# what does high concept mean exactly?



## Guitar_chick133

I see it being used on here alot and I'm not to sure what that means. how do you know if you have one?


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## Wallmaker

Okay, so it's not a perfect term and it has some flex-room.  I view high concept as an idea for a story that can be boiled down into one sentence or logline as it's called.  And from this single sentence you should be able to glean most of the story.  

Example:

Knocked-Up: A slacker average guy impregnates a successful and beautiful woman and must show he is capable of actively participating in a relationship to keep her.  

Titanic: A high class woman falls in love with a low class man on a tragic sea voyage.

That being said... most stories have at least elements of high concept to them and you can in 1-2 sentences, summarize what the story, generally, is about.  But high concept is usually associated with hollywood blockbuster films that are expected to have wide appeal with stars attatched and etc etc.  They tend to deal with very broad themes that attract audiences (Titanic: Love conquers all), instead of more niche themes... A favorite movie of mine is Zach Braff's Garden State and it deals with one theme of a ambitionless generation of people.  Now I relate becuase I have a connection to that theme, but it's a very cerebral theme.   Does that make it a bad movie?  Nope.  It's just not high concept, or as universally appealing. 

All in all "High Concept" is just a way to define your idea...not something you should worry about until after you write your idea.  All it does is help you understand which sort of market your story fits in and present it as such.


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## Sam

Basically, "high-concept" means having a striking and easily communicable idea. 

Sam.


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## Linton Robinson

That's closer to it, Sam.   It's often a twist, or a reversal of normality.    

I'd called "Knocked Up" kind of medium-high concept,  "Titanic" not at all.

Generally a high concept is an idea so unique that you can state it in a few words...and everybody will immediately see where the movie is going.

"A lawyer can't tell a lie."  is a good example.   "A man gets pregnant".   "Arnie (or Rock or Vin or Seagall or somebody) takes care of little kids"    
"A dog plays basketball"
"Mother and dauther's minds switch bodies"  (or kid/adult,  woman/man, human/animal, etc.

Sometimes the concept is just the vehicle for a well-written film that doesn' really depend on the gimmick for its impact.  ("Twins"--  Devito and Arnie being twins is a high concept in itself)  sometimes the film has nothing else going for it ("White Chicks" ).

It is true that a good high concept comedy, pulled off well, is one of your quickest tickets to getting something made.   Cynically, you could search the permutations for body-swaps:   Dog swaps with President,  Baby with Elephant,  Poledancer with Screenwriter (woops, forget that last one, nobody would beleive it)
Realistically, if you're lucky enough to come up with a good solid concept that nobody's done, you've got a leg up.
You could almost say these concepts come from a "what if?" premise.   What if a kid outsmarted his kidnappers?    What if the Pope was actually a woman?   What if a mafia goon took a vow of nonviolence?  What if you had a machine that could turn you into Keira Knightly?   Or a jumpjet?    Or one of Richard Gere's gerbils?

BIG problem with high concept................. once you tell somebody the idea, it's out of your control.  Maybe somebody on this board doesn't have the juice to rip it off and write it (perhaps unconsciously)   but how about some sleazy producer who can just call up some hack and tell them to slam out a quick script about two guys who have to get married to keep their jobs?


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## Vee

High Concept are two meaningless words.  There will be plenty of people on this site that tell you this and that has been done.  That your work is unoriginal because they've seen some movie, read some book or roleplayed in some game you have never heard of and just call it a rip off of that.

They'll call it a cliché.

There is nothing new under the sun.

High Concept is nothing but another way of saying cliché


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## Linton Robinson

That's absolutely wrong, Vee.  Which I'm pointing out because somebody asked about in on this site and I don't want to confuse them.

This is a phrase HEAVILY used in the industry.   It is NOT an equivalent for  cliché and it has nothing to do with originality or "rip-off".  

A high concept film can be trite ("White Chicks", "Guess Who?")  or startlingly original ("The Mask")   or just a good, solid film ("Twins", "Air Bud")

But it's confusing to blur over into terms that have nothing to do with it.


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## Vee

I sit corrected on 'High Concept'.   I maintain there is no such thing as something 'original'.


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## Linton Robinson

You're wrong on that one, too.  Not that it has anything to do with high concept.   You run into that "nothing new is possible" crap on a lot of writing websites.  It's pseudo-sophisticated nonsense by people trying to look cool and blase.   

Obviously there is originality.  Unfolding around us continuously.


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## Linton Robinson

I come back to this one because that "nothing new is possible" stuff is SO prevalent on this type of site, and so confusing to new writers.

What I suggest is that people think about it.   If there is nothing ever new, then there wouldn't be anything, right?   Was the first novel a copy?  Was the first story ever told a knockoff?

Well if, as is pretty patently obvious, it was once possible to have original thoughts and works...when did it become impossible to have them?   

Or is it that there is a certain amount of original work possible, but it's all been used up?

Of COURSE there is original work done every day.  Don't cripple yourself by pretending otherwise just becuase it sounds hip.


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## slayerofangels

I think the problem isn't really originality, but more a perception of it, if that makes any sense. Some people have an obsession with things being completely and utterly new and uninfluenced by what came before. Which is one definition. Since almost everything we do is coloured by our past experiences though, its a bit unlikely. Others try to go in new directions with ideas, which, done well, can be pretty good.

But to get thigns back on topic, Lin and Sam are pretty much spot on.


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## Guitar_chick133

I think the " nothing is original" train of thought has what has been holding me back a little. I'll come up with an idea and think it's the greatest thing. then after that wears off I think to myself " Wait, Has this been done before?" the I get paranoid that I'm copying something I've never heard of. I've had some ideas that turned out to be just like other things. Like when I was 13 I had this great idea, but I found out later that it was the same premise of "Drop Dead Fred" and for years after if I heard of something similar I would make the mistake of watching it. I try not to now, if at all possible. I still wonder from time to time if what I come up with is truly original, but then I stifle the urge to find out because that also stifles my creative process.


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## Wallmaker

Guitar_chick133 said:


> I still wonder from time to time if what I come up with is truly original, but then I stifle the urge to find out because that also stifles my creative process.


 
Well, that's sort of a double edge sword, isn't it?  I mean, if you have an idea that turns out to be Drop Dead Fred... then it will never be made... because they already made Drop Dead Fred (your rendition probably will be waayy better than Drop Dead Fred becuase it was a terrible movie... but it has already been made and unless it's the Hulk, chances are, they aren't going to make it again).  But if you watch Drop Dead Fred... then you can know how to change up your story to be something different.  I had a friend in a very similar situation with... ironically enough, an imaginary friend premise well.  He sat down, watched it... and was like.... oh, mine is different... it's really about X,Y, and Z it just also has an imaginary friend.  He had one similar sequence as Drop Dead Fred and changed it so it would feel very different and much more personal to his story.   

But if you never see what you're up against, you could be wasting your time.  I'd hate to write a whole script only to find it's already been done.  I understand feeling stressed and feeling stifled.  But you know what GI JOE Says, Knowing is half the battle.

Go Joe!


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## Linton Robinson

You didn't like Drop Dead Fred?????   My GOD!!   You must not have had or been an imaginary playmate.



> I think the problem isn't really originality, but more a perception of it, if that makes any sense.



Makes a LOT of sense.  A lot of people's perception of creativity or originality is filtered through what they think is hip or cool or fashionable.

Shrek was a far better script than Pirates of the Caribbean, by the same writers.  But few people cop to that because Shrek's for kids and Johnny Depp oozes hip.

The remake of "Breathless" KILLS the original for creativity, but try to get philm phreaks to buy into THAT one.   Because Truffaut is so hip and verite and Fwansh and all that...and the remake is _Richard Gere._

The recent Beowulf was some drop-dead genius writing in it.  But few saw it.  Too tripped out by the animation or whatever you'd call it.

Stardust is one of the best scripts I've ever seen--startling in it's original structure and premises--but few people can see it because of the style of the film.   
On the other hand, they sing the praises of Pan's Labyrinth--a third rate script whose only really original moment is cinematic--because it's cool, and foreign and doesn't like fascists.

Juno is a drop-dead exercise in originality... or perhaps I should say "anti-cliche".  But nobody sees it because it was written by a stripper and has kids talking cute trash.

So yeah, there's the real thing and there's perception.   Which is pretty much Hollywood all over, no?


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## Wallmaker

Yeah...Shrek, Pirates, Stardust, Beowulf. 

Funny you mention movies that have already be adapted from already successful material and formulas and praised them.

Juno and Pan's Labrinth... original material.  

And you're right.  I never was an imaginary friend.


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## Linton Robinson

I don't think there was a book on Shrek, was there?

You never know...I read Forrest Gump before it was a movie and, believe it or not, Roger Rabbit.

Beowulf is the odd one.   Take a ancient legend and whip it up into a multi-generational sex curse.    

Screenplay co-written by Neil Gaiman, author of the book Stardust.   He seems to be the guy to beat these days.


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## Linton Robinson

By the way, I just saw American Gangster.   Now there's an example of a true-life story adapted to film, but it "reads" just like a novel.   It's hard to imagine that Russell Crowe's role in the film wasn't HEAVILY fiction.  But more than that the staging, sequencing, intercutting is incredible.   

I should have known it would be great, but wasn't aware of one of the big names associated with the film.   Director: Ridley Scott.     He's still The Man.


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## Wallmaker

He's been a good writer to beat in many mediums for a long time from Comics, novels, to children's books.  It seems as if his filmic conquest was just a matter of the inevitable.

As for Stardust as a film, it's kinda like a Princess Bride in genre.  That didn't do too well in theaters either.  I'm sure rentals and DVD sales did better.  And yeah, uh... that multi generational sex curse is kind what kept me away from Beowulf.  I studied the poem a lot in my trek throug academia and just didn't want to see Beowulf get it on with a sea serpent.  Still don't.

Shrek is lifted from a children's book called "shrek!" in the 90's.


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## workingauthor

Well, this thread seems to have veered way off course. Just wanted to throw in with Lin on he definition of "High Concept." Heck, I'll also agree with Lin's "originality" argument.


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## Guitar_chick133

Well, sometimes something that has the same general concept as one of my ideas will just come on T.V. and I watch it on accident. and I will admit that it does make me think of how to rewrite it, or how mine is different. I recently had this happen to me. I was watching a "The Outer Limits" marathon one day and one of the stories had almost the same exact idea I had for the first act of one of my SciFi ideas. I watched at forst and was like" Well, Damn it!" then i continued to watch it ( a habit of mine. it doesn't matter if I love it or hate it, If I haven't seen something I'm, more often than not, going watch it till the end.) and I realized that it wasn't anything like mine except for how the main character got to where he is, and even that wasn't REALLY the same.

I quite like how this thead has turned out. I'm a music and movie person and I love discussing the latter the most.

Oh, yeah and I finished the rough draft of my new Screenplay!!! YAY!


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## Wallmaker

CONGRATS!  Buy yourself a slice of pie in celebration.  There are so many people who want to write but don't make it this far!  It's a totally awesome achievement!


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## Linton Robinson

Way to go, guitar chick.   Now post some scenes here so we can all make you wish you'd never started it.


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## Guitar_chick133

LOL!!


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## Mklangelo

Guitar_chick133 said:


> I see it being used on here alot and I'm not to sure what that means. how do you know if you have one?



It's a slippery one, as far as concepts go.  Apparently it means something different to each writer. 

To me it means: describe your movie in one sentence/statement.  That sentence must convey the meaning or "theme" of it so perfectly, that nobody will ask questions of what you mean.  Which we all know, is impossible (or nearly so). If you present any idea to 10 people, you will get that many opinions.


High Concept of "Die Hard"  A great movie.  What was the "High Concept" of it?

*A Cop must rescue his wife*.    "High Concept"  as far as I understand it.

Did he let her go to L.A. thinking she would come back, tail between her legs?  Yes.  But that's not the jist of the movie.


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## Mklangelo

Vee said:


> I sit corrected on 'High Concept'.   I maintain there is no such thing as something 'original'.




I agree.  Hollywood wants the same old thing.  Only different.


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## Mklangelo

lin said:


> I come back to this one because that "nothing new is possible" stuff is SO prevalent on this type of site, and so confusing to new writers.
> 
> What I suggest is that people think about it.   If there is nothing ever new, then there wouldn't be anything, right?   Was the first novel a copy?  Was the first story ever told a knockoff?
> 
> Well if, as is pretty patently obvious, it was once possible to have original thoughts and works...when did it become impossible to have them?
> 
> Or is it that there is a certain amount of original work possible, but it's all been used up?
> 
> Of COURSE there is original work done every day.  Don't cripple yourself by pretending otherwise just becuase it sounds hip.



Amen.  There are only 12 (count em' twelve) musical notes in the "Western" style of music.  How many great songs are still written with just those 12 notes?


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## Linton Robinson

> A Cop must rescue his wife. "High Concept" as far as I understand it.



Not really.  You can reduce anything to one line.   There's a difference between something as generic and that and something like,  "Cop has to kills his wife"   or "Cop's dead wife gives him angel advice."

One thing, you hear "High concept comedy" a lot more than anything else.   This isn't that obscure:   it's a concept, an idea, a gimmick, a twist, a punchline.


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## Mklangelo

lin said:


> Not really.  You can reduce anything to one line.   There's a difference between something as generic and that and something like,  "Cop has to kills his wife"   or "Cop's dead wife gives him angel advice."
> 
> One thing, you hear "High concept comedy" a lot more than anything else.   This isn't that obscure:   it's a concept, an idea, a gimmick, a twist, a punchline.



I hear ya' lin.  But can't you boil down "Die Hard" to *A Cop Must rescue his* *Wife?*  It's the definition of the "through line." The essence of the continuous line of action/dramatic tension. 

It's what the movie is about. Isn't it?  It's what the protagonist has as his goal.    It just so happens that it's nice and clean in this case.  That's what makes it such a great movie.  It's simple.  The definition of "High Concept"


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## Linton Robinson

That is not a high concept movie, it's a generic acdtion movie.  Somebody always has to rescue somebody.


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## Mklangelo

lin said:


> That is not a high concept movie, it's a generic acdtion movie.  Somebody always has to rescue somebody.



It is indeed a generic action movie.  But I don't think High Concept means "lofty"  It just means [SIZE=-1]A brief statement of a movie's basic idea that is felt to have tremendous public appeal.[/SIZE]


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## Wallmaker

Mklangelo,

The throughline is essential to know, but it's not the logline becuase it lacks specifics on what the movie is about.  I think it would be a great idea to expand your throughline into a logline:

A cop must rescue his estranged wife held hostage by terrorists in a skyscraper.

Not many more words... a HELL of a lot more clear what this movie specifically is about.  It says it's in a skyscraper.  It says the cop is going against terrorists (1 good guy, MANY bad guys).  It says the wife is estranged... and probably not likely to run into his arms easily.  THESE are what's sellable about the movie and what has appeal.  People want to see gunfights in skyscrapers!  People want to see a failed romance reignited!  And people want to see one guy kick major ass on a whole fleet of forgein "terrorists".


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## Vee

I didn't want to come back to this because I was deliberately being an ass that day. 

However, I maintain there are no new ideas, just ideas of whose time has come.


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## Leyline

Mklangelo said:


> I hear ya' lin.  But can't you boil down "Die Hard" to *A Cop Must rescue his* *Wife?*  It's the definition of the "through line." The essence of the continuous line of action/dramatic tension.
> 
> It's what the movie is about. Isn't it?  It's what the protagonist has as his goal.    It just so happens that it's nice and clean in this case.  That's what makes it such a great movie.  It's simple.  The definition of "High Concept"



Actually, the 'high concept' of _Die Hard_ is: _Badass trapped by terrorists in a building turns the building into a trap for terrorists._


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## Leyline

> Stardust is one of the best scripts I've ever seen--startling in it's original structure and premises--but few people can see it because of the style of the film.
> On the other hand, they sing the praises of Pan's Labyrinth--a third rate script whose only really original moment is cinematic--because it's cool, and foreign and doesn't like fascists.



And some of us appreciated both of them. They're very different movies.



> Juno is a drop-dead exercise in originality... or perhaps I should say "anti-cliche". But nobody sees it because it was written by a stripper and has kids talking cute trash.



$231 Million worldwide (on a 6.6 million budget), ecstatic reviews by every major and minor critic, front page stories about it's high category Oscar noms is "nobody sees it?"

Damn accountants are gettin' chintzier and chintzier.


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## Zuiun

While I agree with some of the notions of "high concept" here, I've always felt that Hollywood producers use the term more to describe the taking of successful ideas an repurposing/combining them.

Cop buddy movies are successful. Dog movies are successful. So...

One's a cop! One's a dog! Together they fight crime!

Or...

Cop buddy movies are successful. Alien movies are successful. So...

One's a cop! One's an ALIEN cop! Together they fight crime!


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