Raising the Marketability of a Character-Driven Story
by
Hal Croasmun

One of the most satisfying things to write is a great character-driven story. When you delve deep into the psyches of characters and watch them make the tough decisions, it can be absolutely fascinating...

But is it marketable? Can you sell it?

Producers say they want great character pieces. Actors talk
about how they chose a script because they loved the characters. But most of Hollywood won't even look at a script by an unproduced writer that doesn't have a highly marketable concept.

Here's the problem: Producers and actors all know that any story ultimately has to be brought down to 30 second commercials and two minute trailers. If a studio can't sell the movie in a 30 second commercial, it loses $10 million to $100 million.

What's the solution?

"It is so hard to find things that are unique and fresh. I can't tell you how many variations of the
Matrix I've read. Try to find a new way of telling
the genre. There are ways to take an old story and
find a fresh way of telling it."

- Tom Cohen
Lightstorm Entertainment
(James Cameron)

So the key is to create a concept around those great characters that is marketable and does get the attention of producers, actors, agents, etc. What's wrong with having both great characters and a great concept? Who knows, you may start a valuable trend that takes Hollywood by storm.

Let me give you three ways to create more marketable concepts around your characters. These are a few of the techniques from the HIGH CONCEPT SELLS class.

A. FIND THE HOOK OF THE STORY

Many times, the "hook" of the story will not be so obvious to its writer. Why? Because we get bogged down in all the details. You need to search through the story looking for what will sell it.

Ask questions like:

• What is it about this story that makes it fascinating?
• What is the most interesting/unique part of this story?

ERIN BROCKOVICH could be told as a woman who struggles with a decision between love and career. That is one possible
description of the story, but it wouldn't sell it.

But as a true story about a trailer trash woman who kicks the shit out of a major power company and wins a multi-million dollar lawsuit against them, it is appealing to producers and actors.

REMEMBER THE TITANS could be told as two coaches who fight for control of a football team. But again, that wouldn't sell.

But it is marketable as a story about how two coaches, a White and a African-American, bring a racially divided town together by getting the students to co-operate on the football field and win a State Championship.

Just look deeply into your character-driven story and see if
there is a hook in there that will intrigue a producer.

B. CHANGE THE SETTING

Sometimes, you can switch the setting and it will make a major change in the marketability of a story. You can still tell your character-driven story, but it is in a setting that makes the story much easier to pitch.

Here's a few questions that will help you:

• Where could this story be told that would double the
  interest?
• What setting will most contrast this story, thereby
  creating the most conflict?

EXAMPLE: A hit man struggles with a relationship while tracking his prey. That story could be an interesting character-drama, or you can put it to a in a High School reunion in the hitman's home town and you've got a marketable story called Grosse Pointe Blank.

SECOND EXAMPLE: A woman fights to be treated on an equal level to the men around her. In the corporate world, this would be a dull story, but make the setting the SEAL team selection process and you have a high concept script called GI JANE.

C. PUT YOUR CHARACTER STORY INSIDE A LARGER/MORE UNIQUE STORY

When you see a well written High Concept story, it is sometimes because the High Concept was built around great characters, instead of the other way around.

Try brainstorming answers to this question:

• What larger story could my character story be part of
  that would highlight my original story?

EXAMPLE: An 0lder man about to retire tries to keep up in
relationship with a young woman obsessed with her career. Put that relationship story inside a story about the media going crazy and you've got NETWORK.

EXAMPLE TWO: A rich kid tries to fit in by hanging with the
poor kids. Use him to tell the Viet Nam war story and you've
got PLATOON.

----------------------

LET'S TRY OUR OWN EXAMPLE:

Let's say you want to explore how a homeless man could struggle to establish a life while hiding his situation from those around him. How might that look as we use the three formats above to brainstorm ideas for a story?

A. Find the Hook:

• How does a homeless man find a decent job and gain back the trust of his family?
• He is in relationship with a woman from a wealthy and
  prominent family.

B. Change the setting:

• Political arena: Homeless guy runs for Mayor.
• Corporate world: With a work history of organizing and
  running the shelter while he lived there, he mistakenly
  gets offered a Vice President job at a major corporation. How does he deal with the two weeks before he gets a paycheck?

C. Put your character drama inside a larger/more unique story.

• The homeless guy is a witness to a politician committing
  a major crime, but realizes he has no credibility and
  must build a case and a life before going public.
• Our homeless guy is an ex-poker player. A Mafia guy
  agrees to back him in a game and half way through the
  game, the homeless guy discovers that the Mafia guy is
  cheating the other players and will most likely kill him after the game to keep this quiet.

All together, it took about 15 minutes to generate those ideas. If I were truly committed to this story, I'd run it through the other nine High Concept formats to brainstorm as many ideas as necessary to come up with a great concept.

Ultimately, this would provide both a great character story and a great concept that is marketable.

This article is copyright © by Hal Croasmun, and is reprinted with permission from the author. Unauthorized duplication is a violation of international copyright law.

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About Hal
After 15 years developing Expert Modelling training programs for Fortune 500 companies, HAL CROASMUN decided it was time to turn his attention to his true passion — the film industry. Hal is a writer/producer and founder of the ScriptforSale.com website, where he has spent nearly five years developing a unique Expert Model approach to screenwriting. It's called the Pro Series, and is revolutionizing the Hollywood film industry.