High Concept
Flash back with me to the late 80s/early 90s, the screenwriting heyday of Shane Black, Joe Esterhazs and the spec script. At that time, studios were looking for a very specific type of material. That material was called High Concept.
Sandra Bullock and Keanu Reeves in “Speed,” a classic High-Concept premise
The High Concept era was the exact time I started finding work in Tinseltown. High Concept was what I cut my teeth on. I used to beat my brains out, trying to come up with high concepts.
What exactly is High Concept?
Let’s start with its opposite, low concept. Low concept stories are personal, idiosyncratic, ambiguous, often European. “Well, it’s a sensitive fable about a Swedish sardine fisherman whose wife and daughter find themselves conflicted over … ”
ZZZZZZZZ.
Low concept can be great. Personally I go to a lot of low concept movies. But low concept is low. High Concept is high.
1. A high concept story can be pitched in 30 seconds or less.
2. A high concept notion doesn’t depend on stars.
3. It’s almost impossible to screw up high concept (though plenty of us did.)
Here are three classic high concept premises:
“Speed.” A criminal rigs a bus full of passengers to explode if the vehicle’s speed drops below 55 mph. Cop and innocent gal must save bus and passengers.
“Basic Instinct.” Homicide detective finds himself in a torrid love affair with a sexy female suspect who may be the ice-pick murderess he is trying to capture.
“Die-Hard.” Terrorist gang takes hostages in office high-rise after dark, seeking millions from the company’s vault. What the criminals don’t know is that one resourceful cop (whose estranged wife is one of the hostages) is in the building, aiming to stop them (and save his wife.)
Bruce Willis in “Die-Hard”
The original Terminator was high concept, Jurassic Park was high concept, Rocky was high concept.
In pitching high concept, we don’t have to describe the climax. The climax is obvious. And it’s juicy.
Nor do we need to specify the action set-pieces along the way. They write themselves.
In high concept, premise is everything.
Subtlety? Who needs it?
Depth? R U kidding?
Irony? Fuggedaboutit!
All that being said, I don’t knock high concept. I love high concept.
When high concept ruled, the writer was king. Star scripters raked in big-time dinero. Spec pitches went for six figures.
But what I like about high concept (or, more exactly, thinking in high concept terms) goes deeper than the monetary payoff. It’s that HC thinking forces you, the writer, to boil your idea down to its absolute essence. What is this story about? What’s the beginning, what’s the middle, what’s the end?
Shane, which is a tragedy worthy of the Attic stage, can be HC-ized to this:
Gunfighter seeks to free himself from his past, only to discover that his skill with a six-shooter draws him inexorably back into the world of violence he is trying to escape.
When we as writers think in high concept terms (or simply use HC as a tool in our kit), we construct a story the way an engineer builds a bridge. We plant a powerful foundation on the near shore (the inciting incident), then an equally strong base on the far shore (the climax.) We structure the pair so that the near-shore foundation inexorably propels the story toward the far-shore payoff. Then we erect an exciting, beautiful, well-supported span in between.
What’s wrong with that?
Shakespeare did it. So did Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides. Dante did it, Milton did it, Trey Parker and Matt Stone do it.
There is nothing cheap or “commercial” or formulaic about a solid premise that propels a story via a powerful throughline to an inevitable, thrilling and satisfying climax.
The trick is to enlist the principles of HC in the service of material that actually has something to say. If you can do that, you’ve got Hamlet, you’ve got The Godfather, you’ve got Louis CK Live at the Beacon.
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A short book about the writing of a first novel: for Steve, The Legend of Bagger Vance. Having failed with three earlier attempts at novels, here's how Steve finally succeeded.
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Steve shares his "lessons learned" from the trenches of the five different writing careers—advertising, screenwriting, fiction, nonfiction, and self-help. This is tradecraft. An MFA in Writing in 197 pages.
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Amateurs have amateur habits. Pros have pro habits. When we turn pro, we give up the comfortable life but we find our power. Steve answers the question, "How do we overcome Resistance?"
Thanks Steven as always! Giving us tools to make our ideas better. Double thumbs up!! 🙂 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G13qTo2o-_U&feature=youtu.be
Another high concept movie from the ’90s is the Clint Eastwood Secret Service movie “In the Line of Fire.” The recent Secret Service scandal reminds me of Clint Eastwood telling the female Secret Service agent Renee Russo that she “needs to get laid.”
And this:
Frank Horrigan (Clint Eastwood): How’s the First Lady? She ask about me?
Lilly Raines (Rene Russo): Have you gotten to know them yet?
Frank Horrigan: Well, I normally prefer not to get to know the people I’m protecting.
Lilly Raines: Oh, yeah? Why’s that?
Frank Horrigan: Well, you never know. You might decide they’re not worth taking a bullet for.
Thanks, Steve! As a recovering engineer who used to build bridges, your vision has helped me with a sagging, faltering span that has no foundation on the far shore. HC indeed!
HEY Jonathon and all other wobbly Writing Wednesday Warriors! I am nothing but a 53yrold recovering,broke,has been Carpenter,hard struggling,alone*,self destructive liver of life- I will start writing for publication soon- HOWEVER when I get up early and leave it all behind and read a little WW you can beat me with me a stick and I will be NON-too grateful- I learn inspiration,I learn about words, and I learn the long,hard,solitary road we warrior type independent thinkers travel is the road we always wanted to travel-I HAD NO IDEA OF the Real Glory in subduing resistance , follwing dreams, truly getting out of myself,AD INFINITUM! I gotta get Steve,\’ new book!
I’ve never thought it with this terms.
I suppose that the only way to screw up a HC story is to try to put depth.
Once you side-track into DEPTH you muddy the thrill-packed waters of HC. Unless you are Shakespeare and can throw a bit of “Alas poor Yorick, I knew him…” , and Ophelia going off the deep end…and of course the witches prophesying Burnam Wood. Even a good old-fashioned murder needs a bit of lightness here and there, but the meat and potatoes is still the murder of the King and its consequences- a stage full of dead bodies. That’s all folks! 😃
Steven! Thank you so much for all your work and Writing Wednesdays in particular. After today’s post I had to leave a comment. I just wanted to share with you that you’ve been a phantom coach for me over the last year and a half. On April 14th (three and a half weeks after the birth of my first child) I finally typed “Fade to Black” on the second draft of my first screenplay. The other ideas are lined up like tin cans ready to be shot off a log. I’m looking forward to devouring and recommending Turning Pro!
Thanks for all you do!
Congratulations, Mark – on your first child and your screenplay. I’m not sure which one is harder!
Steve you may not have intended it but I’m pretty sure you just revolutionized the resume. Holy cow!
. . . and clarified the difference between the two types of mystery I write: the HCs I bang out for fun, and the LCs I wheedle and nudge to birth because otherwise I’ll cry.
The story climax was with great care awesome written by the author where the most a part of the story revealed and where the simplest actions, thrillers, and adventures are taken the place.
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Mister Pressfield, I love your blog and your wisdom. Thank you. Today’s post – um – I’m so sorry but mentioning Louis CK at the end was disappointing because of the sex assault stuff. That said — thank you for all your work and I do hope your rebuild goes great. I’m a fan and screnwriter in Canada. Cheers, Tricia Fish
I second that feeling. Yeah, the sex assault stuff. Thanks, Tricia.
A personal thanks today. On a previous post you mentioned the book, With the Old Breed, by E.B. Sledge. I had looked for a way to honor a great uncle who died during the battle of Peleliu on Bloody Nose Ridge. I thought the book might give me insight. The book made me realize that the best way to honor those who came before is to keep to our task, to never give up in the face of difficulty, no matter how hard the journey. I then flipped to a random page in The Daily Pressfield. Ah, the synchronicity, Dvekut Ba Mesima, glued to the mission. Much gratitude, Mr. Pressfield. Hope you and Diana are well. Sending good thoughts.
Thanks, Jackie., You made my day!
😊
“ZZZZZZZZ.”
This made me laugh out loud dear Steve!!
I started with a high concept idea, but the path I took to get there was rather low concept. Currently trying to reconcile the two and figure out how to highlight the premise by figuring out the plot while keeping the character development.
Im a John William too
Steve,
I like the near-shore and far-shore description of set up and climax.
Renita
…”“Well, it’s a sensitive fable about a Swedish sardine fisherman whose wife and daughter find themselves conflicted over … ”…”
Crack me up why don’t you!
The funnest thing I’ve read in quite a while. Silly you how you play with concepts and words, Steve. Thank you for the freebie training, whimsy and smiles. Brilliant
This was great, Steven!! Thank you!
Loved this piece—Steven Pressfield always has a way of cutting through the noise! It’s funny how his thoughts on resistance and creativity can even apply to something like designing Custom Handle Boxes. There’s a real art to balancing form and function, kind of like pushing through the creative blocks Pressfield talks about. Great read!