10 ESSENTIAL Elements of Writing a Great Contemporary Spy Film

What is a Spy Movie?

It should not surprise people to find Greek storytelling structures and character types in spy movies. The genre of spy and espionage has a long history after all. Homer’s Iliad, for example, written c. 800 BCE contains a bounty of spy elements that continue to feature in contemporary spy films.

The Iliad‘s modern spy genre elements:

• A complex love story (Helen, Paris, and Menelaus).
• Over two hundred unique and exciting battlefield deaths.
• Spying in Book X.
• Use of disguises.
• Demigod humans.
• Great feats of action and strength.
• Top of the range weaponry.

The Iliad is not strictly a “spy” story, it is a war epic. But the point here is that war and spies are as intimately intertwined as life is to death. And if spying is not the oldest profession, it is a close second.

Spy movies themselves share this kind of legacy, being one of the oldest and most familiar movie sub-genres.

Contemporary spy movies are typically led by a protagonist who is a trained operative, who embarks on a mission against an opposing, oppressive force.

Spy movies often depict:

• Nations waging shadow warfare.
• A covert government operation in conflict with an organization headed by an individual.
• Infighting within a team or organization.

The spy genre’s highest-grossing film of all time is not a Bond film, not a Mission: Impossible film, not part of the Bourne franchise but, in fact, the children’s animated movie Despicable Me 2.

Yes, folks, you read that correctly! At the time of writing, Despicable Me 2 has a lifetime gross of over $368 million USD and outmatches Skyfall by $60+ million USD. This proves the versatility and universality of spy movie tropes.

What are the Top 10 Grossing Spy Movies of All Time?

1. Despicable Me 2
2. Skyfall
3. The Bourne Ultimatum
4. Mission: Impossible – Fallout
5. Mission: Impossible II
6. Austin Powers in Goldmember
7. Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol
8. Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me
9. Spectre
10. Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation

Franchises dominate the spy movie marketplace. James Bond, for example, has twenty-five movies in total and has grossed close to $7 billion USD to date.

So it’s fair to say that spy films are a relatively safe bet when it comes to writing genre. But how do you approach writing such an intricate genre? What steps are essential to tackle when writing a spy movie? We take a look…