10 Archetypal Film Stories That Sell: Part 1

“The ten genres that Blake Snyder identified in the 'Save the Cat' books . . . These are my single favorite tool for screenwriters, and I strongly recommend writers know these types, and seek to write squarely within one of them.”  Erik Bork: Screenwriter Band of Brothers

While Booker, Campbell and others have boiled the world’s stories into the seven archetypal storylines, Blake Snyder identified sub-genres of archetypal stories that appear in films, as opposed to novels, short stories, plays and oral history.

Erik Bork’s recommendation quoted above, came from his research into the scripts that have been bought by the studios over the last five or six years. You can check his research, too.

Google The Scoggins Report’s Year-End Spec Market Scorecard. You will find a list of loglines, titles and summaries of the screenplays that have been purchased over the years.

Jason Scoggins is a researcher who finds out every year which screenplays were purchased by which studios. Scoggins has been researching and compiling this information, and publishing it online for free now for many, many years.

Bork writes one of the best blogs on screenwriting, called The Flying Wrestler. While a lot of writers' hate Blake Snyder, and his "Save the Cat" advice, Bork feels very strongly that paying attention to these categories will boost your chances of success.

I've read his blogs and looked at the screenplays bought over the years and I find his logic very compelling.

You may say, “not another formula for screenwriting, aren’t scripts overly formulaic already.” And a lot of writers out there will ignore Bork’s advice.

Ignore that advice at your peril, especially since the number of original spec screenplays being bought each year is dwindling.

Over the past five or six years, that number has been hovering around 130. That’s right, only 130 out of how many hundreds of thousands of spec scripts written are actually purchased each year.

And in 2016, sadly, the number is going to be around 60. These numbers don't include all spec scripts bought by producers or production companies, but the films that the studios actually find interesting and commercial enough to buy.

As far as the studios are concerned, they seem to have dropped the word "original" from their vocabulary. You can plainly see by the numbers of prequels, sequels, remakes, reboots, novel and comic book adaptations, that studio films are risk-averse.

For those who still want to try selling an original spec screenplay to the studios (and have a good shot at independent sales, too), here are the ten sub-genres, of archetypal film stories identified in Snyder’s Save the Cat.

1. Monster in the house

Let’s talk about a good example here, Jurassic Park. In this mythic storyline, our hero, paleontologist Alan Grant (Sam Neil) helps the good guys escape, and later takes on the monsters (in this case various dinosaurs). When Snyder uses the term “house,” he means to bottle up the action and make the audience feel boxed in with no escape.

While the monster could take the form of a human villain, or a ghost, or alien, the “house” could take the form of a village, a haunted house, a spaceship, or as in Jurassic Park, an island.

The human villain behind the monsters is the creator of the park, Professor Hammond (Richard Attenborough). He has messed with nature, and you could also say God, in assuming the creator role by using DNA to create modern day Dinosaurs. This is considered the sin that begets the horror in the film.

Hammond feels he has it all under control, until he realizes he’s not God, and he can’t control the “monsters” he’s created. The story line involves the hero organizing a lot of scrambling for safety. Finally, as the film climaxes, Grant saves Hammond’s grandchildren, Lex and Timmy, re-enters the control room where he can get the park back online and electrified again.

The good guys, Grant, and the others, including Timmy and Lex all escape in a helicopter. Grant tries to pull Hammond on board. However, unable to part with his creation he stays behind to meet whatever fate has in store.

Just to show that this archetype encompasses many other types of monsters; consider other films that fit into this niche:

Fatal Attraction, Jaws, The Exorcist, The Grudge, The Shining, Hannibal, American Psycho, Pacific Heights, Men in Black and Rosemary’s Baby.

2. Out of the bottle

In this archetypal story-line, the hero, let’s say arrogant television news reporter Phil (Bill Murray), off-camera, and a complete jerk, is cursed to live the same boring day he loathes over and over again — covering Groundhog Day in the "boring," small town of Punxutawney.

Phil finds it demeaning, to cover the groundhog’s emergence from his hole as a harbinger of spring or more winter. He also distains and mistreats his production team, producer Rita (Andy MacDowell) and cameraman Larry (Chris Elliot.)

In these types of stories the hero either gets a wish is granted, or in this case he becomes “cursed.” Phil is cursed to live the same miserable day over and over in Punxsutawney.

No matter how hard he tries (he even commits suicide) he can’t get out of the perpetual loop. However, as he lives the day over each time he starts to notice and appreciate the people he’s looked down on. He gains a new respect for Larry, and falls in love with Rita.

As it happens in these story-lines, once the transformation has occurred, the curse is reversed --as is the case when Phil finally learns to be a better person.

There are many variations that still fit this screenwriting niche, including:

Mary Poppins, It’s A Wonderful Life, The Purple Rose of Cairo, Big, Shallow Hal, and just about every “body switch” and ‘wish’ movie.

Next time in Part 2:

Saving Private Ryan, Ocean's Eleven, Maria Full of Grace, Raging Bull, The Matrix, Gladiator, Batman, Erin Brokovich, Titanic, Brokeback Mountain, Lethal Weapon, All The President's Men.

This article was originally published here and is used with the permission of the author.

David Silverman, LMFT, treats anxiety and depression, especially in highly sensitive individuals in his LA practice. Having experienced the rejection, stress, creative blocks, paralyzing perfectionism, and career reversals over a 25 year career as a Film/TV writer, he’s uniquely suited to work with gifted, creative, and sensitive clients experiencing anxiety, depression, and addiction. David received training at Stanford and Antioch, is fully EMDR certified, and works with programs treating Victims of Crime and Problem Gamblers. Visit www.DavidSilvermanLMFT.com.