Creating a Story Hook to Grab Producers

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Many experts will advise you that the key to pitching your script is the concept of your story. That advice is right and wrong.

Yes, concept is king – in writing and selling a story – but a story concept has at least six key parts. One of those is the jackpot. The zinger that bests open the golden story gates of Hollywood.

The HOOK!

Here’s the backstory:

When pitching a project in Hollywood (or any major market) there are several big gifts much loved by the gatekeepers of the golden gates. But many of these gifts are ones less established writers, producers, and directors don’t have:

--A big acting attachment

--A fat budget check

--Branded IP to blow the mind of any bean counting producer or exec

But story is in a creative’s control. And more specifically, so is its concept or logline. And even more vitally, so is its Hook.

I will tell you bluntly that based on my 30 years in the story trenches most concepts, loglines, scripts do NOT have a hook. I wrote DO NOT. I repeat, DO NOT! (Yes, I’m yelling. You’ll learn why.)

Does your story have that magic element that makes readers or producers go, “WTF?! Wow, that’s a great idea. I wanna see that film.” Or even better, “I wanna make that movie!”

In my many years in the biz, the most impactful hook I’ve witnessed unleashed on the world was for Jurassic Park:

Dinosaurs cloned back to life run rampant on an isolated island hungry to chomp their trapped creators.

Man, that is wild!

And yes I did go and devour that film. So did the rest of the world. Think about why… ?

Which brings me to you. Chomp. Chomp.

Seriously, does your story have a hook? I mean, really?! Most scripts don’t even have an okay premise, let alone one with the grabber of a big hook.

Please read carefully what I’m about to say!

There’s a 99 percent chance your story does not have a strong HOOK.

So please let me bang home this point about the importance of hooks to scripts and story careers:

A hook is that zinger story element that is new and captivating. It doesn’t have to be as action focused or as big as the hook in Jurassic Park. But it does have to be a new angle, character, setting, situation, twist, element -- some new idea -- that is surprising and compelling. (The nature of a hook will be influenced by the genre of a story, but even dramas or smaller psychological stories must have a new element or take.)

You say your story has a great hook?!?

Did I say that there’s a 99 percent chance your hook and premise are cliched, weak, one layered, and deleteable!

I keep repeating this because believe it or not most writers and producers believe that their story has a humdinger of a great idea! They almost never do. NEVER I said. Read this post about loglines.

Actionable Story Tip

Have you done a test run of your story premise and its hook?

Did it wow industry pros? Not mom and dad or newbie writer Jack or gal pal Jenny! I mean a hard-assed, flinty-eyed experienced SOB story expert!

Have you studied your story concept and explicitly figured out and written down its hook? What is it? Write it down, now! I dare you.

I beg you: Get your story concept and its hook vetted before you start writing your masterpiece. And later do the same before pitching your script.

The good news is that there are techniques to create a stronger hook. The key to pitching Hollywood is having a stunning hook.

If you need one-one-one support to create a poke-in-the-eye story concept and hook, hit reply and write HOOK.