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During the halcyon days when the videocassette was the dominant tool for corporate media communications, one pioneer writer in this field used to say: "concept is king." Anyone familiar with today's screenwriting market knows how important concepts are in engaging an agent or development executive. Pitch a strong "high concept" project properly to the right listener, and you walk away with a writing assignment. The same holds true for multimedia concepts designed to meet the goals of a business or educational client.
So, how do you brainstorm and evaluate a "high concept" for this market? When I give writing workshops, I present something called the "Concept Development Matrix." Sounds esoteric-but it's really nothing more than a list of criteria all good concepts should fulfill. Here's how it goes...
Content Origination: Good concepts spring from insight into the interplay between content, target audience and program objectives. Do not attempt to impose a concept on the material. Let the material itself suggest and drive the creative approach.
Appropriateness: Your concept must be appropriate for both the organization and audience. While humor may work for a trucking company client talking to its drivers, it is less likely to be a good approach for neurosurgeons.
Feasibility: If a good concept cannot be executed within the "givens" of the assignment (time, money and talent) either refine the concept accordingly or explore other options.
Visual & Narrative Expression: Your concept should encourage a synergistic use of the chosen medium's capabilities. Good media writing combines sight and sound and, in the case of multimedia, interactivity.
Stylistic Compatibility: All elements of your concept (form, structure, style, use of talent, etc.) must be organically integrated. If you use comedy in one section, and a more traditional narrative style in other sections, you need to seamlessly integrate the two (or justify why a stylistic "dissonance" works for the material).
Interesting Media/User Experience: Whether working in film, video, or interactive multimedia, the finished program should make for a compelling, engaging viewing/interactive experience.
Results Oriented: Return to your objectives and audience profile. Will this concept contribute to meeting the client's expectations for results? This is the "bottom line" in corporate and educational media writing.
If your concept meets all these criteria-it's time to start writing.
Next time, we'll examine some actual concepts to test how well they stack up against the concept development matrix.
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