How to make your concept stand out.

As a literary manager, I read dozens of screenplays each month. One of the biggest notes I have is that the script just doesn't feel different or unique from others. How can your premise cut through?

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Mastering the craft of screenwriting can be a daunting process.

There are hundreds of books and resources out there that will tell you what story beats you need to hit in your script, when you should hit them, and why.

But what if you do everything that a script is supposed to accomplish, you check every single box, your prose is evocative, your dialogue realistic, and the response from your reader is still:

“Eh.”

This is a response I often have when I read a script from a writer who hasn’t broken into Hollywood yet and they don’t know why. Sometimes the script is technically quite good.

But any genre can fall victim to this feeling of “It’s missing something”:

• Murder mystery - There are suspects and a detective is investigating, but I don’t see why this case needs a movie and not an episode of CSI.

• Legal thriller - There is a court case, but I don’t see why it needs a movie and not an episode of Law & Order.

• Action - There are fight scenes and car chases, but I just don’t care about whether the characters win.

• Romantic comedy - There is a couple that struggles to come together, but the obstacle in their way is something I have read hundreds of times before.

• Historical drama - I believe that these events happened, and they are compelling, but there is no narrative for me to get invested in.

• Romance - There is a couple that struggles to come together, but I just don’t care about whether they do.

• Dramedy - There is a quippy, messy, irreverent protagonist who struggles with life and relationships, but it doesn’t feel like a TV show that needs to be made.

• Sitcom - There are people who make jokes at each other, but there is no reason I would rather spend time with this family or this workplace than anyone else’s.

Getting the note, “This technically is doing everything it’s supposed to, but it just doesn’t feel different,” can be frustrating.

Isn’t the whole point of being a writer that no one can tell a story the same way you can?

That’s true. They can’t.

But in order to find that unique voice that is your essence, you have to go deeper into yourself and into your skills. There are many ways that we are all the same. That’s why screenwriting works.

And that sameness is on the surface.

Photo by Noah Näf on Unsplash

When we reach for the easy tools and the instinctive story decisions, many of us end up starting in the same place. That’s why so many concepts keep popping up over and over again in countless movies, TV shows, and scripts. If you want to set yourself apart as a writer that stands out and gets hired, you need to dig beneath the surface to pull out what’s different.

You need to push your story beyond the obvious and the expected.

You need to find the unexpected or even better, the impossible version of the story you want to tell.

How can you do that?

Well, it’s not easy. There’s a reason writers get paid the big bucks. But it is possible, and, like any craft, it is a learnable skill. But only if you work at it consistently.

Here are some techniques you can use to get there. I recommend you practice at least one of them daily.

9 Techniques for making your concept different from everyone else’s:

Technique #1: Write the bad ideas down too.

None of these exercises will work if your Inner Critic is stifling your creativity.

I’ll talk more about repairing this relationship next week. For now, we will focus on just one tactical shift: Write everything down. As you are brainstorming in the following exercises, let your ideas be silly, impossible, ridiculous, even offensive (yes, offensive!) You don’t have to show them to anyone. The editing comes much later in the process.

Allow your ideas to not make sense or not fit the story you’re working on or be out of alignment with your Writer Brand.

Brainstorming is a faucet.

You are not going to get any good ideas if you keep telling your poor, abused brain that its ideas are bad. It will stop trying. Positive reinforcement goes a long way here. Once you start writing the bad ideas down, more will come. It’s a numbers game, yes, but it is also a momentum game. Don’t judge the ideas that come to you.

If you hear yourself thinking, “That would never work” or “That makes no sense,” write it down anyway.

Even if your ratio of good ideas to bad ones is very small (and I guarantee you it is bigger than you think), that just means you need to come up with tons of bad ideas.

They are your pathways to the good ones.

Embrace them.

Technique #2: Third Thought

This is a familiar practice to you if you have ever performed improv, but if you haven’t, I am here to teach it to you now.

The idea is simple: The first joke you come up with is always going to be the “hack” joke that anyone else could have thought of. Your audience might chuckle at it, but they’re probably expecting it. Some might call this the “low hanging fruit.”

So, as you’re brainstorming, even if you like that first idea, force yourself to come up with a second, better one.

It will be hard.

At first, you might think that there are no other possibilities.

But if you really push yourself, you will come up with something. And whatever this is, it will surprise you. This, you will think, is brilliant. I have to use it. But this is where the magic happens (And I am sure from the section heading that you see where I am going with this).

You come up with a third idea.

This will be even harder than coming up with a second one.

You’ll despair even more and think, This is pointless. I already came up with a really good idea, why can’t I just use that one? But push yourself. Don’t let yourself take the easy path out. Because this third idea will take your breath away.

Or maybe it doesn’t.

But because you dug deep, that third idea will not be what your audience is expecting.

And that’s what will delight them.

This will be hard at first. When improv students practice Third Thought, they freeze up like a slow computer, sifting through the possibilities in their brain before they get to a third one. But with practice they get faster, more confident, and more imaginative.

They find themselves on stage, in front of an audience, invisibly practicing Third Thought in real time.

This will be you with brainstorming. You just need to practice.

Technique #3: Daily Brainstorming

As a writer, your job is to come up with new stories.

All the time. Yes, every day.

You should be brainstorming new stories for episodes, movies, TV shows, short films, anecdotes to tell in meetings, and characters for all of these. So it astounds me when a person who claims that they want to be a professional writer comes up with one single movie idea and holds onto it with a vice grip for ten years of obsessive focus.

There is always more where that came from, and you will feel more inspired when you view Story Creation as a daily practice that comes from an Abundance Mindset.

(I told you these techniques would be actionable, but that doesn’t mean they’re not going to be at least a little woo-woo. We’re talking about creativity here, after all!)

Ideas and characters are everywhere.

Practice noticing them every day, and (this is crucial) write them down in a notebook as soon as you do. This will train your brain to always be on the lookout for more inspiration. As you do this, you will develop a vast collection of concepts to pull from for any project or scene you want to write.

The more you have, the more unique that concept will be.

As you allow yourself to brainstorm every single day, your brain will become more creatively daring.

Photo by Jess Bailey on Unsplash

Technique #4: Make it even more unexpected.

You have a concept for a movie (or TV show). You have a character and a plot.

Before you continue with your outlining, brainstorm more unexpected choices. It starts like this:

List the elements of your idea that you have so far.

• Main Character

• Setting

• Goal

• Inciting Incident

• Love Interest

• etc.

Everything you know about your concept so far, list it.

Now go to a new page in your notebook or open a new Word Document. List element number one at the top. Let’s say, Main Character. Then under that, list characteristic categories (don’t brainstorm the details yet, just the category heading).

• Strengths

• Weaknesses

• Hobbies

• Personality traits

• What they look for in a love interest

• etc. (As many as you want!)

Now, knowing what you know about your character, start with the first category.

What are some strengths you would Expect this person to have? List them.

For example, if my main character is a High School Cheerleader, Expected strengths would include:

• memorizing cheers

• hair & makeup application

• flirting

• gymnastics

• organizing bake sale fundraisers

This part is kind of boring, but it’s an essential step because it anchors you in understanding what the familiar is so you can do the next step: Moving on to the unfamiliar.

Next, list Unexpected strengths that a High School Cheerleader would have:

• can do calculus in her head

• vocalist in a screamo band

• speaks fluent Arabic

• can win a hot dog eating competition against anyone

You can already see how a person who embodies these opposites starts moving out of the realm of tropey caricature and into an interesting human being with contradictory traits that hint at a backstory we want to know more about.

How can you push this list to get more and more unexpected?

What are strengths that would be impossible for them to have?

You don’t have to use all (or any) of these in your actual script. But the brainstorming exercise will open up your sense of possibility for adding layers of unexpected revelation to your audience’s experience.

Go back and brainstorm the Expected vs. Unexpected choices for the other categories.

Repeat this process for all the other elements of your script you listed.

You can do this for a set period of time (a few hours a day or for a few days), or you can make it a habit of exploring this Unexpected Brainstorming as a warm-up in your Writing Practice every single day.

You don’t have to use anything you brainstorm, but once you start doing this, you will find something that surprises and excites you.

Technique #5: Combine two familiar genres to make a new one.

If your concept is something your reader has read a million times before, instead of adding multiple whacky elements, you might consider adding one single antithetical element that is familiar in its own way.

What is the genre of your movie (or TV show)?

Is there another genre you can add to it that would turn it into something completely different but also elevate the themes you wanted to explore in the first place?

Some of the most iconic properties in Entertainment History did this:

• Star Wars = fantasy + sci-fi

• Firefly = sci-fi + western

• The Lion King = Shakespeare + kids movie

• Supernatural = procedural + ghost story

• Black Mirror = sci-fi + horror

• South Park = children’s animation + R-rated satire

• Brooklyn Nine-Nine = police procedural + sitcom

Combining two familiar things won’t make your story unique if someone else has combined these genres before.

But when you look at the entertainment landscape now, is there a genre or sub-genre that hasn’t been combined yet?

What about something that feels impossible to combine? (You did this with thriller and romantic comedy).

If you can crack that, you’ll have a hard time selling this project. Many executives are risk-averse and therefore actively looking for more derivative projects.

But you are also more likely to find a few that “get it” enough to become passionate champions of you and your project.

And at the end of the day, a few raving fans is a better result than every single person saying, “it’s good but not for me.”

Technique #6: Add something personal.

The life experiences that you have had add up to a worldview that is unique to you.

No one is exactly like you. Even if you have a biological identical twin, they have had different life experiences than you. It’s the voice you have that’s been shaped by your actions that makes you special.

If your script isn’t special, think about what components of your life you can breathe into it.

This will help make it into a more compelling calling card, and it can even make it feel more “voicey.” Both of these are screenplay characteristics that agents and managers look for when signing a writer, and a unique voice is what drove Buyers to pick up some of the most recently successful TV shows: The Bear, Fleabag, Beef, Baby Reindeer, Abbott Elementary and even Succession.

But this goes beyond simply giving your characters personality traits and identities that match yours.

What resonates with readers and viewers is the feeling of bold discomfort and the unflinching ability to describe an emotional experience that we relate to and hate about ourselves.

To really add something personal to your script, I recommend that you Go There.

Don’t hurt yourself. I mean this sincerely. I don’t want you to open up old wounds if you are not in a place to address them. But if you are, try doing whatever the opposite of therapy is.

Journal answers to the following questions (Don’t worry, no one is going to see these!)

• What beliefs do you hold that you are most ashamed of?

• What stories have you not told anyone?

• What are the most embarrassing moments in your life?

• What is the most painful breakup (romantic or platonic) that you ever experienced? Why? Have you recovered? How? (or Why not?)

• What opinions do you have that people would think less of you for having?

• What actions have you taken that would make other people think less of you?

• What lesson do you need to learn but stubbornly haven’t yet?

Once you are able to find a real, personal, emotional experience that resonates, you can incorporate that into a story or character.

That’s the beauty of writing fiction. You can hide behind the fact that this is “all made up.” You have plausible deniability. These are characters you simply “invented.”

But it’s the deeply personal emotional truth within them that will cut your readers to the core and make them fall in love with you and your writing.

Photo by Nathan McDine on Unsplash

Technique #7: Rip it from the headlines — and put it somewhere interesting.

As you find stories all around you, you can watch or read the news for inspiration.

But go beyond the big, international headlines. Try subscribing to local newspapers. Read niche stories. Use human interest pieces as jumping off points. Collect these stories in a binder, a folder on your computer, a series of notecards, or a list in your notebook.

You don’t have to option the rights to them.

Just use them as a jumping off point. Use one of the previous techniques on this list to set the story in an unexpected location or in a surprising genre.

Challenge yourself to bring a fresh ingredient to a headline that would make the story you tell unfamiliar to even the person who lived it.

Now it’s your own, but it retains that real life essence that makes it memorable.

Technique #8: Find the inherent paradox.

The best movies and TV shows have strong engines from the beginning that sustain the story seemingly all by themselves.

Many writers shy away from paradox because it feels impossible or illogical, and they want their stories to feel “believable” and “realistic” (and also easier to write). But humans are paradoxical creatures. We act against our best interests. We make choices that seem counter to our priorities. We hold fanatically passionate beliefs and also other equally passionate beliefs that contradict the first ones.

We hurt the people we love, hate the parts of ourselves that we cherish the most, and smoke cigarettes on the drive home from our Barry’s Bootcamp classes.

(Okay, that was one time, but still.)

At the center of your story is your main character’s motivation. Their goal. The thing that matters more to them than anything else in the world. Their deepest insecurity. Their most ardent belief. The most important relationship in their life.

And their greatest fear.

At this swirling center of values and passions, there is potential for conflict.

You don’t have to add a bunch of extra bonus details and creative decisions that threaten to spin your story out of control and make it feel extra complicated.

If you find the one internal conflict and Story Level Paradox that everything else hinges on, you will make your concept stand out.

You probably want some examples of what I’m talking about:

• The Godfather - Michael Corleone wants nothing to do with his criminal father and family, but he is the only child equipped to assume the throne and he feels an inescapable pull towards that life.

• The Dark Knight - Batman wants to rid the world of crime and bring justice to Gotham, but his tactics for doing so are just as violent and bloody as the criminals he claims to despise.

• The Lord of the Rings - The smallest, most insignificant person from a tiny village is the only person with the moral resilience capable of destroying an object that has corrupted the world’s most powerful leaders. And he must go against the world’s most terrifying armies and creatures to do so.

• Whiplash - An abusive relationship that destroys the main character’s life is also the salvation that brings him to a transcendent achievement that makes his life worth living.

• Casablanca - A brokenhearted, withdrawn man who wants nothing more than to be outside any political involvement gets pulled back into a romance and makes a sacrifice that will affect the outcome of the war.

No matter the size of your story, it is this tension in the middle of it that will generate conflict and interest in every scene.

Finding and clarifying this paradox will elevate your concept into something seemingly impossible that your reader will lean into and want to know more about.

Technique #9: Show us a world we know nothing about, and make it your own.

World-building is essential in science fiction, fantasy, and period stories.

But it is not limited to them.

People go to the movies to experience unfamiliar settings that we don’t get to live out in our everyday lives. This escapism comes from specificity.

Specificity comes from two places:

1. Imagination

2. Experience

The best writers combine these.

“If you paint a leaf on a tree without using a model, your imagination will only supply you with a few leaves; but Nature offers you millions, all on the same tree. No two leaves are exactly the same. The artist who paints only what is in his mind must very soon repeat himself.”

- Pierre-Auguste Renoir

If you do not currently live in Los Angeles and are not working in Hollywood, this is one of the strongest opportunities you have to differentiate yourself.

Pick a world that you know. A city, a workplace, a subculture.

Give us your specific version of it.

Use reality and combine it with one of the previous techniques to make it wholly your own. Your version of reality is what will set you apart, but pulling from real life is what will show your audience a place they have never been and want to go to. Use your imagination to enhance this place, but don’t rely on it. Leaning solely on invention will inevitably lead to shallow visions that fall back on tropes.

Pull from nature.

Pull from your home.

Pull from your favorite city.

Find a place that inspires you, and take us there.

It can be a place we’ve heard of before. It can be a place we think we know. But your version of it will turn everything we assumed on its head (because now you know how to invoke the unexpected, the paradox, and the personal).

For example, New York City is the most common setting for movies. But every NYC is different. Think about the way we experience it in:

• Sex and the City

• Taxi

• Gossip Girl

• You

• The Devil Wears Prada

• Gangs of New York

• Friends

All these stories take place in the same city, geographically. But the settings could not be more different from one another.

Therefore, the setting you choose for your story can be real and personal. Ripped from the headlines and fictional.

Now we’re back at paradox.

The clash of Expectations vs. Reality is always going to interest a reader. Make that clash big, bold, unexpected, and personal, and you will stand out from the other writers who are still focused on building the skill of hitting the important plot points.

Structure is important, but it’s not sufficient.

The conceptual twist at your story’s core is what sells it.