New Ideas

[Julysses]

Re: New Ideas

I think there is a forum to share pitches and discuss why they are poor.

There's also a forum to discuss basics. Which includes basic elements of screenwriting, format inclusion or exclusion, and how these mechanics work on a basic level.

[Crayon]

Re: New Ideas

I find Barnes and Noble to be a place where new ideas come to me... as I look at all the creative work around me, it's very inspiring. And sometimes you'll see a cover of a kids book about a unicorn and I'll go -- what if an adult male bought a real life unicorn and road it around NYC?

And I'm off...

In the near future, some adult males will probably 'evolve' to have a permanently-tumescent fleshy 'horn' on their forehead, but such men won't be called unicorns.

[Vango]

Re: New Ideas

Addendum to Will's last post: Please remember to discuss personal fantasies in the ONE ON ONE forum.

Thanks.

Lmao

[KitchonaSteve]

Re: New Ideas

...What are the ways people generate high concepts?
...And you can mash up two established concepts into something new -- for ex. the Blacklist script DON'T WORRY, DARLING is essentially The Stepford Wives + The Matrix.

I do something like this. I have a small app that mixes titles together. I used to use it regularly for my @DumbStoryIdeas twitter account. Here are a few of my favs:

• 12 Angry Men meets 28 Days Later--A jury ironically struggles to render a verdict in a zombie biting case as they slowly turn into zombies.
• Jaws meets Never Been Kissed--A girl on summer vacation makes several attempts at her first kiss, but a giant shark keeps eating the boys.
• When Harry Met Sally... meets Doom--2 bickering space marines who are clearly attracted to each other fight their feelings and hell beasts.
• Leaving Las Vegas meets Starman--A suicidal alien comes to Earth and hooks up with an introspective hooker, and goes out with a bang.
• The Vow meets Fire In The Sky--A hunky young husband tries everything to get his cute wife to remember him after she's abducted by aliens.
• Harold and Maude meets Hancock--A semi-suicidal nerd is taught how to live and love by an aging female superhero shortly before her death.
• Innerspace meets Animal House -- A shrunken scientist in a mini-sub accidentally gets injected into a frat boy on his way to spring break.
• King Kong meets Taken - A retired spy living on a tropical island must travel to NYC and use all his skills to rescue his giant ape friend.

These are obviously pretty jokey, but I've harvested a few good ideas from the practice.

HTH,

[Satriales]

Re: New Ideas

I've had a couple of phone calls recently with a young producer who likes my writing and wants to try and develop something together, but so far all my pitches to him have been met with a very polite... bleh...

Coming up with that killer premise is without a doubt my weakest writing muscle. I tend to start with a concept that interests me (or an homage to a movie I love) and then I find the story in the writing. I might end up with a great story, but you can't market 'it's great, trust me'.

What are the ways people generate high concepts?

I know you can play What If? (what if the nazis won the war?, what if scientists cloned dinosaur dna?, what if women stopped having babies?)


And you can mash up two established concepts into something new -- for ex. the Blacklist script DON'T WORRY, DARLING is essentially The Stepford Wives + The Matrix.

You can flip a genre: GHOST TOWN is SIXTH SENSE as a comedy, GAME NIGHT is THE GAME as a comedy (I can't think of any that go the other way).

The script I'm writing right now is very much like the (tragically unmade) script REAGAN, or WAG THE DOG, where I've invented an absurd conspiracy theory that somehow is comically plausible in retrospect.

You can mine Fairy Tales and Classic literature (and Twilight Zones) for fresh takes...

but what else do people do?

That Reagan script was so amazing and genius. What a disappointment. He was one of two good people in the story and the right wing still had a problem with it. What a sweet story that was.

[Bono]

Re: New Ideas

I think those are some smart ways to do.

Add more personal "what if" stories...

What if you could _____ (fly)

What if you were the only _____ (person alive on earth)

And yes genre flipping is great.

Or saying let me write my own Groundhog Day movie like they did with Palm Springs.

Or it's a Haunted House movie -- but it's the White House.

You can turn horror movies into comedies... I have many ideas based on that...

[kintnerboy]

Re: New Ideas

I've had a couple of phone calls recently with a young producer who likes my writing and wants to try and develop something together, but so far all my pitches to him have been met with a very polite... bleh...

Coming up with that killer premise is without a doubt my weakest writing muscle. I tend to start with a concept that interests me (or an homage to a movie I love) and then I find the story in the writing. I might end up with a great story, but you can't market 'it's great, trust me'.

What are the ways people generate high concepts?

I know you can play What If? (what if the nazis won the war?, what if scientists cloned dinosaur dna?, what if women stopped having babies?)

And you can mash up two established concepts into something new -- for ex. the Blacklist script DON'T WORRY, DARLING is essentially The Stepford Wives + The Matrix.

You can flip a genre: GHOST TOWN is SIXTH SENSE as a comedy, GAME NIGHT is THE GAME as a comedy (I can't think of any that go the other way).

The script I'm writing right now is very much like the (tragically unmade) script REAGAN, or WAG THE DOG, where I've invented an absurd conspiracy theory that somehow is comically plausible in retrospect.

You can mine Fairy Tales and Classic literature (and Twilight Zones) for fresh takes...

but what else do people do?

[docgonzo]

Re: New Ideas

I find Barnes and Noble to be a place where new ideas come to me... as I look at all the creative work around me, it's very inspiring. And sometimes you'll see a cover of a kids book about a unicorn and I'll go -- what if an adult male bought a real life unicorn and road it around NYC?

And I'm off...

Addendum to Will's last post: Please remember to discuss personal fantasies in the ONE ON ONE forum.

Thanks.

[Bono]

Re: New Ideas

I find Barnes and Noble to be a place where new ideas come to me... as I look at all the creative work around me, it's very inspiring. And sometimes you'll see a cover of a kids book about a unicorn and I'll go -- what if an adult male bought a real life unicorn and road it around NYC?

And I'm off...

[Done Deal Pro]

Re: New Ideas

Please remember to stay focused on the topic of coming up with "new ideas" in general and any method or approach you might have.

If you want to discuss developing specific ideas, please use the STORY & IDEA DEVELOPMENT forum. Or if you want to discuss films you like, please use the FILM forum below.

Thanks.

[Cyfress]

Re: New Ideas

I didn't think the Fan was that bad. I'd say like a 6.5/10.

[Bono]

Re: New Ideas

Slightly reminsicent of The Fan (1996), starring Robert DeNiro and Wesley Snipes, directed by Tony Scott. Don't know why it flopped so hard at the box office.

Could be any number of reasons. I never saw it, I recall trailer and thinking, it looked bad.

But I looked up box office wkd and Tin Cup came out same time, it's the end of summer, so I figure if you're going to the movies, probably going to see happy Costner sports film over the intense baseball thriller when real baseball is playing on your TV or at the ballpark. This was BC when we could leave our houses, remember those days?

Also Independence Day was still out...

Back in the day movies were in the theaters for more than 2 weeks! Crazy times!!!!

[Crayon]

Re: New Ideas

Slightly reminsicent of The Fan (1996), starring Robert DeNiro and Wesley Snipes, directed by Tony Scott. Dont know why it flopped so hard at the box office.

Surely it flopped because of the lame title. I told Tony to go with Ballpark Messiah - but would he listen!?

[Clint Hill]

Re: New Ideas

So we're doing new serial killer movie ideas? Hold on, give me a second ... ooh, here it comes ... ahhh, there you go:

BALLPARK MESSIAH

Crime Thriller

Tagline: Three strikes and you're dead.

The "baseball-bat murders" just appear violent and random until a devout virgin Catholic detective finds that each victim had filed for their third divorce.

Slightly reminsicent of The Fan (1996), starring Robert DeNiro and Wesley Snipes, directed by Tony Scott. Don’t know why it flopped so hard at the box office.

[Satriales]

Re: New Ideas

If ideas were easy I'd write six features a year.