Picking Right Idea
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Re: Picking Right Idea
Originally posted by lostfootage View PostSounds 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.
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,
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Re: Picking Right Idea
Originally posted by Bono View PostKeep 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.
What was the idea that led to a logline, story, and script for the movie Jaws?
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Re: Picking Right Idea
Originally posted by jonpiper View PostJust 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?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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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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Re: Picking Right Idea
Originally posted by jonpiper View PostSo I would argue there are no right or wrong ideas. Perhaps right or wrong stories that express an idea.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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Re: Picking Right Idea
Originally posted by jonpiper View PostThe 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?
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Re: Picking Right Idea
Originally posted by jonpiper View PostThe 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?
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Re: Picking Right Idea
Originally posted by jonpiper View PostThe 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?
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.
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Re: Picking Right Idea
Originally posted by JoeBanks View Postso the basic idea of a Broadway show about one of the Founding Fathers is not some obscure premise.
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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Re: Picking Right Idea
Originally posted by jonpiper View PostJoe, 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.
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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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.
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.
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.Ricky Slade: Listen to me, I intentionally make this gun look that way because I am smart.
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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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