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What do you do with an idea?

post #1 of 16
3/8/03 at 4:08pm
Thread Starter 
So I've got several great plots in my head that I'm going to start laying out and then scripting but i'll be lucky to be able to make a film no sooner than 5+ years from now if ever. What do I do with the scripts? Sit on them or sell them?
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post #2 of 16
3/8/03 at 5:21pm
If you can truly just "sell them" - SELL THEM.

If you're asking whether or not you should try to pitch them to production companies or keep them for your own eventual production - well, I suppose it depends on how attached you are to the finished material.

There are things I've written where I look at them and I feel like I'm the only person who could do it right - then there are things I've written that I think anyone could do justice with no difficulty whatsoever.

If you think you have avenues to pitch and sell them, try - and see if you can't attach yourself to direct. Why do you have this five year barricade on it? Maybe if you sell something - it will finance one of your other things?

Worth a try if you have the connections...

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post #3 of 16
3/8/03 at 5:26pm
This is what I do, that doesn't mean you should do the same...

Step 1:
I carry around a Sony Clear Voice Microcassette-corder with me. Whenever I have any idea I will just talk into the thing. I seriously recomend this because I would bet 98% of anyone's creative ideas just dissapear if you don't write them down or record them. I will sometimes use it when I am watching a movie I have never seen on DVD so I can remember things that inspired me. I recorded about two minutes worth of tape when I watched the 8 1/2 dvd.

Step 2:
Organize your ideas in some way, and then just write. It's important to not be critical of your ideas initially because that will keep you from being productive. Just write and write and write. Eventually the shit will transform into something worthwhile.
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post #4 of 16
3/8/03 at 6:09pm
Thread Starter 
As always great advice. I actually have a digital recorder that i record ideas on. I've been doing that for awhile due to the insane amount of things that go through my head on a daily basis. It works great.

8 1/2, great movie!

I guess I'll just see what happens when I finish writing. Maybe they'll be personal maybe not.
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post #5 of 16
3/8/03 at 7:37pm
Thread Starter 
Oh yeah, the 5 year deal. No real reason just a realistic estimate of how long it would take me to acquire funding, knowledge and experience to do something feature length.
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post #6 of 16
3/8/03 at 9:39pm
I would have attempted to make an indie film a long time ago if I felt it was still a viable way to break into the industry. The golden age of indie films is fucking dead. For every film that gets distribution there are thousands that don't.
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post #7 of 16
3/9/03 at 1:46am
Thread Starter 
For me it's not about "getting discoverd". It's something I've had a desire to be able to do almost my entire life and accomplishing that is for me. I could give a shit if whatever I make eventually is liked or understood by anybody as long as I'm happy with it. I'll do my best not to stop until I'm happy with it.
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post #8 of 16
3/9/03 at 5:56am
Quote:
Sean Bateman, Samurai Journalist:
I would have attempted to make an indie film a long time ago if I felt it was still a viable way to break into the industry. The golden age of indie films is fucking dead. For every film that gets distribution there are thousands that don't.
but its the best way to learn. learn by doing. don't do an indie because it is how you get in, do an indy because you like to make movies. Right?
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post #9 of 16
3/10/03 at 5:59am
Quote:
Starving Dogs:
Quote:
Sean Bateman, Samurai Journalist:
I would have attempted to make an indie film a long time ago if I felt it was still a viable way to break into the industry. The golden age of indie films is fucking dead. For every film that gets distribution there are thousands that don't.
but its the best way to learn. learn by doing. don't do an indie because it is how you get in, do an indy because you like to make movies. Right?
Absolutely right, thats the best advice, it really is.
You cant go into making movies just because u think its a 'cool' job and makes lots of money. I'm sure that thousands dont get picked up but the more you hone your skills the better your movies will be, the better they are the more chance you have of getting it noticed.
Yes there are thousands that dont make it but there truely is an awful lot of dross out there, if yours is a better movie (and u stick with it) it will get noticed, be patient.
Its all about how you approach it, if u go in with the 'well thousands never make it, why should mine have a chance' attitude your highly unlikely to get anywhere.
But if you persevere and keep making the movies to the best of ur abilities and sending them in for comps and fests then u have as much chance as the next person.
Just dont give up.
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post #10 of 16
3/10/03 at 6:03am
I haven't given up. If I had to sleep on a piss stained mattress and eat ramen noodles for ten years while suffering from a severe case of gangrene I would.
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post #11 of 16
3/10/03 at 4:56pm
Quote:
Sean Bateman, Samurai Journalist:
I would have attempted to make an indie film a long time ago if I felt it was still a viable way to break into the industry. The golden age of indie films is fucking dead. For every film that gets distribution there are thousands that don't.
Spoken like a true veteran. Are you a true vet?

If you want to make movies, the 'INDUSTRY' shouldn't matter. Make your goddamn movie. I'd rather watch your 'indie' film rather than the shite at the local 'plex.

Even during the so-called golden age of the Miramax Empire (assuming that's the one you're referring to, and not similar renaissances in the 50s, 60s, 70s and 80s), most interesting productions weren't finding distibution (there's a lot of crazy good shit)... There was just a helluvalot more brave and willing souls running around with rented equipment and half-written scripts.

More and more film grads and hopefuls are not really aspiring filmmakers... they're aspiring suits. It's depressing, but a reality.

Like Kubrick said about his first feature, "Fear and Desire"... an INDIE in an age supposedly without indies (which is untrue)... he didn't come to Hollywood brandishing his movie, Hollywood came to his movie hunting for him.
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post #12 of 16
3/11/03 at 11:43pm
Thread Starter 
I think Indie films are becoming pretty popular actually. MBFGW made a gazillion freakin dollars at the box office.
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post #13 of 16
3/19/03 at 11:39pm
Yah ive been meaning to get a recorder myself. Damn this board is great, haha, seriously i never really came into the section much before but im glad i did. So many people that think alike, its no wonder that its hard to break into it. Too many schmucks in the way of people with real ideas. Hope to meet some of you guys on our trips into the biz, if we ever make it that is.

Adding to methds of gathering idea's i also like to just start with a small concept in my mind, and just put it on paper. Once i get it on paper i can expand things add stuff in take some out. Just mold it into my own creation. I hate to just dive into a script, it ends up cluttering my thoughts with things taht werent planned, and i end up rewriting more than anything.

If anyone ever wants to talk about this stuff, drop me a line at either ClericNismo@hotmail.com on my MSN Instant Messenger or ClericNismo on AIm. From what im seeing a lot of you are in the same frame of mind as me.
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post #14 of 16
3/20/03 at 2:41am
sounds like great advice, ANIMAL, you're an indispensable guide, as for the tape recorder thing, it does work for many, personally i find it to be anti-productive, like whenever i have recording devices on me i never get any ideas, and when i don't have them handy, i have to rely on napkins or scrap paper, i tend to use a small inconspicuous pad, but i always carry a pen, i forget about both and then i act as if i had neither, just a thought when preparing to carry around a bulky mini-cassete recorder, we're all not agent dale cooper, so definitely experiment and see what works best...

for the five year plan, it never works, you've already limited yourself and you've given yourself leeway for the "well i've got five years" excuse, do what you feel you gotta do now...

"You wanna know how to make god laugh? Tell him your plans."
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post #15 of 16
3/20/03 at 2:45am
Thread Starter 
I appreciate the enthusiasm New Order but that's easier said than done. I just started a company so I have too much going on now anyway. In a year it'll be running itself and I can do what I have to do then with a steady income.
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post #16 of 16
3/20/03 at 3:52am
Quote:
Floydian Trip:
I appreciate the enthusiasm New Order but that's easier said than done. I just started a company so I have too much going on now anyway. In a year it'll be running itself and I can do what I have to do then with a steady income.
understandable, putting things in your life in some assemblance of order is extremely important, oh how i've tried, it's just easier to lose site of things than to hold on to them, wish you the best...
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