Screenwriter’s Almanac: What “The Purge” Can Teach Us About a Great Concept
How a Simple Hook Can Launch a Franchise, and What That Means for Your Next Script
Let’s say you’re trying to write a low-budget horror script. You have one location, a family under threat, and a moral dilemma buried under a lot of tension. Sounds familiar, right? But what if, instead of the usual masked killer or haunted house, you simply ask one question:
What if all crime, including murder, was legal for 12 hours once a year?
That’s the concept behind The Purge. And like many high-concept ideas that stick, it’s not the characters that first pull you in, it’s the situation.
But here’s the screenwriting truth no one tells you when you start working on your idea: great concepts don’t start as fully formed loglines. They start as scattered questions, what-ifs, emotional flaws, half-formed characters, and genre impulses. And they get clearer when you take the time to brainstorm your four primary components: character flaw, 2nd act situation, secondary character/opponent motive, and theme/genre.
That’s exactly what I’ll be walking writers through at my upcoming Your Voice, Your Story workshop in Los Angeles (Venice), CA, on April 26–27. (Yes, it’s in-person. Yes, there will be coffee. Yes, it will be recorded and available for purchase in May.)
Let’s Break Down “The Purge” Concept Using the Brainstorming Model
What makes The Purge such a strong concept is that it takes derivative characters and places them in a wildly original situation. We’ve seen this kind of suburban family before. We’ve seen this kind of antagonist before. But we haven’t seen them in this world.
In your concept development process, think of it like this:
• Main Character & Flaw: James Sandin (Ethan Hawke) is a father, a businessman, and someone who profits from the system without questioning it. His flaw is moral detachment, and over-confident (though we could dig deeper than that psychologically…for now, it’s good enough). He benefits from the annual Purge financially but doesn’t want to get his hands dirty.
• 2nd Act Situation (Recurring Moment): The purge begins. The power gets cut. People try to break in. Over and over again, James and his family must decide whether to hide, fight, or protect a stranger. These recurring choices are the engine of the second act.
• Secondary Character / Opponent Motive: The opponents aren’t just killers, they’re privileged purgers, rich kids in prep school uniforms who believe it’s their right to “cleanse.” That’s motive. The secondary characters, the Main Character’s wife and kids, start to see the world differently too, challenging James emotionally, not just physically. This results in those Secondary Character flipping back and forth between Secondary and Opponent. This is completely normal; Secondaries should challenge our Main Character.
• Theme & Genre: This is where The Purge gets its juice. The theme is “how far would you go to protect your version of peace?” The genre is horror/thriller, but it’s “social horror”, really - a subgenre that only works when theme and concept are tightly married.
The result? A concept that’s simple to explain, rich in conflict, and repeatable enough to launch a franchise.
Turning That Concept Into a Logline
Let’s use my logline tools to reverse-engineer The Purge’s hook. These come straight from my coursework called, The Craft Course, and some of what I will cover in the April workshop.
“On the one night each year when all crime is legal, a security system salesman must protect his family from violent intruders after offering sanctuary to a hunted stranger, forcing him to question the system he profits from.”
Does it follow my logline rules?
Character with a flaw? Yup.
A unique, easily visualized hook? Definitely.
Clear genre and tone? Horror-thriller, for sure.
A 2nd act situation that can repeat/is a recurring situation? Absolutely. Hide. Fight. Decide who deserves saving.
The movie isn’t about whether the characters can survive the night. It’s about whether they deserve to survive the night. That emotional complexity, sitting just beneath the surface of a popcorn premise, is what makes it sticky and hook-y.
Your Concept Doesn’t Need to Be “New.” It Needs to Be Executed with Clarity.
One of the big myths screenwriters fall into is the belief that their idea has to be totally original. But what The Purge teaches us is that execution beats originality every time. Characters we’ve seen before can feel new when they’re dropped into a concept that challenges them in an unusual way.
Your job isn’t to invent an entirely new genre - it’s to present familiar emotions and arcs in fresh, tension-rich containers. That’s where brainstorming matters. That’s where structure helps. And that’s exactly what we’ll be exploring in the April workshop with a focus on your particular project.
So, if you’re stuck in the idea stage, swimming in concepts but not landing the hook…
Or if you’re rewriting a logline that still doesn’t grab anyone…
Or if you just want to understand how a film like The Purge becomes a franchise by asking one high-stakes question…
Come hang out in Venice, CA, April 26–27. Let’s brainstorm something worth writing! Plus, story expert and long-time coach and consultant, Michael Hauge will join us on Day 1 to discuss personal growth as a writer, and comparing our inner journey to the Hero’s Journey…all through the lens of the movie he helped develop, HITCH, with Will Smith and Kevin James.
Thanks for reading! Have a fabulous week.
—Max Timm & The Story Farm