Is Your Story Hollywood-Ready? Here’s What It Takes—And How to Take the Next Step
Drawing from dozens of real development deals, this is your insider’s checklist for creating screen-worthy IP that sparks bidding wars and shapes culture.
Curious whether your true story has cinematic potential? I’ve adapted my own memoir piece into a television series developed with Warner Bros. and Robert Zemeckis, and have led dozens of other TV and film projects at Amazon, Universal, Sony and more. In my new masterclass, “Turn Your True Story Into a Hit on Screen,” we’ll unpack the exact tools and strategies to make your story break through. Starts September 11. Limited seats available—Enroll now.
Writers often ask me: What separates a powerful essay or journalistic piece from one that Hollywood wants to—no, needs to—buy? The answer? It starts with how you frame the story from the very beginning. Not just with larger-than-life characters or a completely original world, but with an awareness of how the piece will play on screen: how it will make the viewer feel, the themes it imparts, the tone, the wardrobe, the soundtrack—even how it might look on a billboard.
One story reads beautifully on the page; the other unfolds like a movie—or the pilot episode of that binge-worthy series you devour in a night. It’s dripping with voice and personality (whether yours, your characters’, or both), and it becomes an undeniable invitation for a producer, screenwriter, director or studio exec to dedicate the next several years of their life to bringing it to the screen.
In anticipation of my upcoming class, I started a little experiment: watching the Apple TV series Slow Horses while simultaneously reading the book it’s based on. I know it’s fiction, but bear with me—because the nonfiction stories that command serious Hollywood heat often borrow a ton of technique from fiction.
I watched the first two episodes of the show, then immediately downloaded the book and found myself in complete awe of the literary tone and imagery. I kept nudging my wife and reading lines aloud—like Mick Herron’s description of the sly, slovenly boss of an MI5 squad of throwaways: “Cheeks glistening slightly as they tended to after exertion. Climbing stairs counted, though he’d not made a squeak on them” despite the weight “gathered around his middle like a pregnancy.”
These little details underscore my biggest takeaway: The best story, or underlying IP, provides a blueprint for adaptation. It doesn’t have to be slick or overly produced—but it does need powerful style, sensibility, stakes, cinematic structure, and characters and scenes whose detail and authenticity are so visceral they’re practically holographic.
At Narratively, we’ve developed dozens of stories with Hollywood, many of them movie or series blueprints in their own right—and below are four of my all-time favorites, each with a unique quality that made it irresistible to buyers. Think of these as a mini masterclass in story-to-screen potential—and a checklist for assessing your own work.
What Made These Narratively Pieces “Must-Adapt” Material
1. The Deep South’s Dames of Dildos by Hallie Lieberman
Three generations of women run a sex toy shop in small-town Alabama—where selling vibrators is illegal, customers include preachers’ wives, and family drama unfolds behind the register every single day.
Why It’s Compelling: Tonal mash-up—female‑driven drama meets Succession/Ozark with sex, suspense, and moral conflict in the Bible Belt.
Your Takeaway: If your story blends bold themes with multi-dimensional characters in an unexpected, provocative setting, you’re on to something cinematic.
2. A Gilded Age Tale of Murder and Madness By Kay Adams & Nancy Markey
In 1880s Newport, a wealthy Black entrepreneur is found dead—and his ambitious son-in-law, one of the first Black medical students in America, is the prime suspect. A high-society murder trial ensues, unraveling secrets of race, class, family, and ambition.
Why It’s Compelling: A high-stakes mystery in an opulent, racially charged setting. Currents of wealth, lineage, and social fault lines—layered with dry wit and clear sequel potential.
Your Takeaway: History + tension + social resonance could birth not one story, but a franchise. Ask: What broader world could this piece unlock?
3. My High School Girlfriend Became America’s Most Wanted Drug Queenpin By Jonathan Reiss
What begins as a nostalgic search for a first love turns into a harrowing descent into the true story of a suburban teen who rose from summer camp badass to international fugitive. A deeply personal memoir meets twist-filled noir.
Why It’s Compelling: True‑crime romance—a nostalgic, emotional thread wrapped around a criminal underworld, masquerading as a coming-of-age tale. Unpredictable tone and perfect setup that keeps producers engaged, and lets them see a world of possibilities—from the literally campy backdrop to the modern-day reverberations of Thelma and Louise.
Your Takeaway: When emotional stakes and moral dissonance fuse, you have a story that feels irresistible on the page—and the glossy visuals nearly create themselves.
4. Meet the Paranormal Moms Society By Ivana Rihter
A group of suburban mothers moonlight as ghost hunters—delving into America’s most haunted spaces with heart, humor, and high-tech gear. Equal parts spooky and soulful, this is Bad Moms meets Ghost Hunters.
Why It’s Compelling: A quirky ghost-hunting premise with real emotional depth. These suburban moms are fueled by grief, friendship, and a shared obsession—offering rich characters, episodic structure, comedy, and a fresh Midwestern backdrop.
Your Takeaway: Unexpected combinations draw Hollywood in. But it’s the emotional engine underneath—loss, identity, purpose—that makes a story truly stick.
So…Is Your Story Hollywood-Ready?
If you’ve read this far and thought, “Wait…my story has a lot of that!”—then good news: You might already be sitting on a hit in the making.
And if you don’t have that winning story just yet, you’re in luck. The checklist below isn’t just what we use at Narratively to evaluate submissions for Hollywood potential—it’s also what we use to craft and shape unforgettable stories from the ground up.
Because the truth is, the pieces that spark Hollywood bidding wars are often the very same ones we can’t stop reading, publishing, and sharing. If your story checks several of these boxes, chances are it’s worth pursuing. And if it checks all of them? What are you waiting for?
The Hollywood Readiness Checklist
☐ A World We’ve Never Seen
First off, what highly specific cinematic universe does your story pull us into? Suburban, supernatural, criminal or cultural is a start—but then get even more niche: think criminal coffee thieves or soccer stars who claim they score goals with their mind (or, dildo shop in the Deep South; Black Gilded Age whodunnit; or female suburban ghost hunters…)
☐ Unforgettable Characters With Arcs to Match
Do we follow one or more central characters on a soul-searching (or soul-crushing) journey, complete with desire, conflict, and transformation? Are they wildly relatable—or so distinctive, surprising, or flawed that we can’t help but lean in and watch?
☐ Built-in Stakes
Is something huge on the line? Reputation, safety, family, freedom, justice, or even someone’s soul?
☐ Narrative Momentum
Does the structure unfold in a way that feels cinematic? Is there enough story to mine that it can carry a film, series, or multi-episode arc?
☐ Tonal Tension
Is your story awkward and hilarious, moody and intense, tear-jerkingly emotional, utterly shocking—or an unexpected mix? Does it shift gears in a satisfying way?
☐ Why Only You Can Tell This Story
Do you have a personal connection, lived experience, or unique insight that no one else could bring? Is there something about your own voice or vantage point—firsthand access, rare intimacy, bold style—that makes this story undeniable?
If you’re nodding to even one of these cinematic checklist items, you’re already part way there. Great storytelling isn’t just about what happened—it’s about how you shape it, differentiate it, elevate it, and share it with the world. (This latter point, about distribution, is massive and I have lots to say about it, but I’ll leave it for another day.) And that takes more than intuition and talent—it takes strategy, and turning awareness into action—and that’s exactly what my masterclass is designed to help with.
Turn Your True Story Into a Hit on Screen launches Thursday, September 11. In four live sessions, featuring surprise Hollywood guests, we’ll teach practical, hands-on strategies—loglines, pitching, rights navigation, outreach, packaging—that align with what Hollywood actually needs and buys (not just what’s trendy).
This isn’t theory. It’s a workbook of real-world steps, from people who develop and sell TV and movie projects for a living. I hope you’ll join us.
👉 Reserve your spot now. (As always, Narratively Academy paid subscribers get 20% off.)