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High Concepts
The term high concept, a catchphrase used throughout the industry, refers to an idea with a strong hook that has broad audience appeal. A high concept can be communicated in one or two short simple sentences.
I was once having lunch with a friend who told me an incredible true story about what it’s like being a young female attorney.
She was still green in the ears and had just opened her law practice when she was visited by an odd man who needed a defense attorney to represent him in a murder trial. She asked for the specifics, and he told her the murder had not yet been committed. He was going to kill his wife’s lover.
She was at a loss as to what to do. She was hoping the man wouldn’t return, but he did — twice — and made numerous phone calls, insisting she was his attorney. He told her that if she went to the police, she would be breaking attorney-client privilege.
So she went to the ex-wife and her lover to warn them, and discovered the lover was her former boyfriend! The attorney did go to the police, but they did very little to help her.
The man continued to harass her and eventually succeeded in killing the lover. Today he’s serving a life sentence.
How’s that for high concept? Network executives believe that high concept, whether comedy or drama, is synonymous with good ratings…
