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Where to get ideas for a film?

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indie_sc

Hi I'm new here. I just did a search on the topic of where to get ideas for stories that can be made into a film and didn't really see any threads that addressed this so I thought I'd start one.

I have a lot of production experience and feel like I could write scripts easily. My problem is that I can't seem to come up with any ideas worth developing into a script. I'm talking more about fictional stories... I know I could make a documentary but that doesn't appeal to me right now.

Can anyone here suggest methods or techniques that you have used to come up with script ideas? Are there any good websites or books that can help?

I used to have an imagination... but old age and living in a rut has caused it to stagnate I guess. It just needs a jump-start.
 
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Ideas can come from anywhere. I use free association for some stuff and also create bad ideas on purpose (out of ten tries at a good idea you can get nine bad, so out of ten bad ideas you can get one good), because it’s more fun trying. Start writing loglines until you strike gold.

There are threads on the subject here, somewhere.

-Thanks-
 
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As Buddy said, ideas can come from anywhere. You've got to be thinking about it all the time, asking the "what if..." question.

Let me give you an example. I wrote a feature script called "Galahad." Now I'm not saying the idea behind it is great, or that the script itself is great, but here's how it came about.

I happened to watch a movie I hadn't seen in years, called "Cat Ballou." In it, Lee Marvin won an Oscar for his portrayal of a drunken, washed-up gunslinger hired by Jane Fonda to save her ranch from the bad-guys.

I thought what if a character similar to Marvin's was transplanted to the present. I came up with a washed-up drunken former 60's radical attorney is hired by a family to save their ancestral home from being seized by a corrupt city mayor.

It's not a remake of Cat Ballou, but I DID borrow the kernel idea and changed it and made it my own.

Ideas can come from other movies, or from books, or from real-life experiences or just out of the blue. A story-teller who doesn't have a story to tell is in deep shit. You've GOT to be passionate about something, right? Find your passion and tell the story.

Good luck!
 
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I gotta go with the popular idea that ideas can come from anywhere. You just have to kind of relax your mind to the concept. Don't obsess about coming up with a good idea. That almost never works to your advantage. Instead just kind of relax, believe with all sincerity in your mind and its ability to surprise you. I know I'm kind of simplifying it, but that's honestly the way it works for me. My best stories to date have been the ones where I was simply not worried about coming up with something and didn't do anything more extreme than keeping my eyes and ears open to the world around me.
 
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Buy a journal at the local bookstore. Before you go to bed each night write down one movie idea. Even if it's the worst movie idea ever - just write something. After a few weeks you will have 20-30 ideas and something will either be good or cause you to have a good idea. Remember bad ideas lead to good ideas.
Best of luck
 
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I free write like crazy. Often times, my screenplays will start with two characters sitting in a dining room doing something absurd, and I just kind of follow it. Have characters come in and out, follow them, cut to the neighbors house, etc until I come up with something.

By the end of the outlining and editing, those free-write scenes are usually done away with, but a speck of the interaction that it birthed is extrapolated and added to for the final product. It's just how I get my juices flowing.

Also, as papertwinproductions said, Live. I suggest hitting on the girls next to you at red lights rather than bashfully avoiding eye contact.
 
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Ideas for me seem to come from association. Whether I see a film and think of how it could be better, or there is always what if?'s and such. I just write down a sentence or two that is my idea for the story. My notepad has over 80 at the moment. Some I like, some I love, some I don't think i could pull off, some are just underdeveloped or bad.

Just keep a notepad, doesn't have to be on you 24/7. I use the notepad on my email account and just add things in when I get a chance.

Most importantly....just life live, do exciting things once in awhile.
 
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Brainstorming is the greatest tool you have to come up with an idea. Write down every and anything that comes to mind about the subject you choose. Then start to connect the dots how you see fit.


But I hope you don't mind me quoting you on something, but I couldn't resist.


I could write scripts easily. My problem is that I can't seem to come up with any ideas worth developing into a script.
Click to expand...

Some how this does jive with me, I have a feeling you will have a tough time writing a script. I can only believe by the quote above that you haven't written one yet.

Good luck.
 
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wridingrlm said:
Brainstorming is the greatest tool you have to come up with an idea. Write down every and anything that comes to mind about the subject you choose. Then start to connect the dots how you see fit.
Click to expand...

Correct me if I'm wrong but I'll take that a step further and say that writing with someone else is easier than doing it yourself - as in throw ideas off of someone else. I know it works like that in mixing - giving an idea and brainstorming with someone else.

That's just my opinion, though. I'd be curious to see how many writers work absolutely solo or if they have a team sometimes.
 
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ROC said:
Correct me if I'm wrong but I'll take that a step further and say that writing with someone else is easier than doing it yourself - as in throw ideas off of someone else. I know it works like that in mixing - giving an idea and brainstorming with someone else.

That's just my opinion, though. I'd be curious to see how many writers work absolutely solo or if they have a team sometimes.
Click to expand...

I've worked solo and with teams, once I worked with a team of 7 on a script. I agree that brainstorming with others can be effective, but there is a large learning curve when working with a team. Many writers have issues with large egos getting in their way.

I'm even working with a couple of people right now on a project and it started to become a disaster at the first rewrite. I would explain the whole situation but I think it might get long and confusing.
 
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I call rough draft scriptwriting -- playing 'Quick-God'. For me, the ideas are extremely easy. Cause you create all the characters, their arcs, the environment you place them in, the 3-act play with plot points and climatic end -- WITH the most white paper on the page as possible... As Quick-God, I can write a 90 page script in three days -- with long coffee breaks, huge dinners, several showers and lots of sleep.

BUT, the re-writes and polishing take time and hard work -- the reflection of reality sets in (especially if you hope to make the movies from your own scripts). Ideas come and go. LOL. Two characters become one (or visa versa). Locations change. Economics (reality) kick(s) in. No longer Quick-God but a scrounging peasant trying to make the 'vision' ring true. Yikes. I am still re-writing and polishing scripts that I started many, many years ago. I have over thirty scripts on file... and those are just the ones with polish!

The more wide your interests are, (but -- you have to take research to the extreme(s) -- gotta' do your homework if you want to ring true) the more ideas you get hit with. Daily. I almost always share my polished work (after copr. and reg.) but rarely do the 'group' thing unless time is really a factor. Such is the vision of Quick-God (literally wants to play God)! Besides. Too many cooks can (and will) ruin the broth.

Ideas are the easiest. Polish, taking it to the screen -- not so easy. LOL. My last full-length feature (from 2004) -- could have been (should have been) three separate movies or a 12-hour miniseries instead of a 95 minute WTF (although haunt does make perfect sense). Still LOL. Over the past six years -- I had to learn to write (and make the ideas real -- coherent and consistent for a twelve year old to understand). Really write. But the ideas? That's the easy stuff. With film making -- the more you know -- the more you learn that you don't know enough...

Ideas? Easy stuff. Just ask yourself -- what do YOU want to see on the screen?

My two cents -- I am not rich -- I am not famous -- just another poor, creative type behind a computer keyboard and screen.
 
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@wridingrlm Gotcha. Forgot about the ego part.

Is there ever an problem when you doctor a script? Or is the director smart enough to not let the script doctor contact the original author? Just curious.
 
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Personally, I find brainstorming with someone helps keep the ideas flowing. It can stagnate easily if you work on it alone and isolate and end up getting very frustrating. Just talk about it to people (whose opinions you respect), toss ideas around and keep a notebook or dictaphone with you at all times.

I keep my notebook with me all the time and some pages are virtually illegible because my attempts to get an idea down before it disappears leads to something like a web of doctor's signatures.
 
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I don't know how well I'd work with a team. I'm going to be working on a script with one of my friends. He isn't the smartest guy but he is a good guy. He is one of my main actors and we though we'd do a script together.

I don't know how it'll go because in my opinion I don't respect a lot of his story ideas. All his ideas are like cliche action ideas. So yeah definately when working with a team or co-writer make sure you pick some original people.

I'm also not a fan of the idea thing because I hate having my ideas undermined...somewhat selfish yes, but you can't let your vision be spoiled.
 
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From this forum of course, no need to do any work.. seriously, ideas are cheap and easy, you can have a dozen for free.. .. the WORK in writing a script is in the execution..

I noticed that making movies seems to be a part of many movies.. I watched "Shrink" over the weekend, its not really About making movies, but most the charters are involved in the biz..

Find a topic your interested in, but don't know anything about.. like say.. Rose gardening.. everyone likes pretty roses.. Your first FREE idea is ...

A shy, lonely man wants to win the heart of the beautiful woman next door. His love is shown in the tender care he gives to her neglected rose bushes. (rife with innuendo aint it!)

You get to decided if and how she responds..

In researching about roses you might stumble on something that is really cool.. like that flowers are sexual organs, or that there was a bee die off a few years ago that threatened world wide food supplies...
 
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You don't happen to be anywhere near Pensacola, eh?

Also, while it's not necessarily directly about where to get ideas, it's still pretty awesome.

"Nothing is original. Steal from anywhere that resonates with inspiration or fuels your imagination. Devour old films, new films, music, books, paintings, photographs, poems, dreams, random conversations, architecture, bridges, street signs, trees, clouds, bodies of water, light and shadows. Select only things to steal from that speak directly to your soul. If you do this, your work (and theft) will be authentic. Authenticity is invaluable; originality is nonexistent. And don’t bother concealing your thievery — celebrate it if you feel like it. In any case, always remember what Jean-Luc Godard said: 'It’s not where you take things from — it’s where you take them to.'" - Jim Jarmusch
 
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Ideas

Some Script Tips on Ideas:

Story From Character:
http://www.scriptsecrets.net/tips/tip166.htm

Idea A Day:
http://www.scriptsecrets.net/tips/tip360.htm

They Stole My Idea:
http://www.scriptsecrets.net/tips/tip352.htm

High Concept/Small Budget:
http://www.scriptsecrets.net/tips/tip290.htm

You Have The Wrong Idea:
http://www.scriptsecrets.net/tips/tip214.htm

2nd Idea Theory:
http://www.scriptsecrets.net/tips/tip167.htm

Die Hard In A...
http://www.scriptsecrets.net/articles/d-h-ina.htm

I'm going to delete this in a couple of weeks, please do not quote it in the thread.

- Bill
 
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Wobat, my all time favorite SNL skit..


Fast Food PATRON ordering at speaker:
Ill take a cheeseburger, french Fries and a Pepsi cola!

Fast Food Order Speaker:
You want buy Franchise in Pensacola?

PATRON: What..?
 
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