In business and entertainment, story matters. A great story, well made with great characters, produces great results. Conversely, a thin story or mediocre characters can never tell a really strong story.
I recently wrote three comedic film shorts, ten to fifteen minutes each, written to be shot with a “single or dual setup,” which enables the director and cast to minimize cost in confined locales. In other words: simple story, simple setting, straight-to-the-point beginning, middle and end, told with distinctly different yet relatable characters guiding the pace.
Thumbnail summaries of how each story evolved from idea to page are shared below.
EA$Y MONEY
- Concept: Two young women walk into a male-laden racing clubhouse seeking advice from a group of veteran horseplayers.
- Structure: An ensemble comedy based on conflicting advice enables the two women to play their roles as newbies to the sport while freeing up the men in the cast to remain in their world of knowing too much to simplify a process built largely around luck. The beginning of the story establishes the women as help seekers, the middle shares a dozen methods gamblers often use to bet horses, and the climax pays off when one of the women ignores the advice and draws her own conclusions. To accommodate so many in such a short period of time, the men are seated around a large table to keep them contained for the director and facilitate interactive exchanges.
- Characters: Two attractive women asking for help, eight grizzled horsemen eager to assist, and an old elderly couple who butt in while passing by.
- Plot: Since veteran horse players consider those new to the game as rubes who know nothing and have little chance to win., the plot twist enables one of the women to simplify something that requires no complication and win big, while all the so-called “expert” advice-givers lose.
MANHOODIE
- Concept: Four guys diagnosed by a doctor with being the “woman” in their romantic relationships meet at night school for instruction on how to be more manly.
- Structure: Scenes at the doctor’s office and then in a meeting room enable the story to evolve from inciting event (“the diagnosis”) to the learning event (“classroom discussion and teaching”), before adjourning outside to meet their partners and try out their newfound manliness.
- Characters: The four men share a common problem but have different personalities and relationship complications. The goal during story construction was to make sure each was relatable and recognizable to different segments of the audience.
- Plot: The men have a behavioral quirk they seek to overcome, are coached on how to do so, supplied with a special hoodie that transmits reminder messages to the brain, and try it out on their partners with varying degrees of success.
POLLY & ANNA (Speed Dating in Modern Times)
- Concept: Technology, impatience, and the presence of a “wingman” to help evaluate candidates complicate a formerly uncomplicated event: speed dating.
- Structure: Two women greet a male, interrogate and polygraph him through a series of rapid-fire questions, and attempt to dissect his suitability as a potential partner.
- Characters: The guy is looking for someone to date. The “wing girl” is ultra-protective and overzealous of her friend. The friend, burned by a past relationship, is determined not to enter a similar situation.
- Plot: The story must quickly go from strangers to familiarity, advance to prying invasiveness, and draw conclusions.
In business, today more than ever, story is everything. Video is avalanching influence via the written word. Because of that, story creation, structure, and succinct message delivery via high impact messaging escalates in importance. Each of the stories shared above has an overarching message; a beginning, middle, and end; and wastes little time advancing through the storyline.
In entertainment or the work place, storytelling entertains. For more on how to create or tell compelling stories, drop me a note. I am always happy to help, teach, coach, or create.
Best regards,
Ocean Palmer