A Story Idea Each Day for a Month — Day 7

This is the 9th year in a row I’ve run this series in April. Why a story idea each day for the month? Several reasons which I’ll work my through during this series of posts. Here’s another one:

The story idea is how everyone in Hollywood short-hands your script.

From the first moment your script enters into submission process, where it’s covered and at the very top there is a logline, through the marketing of your movie, where posters, newsprint, radio, TV spots, and web content all derive from it, your story idea is the touchstone for everything that happens.

So over time, I think it is fair to say that story ideas have become the lifeblood of Hollywood, what people traffic in all day long. The more you can think like that, play to the way Hollywood people interact with stories, the better your chances of success in the business.

Today’s story idea: The 20-year-old woman who took American horse racing by storm.

Men dominate the world of horseracing. Katie Clawson, 20, was helping to change that.

Clawson racked up 71 racing wins in 2017 — the all-time high for an apprentice jockey in a single season. And then she called her career quits after just a little more than a year on the track.

Indiana-raised Clawson got her start in Kentucky, but her quick success meant she wasn’t easy to follow. Hill eventually spent weekends driving eight hours to Arkansas, sleeping in his car so he could follow Clawson and her training across the country.

No matter where she went, though, Clawson was usually alone in the women’s locker room. Male jockeys outnumber female jockeys 7 to 1 in the U.S., a 2017 study from the American Sociological Association shows. Look at top races and that imbalance rises to 50 to 1.

“It’s a male-dominated sport, and we [women] have to be tough to deal with those guys,” Clawson told Hill. “To me, it doesn’t bother me being the only girl in the jocks’ room, but also I would like to be at a track with a bunch of girls.”

But this dangerous sport led to constant injuries: a bruised lung, a cracked rib, and a broken neck that left a permanent plate in her vertebrae. Clawson knew her racing career wouldn’t last forever.

Nonetheless, there was no fear when Clawson mounted up to train or race.

Clawson is not the first professional female jockey in the United States as there have been other pioneers such as Diane Crump, Rosie Napravnik, and Chantal Sutherland. One natural story angle is a biopic of one of these women focusing on the trials and tribulations of breaking in and surviving in a male dominated environment.

The thing is Hollywood has a long history of horse movies. In fact, check out this list from Horse Network: 50 Best Horse Movies. Some well-known titles including War Horse, The Man from Snowy River, National Velvet, The Black Stallion, and several horse racing films like Secretariat, Hidalgo, Champions, and Seabiscuit.

So specifically, maybe a story about a female jockey or more generally a horse story of some kind. Something to kick around and brainstorm.

There it is: My seventh story idea for the month. And it’s yours. Free!

Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4
Day 5
Day 6

Each day this month, I invite you to click on RESPONSES and join me to do some further brainstorming. Take each day’s story idea and see what it can become when you play around with it. These are all valuable skills for a writer to develop.

See you in comments. And come back tomorrow for another Story Idea Each Day For A Month.