Paradigm RSS

audience, genre, paradigm, sub-genre, tone - December 13, 2022

WHAT IS THIS MOVIE?

“What is this movie?” is the first and most essential question that every screenplay needs to answer. It is the question that is on the mind of every reader at every step in the process, and ultimately the question asked by the audience that is deciding which movie to watch. By asking what the movie “is,” we’re talking about a variety of elements: genre, sub-genre, paradigm, tone, audience. We know who is going to watch the movie, and why, and what they expect out of the movie they have chosen to watch, and where the movie exists in the...

ON SUBVERSION

Like many industries, film (and scripts by extension) runs on cycles, which in turn are often defined by buzzwords. The current buzzword we often hear is “subversion.” As in: “We’re looking for scripts that subvert the paradigm.” Or: “We’re looking for projects that feel subversive.” We might naturally ask what is meant by “subversive.” But it’s kind of like “high concept” or “elevated” in that it’s less of a concept that adheres to a hard and fast definition than a you-know-it-when-you-see-it sorta deal. However, we can discuss “subversion” as a shorthand for the idea of subverting expectations. The latter concept...

Paradigm

In previous articles we talked about Genre and Sub-Genre. Now let’s get a little more specific and discuss Paradigm. Like genre, a project’s paradigm is an effort to figure out the “what this is” of the story/movie. However, paradigm touches on whether or not a project fits with a common type of set-ups within a genre. Note that the paradigm can refer to the project’s creative side, the commercial side, or both. For example, thrillers are a genre. But among thrillers, there are movies that might be called “On-the-Run” thrillers. That is, a thriller in which our protagonist is hunted...

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