As the old saying goes, 'if only someone could bottle that'. But is it possible? Is there a secret potion for producing consistent and emotionally engaging movies. Well, the honest answer is yes, sort of. It's often referred to as the 'Hollywood Model' and it's developed over many years to help studios take some of the risk out of the creative process. It's not a magic formula but its track record is astonishing. Most movies these days follow this basic model. But is that a good thing? Critics dismiss it as  a 'sausage machine' and it's often a divisive topic at writing festivals and conferences. One thing is beyond question - if it is a sausage machine, it's certainly created some fantastic movie bangers in its time. So why not grab a metaphoric pan, stick the gas on and see what your own project tastes like after it's been through the Hollywood Model Sausage Machine.

So what's your big idea?

From the moment you dream up an untold story it feels like you have a secret you're desperate to share. It's the same feeling, I'm sure, that a scientist must feel if they have stumbled across a cure for some horrible disease. Although the immediate desire is to show said discovery to the world, fight that urge. You have, probably, stumbled upon something magical that everyone will love but...  don't crack open the Dom Pérignon just yet. If you believe in myths about writers producing scripts for classic movies over a drink and drug fuelled weekend then take a hard look at yourself. Seriously! You might also be prone to believing in werewolves and aliens living in the drains.

There's nothing better than creating an original story idea - it's like discovering a secret that you're bursting to tell.

So you have a brilliant idea for a movie, then what?

The challenge for a writer - new or experienced - is then to take said secret discovery and somehow weave it into a cohesive story that can stand on its own. That, of course, is where the magic happens and hard work comes from. There is no short-cut for the period between the secret discovery and publication. In my teens, I once gave a Hollywood producer a lift from a writing workshop to the train station. For clarification, I was attending as a spotty 'young talent' and she was on a panel of industry experts. At the end of the event she had asked if anyone was going to the train station and I eagerly obliged. Desperate to be engaging for the ten minute drive I enquired if Hollywood bought film ideas - as I had a draw full of corkers. When I clarified that it wasn't a script I was proposing to sell but just a premise, her expression went from stern to hilarity in the time it took to pass through a junction. It was clear to me, at that moment, that there was no means of bypassing the 'hard work' element of script development and I was just going to have to roll up my sleeves like everyone else. 

Are you staring at a blinking curser?

I have noted many times that one of the best things writers can do is find other writers to work with and support but I shall exclude such collaboration for the purposes of this post and continue on the premise that a lone writer is now staring blankly at the flashing curser of MS Word and battling against the pull of checking listings on eBay.

The good news is that if you are staring blankly at your screen regularly then you needn't - and probably shouldn't. If anything, it's most likely not good for your eyes. The reason you stare blankly at the screen is because you don't have anything to write and the reason you don't have anything to write is because the story is growing so fast in all directions that you don't actually know where to begin.

The reason things are growing in your mind with such ferocity is that now you have this great idea, your brain is adding all sorts of other great ideas as well - believing itself to be very clever. The problem is that all you're doing is making the canvas bigger, you're not composing the subject matter. If you leave this to continue then you'll be left with a massive canvas - and a massive head ache. How will you then fill said canvas... oh, dear... yes, with plot. At this point, you're lost. Let's rewind a bit and go back to the original idea. Take that idea, write it onto a piece of paper and pin it up above your computer. Whatever you do, don't take your eye off it. Ask yourself over and over - is that idea enough to take up at least two years of your life. If the answer is yes, brilliant. That one piece of paper will help you through famine, drought and pestilence. If the answer is no, bugger! In which case check your eBay listings again.

How do you turn a head full of crazy ideas into a story?

Well, it's pretty straight forward providing you can recognise the components that every great story has. Now, let me mumble a word of caution. There is no one-size-fits-all. It all depends on what your original idea was. For example, in the case of The Washington Adventure, the premise that started the creative process for me was that in 1814 the British invaded America and destroyed the capital in a single night - including burning the White House and House of Representatives to the ground. Without question this is a great hook, however, there is no mention of a hero or antagonist. There is no clue as to what will sustain a story for five hundred pages. 

The British destroying Washington is really just an event. In order for that event to become a story it needs an antagonist with a devious plan and a flawed hero who is drawn into the whole affair despite their best efforts. The challenge for The Washington Adventure was to avoid having to pick a side i.e. Americans good and English bad. Rather than spending an age staring at a blinking curser and tapping my teeth with a pencil I simply took the premise and ran it through the Hollywood Model to see what  the broad Acts and key beats would look like.

The Hollywood Model doesn't remove any creativity it simply acts as a check list to test your story against . This means you can come up with loads of different genres, tones, villains and heroes and see what feels to work and what doesn't. Remember that a story is the sum of its parts not a series of isolated characters, places and events. The development of The Washington Adventure being an example in point. The backdrop of the British destroying Washington was pathos and if I had created a classic 'action hero' then the story would have been flat because pathos + pathos has no counterpoint. Instead, I made the hero of the story an eccentric, pompous buffoon. This suddenly created the hook. Used together, comedy and pathos produces a pendulum effect. This type of discovery only comes by playing with the broad strokes of the story early on.

I’m an artist, and if you give me a tuba, I’ll bring you something out of it

John Lennon

Have faith in your abilities

Writers create stories. It's what we do. Once the imagination is fired up, have faith that your creative side will take care of the rest. Just because you've thought of an idea and you love it, it doesn't mean it has to go into the story. Character and structure will carry the audience from beginning to end. Plot serves this purpose, it doesn't drive it. Have faith in your ability to create within a constrained framework. Once you have the broad strokes of your story - the basic structure - layer on the characterisation, plots and add the flourishes.

OK, let’s Recap

Discovering a brilliant and original story idea is what writers live for but the next step is to take that idea and run it through an established story structure model to check for strengths and weaknesses. This process can be repeated over and over to establish a sound foundation. With a solid, over arching structure established, the story can then be broken down into chapters or scenes.

Finally, have faith in your ability. Story telling is instinctive. Listen to advice, take on board what works for you and above all follow your gut. Remember that writers make the world a wonderful place. Now go do some breathing exersises and tell yourself you're beautiful.

Download the FREE Structure Chart and Worksheet that accompany this blog and use it to test your own stories.

'William Peel is a brilliant character, an aristocratic buffoon– so wealthy he is beyond reproach, and lacking any self awareness, he makes for a superbly comic protagonist. This is a brilliant example of the historical comedy genre.'

Harper Collins

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'A conversation with William Peel is like being stabbed in the head with a blunt knife covered in goat excrement'

The Prince Regent, 1814

'It’s a failing of the common man that he mistakes arrogance for simply the behaviour of his betters'

William Peel, Lord of Tornbridge