Save the Cat!®

I’ve been meaning to post this link.

It’s a reprint of an article that ran in the NY Times Magazine a month or so ago.

The topic: Primal Storytelling.

I am always on about the need to write a “primal” tale and to find the primal elements even in the logline for your movie.

By making your story about something basic: sex, hunger, survival, parents, children, etc., you not only tap into subjects the audience can identify with, but make it easier to sell to the global market. After all, everyone around the world understands weddings, romance, survival, annoying parents, and the pain of lost friendships. Primal stories travel.

The linked article is found at:

http://www.mezomorf.com/emailed/news-10866.html

I have no idea what this site is about, but they reprint the original article from the Times. And it’s great.

The theory of this school of thought goes beyond primal to show how Darwinian Theory applies to storytelling. It’s the biological reasons that certain story elements get our attention. And some of the proposals are amazing.

Great stuff.

So while you’re NOT going to King Kong, as apparently so many aren’t, why not put this on your weekend read.

More on King Kong next week.

Bad news for Peter Jackson.

Good news for us spec screenwriters.

Maybe remakes aren’t the way to go anymore?

Maybe Hollywood needs us and our fresh ideas??