Summer Movies--#2

In our quest to look at summer films from the past—to inspire you to write your own original summer film—last week we looked at a summer romance movie from the 50s where the demographic was definitely adults. This week, let’s take a look at a 60s’ summer film where the demographic was definitely kids—The Parent Trap [1961] written by David Swift.

This film, remade in 1998, tells the story of two 14-year-olds at a summer camp who look alike. At first, each is annoyed by the existence of the other, but when they’re forced to spend time together and share details of their lives, they realize they have the same birth-date… they realize they’re twins. As one lives on the east coast and one on the west, they decide to trick their parents by each taking the other’s place—allowing them to each meet the parent they never even knew existed.

Take a look at a trailer for the film—one that, unlike most trailers, takes you right into the middle of the film when the parents who haven’t seen one another in 14 years are brought together by the twins: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pyqzkhBJds4

One of the interesting things about this clip is that you can see how it could appeal to the ‘parents’ in the audience. Other clips market the film via the fun and zaniness that the twins get themselves into, and that was certainly designed to appeal to the demographic, but this clip of The Parent Trap attempts to hook adults into the story as well, to pull the adult audience into the film to follow the journey of these parents who long ago split up.

So in many ways, this is your typical Disney family film—one story-line for the kids and another for the adults, and they’re very much linked together.

As you ponder summer films you might like to write, if your interest falls into the family film area, following the blueprint laid out by The Parent Trap wouldn’t be a bad place to start. How can you construct a story that is appealing to both parents and kids? In this film, there are the fun summer camp scenes at the beginning of the film and then the family clashing scenes as the film progresses.

Another aspect of this film that’s worth thinking about is the fantasy aspect—what kids of divorced parents don’t harbor the fantasy that they’d like to see their parents get back together? Answer—almost none. It’s a common fantasy of kids who are the victims of divorce, and this film taps into that fantasy big time.

So following the lead of The Parent Trap, ask yourself what might be the fantasies of the teens of today and how could you write a movie about one of those fantasies? If you yourself aren’t too far removed from your teens, take yourself back five years ago—read a journal you wrote five years ago perhaps?—and ask yourself what fantasies you harbored and whether they’d be good fodder for a summer film. Operating from personal experience is never a bad idea!

Next week, another 60s gem.

Copyright © Diane Lake

05Jul20

Email Diane a question to Diane@DianeLake.com