Mosaics
[This is a message board post I made in 2002. Seven years later, I still think it’s an apt analogy not only for screenwriting, but also film in general.]
In some ways a screenplay is like a mosaic. You construct a larger picture by arranging small parts: scenes, sequences, dialog, and characters. Now it’s very important to be able to work with these small parts. To be able to have them play off each other to affect the viewer. However, no one is going to give a damn unless the mosaic makes a picture they want to see.
When you want someone to pay you to make a mosaic you don’t show them how well you can form the tiles. You give them a sketch of what the mosaic will look like. The picture. That’s the high concept. It’s the picture. When you pitch a screenplay, you don’t tell people how wonderful your characters are. You don’t tell them how witty your dialog is. You give them a sketch of the picture. If they like the picture, then they pay you to make it.
