Is Your Story Solid Enough?

Let's Find Out:

I would like to share with you three tests to subject your idea to. If your idea can stand up to all three, then it's very possible you may have an idea solid enough to carry an entire movie.

IDEA TEST #1
The first Idea Test involves plugging your idea into a standard formula which forces you to lay out the key conflicts that will drive the entire movie. This creates a simple presentation of the idea which, if the idea is solid enough, should give a sense of the entire scope of the picture.

For example, name the following movie from the simple presentation of its main idea:

When an under-appreciated eight-year-old boy is accidentally left behind by his family when they leave for a European vacation, he finally gets his wish to be the man of the house, only to discover that his house has been targeted by bumbling burglars and he must now single-handedly defend it.

THE ANSWER -- "Home Alone" (duh).

The above idea is expressed using one of the handiest formulas I've ever run across for breaking down a story. The formula goes like this:

When a TYPE OF PERSON has/does/wants/gets A, he or she gets/does/tries B, only to discover that C now happens and he or she must respond by doing D."

Notice how all the major conflict beats are alluded to in one simple sentence? Let's look at "Home Alone" again and see where the ideas of the log-line fall out in the movie:

When an under-appreciated eight-year-old boy...
(Act One set-up of family and the boy's relationship with them.)

...is accidentally left behind by his family when they leave for a European vacation...
(Inciting incident and late Act One action)

...he finally gets his wish to be the man of the house..
(End Act One action)

...only to discover that his house has been targeted by bumbling burglars...
(Act two revelation and action)

...and he must now single-handedly defend it.
(Act three action.)

Simple? Kinda. Once you have an idea for a film about a kid who is left home alone, you need to figure out "and then what happens?" Without that, you don't have a story. Or to be more exact, you only have half of a story.

Look at "E.T." for a moment. It is not a story about a lonely boy who finds an alien, because that is merely the "A" statement in the formula. The full log-line of "E.T." can be expressed as follows:

"When a lonely boy finds a stranded space alien ("A" statement), he decides to keep him as a pet ("B" statement), only to discover that the alien can't live on earth for too much longer ("C" statement), so the boy must now help the alien get home in order save his life. ("D" statement and $400,000,000 worldwide gross.)"

Think of any commercially successful film (smaller, "art-house" films don't necessarily have to follow these rules). With a little work, you'll find out that they all can be broken down into this formula.

What this provides you with is a way to lay out your idea. Take your idea and try to present it in a similar fashion. Use as few words as possible (somewhere around 60), but make sure there's enough information presented to see the scope of the picture.

Here are two more examples:

When a tough New York cop visits his estranged wife in Los Angeles during her office Christmas party to patch things up, he and his wife get into a tremendous fight and it looks like a crash and burn, only to discover that terrorists have taken over the office building and he must now defeat the terrorists to save his wife and the hostages. (DIE HARD)

When an aquaphobic Sheriff is confronted by the horror of a great white shark attacking the beaches of his island community, he tries unsuccessfully to get the town leaders to take the threat seriously, only to discover that the shark has become territorial and he must now charter a boat to go destroy the shark himself. (JAWS)

Enough said!

IDEA TEST #2
Another test of the strength of your idea is to see how clearly you can answer all four of the following questions:

1. Who is your main character?
2. What is he or she trying to accomplish?
3. Who is trying to stop him or her?
4. What happens if he or she fails?

Let's see this in action by looking at the top 5 films of all time:

E.T.
1. Who is your main character? - ELLIOT
2. What is he or she trying to accomplish? - GET E.T. HOME
3. Who is trying to stop him or her? - THE ADULT SCIENTISTS
4. What happens if he or she fails? - E.T. DIES

JURASSIC PARK
1. Who is your main character? - DR. GRANT
2. What is he or she trying to accomplish? - ESCAPE FROM JURASSIC PARK
3. Who is trying to stop him or her? - THE DINOSAURS
4. What happens if he or she fails? - EVERYONE DIES

FORREST GUMP
1. Who is your main character? - FORREST GUMP
2. What is he or she trying to accomplish? - GET JENNY TO LOVE HIM
3. Who is trying to stop him or her? - JENNY (interesting, no?)
4. What happens if he or she fails? - HE LOSES THE ONE WOMAN CAPABLE OF LOVING HIM

STAR WARS
1. Who is your main character? - LUKE SKYWALKER
2. What is he or she trying to accomplish? - DESTROY THE DEATH STAR
3. Who is trying to stop him or her? - DARTH VADER
4. What happens if he or she fails? - HE DIES/GALACTIC TYRANNY (PLUS, THE DEATH OF LEIA)

THE LION KING
1. Who is your main character? - SIMBA
2. What is he or she trying to accomplish? - BECOME A KING
3. Who is trying to stop him or her? - SCAR
4. What happens if he or she fails? - HE DIES & THE KINGDOM IS DESTROYED

Now look at your idea. Can you answer all four questions? Here are some things to look for:

In question #2, make sure that what your main character is trying to accomplish is compelling.
In question #3, make sure that there is a strong opponent who is equally and oppositely committed against the hero's goal.
And finally, in question #4, make sure that the stakes are big. Life and death, if possible (I know what you're saying, FORREST GUMP didn't have life and death stakes. Not literally, but figuratively it did. Forrest spent his entire, charmed life wanting only one thing -- to be loved by the only girl capable of loving him. That is how love stories work; there is only one man or woman in the whole world that is right for the main character. For the main character to not get his or her soulmate becomes an emotional death that he or she would never recover from).

IDEA TEST #3
Michael Hauge in his excellent book "Writing Screenplays That Sell" defines what a screenplay needs to accomplish as: "Enable a sympathetic character to overcome a series of increasingly difficult, seemingly insurmountable obstacles and achieve a compelling desire."

If you notice, Hauge does not define a screenplay's need as "Enable a character to overcome obstacles in order to achieve a desire", but rather "a sympathetic character who overcomes a series of increasingly difficult, seemingly insurmountable obstacles in order to achieve a compelling desire."

This is the final test of your story idea. Is your character sympathetic? Does your idea hold the promise of increasingly difficult obstacles? Is your hero's goal compelling? Answering "yes" to all of these questions is a good indication that your idea is on the right path.

Last Update: 05/28/97
Copyright Š1997 by Renegade Pictures - ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

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