SCRIPTLAND 4 – HOOKS

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I go back again to the whole debate on last week’s distribution blog. There are too many films being made at the moment…there is literally more supply than demand…so if you don’t have Michael Mann directing your film or have Johnny Depp in it…why is your film gonna get picked up? Because it has a great hook  might be a reason.

 

Don’t get me wrong you can still have a great film that isn’t spun around a fantastic hook. I call these ‘doing’ ideas…you have to do them and then people will buy them. I just read a script that has a really simple logline… Trying to start over, an ex con loses his way when he vows to hunt down his brothers killers.

 

But man was it not just that. It was probably one of the best screenplays I have ever read. Period. His use of action bordered on prose but without the hyperbole or inflation. And his dialogue was inspired. It was so real. Almost Peckinpah like in its construction. It was a script about the gaps between the words which is a rare thing to pull off.

 

So yeah you don’t have to have a great hook if you want to sell your work but if you want your work to be seen (i.e. made) it does help having a great spin on an idea.  My writing sample…the script I send to get work is a film that I have never been able to get off the ground. Everyone agrees it’s well written but no one will make it…mainly because they aren’t sure who will go and watch it!

 

The best person to describe it has been Alex Epstein in his great book Crafty Screen writing. ‘A hook is the concept of your picture in a nutshell. Not just any concept. A hook is a fresh idea for a story that instantly makes people interested in reading your script and then makes the audience want to see your movie.’

 

Here are some hooks:

A bunch of unemployed miners decide to strip to earn money. (THE FULL MONTY.)

There’s a bomb on a crowded bus. If the bus slows below 50 miles per hour the bomb will go off. (SPEED.)

A fractious family go a road trip to the little Miss Sunshine contest. (LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE.)

 

Epstein asks how you come up with a great hook. And recommends paying attention, nicking it, what if’s or opposites.

 

I like the paying attention one I mean Hush came about because I drove a lot and noticed a lot of trucks. I always used it imagine what was in them.

 

Mark Millar another really intelligent good writer does a variation of the ‘what if.’

What if one day you found out you were the son of an assassin? WANTED. What if you got a super power when you joined the US Army? WAR HEROES.

 

Hooks not help your film get seen but I think they also help you when you get lost during the scripting process which does happen, they kinda earth you.

 

Someone said to me once if you can explain your idea in one line it’s a good idea…a paragraph then something’s wrong. Good rule of thumb. In the current UK climate if you can come up with a hook that is high concept but cheap. Bingo you’re in. The best example which I always come back to is Saw. High concept. Low budget. (It only cost a million.) I’m also being told by sales agents that comedy is in at the moment.

One Response to “SCRIPTLAND 4 – HOOKS”

  1. marktonderai says:

    Okay I’ll try and put some up later on in the week.