Checking whether your story premise has been done before

Collapse

Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • Checking whether your story premise has been done before

    Hi to the DoneDealPro community--and many thanks for sharing so much useful information and wisdom. These forums are helping me get off the ground as a new screenwriter.

    I'm wondering...

    Can you recommend some good online resources for researching whether a story premise has already been done or is currently in the works?

    Do you think the databases associated with the online trades are worth the fees? Is one better than another?

    (Sorry if these questions have been addressed before, but I can't seem to find answers using the forum's search function.)

  • #2
    Re: Checking whether your story premise has been done before

    You can do a search of the Done Deal Script Sales Archive (you'll have to join Done Deal Pro, I think it's about $25) ... also you can do a search on imdb.com, and a search on variety.com and/or hollywoodreporter.com ...

    Comment


    • #3
      Re: Checking whether your story premise has been done before

      Using IMDBpro you can set up an advanced search based on keywords that users have used to describe the film. I think you might also be able to go look at a film, then click on the keywords that have been associated with it to get a list of other films wit those keywords.

      For a bunch of other reasons too, I've found IMDBpro to be one of my best investments.
      Steven Palmer Peterson

      Comment


      • #4
        Re: Checking whether your story premise has been done before

        You can't beat Done Deal or trackingb.com (but it's new).

        EJ

        Comment


        • #5
          Re: Checking whether your story premise has been done before

          I'll remove all doubt for you about your story: do you believe that in the 3000 years of recorded story telling, you have a story that has NEVER been told before?


          Answer that with a simple yes or no, and you'll be fine.

          Comment


          • #6
            Re: Checking whether your story premise has been done before

            They already did it on The Simpsons.

            Comment


            • #7
              Re: Checking whether your story premise has been done before

              And they aren't shy about lifting a story line either.

              Comment


              • #8
                Re: Checking whether your story premise has been done before

                The only thing you have to worry about are films in the past 20 years - and you've probably been alive long enough to know about most of those. That leaves recent sales - and everyone has given you answers for that.

                I'd make sure my idea was strange/creative enough that the odds of someone else coming up with it are reduced, and personal enough that only you could tell this version of the story.

                - Bill
                Free Script Tips:
                http://www.scriptsecrets.net

                Comment


                • #9
                  Re: Checking whether your story premise has been done before

                  Many thanks to all for the helpful suggestions.

                  Among the several resources, is there one that outshines the others in terms of content (e.g. depth and breadth of synopsis coverage)?

                  Is there one that's better in terms of search functionality and flexibility (e.g. and/or/not operators, wildcards, phrase searching)?

                  Thanks again.

                  -Rich

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Re: Checking whether your story premise has been done before

                    Originally posted by whistlelock View Post
                    I'll remove all doubt for you about your story: do you believe that in the 3000 years of recorded story telling, you have a story that has NEVER been told before?
                    We're not talking about all of history, we're talking about 100 years of film.

                    I always check to see if my ideas has already been used. I just search by keyword on imdb.com and if I don't find anything within 20 minutes, I usually conclude that if there is a film like my idea out there, it's probably so obscure or well-hidden that nobody would notice even if I wrote a carbon copy of it.

                    So far, I have never found any existing film that too closely resembles one of my screenplays.

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Re: Checking whether your story premise has been done before

                      I'd have to agree IMDb is prety good for this purpose. The regular free version will be fine for turning up most films. You need Pro to get info on films that are in development, but something in development most likely won't have a lot of keywords in the system yet anyway.

                      I start out either searching by keyword myself, or looking to see what keywords a film with similar elements might have and using those as a jumping off point. Once you get those results, you can refine them by other search terms. I also like to see what other keywords are listed for the films the search brings up, because since the keyword listings are mostly user-generated, there are a lot of overlapping terms. So say you search by "cop killer," for whatever reason. That may bring up a movie that, when you look at its keywords, also has the phrase "killed in the line of duty." So then you can click on that phrase and maybe turn up films your original search term missed.

                      Or something like that. But you can learn quite a lot with a bit of investigative clicking around IMDb, that's for sure.
                      The difference between the almost right word & the right word is really a large matter -- it's the difference between the lightning bug and the lightning. - Mark Twain

                      Comment

                      Working...
                      X