2 From Idea to Premise

The Premise

We start with the idea. This idea is kind of vague. That’s OK because we are so early in the process. This is a big idea. The big idea is just that – BIG. We are not into the finer points of our movie yet. This is just a basic idea. We call this idea the PREMISE. The premise for a movie often starts with something like “What if…”  or “Wouldn’t it be cool…” or “It would be exciting if…” or “It would be heartbreaking if…”  Generally, it starts with something that simple. You have gotten inspiration from some place, like we discussed in the last chapter, and now you craft that into a premise using one of these “what if” or “wouldn’t it be cool” type of questions.

This is not the meat of your movie. But it is what is going to initially draw people to the movie. More importantly, the premise is how you start figuring out your plot.

Let’s look at some premise examples:

Iron Man – what if a rich military contractor, in order to save his life, builds the ultimate weapon in a suit of armor?

Avengers: Endgame – wouldn’t it be interesting if Thanos wins?

Captain America: Winter soldier – what if Hydra has secretly been controlling S.H.I.E.L.D. for decades?

Legally Blonde – what if a stereotypical, California, sorority member goes to Harvard Law school?

The Godfather – what if the son meant to be clean has to take over the most powerful mafia family to save it?

Reservoir Dogs – wouldn’t it be cool if a heist goes wrong because one of the crooks is actually an undercover cop?

Barbie – what if Barbie visited the “real” world?

Armageddon– what if an asteroid is going to hit the earth?

What about character, you ask. I did what you suggested, you say, and was open to things around me and what interests me is a person. That’s completely valid. Many writers are first inspired by a particular character. But think about this: you probably thought about a character in a situation, which means, actually, you are delving into the realm of the premise. You came across that person in a certain situation and wondered about who they are, what makes them tick, etc. You are starting to think about plot in terms of a premise.

Take this example: You want to write a movie about a social media influencer. OK, but what is your next thought? See, we might start with a character, a social media influencer, but we quickly go to the next step: who does…something. Usually, the person doing something or being in some situation quickly follows when we start with a character.

Go ahead, think about your movie idea. We have gone over where you can find ideas. Perhaps you just have the barley lit spark of an idea. That’s OK. So think about your idea. Even if you started with a character doesn’t it kind of follow what we talked about above? For you it might be “wouldn’t it be interesting if a social media influencer did…” well, something interesting.

Sure, you start with character, but you most likely put that character in a situation almost immediately. That’s a premise.

You might also ask, what about theme? I have an issue I want to address, so how do I create a premise out of that? Excellent question.

Theme is crucial. Strong themes add depth to a story. Your theme is WHY you are writing this screenplay so you absolutely need to decide on a theme. You’ve got something you want to say. You have something important to you that you want to convey to people. That’s your theme. We wouldn’t be writing our screenplay at all if we didn’t have this WHY, this theme. In a screenplay, theme cannot just be intellectual; it has to be actual. In other words, we have to see the theme through the plot and the characters.

Having a theme is necessary; make sure you have a theme but if you start with a theme, craft it into a premise.

Let’s say I have a significant theme. I look around me and see that so many people I know feel like they do not have any power, any say so in what happens around them. Why do people feel so powerless? They shouldn’t! I want to write a story that shows average people have power in them to do amazing things and force change.

I’ve got my theme, my reason for writing. But I don’t have a story. I still need to craft a plot. So let’s turn my theme into a premise. We have a character, an average guy, but what could be something he does to deliver our theme?

What if an average guy becomes mayor of his town? I’m going to show how this regular guy can make changes. My theme is put into action.

Once I have my premise, I can ask some foundational questions. Why does he want to become mayor (we need to know what he is changing)? How does he become mayor? What gets in the way of the changes he wants to make? This is the beginnings of a plot. Our plot can be about how he becomes mayor and enacts changes despite strong opposition.

Those questions are key to transforming a premise into a plot. Given the premise of Iron Man we need to ask why does Tony Stark have to build a suit of armor to save his life? Who or what is trying to kill him? Now we are truly thinking about plot and can go on to the next stage.