Broadband Choices (now MoneySuperMarket Broadband) runs an experiment every year called The Science of Scare Project to scientifically find the scariest pieces of cinema by measuring the heart rate of viewers to see which films cause their beats-per-minute (BPM) to rise. Let's see who tops the list this year! But first...

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Behind The Spooky Experiment

Okay, real quick – Broadband Choices conducts this study every year with new horror films added to the audience viewing list based on critics, personal lists, experts in the genre, and the horror community. But just because a movie is new, doesn’t mean it’ll scare its way to the top. For instance, the 1984 classic A Nightmare on Elm Street debuted in 2020 as the 13th scariest movie of all time, whereas the 2023 list knocked it down to 25.

Every year Broadband Choices recruits 250 viewers and subjects them to 40 scary movies in a screening room where their heart rate is monitored.

The Science of Scare 2023

Once again, Sinister and Host nabbed the top spots on the list, but this year saw twelve new additions to the experiment, including Smile, Talk to Me, The Dark and the Wicked, and Terrifier 2. However, the 2022 Canadian indie horror film Skinamarink, which went viral after leaked excerpts made their way onto Tiktok and Reddit, made its debut at #3. Not too shabby!

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Anyway, turn off the lights, grab some popcorn, and good luck sleeping tonight because here are the top six scariest movies according to The Science of Scare 2023.

Top 6 Scariest Movies According to Science

Sinister (2012)

From the very beginning of Sinister, you know it’s going to be scary. If not for the strange opening of several people being hung to death on a tree, it’s the fact that a family has just moved into a new house – which seems to be a catalyst in horror movies for evil tidings. This time a true crime writer finds 8mm film in his new home with links back to a crime story he’s researching. Naturally, the family vacates the home and flees. Just kidding, the writer continues to reveal the horrors of the home, keeping dark secrets from his family and all suffer for it.

Host (2020)

It will be interesting to see if this one drops from the number one spot over the years as Host is a pandemic-inspired flick that was shot via Zoom. Nothing is worse than a Zoom meeting that could have been an email unless it’s a séance gone wrong in which a supernatural entity starts haunting those in the virtual room. Is it scary because of the medium writer/director Ron Savage used during a time when we were all communicating virtually? Only time will tell.

Say goodbye to found footage horror films and give a thumbs-up emoji to Zoom room scares. Remember, if you don’t take yourself off mute, no one can hear you scream.

Skinamirink (2022)

This is the newest addition to the list of 40 and it debuted at #3. A young boy and girl wake up in the middle of the night to discover that their father has mysteriously disappeared. If that’s not frightening for a pair of youngsters, the windows and doors of the house have all been removed. They decide to camp out in the living room where they have a TV and toys to fill the time and find comfort. But mysteries and evil lurk adding heart-racing tension.

This $15,000-budgeted indie film (according to IMDb) has nestled its way into the top five. Will it still be there next year?

Insidious (2010)

Take note, horror writers. Buying a new house, especially in a rural area, can spell trouble (see: Insidious, The Conjuring, Amityville Horror, Beetlejuice). In fact, old creepy houses are perfect settings for hauntings, ghosts, serial killers, and demonic possessions. In Insidious, a family moves into a new house and soon their son becomes comatose with no explanation. They finally discover that demons from The Further are trying to use their child as a portal into our world.

Moral of the story: stick with new construction.

The Conjuring (2013)

James Wan’s second film in the top five scariest movies involves a family moving into a new home (seriously, folks, don’t move, especially not to rural farmhouses) that is haunted by a dark, demonic presence. Who ya gonna call? Paranormal investigators, of course! A husband/wife duo are the saviors who try to rid the home and the family of the evil before it’s too late and open the doors to two sequels and three spin-offs via Annabelle.

Hereditary (2018)

Ari Aster’s debut feature became the fifth scariest film according to science. The movie centers on a grieving daughter whose family history of supernatural mental illness comes back to haunt them. Having conducted a séance, Annie (Toni Collette) discovers she has the power to speak with dead relatives. Hereditary is about how tragedies get passed down from previous generations and how they impact the succeeding ones. Horror is often experiencing the unexplained, which happens quite a bit in this scary movie.

For the full list, check out The Science of Scare 2023.

A Few Tips for Creating Scares

Inspired to write your own horror movie now? Good! Not only does the industry love horror scripts but they're also fun to write. You just have to know which elements to include.

While not every horror movie has these elements, many of the most popular, scariest, and classic films do.

Read More: 25 Films You Have to Watch If You're Writing a Horror Script

Unsuspecting Victims

Rarely does a horror movie have someone eager to take on a challenge but rather they’re thrust into a horrific setting that they must escape. No one asks to be hunted down by a psychopath in a William Shatner mask but the victims of Halloween are put into such a position. No family would eagerly purchase their dream home thinking it would be the first step into being harassed by demons. And no one wants their daughter possessed by the devil that has to be exorcized back out of her.

Have an Expert

The Exorcist had a priest, The Conjuring had paranormal investigators. And Halloween had Dr. Loomis. These experts can explain the supernatural or who the killers are to the other characters and how they can be defeated. It’s also a great character to have because oftentimes the expert gets frightened which puts the audience on high alert – if they’re scared, you better be too.

Scream (1996)

Read More: What Makes a Killer Horror Movie Character? Common Horror Character Archetypes

What Would You Do?

Being an unsuspecting victim often asks the audience to wonder what they would do in that situation. What if a mysterious caller wants to play a game? What if a possessed doll wouldn’t leave you alone? What if you couldn’t sleep because dreaming meant a boiler room baddie with sharp blades as fingers would kill you? This is likely one of the scariest elements of a horror movie because the viewer probably doesn’t know what they would do so they have to live vicariously through the character to find out.

New Location

See: Sinister, The Conjuring, The Amityville Horror, The Haunted Mansion, Insidious, The Watcher. The list goes on. Moving an unsuspecting family to a new house just sets up the possibility that anything bad can and will happen.

Create a Great Monster

Whether it's a ghost, a demon, or a mysterious creature from an obscure lagoon, your horror movie's monster or "big bad" is one of the most important aspects of your story. How do you make a monster? Horror screenwriter Seth M. Sherwood provided a ton of great tips in one of our recent blog posts!

Read More: The New Rules: How to Successfully Survive a Modern Horror Movie

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Of course, the scariest movies have similarities to all other stories that keep audiences and viewers engaged: stakes and characters. Horror movies tend to rely more on stakes; just think about the beginning of Scream. We’re introduced to the infamous call from Ghostface by teenager, Casey (Drew Barrymore). We don’t know anything about either character and yet Casey’s high stakes of answering horror movie trivia correctly or dying grabs our attention.

All of the scientifically-proven scary movies involve dire stakes and characters who we all wonder if they will make it to the end. If we don’t care about the character, we likely won’t be invested in the thrills.

HAVE A GREAT HORROR SCRIPT? GET SCRIPT NOTES FROM THOSE WHO REALLY KNOW HORROR!

The post These Are the Scariest Movies According to Science appeared first on ScreenCraft.

Before the movie even begins, Scorsese briefly shares how passionate he was about bringing this film to life, and then, even at the very end, you can see how much he cared about this story and the people with whom the film is about.

Killers of the Flower Moon is based on a true story and inspired by the nonfiction book, Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI written by David Grann. It's a heartbreaking tale centering on the fraught relationship between Ernest (Leonardo DiCaprio) — a white man – and Mollie (Lily Gladstone) — an Osage woman. Ernest and Mollie are at the center of a conspiracy in which envious killers target the oil-rich Osage people of Oklahoma, slowly taking their wealth by sinister means.

Though Killers of the Flower Moon tells a completely unique story, it boasts several storytelling elements and themes that have appeared in many of Martin Scorsese’s previous films that today’s screenwriters can use in their own work.

Let's take a look at a few of them!

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Competing Clans

Scorsese is a master at pitting two groups against each other. In The Departed, it was the police versus a Boston crime syndicate with moles infiltrating both camps. In Gangs of New York, two rival gangs fight for control of the Five Points.

Scorsese focuses his story on two individuals who play a significant role in the success or failure of their respective clans. For example, in The Departed, Billy (Leonardo DiCaprio) is a police officer who infiltrates the mob in an attempt to reveal the cop feeding them information. Colin (Matt Damon) is the police officer working for the mob.

Killers of the Flower Moon is about two clans fighting for their own versions of survival — the Osage people whose existence is threatened by a group of white men plotting to take over their wealth through marriage and then murder.

'The Departed' (2006)

The Root of All Evil

At some point in Killers of the Flower Moon, Ernest proclaims that he loves money more than anything, except maybe his wife. Money is what drives this movie, from the wealth accumulated by the Osage people through oil to those who crave to have it themselves.

Money is constantly popping up in Scorsese films, perhaps most famously in The Wolf of Wall Street – the true story of a stockbroker whose excess wealth and obsession with money is both his motivation and downfall. Casino and The Aviator are also Scorsese stories centering around wealth and power.

Greed is a constant theme in movies because it’s a powerful force in our lives. Look no further than Killers of the Flower Moon, the true story of those who crave money so much they’ll systematically murder a group of people.

Read More: What Hollywood Wants (and How to Give It to Them): Intellectual Property Adaptations

'The Wolf of Wall Street' (2013)

Violence Comes Quick and Easy

Scorsese doesn’t hold back on violence in his movies. They’re as gruesome as they are flawless in their execution. In The Irishman, hitman Frank Sheeran (Robert DeNiro) nonchalantly will shoot someone in the back of the head. The Departed is another example of abrupt violence that comes easily, especially in the last ten minutes of the movie.

Similarly, in Killers of the Flower Moon, violence and death are carried out by professionals who know that brevity is key.

In one scene in particular, which I won’t spoil because you probably won’t see it coming anyway, one man tosses a burlap sack over a man’s head and pushes him down an alley where a second man stabs him to death. Violence in Scorsese movies, if done by a “professional,” won’t be long-winded with pleading from the victim or hesitancy by the killer – it’s quick, easy, and often unexpected.

Read More: What to Consider When Writing Violence

The True Story

Looking back at Scorsese’s feature films, most involve the telling of a true story. From Raging Bull to Goodfellas and The Aviator to The Wolf of Wall Street, Scorsese has delivered classic films about the struggles of real people who have fought against the odds in pursuit of their dreams.

Killers of the Flower Moon is based on a true story. The book it’s named after, however, goes far deeper into the Bureau of Investigations aspect than the intimate lives of the Osage people and those conspiring to take their wealth.

Scorsese, who co-wrote the film, took only a fraction of the source material and changed it to reflect the story he was more passionate to tell. For screenwriters or storytellers eager to bring a true story to life, the amount of material they encounter is overwhelming. The key is to focus on what the story is about and never divert from that concept.

‘Killers of the Flower Moon’ (2023)

The Aviator didn’t show much of Howard Hughes’s childhood because the story was about his early adult life and ascent into becoming a film director and aerospace tycoon, both of which involved aviation – a twenty snapshot of a life that expanded more than 70 years. The movie was The Aviator and focused on that aspect of his life.

Somewhere there is a story of the creation of the FBI (J. Edgar touched on that), but Scorsese’s efforts were the killers and Osage people, which involved the true-life relationship between Ernest and Mollie.

Read More: How to Master Creative Liberties in True Story Screenplays

Real People, Fake Dialogue

In the first scene between Ernest and his uncle, William Hale (Robert DeNiro), the two discuss everything from Ernest’s wartime experiences to the type of women he’s attracted to as well as the oil boom in the region. This scene reveals a lot regarding who these two characters are, their relationship to one another, and their place in the world. And yet, it’s likely none of this conversation truly took place but rather had to be invented to advance the story.

Sometimes there are records of conversations, but most of the time the majority of dialogue in a true story has to be made up. Scorsese has to have taken this approach with any number of his previous films based on real life. The intimate scenes on the golf course in The Aviator between Hughes and Katherine Hepburn (Cate Blanchett) were likely fabricated. 

'The Aviator' (2004)

Casino is another Scorsese classic that boasts that it’s a fictional story with characters adapted from a true story – in fact, much of the dialogue between DeNiro and Joe Pesci in that film was improvised and not lifted from real conversations.

Read More: 8 of the Best Book-to-Film Adaptations of the Past 8 Years

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Turning true events into a movie involves embellishing and changing settings, characters, and dialogue to tell a story that remains intriguing for an audience.  Scorsese is a master storyteller. He has the ability to put the audience into an exciting world and turn major life events into a feature film. Killers of the Flower Moon weaves a complicated story into a 3.5-hour narrative that educates, engages, and encourages the audience to look deeper into the tragic history of the Osage people.

Read More: 101 Story Prompts Based on True Events

CHECK OUT OUR PREPARATION NOTES SO YOU START YOUR STORY OFF ON THE RIGHT TRACK!

The post How ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’ Echoes Martin Scorsese's Previous Films appeared first on ScreenCraft.

If you’re planning out your next TV spec series or want to see how some of the most talented writers in the industry captured intrigue and interest from page 1, here are this year’s Emmy-nominated scripts for you to read and download (for free)!

Read More: What is a Spec Script (and Why Should You Write One)?

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Better Call Saul

Hotshot attorney Saul Goodman made his debut in the award-winning series Breaking Bad. So intriguing was this character in the dynamic world of drug dealing in New Mexico that he became the title character of his own origin story. Before Breaking Bad, Saul Goodman was a lawyer who never quite fit into the fast-paced, fancy world of the well-respected attorneys of Albuquerque. The show follows his ascent (or descent) into becoming the person who represents Walter White.

The Crown

For five seasons, The Crown has shown the life of Queen Elizabeth starting from a young princess to becoming one of the longest reigning monarchs of the British Empire. Its intimate look at the life of one of the world’s most famous people has made it one of Netflix’s most popular shows. Each season is a new decade of Queen Elizabeth’s life tackling moments within that time span that impacted both her personally as well as the lives of her subjects.

The Crown has one several Emmys including Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series.

Read More: Tips for Coming Up with an Idea for Your TV Spec Episode

The Last of Us

A global pandemic destroys most of humanity and turns civilization into a paranoid, hostile and survival-minded society. You would think that a story centered around an illness that puts the civilized world into upheaval might be a tale told too soon, but acclaimed TV shows like The Last of Us, Station Eleven and The Stand have been streamed by millions.

These stories though are about the people who struggle to survive and often feature reclusive grown-ups (usually male) suddenly in charge of a minor (usually female). It’s these characters that truly drive the story and why people continue watching pandemic/end-of-the-world shows. Read one of the episodes of The Last of Us and discover what made this show stand out.

Read 10 Things that Male HBO’s ‘The Last of Us’ Great for more insights into the Emmy-nominated series.

Yellowjackets

What happened when a high school soccer team crashed in the remote Canadian wilderness? Apparently, a lot of weird stuff. This show takes place in two time periods: a group of women in present day and the same women as teenagers trying to survive the strangeness of a mountainous region with no way to escape. The series constantly makes the audience wonder what happened, or what will happen next, to the teenagers and what ties bind them as adults.

Succession

Succession is one of those TV shows that pits family members against each other as money and power gets to their head. Logan Roy runs the largest entertainment and media company in the world and the power he wields in political circles stretches far and wide. However, like many men in power, their children lack the competence to run the empire they created. Succession focuses on the lives of the Roy family as they backstab, deceive and insult their way to the top giving audiences a glimpse into the wealthy one percent.

A similarly themed show is The Righteous Gemstones, which follows a mega church’s dysfunctional family.

The White Lotus

Someone is dead. But who? The White Lotus starts off with the death of a resident at the luxurious hotel and basically forgets about this concept until the end of the show. It leaves the audience wondering which one of the intolerable hotel guests or an accommodating hotel employee will meet their demise on the property. The ensemble cast of colorful characters is a comedy and a commentary on how the wealthy and privileged treat those who serve them and what they can get away with.

The supposed paradise getaway increasingly reveals dark pasts, sinister intentions and suspicions from both the hotel residents and the workforce.

Barry

What happens when a hitman accidentally catches the acting bug? Barry is a complicated tale of a hitman who suffers from an identity crisis and finds solace in father-figure Gene who teaches the acting class he stumbled into. Barry tries to find ways to redeem himself but his past and the sinister people he’s involved with keep coming back and threaten his new perspective of his life and his career aspirations. Barry is filled with dense, complicated characters whose motives and decisions keep audiences engaged and curiosities piqued.

Throughout its four seasons, Barry has had six (yes, six) Emmy nominations for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series.

Read More: How to Choose a TV Show to Spec

Abbott Elementary

Abbott Elementary is heartbreakingly humorous. Set in a failing elementary school in Philadelphia, the TV show follows a group of teachers who love their jobs but must face the constant struggles of attempting to shape young minds within underfunded programs. This documentary-style series is reminiscent of shows like The Office with characters breaking the fourth wall and giving their commentary on what goes on in their lives and how the others complicate or help matters.

Based on creator Quinta Brunson’s mother’s experiences as a teacher, Abbott Elementary is a great example of how to take a complicated social issue and use humor to bring up these subjects.

The Bear

The Bear became a show that spread by word-of-mouth and quickly became the newest series you had to binge. The series centers around Carmen, an award-winning chef who ends up running his family’s sandwich shop. On the surface it’s a story about how the mighty have fallen – how does a fine-dining chef get to the point where he has to make ends meet at a small business with blue-collar ingredients and a no-B.S. kitchen crew? It’s deeper than that though, as he must also deal with his brother’s suicide, whose death is why he has returned to take over the shop.

Nominated in the comedy category, this show finds humor in chaos and doesn’t hold back on drama.

Only Murders in the Building

True-life stories about murder are popular. From binge-worthy limited series’ to long-running TV shows like Dateline and 20/20, people are fascinated with true crime. This has bled over into podcasts as well, and now there are several TV shows and movies in the interest of true crime podcasts such as Based on a True Story and Vengeance whose protagonists choose to solve crimes and make podcasts. That leads to the Emmy-winning series Only Murders in the Building about three amateur investigators using the power of podcasting to solve murders.

Only Murders in the Building finds a way to differentiate itself when it comes to the fictional-true-crime-podcasting-murder-mystery genre. Read the pilot to see how they set up the story.

The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel

When the Marvelous Mrs. Maisel first took the stage for her initial comedy routine, which was more of a rant filled with unintended humor, she brought a rawness and freshness to an audience that didn’t expect language and verbal confirmation of a mother’s feelings of the time. Since that fateful night in the late 1950s, Midge Maisel has toured the world while trying to keep the family balance in order. In the final season, time jumps back and forth over the course of several decades as the story wraps up and the audience learns about the life and legacy of Mrs. Maisel.

Read the pithy, unique writing stylings of Amy Sherman-Palladino (creator of Gilmore Girls).

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Many of the Emmy-nominated TV shows have concluded their final seasons so this will be the last chance for many to take home an award. Regardless, the scripts are a testament to the high level of writing expected in the world of prestige TV and open the door for a fresh new batch of nominees next year.

CHECK OUT OUR PREPARATION NOTES SO YOU START YOUR STORY OFF ON THE RIGHT TRACK!

The post Read and Download 2023’s Emmy Nominated Scripts appeared first on ScreenCraft.

A series of underwhelming showings at the box office would indicate that the argument for Intellectual Property (IP) no longer has the standing power it once did. Streamers continue to pour out easily-accessible content while big studios traditionally send major motion pictures to the cinema needing an all-but sure thing to get butts into the seats. And, Netflix alone released over 70 new films on its streaming service in 2022 versus six released by Warner Bros. and 19 by Universal Studios.

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But it’s not as easy or reliable as it once was (it never really was).

Lackluster performances for perceived highly-anticipated summer films like Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, Transformers: Rise of the Beasts and Fast X may show that audiences aren’t interested in just another sequel. That’s not a slight on the filmmaking itself, but a look at the fatigue that sets in for the fifth, seventh or tenth sequel, respectively.

But it’s hard to argue that IP doesn’t matter or that people won’t pay money to see these movies in theaters. Two films that have made over $500 million domestically this year so far have been Barbie (based on a decades-old doll) and The Super Mario Bros.Movie (based on a decades-old video game).

Barbie (2023)

So, is this the end of IP domination in favor of unique original stories? Or are we looking at an evolution in IP? Let's take a closer look.

IP will always matter

What is Intellectual Property?

Intellectual property can refer to any copyrighted material but let’s define IP as it relates to the film industry. It’s a piece of property that is not an original work for filmmakers to adapt. Spider-Man is based on the comic book IP. A film like M3GAN is original and doesn’t have any existing IP. A sequel of M3GAN will be based on existing IP though. Even the bible can be considered IP in the film industry.

The Importance of IP

You hear it all the time: showbusiness is a business. To run a business you need money, therefore, investment matters.

For decades, the United States was king of the box office, and still does for the most part where box office revenue is still the highest in the world. However, since (arguably) 2000, the shift has changed to overseas numbers so when a company wants to invest a few $100 million in a movie, they’re going to opt for the Transformers or Fast movie that will do decent business in the U.S. and dominate overseas (Transformers: Rise of the Beasts made two-thirds of its box office overseas; Fast X made almost 80% of its $700+ million box office overseas, according to Box Office Mojo).

The recognition of IP plays a lot into investors’ willingness to put their money into a project and expect a return partly due to its recognizability. Most of the films, from Marvel movies to sequels, don’t need to introduce themselves to the audience so the marketing efforts can focus on anticipation and release dates.

Just look at the highest-grossing movies of all time and you’ll struggle to find more than a handful in the top 100 that aren’t based on IP.

Read More: From a Producer's Perspective: How to Find and Acquire Intellectual Property

IP Fatigue

IP fatigue settles in when the audience doesn’t want to pay money for something they’ve already seen, and it can hurt box office numbers.

The recent Fast and the Furious sequel had a tremendous $700+ million worldwide box office haul of which 80% came from non-United States markets — pretty good for a summer tentpole. But the Fate of the Furious (the 8th in the series) in 2017 made $1.23 billion worldwide with nearly the same 80/20 split between the United States and the world. That particular sequel made $50 million more in the U.S. and $450 million more overseas than Fast X did.

(I didn’t use Fast 9 numbers because it was impacted by COVID-19)

Comic book movies are facing similar downward trends as the latest phase of the Marvel Cinematic Universe chugs along. Part of the struggle might be the abundance of Marvel content and how it intersects.

For the upcoming The Marvels the film focuses on three main characters. However, it’s not just character introductions in a movie. To understand Captain Marvel, it probably wouldn’t hurt to see her title film Captain Marvel. For Kamala Khan you should probably watch the TV series Ms. Marvel. And then the third character, Monica Rambeau, made her debut on the TV series WandaVision – might want to watch that too.

These are barriers to box office business because casual Marvel filmgoers lack the sense of urgency that was felt during the first phase when it was easier to stay up to date with the characters in their respective films.

While studios can market more easily based on familiarity, audiences wonder what makes a particular film any different than previous iterations or what they need to see prior to going to the theater to understand the new piece of content. With so much high-quality content streaming, it’s hard for a filmgoer to justify spending the time and money on a movie that might feel stale.

Yet there are exceptions. In recent years, Everything, Everywhere All At Once, M3GAN, Parasite, Nope and Free Guy are all original films that had a decent run in theaters and even garnered some Academy Awards.

How IP Maintains Dominance

IP dominance is not a new thing. 100 years ago, two of the top-grossing movies were The Hunchback of Notre Dame and The Ten Commandments, both silent, black and white, and based on intellectual property.

In 1939, the Batman comic was created and remains one of the most popular IPs today. That same year The Wizard of Oz, adapted from the 1900 novel, premiered in theaters and Wicked, the origin story of the Wicked Witch of the West is a hit Broadway musical and the movie adaptation is scheduled to hit theaters next year.

Both of those IPs were initially created 85 years ago, are still popular and still have their place in pop culture.

IP will not go away.

But is IP domination dead?

No... but it is evolving because the expectations of the audience are changing. Big action sequences and stellar special effects aren’t enough anymore, nor have they been for quite some time.

So, how is it evolving?

Movies as Events

What makes Barbie and Oppenheimer different than the other summer movies is the anticipation and the idea that “you have to see it.”

Not too many people watch the Superbowl the day after because it’s something you have to see live — it’s an event. Barbie and Oppenheimer are two movies you have to see as soon as you can, and that means in the theater. They are essentially events, as well.

The dominant IP of the last 20 years is dying (not quite dead). The original Iron Man and Captain America movies you had to see because it felt like something special and most people knew it was leading up to a massive conclusion. Avengers: Endgame was novel and exciting, it was something you had to see — and it currently ranks as the second highest-grossing movie of all time.

Original Takes on Existing IP

IP is just as important now as it ever was and it will continue to dominate movie theaters and streamers just as before. What matters is how that IP is created. Wednesday was a hit for Netflix, whereas The Addams Family may not have been as popular if it was a rehash of the old TV series. Cobra Kai is another example of IP that succeeded on streamers going from The Karate Kid film series to an episodic series. Neither one was a “dominant” IP, but it struck the right chord at the right time.

Intellectual Property will continue to dominate. The successful ones will evolve with the times.

Read More: What Hollywood Wants (And How to Give It To Them): Intellectual Property Adaptations

CHECK OUT OUR PREPARATION NOTES SO YOU START YOUR STORY OFF ON THE RIGHT TRACK!

The post Is This the End of Existing IP Domination? appeared first on ScreenCraft.

In the latest film, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, the audience follows two main Spider-People: Miles Morales (Shameik Moore) and Gwen Stacy (Hailee Steinfeld) as they skip through multiple universes, meet several different Spider-People and attempt to fix a broken Spide-Verse that is hanging on by a thread.

It’s a wild, wonderful cinematic experience and offers a lot for screenwriters to take away, even if they’re not writing the next superhero tentpole film.

Got a great animation script? Enter it into the ScreenCraft Animation Competition!

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Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023)

Open with a Recap

It’s been five years since the last Spider-Verse film. Throw in multiple Marvel movies, a few live-action Spider-Man films and everything else going on in the world and the audience needs to be brought up to speed.

The first scene in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse does just that and explains Gwen Stacy’s role in the version of Earth she inhabits. A lot of things that you know about Spider-Man ring true including characters like Peter Parker, J. Jonah Jameson, George Stacy and others, as well as the origins of gaining the spider powers.

At the end of Act 1, Miles has his first moments of screen time where he starts off recapping what’s been going on since the last film and explaining his origins as well.

Not everyone follows every detail of an original film or idea, so having the recap is important. It doesn’t have to be long, but it’s a piece of exposition that helps the audiences engage better with the story because they have a greater understanding of what happened in previous films. Shazam!: Fury of the Gods is another recent sequel to use the recap at the beginning of the movie.

Read More: 5 Serious Takeaways from Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse Co-writer Rodney Rothman

Spider-Man Across the Spider-Verse (2023)

Vigilante or Villain?

There’s nothing more demoralizing than being a misunderstood hero. Just ask Spider-Man in several of his films or Batman, Superman, the Ghostbusters and the list goes on.

Gwen Stacy’s Ghost Spider starts off the film accused of killing Peter Parker and trying to reclaim the trust of those who want her captured; which includes her father who’s a detective. The hero who becomes a villain provides another level of challenges for the protagonist to overcome. It’s hard to beat a super-villain but having the whole world against you makes it so much harder.

While this device is used a lot in superhero movies, it works well in other genres. Legal dramas can pit a lawyer against a system who thinks they’re defending a guilty person (i.e. To Kill a Mockingbird) or an action-thriller where someone is on the run from the law and must prove their innocence (i.e. The Fugitive, Enemy of the State).

Read More: 6 Reasons Screenwriters Should Consider Animation Writing

Spider-Man Across the Spider-Verse (2023)

Keeping Secrets

Often superheroes fight behind masks hiding who they are to protect their real identities and the people they care about. Spider-Man is no exception. For Gwen Stacy, she desperately wants to tell her father that she’s the Ghost Spider and that she didn’t kill Peter Parker, but she can’t reveal who she really is.

Miles Morales also can’t reveal to his parents that he’s a superhero crimefighter even when it impacts their trust in him.

Main characters with deep secrets are another way to make the hero of your story consistently in conflict. Not only are secrets something that the characters fight with internally, but it’s something they’re afraid will be found out.

For superheroes, a reveal of their secret identity is truly horrifying. On a consistent basis, they are fighting villains who want to hurt people so it’s no wonder they wear masks. Secrets are great tools for characters. Whether it’s a student who doesn’t want people to know she can turn into a panda (Turning Red) or a love affair between two men (Brokeback Mountain), secrets drive conflict both internally and externally for characters.

Spider-Man Across the Spider-Verse (2023)

Exposition in Action Scenes

In the first major action piece of the film, Gwen Stacy hears about a supervillain causing trouble at an art museum and heads that way to stop him. It’s there that she encounters a Renaissance version of The Vulture and a battle begins. As the fight ensues, more Super-People from different universes show up. It’s during this action sequence that the audience learns who these new versions of Spider-People are and where they came from: Jessica Drew a.k.a Spider-Woman (Issa Rae) and Miguel O’Hara a.k.a Spider-Man from 2099 (Oscar Isaacs).

Exposition in action scenes is ridiculous when you think of it in the context of the real world, but is one of the best ways to fill the audience and the characters in on backstories and thoughts in film. As Gwen, Miguel and Spider-Woman try to capture the Vulture, they have a discussion about who the new Spider-People are and we learn of Gwen’s awe.

From car chases to hand-to-hand combat, if you’re looking for a place to add exposition, consider putting it into an exciting action set piece in your story.

Read More: 101 Enchanting Animation Story Prompts

Get Super Creative

Don’t hold back on creativity. While there is the standard comic book version of Spider-Man, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse offers a look into a unique, fun and unconventional way to tell the story. This is just one example of imaginative storytelling.

The Best Picture winner at the Oscars this year was Everything, Everywhere, All at Once, which was another multiverse story that had scenes where the characters had hot dogs for fingers. The Lego Movie was made with the characters mobility limited to how the Lego brick characters moved.

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is another example of how you can find new and creative ways to share your story. Most important is not to be creatively unconventional for the sake of it, but rather to use it as a tool that best tells your story.

Superheroes are human. It’s important to remember that they have their own personal lives with everyday issues. Sometimes they revolve around family or school, other times it’s love or a death. In Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, both Gwen and Miles must deal with personal issues. And while they aren’t as menacing as a super-villain trying to destroy the multiverse, these are relatable conflicts that helps keep the audience engaged while adding another layering of problems for the hero.

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Even if you’re working on a story in a different genre, the character breakdown of Ariel can teach you about setting up the story, devising a backstory, building family dynamics and using familiar character traits to make a character relatable to your audience.

Here are some of the aspects that make Ariel such a beloved character that audiences have celebrated for over thirty years and who also started a major Disney run of successful animated features which included treasured princesses such as Belle, Jasmine and Pocahontas.

Read More: 50 Disney Movies Inspired By Public Domain

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The Little Mermaid (1989)

Rebellious Young Female

If there’s one thing that Disney princesses are known for, it’s their rebellious nature.

Ariel dreams of life outside the water, up where they walk, up where they run, up where they stay all day in the sun. Against her father’s wishes, she explores shipwrecks and goes above the surface to watch the humans on land or ships. She collects their items and wants to know all about people. King Triton, her father, is furious when he learns of her going to the surface, believing that humans are barbarians and dangerous. What appears to be an authoritarian rule is really just a concerned Dad, but Ariel can’t see that.

Ariel refuses to accept her father’s thinking, and she goes against his wishes because she wants something more than “life under the sea.”

Longing for more is something Disney princesses are known for. Moana wonders what is beyond the reef and ultimately travels where she’s forbidden to go. Jasmine frequently sabotages suitors because she believes it is her choice to whom she wants. And Rapunzel yearns for life outside her tower.

Ariel is no different. She’s the young woman who is eager to test her boundaries and explore what lies behind her walled off world.

Read More: 101 Family-Friendly Story Prompts

The Little Mermaid (1989)

Too Naïve, Too Trusting

Everything from Ariel’s ribbing of her pal Flounder to her believing everything Scuttle the seagull tells her about the items she collects (like a fork being called a dinglehopper and its function being like a comb), indicates she’s naïve and inexperienced in the world.

This means the character will get in over their head and undergo a coming-of-age moment in which they need to correct the mistakes they’ve made. For Ariel, she is willing to fall for Ursula’s persuasive tactics to become human for three days – the catch being that Ursula will hold onto her voice. Should Ariel succeed by getting true love’s kiss from Eric, the man she knows nothing about but loves wholeheartedly, she will remain human and live happily ever after. If she fails, she becomes a soulless worm under Ursula’s control.

Being overly  infatuated with Eric and a romantic at heart, Ariel accepts the nefarious deal.

Most writers don’t want their characters to be this naïve, but here it adds value to the story. It’s no different than a horror movie when everyone knows the character shouldn’t check out the noise in the basement with a barely functional flashlight. Being naïve or trusting opens the door to create scenarios that engage audiences because they wonder how this character will overcome the obstacles in front of them.

Read More: How to Write a 4-Quadrant Family Film

The Little Mermaid (1989)

A Fish Out of Water

When Ariel gets her legs, she literally becomes a fish (or mermaid) out of water. Everything that was set up at the beginning regarding how humans behave and the items they use start to play out. For instance, she uses the fork at the dinner table to comb her hair and she blows ash into a man’s face when she uses his pipe.

Fish out of water must learn about the world in which they find themselves. Ariel gets a tour of Eric’s kingdom and discovers amazing things she could never dream of from under the sea. This is common in lots of movies and TV shows including Black Panther: Wakanda Forever when Shuri explores the undersea world of the enemy or in Tangled when Rapunzel roams the world that her mother has kept hidden from her.

A fish out of water scenario plays on your character’s expectations and introduces the audience to a new world from a fresh pair of eyes.

The Little Mermaid (1989)

Coming-of-Age Character

Ariel’s story is a coming-of-age tale of a young teenager forced to grow up quickly and realize the world isn’t as innocent as it may seem. When we first meet Ariel, there is very little about her world that challenges her. She’s a teenager who falls in love with prince, only she can’t actually speak to this person.

As she struggles with the decision to become human, Ariel grasps with the reality of the situation should she sign Ursula’s contract and what growing up and moving away to the human world means.

“If I become a human, I’ll never see my father or sisters again,” Ariel says aloud to Ursula.

“Life’s full of tough decisions,” Ursula replies.

And this is where she starts coming of age.

The Little Mermaid (1989)

This bad deal with a sea witch leads to Ariel to getting what she wants – a chance to be with Prince Eric. That is until Ursula returns and tries to snatch it all away. This is Ariel’s moment to rise to the occasion and prove she isn’t a naïve sixteen-year-old but someone willing to fight for what’s important: both her father and the love of her life.

Coming-of-age is about characters who start out young and innocent, but then they have to face the reality of their world and make a big decision. It was Ariel’s decisions that led her down the road to disaster, but in the end, it’s up to her to save King Triton, Eric and the sea kingdom from a powerful villain. 

There are other factors that help create a compelling lead character. 

The hero of the story must have real stakes, a great antagonist who challenges them and supporting characters helping to drive their story. In The Little Mermaid, the story grows beyond a young girl trying to get the attention of a young boy. It’s about an overly protective father, a witch trying to claim the throne by any means necessary and a group of friends who will do anything to watch their friend succeed.

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