Picking Right Idea

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  • #31
    Re: Picking Right Idea

    Originally posted by Satriales View Post
    "Would I pay to watch this in a theater?- is the question I always start with. That doesn't mean it's not a fit for a streamer, but let's think about whether or not the idea will get people excited. Now I think people are less than honest with themselves when answering this question about their own ideas...yes, write what you're passionate about. But also write something that's fvcking cool.

    I look at my list of ideas from just a few years ago and they are not great. These days it takes a longtime to land on an idea for me. But waiting is worth it, IMO. Because once you figure out something is, actually, a movie...the writing generally comes a lot more easily, in my experience.
    Originally posted by Satriales View Post
    Many (ok, fine - a vast majority) of loglines and ideas I see here just aren't movies. I mean, they could be a movie. The writing is great. But the elevator pitch/loglines here? Not a movie.

    Ideas are fvcking hard. So it's likely your serial killer logline isn't great.
    Originally posted by Satriales View Post
    "yet there's no way to accurately calculate which idea will blow away buyers and make them think: Gotta have it.-

    I bet I could guess which ideas by non-established writers WON'T sell.
    Agreed on all counts.
    “Nothing is what rocks dream about” ― Aristotle

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    • #32
      Re: Picking Right Idea

      Originally posted by lostfootage View Post
      Sounds like you're a writer who is more conceptual. Intuitive writers explore until they find it. I don't think there is only one way to find a good story.
      I also explore until I find it; I just don't do the majority of my exploration between FADE IN and FADE OUT. I tend to go from Idea -> Notes -> Outline -> Script. Some writers writers go from Idea -> Script, or from Idea -> Notes -> Script.

      Maybe I'm not intuitive, or maybe I'm patient enough to allow for intuition, inspiration, analysis and craft to come together before I start scripting.

      HTH,
      Just my 2 cents, your mileage may vary.

      -Steve Trautmann
      3rd & Fairfax: The WGAW Podcast

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      • #33
        Re: Picking Right Idea

        Originally posted by Bono View Post
        Keep this in mind as you plot your rise to the top of the screenwriting world.

        -- A great idea is one you can explain in one sentence
        -- A better idea is one you can explain with just the title
        -- The best idea to pick is one that YOU can write better than anyone. This is key.

        John August I recall saying if you are choosing which idea to pick -- go with the one with the best ending.

        I always pitch my friends first and of course reps if you have them. But pitch anyone.
        Just so we are all on the same page with respect to what an idea for a movie is, what do we think the idea behind Jaws was?

        What was the idea that led to a logline, story, and script for the movie Jaws?

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        • #34
          Re: Picking Right Idea

          Originally posted by jonpiper View Post
          Just so we are all on the same page with respect to what an idea for a movie is, what do we think the idea behind Jaws was?

          What was the idea that led to a logline, story, and script for the movie Jaws?
          man v shark
          Know this: I'm a lazy amateur, so trust not a word what I write.
          "The ugly can be beautiful. The pretty, never." ~ Oscar Wilde

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          • #35
            Re: Picking Right Idea

            The seed for Benchley's book was some shark attacks in the early 1900s. That's the seed of the story.

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            • #36
              Re: Picking Right Idea

              I would say the idea was a question. What happens when a shark terrorizes the beach at a resort town?

              But Satriales and Crayon, I think we are all on the same track here. In any case, the idea is nowhere near a story, or even a logline.

              So I would argue there are no right or wrong ideas. Perhaps right or wrong stories that express an idea.

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              • #37
                Re: Picking Right Idea

                Originally posted by jonpiper View Post
                So I would argue there are no right or wrong ideas. Perhaps right or wrong stories that express an idea.
                As a great philosopher once sang: it ain't what you do, it's the way that you do it - that's what gets results.
                Know this: I'm a lazy amateur, so trust not a word what I write.
                "The ugly can be beautiful. The pretty, never." ~ Oscar Wilde

                Comment


                • #38
                  Re: Picking Right Idea

                  The play Hamilton is a great example. How hot is the idea of doing a play on the life of Alexander Hamilton? That undeveloped idea is not worth anything.
                  But it isn't a good or bad idea, is it?
                  Last edited by jonpiper; 07-17-2020, 02:27 PM.

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                  • #39
                    Re: Picking Right Idea

                    Originally posted by jonpiper View Post
                    The play Hamilton is a great example. How hot is the idea of doing a play on the life of Alexander Hamilton? That undeveloped idea is not worth anything.
                    But it isn't a good or bad idea, is it?
                    If you've previously won a Tony Award and you are a singular talent, it's genius.

                    Comment


                    • #40
                      Re: Picking Right Idea

                      Originally posted by jonpiper View Post
                      The play Hamilton is a great example. How hot is the idea of doing a play on the life of Alexander Hamilton? That undeveloped idea is not worth anything.
                      But it isn't a good or bad idea, is it?
                      It's a bad idea if it doesn't work for 99.9% of the people in the world, right? It could have been called Jefferson or Washington -- the cool concept was retelling american history in his own special way... it's a bad idea unless you're Lin Manuel.

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                      • #41
                        Re: Picking Right Idea

                        Originally posted by jonpiper View Post
                        The play Hamilton is a great example. How hot is the idea of doing a play on the life of Alexander Hamilton? That undeveloped idea is not worth anything.
                        But it isn't a good or bad idea, is it?
                        The talent is in having the vision to know it's a good premise. LMM read the same biography by Ron Chernow that thousands of other people were reading in 2008. Any other writer could probably have even seen the usual biopic possibilities. Maybe only LMM's own personal experiences as the son of a NYC immigrant who was raised in Washington Heights in the 80s was the catalyst to fuse the history with the hip hop. But even there, "1776" was a hit musical back in the day so the basic idea of a Broadway show about one of the Founding Fathers is not some obscure premise.

                        https://youtu.be/WNFf7nMIGnE

                        Watching LMM perform a piece of Hamilton for the first time in public at the White House never gets old. The crowd goes from laughing at the idea to absolutely buying into the concept in the span of 4:00 minutes.

                        Comment


                        • #42
                          Re: Picking Right Idea

                          Originally posted by JoeBanks View Post
                          so the basic idea of a Broadway show about one of the Founding Fathers is not some obscure premise.
                          Joe, I agree with everything you said in your post.

                          My point is that that basic idea is neither right nor wrong. How does a writer know whether or not his or her idea is right or wrong?

                          In this case the basic idea led to the idea of writing a story concerning the basic idea and fusing it with hip hop or rap. Was that an example of the writer picking the right idea as defined by the OP? Just asking.

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                          • #43
                            Re: Picking Right Idea

                            Originally posted by jonpiper View Post
                            Joe, I agree with everything you said in your post.

                            My point is that that basic idea is neither right nor wrong. How does a writer know whether or not his or her idea is right or wrong?

                            In this case the basic idea led to the idea of writing a story concerning the basic idea and fusing it with hip hop or rap. Was that an example of the writer picking the right idea as defined by the OP? Just asking.
                            I mean it kind of becomes a self-proving proposition . . . "If you could have invented Facebook you would have invented Facebook."

                            We probably don't hear about all the bad versions of Star Wars that never got made before George Lucas's because either (1) they were just bad; or (2) nobody had the vision to see that Flash Gordon serials could be updated for the New Hollywood paradigm with 2001: ASO-level special effects. But in theory anyone who watched The Hidden Fortress before 1973 could have seen the possibilities in it and beat him to the sci-fi punch.

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                            • #44
                              Re: Picking Right Idea

                              Originally posted by Bono View Post
                              -- A great idea is one you can explain in one sentence
                              -- A better idea is one you can explain with just the title
                              -- The best idea to pick is one that YOU can write better than anyone. This is key.
                              I think you might be paraphrasing Michael Hauge
                              https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RGYHGc0pTeI&t=24s

                              John August I recall saying if you are choosing which idea to pick -- go with the one with the best ending.
                              I believe the original phrase is, 'tell a story you know the ending to'...

                              which I assume was a phrase lawmen in the old west used on criminals to say, 'don't lie...'

                              Also to me the best ideas are the ones you can't get out of your head. Stay with you.
                              Hollywood has become a used car lot and selling broken down stories to the public. I saw an HBO show the other night and couldn't believe how we've moved from writing stories for the masses -- to selling junkers as new and laughing about in the backroom.
                              Ricky Slade: Listen to me, I intentionally make this gun look that way because I am smart.

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                              • #45
                                Re: Picking Right Idea

                                Never read Michael's book and refuse to click on that link as I assume it's porn. Wait, I love porn. Nope that was just my thoughts off top of head -- sure I absorbed it from many places over the years.

                                Anyway -- in case I wasn't clear -- I wrote this thread to reach out to the few writers who might hear me. And that's to say -- take time to really consider if the idea you picked to write is good or just the first one you thought of.

                                No doubt in my mind, a lot of writers just jump in w/o thinking. And of course the other side of the coin is the writers who over think and never write. Somewhere in the middle is the place to me.

                                Using successful works to me is a bogus argument that isn't what I'm talking about. I'm talking to unsold writers and maybe considering if they are unsold not becuase of their writing abliity but of their inability to pick the right concept.

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