99 Writing Prompts for Genre-Blending Concepts

Genre-blending is one of the most effective ways for screenwriters to stand out in a crowded industry. Hollywood executives and producers aren’t looking for something completely unrecognizable, nor is the audience. They’re all looking for something that is familiar and surprising at the same time. 

Genre blends accomplish that with the most ease. 

• They communicate tone, audience, and originality in one sentence. 
• They offer those intriguing twists on successful genre efforts. 
• They make the audience less risk-averse to coming to the theaters or clicking on the titles.
• Because of that, studios, streamers, and networks take more notice because their job is to get butts into seats or fingers clicking play.  

When you take the time to combine two genres and two types of concepts thoughtfully, you’re allowing two strong story elements to collide into one. And that creates instant excitement and buzz-worthy screenplays for the industry to consider. 

• Otherwise familiar tropes are recontextualized
• Standard character archetypes are tested in settings that don’t naturally fit them
• Stakes increase
• Concepts become easier to pitch because the contrast between the two genres does the heavy lifting

With that in mind, here we present 99 genre-blending concept writing prompts designed to spark that create friction.

1. A romance set within a mandatory government relocation caused by a nuclear war attack.
2. A courtroom drama where the two opposing lawyers fall in love.
3. A zombie story set in the Old West. 
4. A Wild West outlaw is transported to the future.
5. An outlaw from the future is transported to the Old West. 
6. A vampire story set in the Old West. 
7. Werewolves in space. 
8. Retelling of the sinking of the Titanic by way of a luxury cruise ship in space.
9. Top Gun with Navy Seals. 
10. Top Gun in space. 
11. The Wizard of Oz on another planet.
12. Space marines crashing their ship into the past and unleashing an alien threat into the Old West. 
13. Teenagers coming of age in a fantasy world. 
14. A love story between a human and the world’s first realistic-looking AI robot. 
15. A family drama playing out while the world is coming to an end. 
16. A period piece meets sports drama, set around the first competitive baseball game. 
17. A Lifetime-like thriller, but with aliens. 
18. A Lifetime-like thriller, but with ghosts. 
19. A Lifetime-like thriller, but set on a space ship. 
20. Boots on the ground war movie set on another planet. 
21. A romantic comedy set in the Old West. 
22. A romantic comedy set on a space ship. 
23. A romantic comedy set during World War II. 
24. A Christmas movie set on a space ship. 
25. Is Santa going to make it to a family that’s travelling to Mars?
26. A heist movie set in the Old West. 
27. A heist movie set in the future. 
28. A heist movie where they need to travel to another planet. 
29. Pirates in space. 
30. Two opposites attract during struggle for survival. 
31. A satirical look at space movies. 
32. A satirical look at romantic comedies. 
33. A satirical look at Old West movies. 
34. A satirical look at movies set in the future. 
35. A workplace comedy set during the Civil War. 
36. A gangster movie set on another planet. 
37. A superhero loses their powers and must work in a normal workplace. 
38. A superhero loses their powers and must go back to college to get a degree. 
39. A teen superhero loses their powers and must attend high school.
40. A deranged man thinks he is from another planet. 
41. A deranged man thinks he is from J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle Earth.
42. A whodunit set on a space ship. 
43. A whodunit set in an Old West tavern. 
44. A whodunit comedy set in a high school. 
45. A whodunit comedy set in an elementary school.
46. A time travel story where a vampire hunter goes back in time to find the first vampire.
47. An erotic romance set in a retirement home. 
48. A musical version of a film noir detective story. 
49. Spies in a high school. 
50. Espionage spoof set in a grade school. 
51. Jurassic Planet.
52. A found footage time travel story. 
53. A funny road trip set on the Oregon Trail. 
54. A coming of age story set on the Oregon Trail. 
55. An alien invasion documentary from the alien’s point of view.
56. A haunted space ship. 
57. A haunted high school where the ghosts come of age. 
58. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde story set in the world of politics. 
59. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde story set within a teenage high school comedy. 
60. Ghosts are able to travel back in time to the time of dinosaurs. 
61. A story of a soul’s many lives throughout the past and future. 
62. Children from an abusive upbringing create a fantasy world they travel to. 
63. A detective is able to travel back in time to solve a case. 
64. Santa is actually an evil force.
65. A serial killer falls in love.
66. A serial killer falls in love with the detective chasing after them. 
67. A serial killer falls in love with the detective chasing after them, hoping to give it all up for their love to work. 
68. A serial killer travels back in time to kill history’s worst serial killers. 
69. A serial killer travels back in time to learn from history’s worst serial killers. 
70. World War I is intervened by invading aliens.
71. World War II is intervened by invading aliens. 
72. World War III is intervened by invading aliens. 
73. The Civil War is intervened by vampires and werewolves.
74. A vampire falls in love with a werewolf. 
75. A romantic comedy set in a retirement home. 
76. A Christmas gathering is interrupted by home invasion. 
77. A Christmas movie set during the worst snow storm in history. 
78. A found footage movie telling the story of a modern day Frankenstein’s Monster.
79. A ship exploration movie centered around exploring the ocean depths instead of space. 
80. A time traveler from the future plays the stock market. 
81. A time traveler from the future falls in love with someone from the past. 
82. A high school football coach uncovers a gambling ring within a football-obsessed town. 
83. A detective hunts a serial killer who ends up being a wizard from a fantasy world. 
84. A heist movie set within a prison. 
85. A prison movie where a death row inmate is actually an angel. 
86. A prison movie where a death row inmate is actually from the future. 
87. An angel and a demon fall in love. 
88. A buddy movie where an angel and a demon must team up to stop a common foe. 
89. The mother of Peter Pan tries to find her son. 
90. Two martial artists are tasked with finding the person who killed their master.
91. A Wild West gunslinger wants to give up their killing ways. 
92. A starship pilot deals with the grief of losing his wife. 
93. A Special Forces unit enters a fantasy world filled with dragons, orcs, wizards, knights, kings, queens, and other fantastical beings.
94. Warriors from different time periods must take on an alien hunter. 
95. A vampire hunts down a Wild West gunslinger. 
96. A robot learns how to love like a human. 
97. A magician goes back to the Middle Ages to use their tricks to rule a kingdom. 
98. A time-traveling historian goes back in time to attempt to bring back proof of Christ.
99. A screenwriter uses a prompt list to write the next great screenplay, only to be stalked by the author of the prompt list who claims their idea was stolen (Just kidding, these are for all and only the delivery in script-form can be claimed as one’s own).      

1. Ghostbusters (1984) blends supernatural horror with broad comedy and sci-fi adventure.
2. Back to the Future (1985) combines science fiction with teen comedy and adventure, mixing time travel concepts with coming-of-age humor and family drama.
3. Teen Wolf (1985) blends supernatural fantasy with high school comedy, using werewolf mythology to tell a sports-driven teen coming-of-age story.
4. Home Alone (1990) mixes family comedy with crime and slapstick action while turning a home-invasion thriller setup into a kid-friendly holiday farce.
5. National Lampoon’s Vacation (1983) blends road-trip adventure with absurdist family comedy.
6. Ghost (1990) combines romantic drama with supernatural fantasy and thriller elements.
7. Waterworld (1995) blends post-apocalyptic science fiction with swashbuckling adventure.
8. The Road Warrior (1981) merges post-apocalyptic action with western-style frontier storytelling.
9. Rush Hour (1998) blends action, martial arts, and buddy-cop comedy.
10. The Nice Guys (2016) combines noir crime mystery with slapstick comedy.
11. 21 Jump Street (2012) blends undercover police action with teen comedy, reworking a crime-fighter premise into a self-aware high school satire.
12. Shaun of the Dead (2004) mixes zombie horror with romantic comedy and British humor, using an apocalyptic scenario to explore relationships and immaturity.
13. Alien (1979) merges science fiction with creature horror.
14. The Thing (1982) blends sci-fi paranoia with horror survival
15. Arrival (2016) blends alien-contact sci-fi with emotional drama, using language and time to tell a grief-centered story.
16. Her (2013) merges futuristic AI concepts with intimate romantic drama.
17. Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022) blends multiverse science fiction with family drama, martial arts action, comedy, and existential philosophy.
18. Titanic (1997) blends epic romance with large-scale disaster filmmaking.
19. The Bodyguard (1992) blends romantic drama with suspense thriller elements.
20. No Country for Old Men (2007) combines modern western themes with crime thriller tension.
21. Westworld (1973) merges western adventure with science fiction, using android theme parks to explore technology and violence.
22. Fargo (1996) blends crime drama with dark comedy.
23. Pan’s Labyrinth (2006) mixes dark fantasy with wartime drama.
24. The Shape of Water (2017) blends romantic fantasy with Cold War thriller elements, telling a love story through a creature feature lens.
25. The Dark Knight (2008) merges superhero action with crime thriller realism.
26. Deadpool (2016) blends superhero action with R-rated comedy and meta satire
27. La La Land (2016) combines classic musical romance with modern drama.
28. Jojo Rabbit (2019) blends WWII drama with coming-of-age comedy and satire.
29. WALL·E (2008) combines animated family adventure with sci-fi romance.
30. Inside Out (2015) blends family animation with psychological coming-of-age.