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Claude König - Writer & Producer
great stories aren't created by genius - but craftsmanship
craftsmanship is the ability to recognize, use and reshape patterns of human nature
human nature is our history, psychology and conflict - and those are the authors of our greatest stories
Claude König
my backstory
By the age of ten I knew literally every story from Greek mythology by heart. For the next decade I wrote countless short stories until I finished my first novel at 21. Storytelling was going to be my life and from there I went into film. Here I met many people with the same passions and discovered a new one myself in helping others find the heart of their own stories and help turn their visions into reality. While there is nothing quite like writing, as any writer will tell you, developing stories alongside others is just as wonderful a journey full of inspiration, endless new ideas and fascinating authors.
my philosophy
It's a difficult thing to help others tell their stories. Mostly because it takes time to get to know somebody, understand why their story moves them, what it is that makes their heart bleed for it. The issue with development work often is that writers get feedback about how others would tell their story. But they are not. The writer is. Any feedback given should always focus on what the true essence of what the writer wants to tell. What's the foremost idea, the core conflict, the theme that is inextricable. And once you find that, your feedback will always be constructive, always help and above all else, you will always have a great story to tell.
The 4-11 Model
The Origins
There are many creative writing and development tools out there, but none ever gave me what I needed for my own work, so I developed my own. The 4-11 Model is named after the 4 acts and 11 sequences it uses. In creating it I drew inspiration from two primary sources. Mythology and the Korean cinema. Mythology offers some of the greatest stories ever told. Stories that have been working for more than 3000 years. And while Archetypes or the classic Heroes Journey have long since become mainstream, the true strength of those stories is in character development and internal conflicts turning external. Then there is the Korean cinema. In my estimation the best in the world for the past 20 years. Aside from using many Archetypes and storytelling tools that only exist in Asia, they do best what mythology did. They create deep and realistic characteres full of conflicts. Every beat is about internal development and how inner themes turn into external plot and conlict again. Learning from this, the 4-11 Model is all about character development and conflict. Every of its 11 sequences has its own checklist of storytelling elements, that force the writer to always focus on the true heart of their narrative. Just like a ripple in a lake, everything starts with the choice a character makes and grows larger, more complex and beautiful from there.
The 4-11 Model
The Approach
Many writers have the tendency to "just sit down and be creative". While that may often yield solid results because of good instincts or having internalised some methods, it also gives you tunnel vision. The moment you start writing is the moment things get real. And once they're real, its hard to let go, or approach them onjectively. Thus 4-11 tries to develop your characters, their themes, problems and all storylines stemming from that before you actually start writing. Nothing is more important for a good story than a solid foundation. You can start thinking decor when you haven't even built your house yet.
And it all starts with character development. This is the heart and soul of 4-11. There are 19 tools in my system, mostly based around questions that will make you think in dept about your characters, who they are, should be, want to be and all the conflicts that might arise from this. I use many aspects of modern psychology in this to give characters personality and backstory that will impact and motivate their behaviour. And once you've answered those questions, your plot is almost finished as well, because all relevant plot points of the 4 acts and 11 sequences we have to plot now, have basically already been answered.
For the vast variety of series out there, 4-11 also has specific in episode sequence models ranging from webseries to almost movie length.
4-11 Writers Rooms
One of the specialites I have developed within 4-11 is a new Writers Room model where you work on three to five stories at once. You begin with a basic idea and develop a detailed and in dept film or series pitch or bible. Because all writers are at the same stage of development, ask themselves and each other the same questions and are part of each others process from the get go, the collaboration is very productive and fast. In one month you can go from five loglines to five complete pitches with pilot treatment.
All because 4-11 creates so much structure and develops so much story from the very beginning, just by asking questions and placing the answers in a sequence framework.
During the debut season we developed two movies and two series at once. During the second season three series.
