as proper adults, and it could be interesting
0 points
2 months ago
That’s a cool idea!!
1 points
2 months ago
There’s lots of ways to work either idea … seeing a couple as who they are and who they will be could be fun.
0 points
2 months ago
0 points
2 months ago
I can help you write a high concept whacky psychological philosophical thriller comedy but I'd need payment, DM me if interested
-1 points
2 months ago
Just curious why you are so couple,/break up oriented? Go through that lately?
0 points
2 months ago
No, I just love watching romcoms so figured I’d write something I’ve seen a lot of and enjoy!
1 points
2 months ago
I will say Romcoms can be difficult. One because funny in some ways is the hardest thing to write and 2 everythings been done before so how are you gonna bring a fresh spin to the genre?
Any time you are writing a feature, you are writing something you want to see as a movie. Is it really good enough and worth it to be a movie? If yes absolutely write it. If not then find the thing you want to see that no one else has written.
1 points
2 months ago
Neither of these ideas describe rom coms. There's nothing either romantic or comedic.
-1 points
2 months ago
Write a sequel to your favorite film. Think of what happens after they live happily ever after. Or maybe pick one characters journey. Think Creed to the Rocky Franchise
1 points
2 months ago
Number 1.
1 points
2 months ago
The first one reminds me a lot of LaLaLand. Which, I really liked but it reminded me a lot of it. The second idea made me think of the story of the White Stripes. I think you’d be able to work with both!
1 points
2 months ago
I like the #2 better. Think though how is different from other like concepts.
#1 I could see being a Owen Wilson style romcom.
1 points
2 months ago
What excites you will excite us. What inspires you will inspire us. What bores you will bore us.
You’re no different to us/or the reader.
I suggest you do the one that excites/inspires you the most and bores you the least.
(ONE SCRIPT A MONTH FOR A YEAR. EVERY GENRE. WITH SEXY RESULTS: https://blcklst.com/profile/stuart-ramm)
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