About This Book

Anatomy of a Premise Line: How to Master Premise and Story Development for Writing Success was created in response to the explosion that has taken place in all forms of creative writing over the past five years, including in the realm of screenwriting. Anyone who writes is aware of the sea change that has occurred in the world of self-publishing. Now, more than at any time in human history, people are writing books and distributing them for mass consumption in multiple media platforms. While screenwriting (for the most part) has no market outside of the normal acquisition channels of the traditional business models of the film and television industries, there are, nonetheless, new and exciting windows opening even for screenwriters: webseries, streaming video, independent distribution outside of traditional distribution channels, and more. Consequently, more people are taking the plunge into story development, along with facing all of its ramifications—many of which we will touch on in this book. These are great times to be a writer. But with great opportunity comes great competition.

The film and television industries hold no unique position in the world of “tough to break into” industries. The entertainment industry likes to think of itself as particularly hard to get into (and it is), but there is this “specialness” mind-set that really doesn’t ring true. The truth is, it’s hard to break into any competitive field; just ask anyone trying to get a job at Google or the latest medical-tech startup. Those who succeed are those who have the raw talent, yes, but it’s more that the successful candidate also has the core skill set and craft toolbox needed to get the job done. You don’t have a chance of getting a job at Google if, when handed a wet-dry marker and pointed to the nearest whiteboard (and this is what happens), you can’t whip out a bubble-sort algorithm in a couple of minutes—on the fly.

It’s no different for screenwriters. If you can’t break a story properly in a writers room, or handle studio notes from creative executives, or structure a story properly to hit the proper narrative milestones, then success will be elusive, if not impossible. You must learn the basics, which means: story structure, dialogue, character development, pacing, the language of film, the proper formatting of various types of screenplay drafts, and much more. Experienced screenwriters have many of these tools in place; if that is you, then bravo. If that is not you, then get to it. Learn story structure in particular. Go find a story guru, or take class, or find a good book on story structure and learn it. Starting here is a good first step.

This book is not meant to fill all the gaps in all these critical skill sets. Rather, Anatomy of a Premise Line is meant to fill a single gap, the one that I have found every screenwriter (and novelist) needs filled in their personal skill set, regardless of their level or experience in the entertainment industry. That gap is the one that exists between a writer’s raw talent and their basic story knowledge. Specifically, it is the ability to properly develop, validate, and execute a story’s premise so that they can know, before they start pages, that a script will have legs and a story will work as a story. Why does this gap exist? Because premise development isn’t taught anywhere. As of this writing, you can’t learn this topic in film school. MFA graduate and extension writing programs don’t teach it. There are no books on it (except this one), and producers certainly aren’t going to take the time to train you when they have deadlines and a billion other things demanding their attention (and with few exceptions, producers don’t know this stuff either).

No, you are on your own, so it is no wonder this particular gap has been festering for as long as it has. And now, with the growth of new outlets and platforms open to screenwriters, the gap is only widening, as more and more writers jump into the screenwriting game from a craft foundation made of sand. So, now is the time to close the gap and master the critical story development skill of premise development.

Who Should Read This Book

While this book is skewed to screenwriters, there is a broad range of individuals who work in various capacities in the entertainment business who could benefit from this information. There are many people working at production companies, agencies, in story departments, and in studio executive suites, even though they may not consider themselves “creatives,” who would nonetheless find valuable tools in these pages to help them work more effectively with, and better manage, staff writers or freelancers. Some of these include the following:

• New and Aspiring Screenwriters: Whether new to creative writing, or just to screenwriting itself, this book will give you a foundation you can use to get productive immediately, and give you clear direction for further study and growth in the craft.
• Experienced Screenwriters: Even seasoned professionals can benefit from tailored and productivity-focused processes designed to leverage the keener insight and knowledge that comes with experience. The processes taught in this book can add to the toolbox of even the most professional writer.
• Producers: When it comes to evaluating literary acquisitions, hiring writers, liaising with studio or network development departments, or working one-on-one with writers themselves, producers need to have the same basic story skills as screenwriters to effectively mange the development process. They don’t have to be writers, but having the same foundational skill set will save time, money, and development time.
• Script Analysts: Part of Hollywood’s gatekeepers, film and television story analysts read many scripts and can be surprisingly unaware of the story best practices in their own industry. Story analysts, often called “readers,” can benefit from all the material herein, as it applies to general narrative and story construction, especially since they read everything and anything that might be adaptable to film or TV (books, short stories, comics, blogs, etc.).
• Story Editors: Also part of the Hollywood gatekeepers, story editors responsible for managing production company or literary agency story departments often need to fill in for analysts who drop the ball or fall short in their work. Consequently, the more a story editor can know, the better. This material will definitely help any editor up their story game.
• Literary Agents and Managers: Whether at a literary agency or talent agency, those individuals involved in packaging literary properties or acquiring projects for further development as sales opportunities will find that having stronger story development skills will ultimately cut overall development time.
• Creative Executives (CEs): Individuals responsible for shepherding film, television, or new media projects through the production process at a film studio, talent agency, or new media company can benefit from knowing all the same tricks of the trade as the writers they work with every day. They may not be writers themselves, but they have to make creative business decisions on which projects to produce and which to pass, so knowing the basics can help any CE do a better job.
• Creative Writing Teachers: Because this material is foundational and not taught in most creative writing programs, at the college or university levels, this book can be a solid addition to a new or established writing class that has heretofore not dealt with story development as a craft component of the creative writing process.
• Novelists & Creative Nonfiction Writers: Most of the issues discussed in part one and two of this book also relate to prose fiction and creative nonfiction storytelling. Novelists and creative nonfiction writers, by definition, live all their creative lives in these arenas. All the comments about inexperienced and experienced writers apply here, without question.

In short, this book is for you if you want to:

• move past being a talented amateur, and build on or move into becoming a working professional;
• master the first tool of story development: the premise line;
• improve your craft skill as a screenwriter or novelist;
• build a foundation in story development that can serve you your entire career;
• write screenplays or novels that will get past the gatekeepers and possibly find that elusive green light.

How This Book Is Organized

This book is organized into three parts. Each part deals with core concepts and processes needed to master the premise development process, as well as basic story theory required to master the material. The table of contents will give you more detailed chapter contents.

Part 1: Premise and Story—Building the Foundation

This part of the book introduces the reader to the basic concepts of story premise, the premise line tool, and the essentials of story structure (as related to premise development). It also lays down the six core foundation stones needed to master the “7-Step Premise Development Process” and the “Anatomy of a Premise Line.”

Part 2: The 7-Step Premise Development Process

This part of the book walks the reader through each of the seven steps of the premise development process, exploring core development issues such as story vs. a situation, what is high concept, and why this is an important idea to understand. It also gives the reader a “7-Step Premise Testing Process” that can be used to test and validate any story idea before you start writing.

Part 3: Development: A Few Remaining Nuts and Bolts

This last part of the book addresses next steps in the development process, after mastering the premise line and overall story development. This section discusses how to write a short synopsis, the three stages of development, the broad strokes of character development, and how to develop the discipline of writing in the face of a writer’s worst enemy.

Appendices

There are substantial appendices at the end of the book that support all the previous material: writer resources, extensive samples and examples of all the exercises used in parts one and two, and numerous templates and forms to help readers create their own tools for use with future projects. Instructions are also given for how to access the book’s companion website, where readers can download electronic versions of all the same materials for free.

Icons Used in This Book

To make this book more visual to read and use, I’ve included some icons to help you quickly find key information and resources.

This icon highlights key concepts and information fundamental to learning what’s in this book.

This icon highlights examples that illustrate learning concepts in action.

This icon shows where case studies are located in the text for easy access and reference for the future.

This icon points out information that would be beneficial to remember going forward.

This icon gives a heads-up on valuable tips and techniques that may come in handy along the way.

What’s Next?

There are countless resources in print and online that can give you further direction and help. In the appendices of this book I’ve put a section on “Writer Resources.” Perhaps you are already familiar with the story consulting zoo out in the world, and would prefer to avoid it altogether; no problem. You don’t have to get caught up in the endless sales cycle trying to get you to buy the next flavor-of-the-month story technique or cutting-edge, how-to DVD. The information in this book is more than enough to give you a solid foundation for developing any story. If you are moved to keep learning through workshops, books, or webinars, then you might enjoy checking out the few resources I list. I only picked the ones I felt offer true value and not snake oil. But always remember, caveat emptor. There are some very smart and effective teachers out there with new ways of saying many of the things you will learn here; sometimes you just need to hear something said a little differently for it to sink in. Not bad or wrong—just a personal preference.

Whatever you choose—to continue exploring the very deep waters of story development and story structure, or just stop right here—my mantra is this: Listen to everyone. Try everything. Follow no one—you are your own story guru. Now, go be brilliant!