If you are serious about seeing
one of your screenplays produced you need to start with three things;
a budget breakdown, a business plan and a look book. This is only if
you have a well written, highly marketable script to begin with. Beyond that, without all three of these documents you will be at
least one step behind the majority of film proposals out there that
do. This is especially true if you do not have an agent or manager
who can send your script out and add credibility to it.
So what is a look book anyway? No, it's not a graphic novel with all the words taken out, or a
paperback with its own set of eyes. A look book is a pitch document
that is usually 8-10 pages long and uses images and text to show off
your project to producers and investors. It is your main sales tool,
so you need it to look great and it should get the point across in a
concise and professional way.
Just like the art of writing a
screenplay itself, there are no stead fast rules you have to adhere
to when you design your look book, but there are widely known
guidelines you should be aware of. Here are the different sections
that every look book is expected to have:
- The Story
- Cast and Crew
- The Look of the Film
- Comparables
- Business Summary
- Contact Info
Any important information you want to
present should easily fit into one of these categories. One
exception would be if you have any awards or note worthy news items
that were published about your project; in that case, make a press
section and put it towards the end of your document.
Let's go over each section of a
look book, one at a time. As an example, I'm using pages from my
look book for 30 Night Stand; a Romantic Comedy I wrote and
hope to see all the way through production. As with any book, this
sales document needs a cover page. Here is the cover page for the 30
Night Stand look book. I will have more to say about this image later.
COVER PAGE
THE STORY
It all starts with the script, and
therefore so does your pitch. For this you need to stop thinking
about your screenplay as the author and look at it from the
perspective of a marketing executive. The log line is what you hit
them with first. You need to relay the premise, the protagonist, the
tone or genre of the story and finally hook any potential reader into
wanting to know how this story ends. All of this is told through one
eloquent sentence, no problem right? If it sounds like a difficult
task that requires a lot of careful consideration; that's because it
is. I recommend you test different log lines on your friends and
peers from your writer's group. If there is a movie with a story
that is similar to yours, look up the log line on IMDB to get some
ideas.
My log line for 30 Night Stand
is:
Tensions rise and sparks fly when a
woman is cunning enough to turn a one night affair into an
opportunity to live with a man rent free.
Next I would include a few tag
lines. These are very short, impactful blurbs that could end up on
the movie poster or be part of any print advertising after the film
is produced. Like the log line, your tag lines should relate to the
tone and genre of your story but must also hook the reader with as
few words as possible.
Here are the tag lines I included in
the 30 Night Stand look book:
Love is hard, so don't play fair.
It's his place, but don't tell her
that.
When a one night stand goes wrong.
She came, she stayed, she has to go.
Once I put these story pitches together
it looked like this on the first page:
After your log line and tag lines you
have the option of writing a brief synopsis of your literary bundle
of joy. I stress the word “optional” here because I personally
never send out a synopsis of a screenplay unless it is requested. Most writers feel they did all the work to make the script the best
it could be, and so, the story is meant to be read in its whole form
and not in a one page synopsis. Instead of a synopsis, you could
always state the theme of your story, go into more detail about what
is unique in your story or show why this story is important to you
and why it would relate to a large audience. I did not put a
synopsis in the pitch document so I chose not to include it here. You should still have a synopsis written, but hope you never have to
show it to anyone.... like that bad selfie you took in middle school.
CAST AND CREW
Cast and crew is our next section,
and rightfully so. If a well crafted story is going to be told, it
will take a team of dedicated and talented people to make it happen. Start with photos and biographical information of your cast if you
have any actors officially attached. This screenplay got a big boost now that we have
two actresses with name recognition attached to 30 Night Stand. One is the Horror icon Cerina Vincent; she is best known from Eli Roth's debut film Cabin Fever. The other talented lady is
Annika Marks whose credits include The Sessions with Helen Hunt; who
was nominated for an Academy Award for her role. If you do not have
any prominent actors who have agreed to play a role, then skip it and
list the key crew members you have. The reason for this is that
every piece of information you include in this sales tool must show
your project in the best light.
The most experienced and well
known person you have behind the scenes should be the first you list
here. It could be a producer; an acclaimed director or award winning director of photography. No matter what, there is you as the
screenwriter, so you have someone to list here. A word of caution
about this; if you plan on directing this opus I would not mention
that here unless you are a successful director of feature films. By
this I mean, you have directed movies that made a profit and that
other people should be aware of. I hate to break it to you, but they
do not care how many short films you have directed; with the
exception of a short that premiered at Sundance or won an award at
one of the major festivals. If you wrote or directed a short film
based on the feature length project you are pitching be sure to list
that and include a link for them to watch it.
In this section you want to show
how these key crew members are a perfect choice for this film while
you give their biographical information and list their credits. Do
they have elements from their lives that relate to the subject of
this movie? If they have credits that deal with similar themes or
are the same genre as your project; mention those credits first. We
our fortunate enough to have Sylvia Caminer attached as a producer of
30 Night Stand. Sylvia has worked steadily as a filmmaker for
over ten years and has won an Emmy Award in 2004 for directing Great Hotels. It is for that reason that I listed her at the top of
the crew section. As you can read in the pitch document excerpt
below; I also highlighted how Sylvia Caminer and Annika Marks have a
successful history of working together. Sylvia produced the drama
Grace, in which Annika Marks played the title role. Remember,
it is your job with this document to build the confidence that any
financier may have in your film.
THE LOOK OF THE FILM
Now it's time to make your look
book live up to its name. In this section you will feature images to
sell the look and marketable elements of your film. This is when it
helps if you're an artist or have someone on your team who is
talented with a pencil or a brush. I have been drawing and
illustrating for as far back as I can remember, so I created my own
concept art and storyboards for 30 Night Stand. You can see these
illustrations below. What you want is an image that could pass as the
movie poster for this story. It should relate to the theme and title
of your story while also grabbing the viewer's attention. If you are
not able to get a hold of high quality, original images you could
always use stock photos that you can buy from a web site like
Shutterstock.com or Gettyimages.com. I would suggest you only use
stock images as a last resort, because you want your look book to be
like your screenplay; bold and original.
Do your research; look up movie
posters and promotional artwork for movies that are similar to yours.
Not only will that give you some ideas, but it will help you make
sure you do not repeat what others did. Two movie posters that
helped inspire my concept art for 30 Night Stand are from The Break-up and
Two Night Stand. As you can see in these posters below; the two main
characters are in bed together and yet they are divided. The body
language of these characters and how they are visually represented,
show a great deal of sexual tension, all in one still image. I did
the same thing, but in a different way.
It also helps that this poster
image is something that we would see in an early scene of 30 Night
Stand. The tag line of 'Love is tough, don't play fair' was also
included with this image. I made this poster concept the cover page of
the look book, so I needed some other images to represent the look of
the movie. For this, I picked three of the most interesting shots I
could dream up from the script and drew storyboards of them. As
you can see below; the first two drawings are of the main characters
flying around on water powered jet packs while on a date. The other
storyboard is of that same couple in a funny scene; It's a grand
opening ribbon cutting ceremony, but instead of using the giant
scissors to cut the ribbon, Sheila pretends to use them on her
boyfriend.
COMPARABLES
We often feel the need to compare
things don't we? Timmy got a “B” in math, but Suzy got an “A”. I like apples, but I prefer oranges and the movie Sudden Death
is like Die Hard but it's set in a hockey stadium. It is
human nature to compare things and that is why your pitch document
has a section devoted to that. On this page I gave three examples of
movies that had a similar theme and then listed three more that were
produced for the same budget range we are proposing for 30 Night
Stand. The important thing to consider for this is that the
examples you give are recognizable movies that made a profit. It is
widely know that film making is a risky investment, but it is also
exciting and can be highly profitable, that is what you are selling
them. If you use images to help get your point across it is always
better, that is why I put the posters of the films I mentioned in the
comparables page. As you can see below, this is more interesting
then just typing the titles of these movies and their budgets like
some million dollar grocery list.
THE BUSINESS
Then you have to get down to
business. This section is like a very brief summary of your business
plan. Here you will give your strategy for how the movie could be
sold, how you plan it will be released and turn a profit. I am not
providing anything in this article that is or should be considered as
legal advise; you should seek professional legal counsel before
making documents related to seeking investments or contacting
entities to finance any business proposition. I have seen some pitch
documents actually go into details about how much they hope to get
from each investor and what their share of any grosses will be in
return. I decided not to do that because it seems like getting ahead
of yourself. You only have to get them interested in investing
first, and those details should be in your long form business plan
that you would also send out to people. It is common to give an
estimated budget you hope to make the movie for and how that works
into your business strategy.
THE CONTACT PAGE
Last but not least, you need a
contact page. After all, how else are people going to find you so
they can throw handfuls of money at your dreams? You cannot afford
to make this page look boring. You have to wow them in the end.
Just like your cover page, this must grab the viewer's attention. It
must relate to the tone of your story, the overall design of your
look book and above all, it must continue to be inspiring, it must
give them a reason to give you a call.
- Curt Wiser is a Filmmaker and writer. His credits include writing-directing the Thriller Cam-Girl and being the author of the suspense novel Box Cutter Killer. Screenwriting is his main focus and a guide book to writing high concept screenplays is in the works.
