Book to Screen by Frank Catalano

Author:Frank Catalano [Catalano, Frank]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780692282946
Published: 2014-11-23T00:00:00+00:00

23

WHO IS YOUR TARGET AUDIENCE?

Start Your Story at the End

LET ME ASK all of you this question. All of you sitting here today – if I were to say to you, the particular novel that you have in your back pocket – what is your target audience? Also I will not allow you to say “general.” What audience is the best fit for your work?

(Audience member: “And you can’t answer general?”) Right.

Let me help you a bit. You could say something like… adults eighteen to thirty… or adults eighteen to twenty three Let’s talk about the age ranges that advertising agencies use when planning marketing campaigns:

12 – 17

18 – 24

25 – 34

35 – 44

45 – 54

55 – 64

65+

What about gender – do you feel your work is a better fit with women or men or does it matter? Now we’re writers here today, not advertising agencies. But there is something that we can learn from this. I think it is important for you to know who the audience is for your work. Who is the most likely cross section of people that would be interested in what you are writing about? Some of you may be thinking, I just want to write a story and great characters – that will be enough for me. But I think you need to have an idea of who might be interested in your type of story. Why? Because it will be a question that will be asked somewhere down the line if it is considered for publication or production as a film or television. So now I’m asking you again. What audience is the best fit for your work?

(Audience member: “I have a woman’s story but it is best suited for a general audience.”)

Okay, so it’s a woman’s story – that would probably have more appeal to women than men? Is that correct?

(Audience member: “Yes, I think so…”)

I feel like an attorney cross-examining someone.

(Audience laughter)

Sir?

(Audience member: “My work is kind of a middle class drama also general and can appeal to both men and women in the 25 to 45 age range.)

Okay, excellent. Now there is no science to this. But I think it’s important that you know where your work fits into to the over all picture. This will make your job of selecting what will or won’t work when you convert it over to a screenplay. It will also provide you with an answer if someone sitting across a desk at a pitch, or a reading asks you where it fits in. You can answer it with confidence. This understanding also will help you focus on “where” to take your screenplay once it is written. For example, if your work is a “woman’s story” it might be a great fit for Lifetime Television or the WE channel. Why? Because Lifetime’s base is women 18-49 – that’s what their programming is most effective reaching. That might be a perfect place for your project to be developed. Then your thinking I want my project to be a major motion picture reaching millions of people.

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