How to Write an A24 Screenplay (Writing Advice)

[00:00] In an era where Hollywood is falling apart, every blockbuster seems to crash to the box office. It seems like no one knows how to make movies anymore, except A24. A24 has ruled the Oscars for the past five years.

[00:13] It's had hit after hit after hit, created culturally iconic moments with films like Mid-Summer, Everything Everywhere, all at once, Moonlight, and Lady Bird. One dozens of Oscars gathered critical acclaim and just about every movie they make turns a profit.

[00:27] Personally, it does into my favorite movies from the last decade were made by A24, The Florida Project, everything everywhere all at once, hereditary Moonlight, under the skin, X Machina, all made by the same company.

[00:39] They're just about the only studio left that seems to understand what audiences want. So how can a writer learn from A24 success and write something that fits the A24 philosophy? What is their secret formula?

[00:51] Here are seven tips on how to write an A24-style script. Number one, cast and a typical protagonist. A24 movies have lead characters that are not your typical movie lead. The characters may be unconventional because they come from a marginalized community like in Moonlight

[01:07] or the Florida Project or Monari, or because the characters just not the type of person we usually see leading a movie. You would not picture a middle-aged Chinese laundromat owner as a protagonist of a Matrix-style action epic,

[01:19] or an alien masquerading as Scarlett Johansson. There are a few stories told from the perspective of awkward eighth-grade girls or wannabe skateboard kids in the mid-90s. To write an A24-style script, you need to go beyond the normal protagonist.

[01:33] The opening of Lady Bird does a great job of showing us that a protagonist is anything but ordinary. In the middle of it, arguing with her mother, Lady Bird opens up the car door and leaps out of the moving car.

[01:45] After that, we don't know what she'll do next. Number two, the stakes are personal. One of the most commonly propagated myths of storytelling is the idea that everything must have high stakes, meaning the story must matter to civilization and be about one of the main driving forces of life,

[01:59] survival, vengeance, justice. Where this gets us into trouble is the scale of movies getting out of control. This is one of the big problems with the superhero movie, which maybe is the opposite of an A24 movie. How many times can we watch someone say, hey, let's go save the world?

[02:13] Yet writing teachers everywhere still claim you must have high stakes. The truth is the search for high stakes can lead you off the path and cause you to write something generic. The stakes don't have to be high as long as they are personal.

[02:27] Take eighth grade or mid-90s, for example. The stakes of these films are basically non-existent. The desire to fit in and be accepted by her peers, but the stakes matter to the protagonist and so we care. In contrast, think of how many superhero movies fall apart under the weight of their high stakes.

[02:44] The world is always going to end, but we don't care because it is not personal. In everything everywhere all at once, we are given the high stakes of a superhero movie. The very fabric of time and space will fall apart if Evelyn does not succeed.

[02:57] But what takes this to another level is that in addition to the high stakes, the stakes are personal. It is about Evelyn reconnecting to her daughter and husband, standing up to her father and recognizing her place in the world.

[03:10] But here it brings a good question, how do you make the stakes personal? While a writer defines the stakes of the story by showing us how terrified our characters are about the journey they are about to undertake. So early on you need to see that it establishes how hard the story will be for the protagonist.

[03:26] For example, in Bow is afraid. Bow is afraid of everything. Sending a guy this devastated by anxiety into the world makes the journey far more difficult amping up the stakes.

[03:39] Although the stakes in 8th grade are not the world ending threat of a superhero movie, Kayla's anxiety makes the story matter. This can also be done by giving your character a strong desire that drives the story. Another secret of 824's effectiveness is that they take this desire to a level of absolute desperation.

[03:57] Number 3. Right about desperate people In the anatomy of story, John Truby discusses how a powerful desire can be the ultimate driver of the story. What elevates 824 films is the protagonist's absolute desperation in pursuing this desire.

[04:14] Mia Goths Pearl doesn't just want to be a star, she needs to be to escape her miserable and hopeless life. When she takes action to get what she needs, we don't feel sympathetic necessarily as you can't really sympathize with her.

[04:28] But we see how she got there. Moonlight, red rocket under the skin, uncut gems, all deal with characters putting impossibly desperate situations. This allows the filmmaker to take the film in extreme directions.

[04:42] Number 4. Go to extremes 824 is unafraid to go where other story tellers will not, and there are often extreme and excessive moments that get the audience talking.

[04:54] Where there's the grotesque horror of Scarlett Johansson destroying her victims in under the skin, or the butt-plug Kung Fu battle and everything everywhere all at once, or the bat-shit insane endings of hereditary and midsummer,

[05:07] 824 gives us memorable extreme scenes that leave us talking. Number 5. Specificity of the setting 824 movies use setting in a way other film companies ignore.

[05:20] So many of the films are period pieces or take place in a specific part of the country, and it would be hard to imagine moving these stories to a different location and have the movie still be the same. To write a movie like 824, the setting becomes a character.

[05:33] The key to making your setting into a character is to keep it contained. Imagine creating a map like JRR Tolkien would, laying out the world of the story where everything is in relation to each other. The world of the characters will be contained to a handful of places.

[05:48] The world of the Florida project extends to whatever is walking distance to the hotel they live in, right next to Disney. How they share space with other hotels in the area and the abandoned hotels in the distance.

[06:00] Lady Bird's world is her hometown of Sacramento. We see the border she crosses to go from the bad side where she lives, to the good side where her dream house lives. Setting can express character. We understand who Lady Bird is by the way she reacts to her surroundings.

[06:15] She rejects her home the way she rejects her name. Sometimes it may mean the time period is as essential as the place, as in the witch, or in mid-90s. By limiting the scope of the map,

[06:27] we create a world the audience can imagine. It also helps keep it contained, making the movie easier to make. Number six, make it contained. One of the things wrong with Hollywood is the bloated budgets and ridiculous salaries of movie stars.

[06:43] Every movie seems to need 3,000 extras in the CGI and a movie star that costs the budget of the entire movie. But the entire budget of everything everywhere at once was 25 million dollars. That's roughly what Tom Cruise gets to appear in a movie.

[06:56] The smaller budgets allow a 24 to take risks and make movies that don't have to please everyone all around the world. Right here you need to keep budget in mind. Every time you move the scene to a new location, it costs money.

[07:08] Everything everywhere at once spans locations and realities, but it is the outlier. So many more A24 films are contained scripts, allowing the film to keep the budget low and maximize profits.

[07:21] Take lock. The entire movie is Tom Hardy driving in a car and it's fantastic, or bodies, bodies, bodies which takes place entirely in one house, or green room which takes place almost entirely in a bar.

[07:33] Sometimes A24 expands from one location, but still keeps the setting manageable. Like the English country town that is the setting for men, or the area around Disney World that is the world of the Florida project,

[07:46] or the New England town that inhibits the witch. One of the most expensive things in a movie production is what is called a company move, where you pick up the whole production and transfer to a new location. By minimizing company moves, the filmmakers keep the budget under control.

[08:00] Now sure there is something to be said for letting your imagination run wild and going wherever you want to go, but a bigger budget means you need to hire, return on your investment. And there may be ways to tell a big story and minimize the company moves.

[08:13] For example, while everything everywhere all at once is a massive reality hopping epic, the majority of the story takes place in the IRS office in the laundromat, and finally on a green screen. This is not all about money either.

[08:26] This is about making unique movies that can take risks because they do not need to please all audiences, and that's another thing, maybe the most important thing. Number 7, don't write for everyone.

[08:40] If you write for everyone, you may find a wide audience, but no one will truly love what you do. But A24 doesn't worry about this. They make movies that are weird, risk-taking, and have small dedicated audiences.

[08:53] The kind of audiences that care about the authentic feel of the New England village in the witch, or the audiences that want to be made to feel uncomfortable like anyone watching the killing of a sacred deer,

[09:05] or people with weird senses of humor like anyone who liked the lobster, sometimes A24 fails and makes a movie that doesn't get their usual critical acclaim, like Under the Silver Lake, which was not well loved, but for me is in my top 5 favorite movies of that year,

[09:19] or Bow is afraid, which flopped, but some claim is a masterpiece. You don't need to make a movie for everyone. Those movies feel generic and are forgettable. I guarantee you, whether you loved or hated Bow is afraid,

[09:32] you will not forget it. If you want to write an A24 style movie, you have to lean into what makes you unique and forget the idea of catering to a wide audience. Instead, find an audience avatar,

[09:45] that one person that you are making the movie for. Maybe it's you, maybe it is a friend or an imaginary person. What would they want to see in a movie that they have not seen before? Would they want to see Oscar Isaac do a dance routine with a robot girl?

[09:59] Would they want to see a world where everyone has hot dogs for fingers? Not everyone would. Write your movie for the person that would. My avatar is Marty. They love horror. Doesn't care if it's elevated or splatter-gore.

[10:12] They are attracted to weird, the out-of-the-ordinary idea. Instead of writing for some nebulous audience, I write for Marty and myself. This is a common philosophy in advertising and also YouTube.

[10:24] Imagine the avatar for your ideal audience member. Imagine how they would interact with the story and cater to the experience to them. I don't need the whole world to like the movie. I just need Marty to love it.

[10:36] If I wrote for everyone, Marty would lose interest. A24 continues to pump out great films and not compromise. And in doing so, they are changing the face of the film industry. If you want more tips on how to write, check out this video on A24's midsummer

[10:52] in the story structure of Slow Burn Horror.