So there you are, working away on your story that you love and you’re about to start page one when you think “hey I wonder what’s going on in the world of specs?” You go to deadline or Hollywood reporter or Variety or comingsoon.net (no?) and you check and see what’s been selling lately…
And there it is…
Your great story idea has just been sold for mid 6 figures and has the whole world attached to it.
You’re crushed.
So you drink and think about giving up on this writing thing.
Take heart. We’ve all been there.
This scenario could be tweaked to your liking, such as you’ve just finished your first draft, have copywritten it for safety and a friend texts you at 3 am with a link to an article where a new green lit movie has a logline that is eeeeeeerily similar to yours.
Again, we’ve all been there, but know also that I have been there.
I personally have at least 3 people in my life who get high on telling me an idea I pitched them years ago just sold and how sorry they are for me that I can’t go with that idea anymore.
To that,I LOL.
Yes, lol I say! ROFLCOPTER AND ALL
Now, why.
Why do I laugh when someone tells me my idea has been stolen? Specifically an idea I haven’t pitched around LA or told my management about or pitched to more than a handful of trusted companions?
Because ideas are a dime a dozen (despite what I said last week).
I am a firm believer in the whole ‘it’s all been done before,’ belief. I don’t try to reinvent the wheel every time I sit down to start a new story.
What I do try to do is twist that concept into something else.
I would recommend the book 20 Master Plots for anyone who doesn’t believe me. I’ve read this book about ten times and each time, I feel like I find another gem.
Now to the meat.
How do we do this? Well, I’ll tell you a story from the trenches.
I came to my manager one day with a pitch for a show about people who go into other people’s dreams and change things. Original, right? Not even a little. I mean, you could point to Inception if you wanted to, but I remember back in 2005 a comic by J. Michael Strazinski called “Dream Police” about the same thing. What was the difference from what I was bringing to the table? No one had done it in TV show format.
The idea was rightfully rejected as it should have been.
There was no execution, no cool character, no nothing. Just a passing thought, really. Furthermore, and this is the most important part, he told me several other people had pitched to him this kind of idea but no one had any execution worth pursuing. Literally every writer has a jump into dream pitch, so it was best to try something else.
So how does one take the twist of people jumping into dreams and make it something unique and new?
I present to you all Reverie.
This was a pretty cool show on NBC where a detective jumped into VIRTUAL REALITY in order to help people who were in comas.
This is what I’m talking about. The creator of the show took the idea of dream hopping, but took the concept and TWISTED it into something else that just so happens to be increasingly popular as time goes on: VR.
So as an exercise, look at one of your older ideas and try twisting a portion of the plot into something that has recently been news worthy, whether that be in the world of tech, politics or game shows.
So yes, Reverie. It was a new twist on a familiar concept.
Let’s do another.
Time Travel is wicked popular. So are time loops. Anything involving time and messing around with it usually raises eyebrows or at the very least, will get you some attention. We all bow down at the table of Groundhog Day and thank the hollywood stars that people love that movie as much as they do. There is an insane amount of work that can be traced back to that movie, but you can’t just say “oh it’s groundhog’s day” because there’s already been THE Groundhog’s Day.
But what if, you made it a rom com from the female perspective? Check out MEET CUTE: http://scriptshadow.net/new-top-25-script-review-coming-in/
What if you want it to be an action movie? Well, then you’ve got Eat, Pray, Love.
Er, I meant, Live, Die, Repeat.
SORRY. I MEANT EDGE OF TOMORROW.
What if you wanted to make it a historical action piece? What if you wanted to make it a serialized TV show? I really, REALLY enjoyed NBC’s Timeless and would recommend it. It took the time travel “you can’t change stuff” trope and really twisted it on its head. A great show that got 2 seasons and a movie.
One more example.
How does one do a rom-com these days?
I’m talking about one of the biggest box office guarantees of a mid to low budget, with two stars who we just can’t wait to get together?
You could either do the hallmark model, or you could do something like Crazy Rich Asians or The Big Sick. or you can REALLY go crazy with something like Zombie boy meets non-zombie girl with Warm Bodies.
All I’m trying to say is, the next time you feel defeated that your precious idea was stolen, twist the idea and re-examine your execution.
There was a moment last decade where two scripts went out the same week and both were about strip mall taekwando places. Neither sold (per my memory), but there was still a chance that either could take their concept in a new and exciting way.
Just try mashing things up and don’t give up. Here’s another exercise: Go to your local book store, grab a bunch of topical magazines (Popular Science, Car and Driver, Women’s Fitness, Croche Weekly, wahatever) and see what’s new and exciting in a variety of fields. Can ANY of these things add a new layer of depth to your story and twist what’s a common idea into something new and unique?
That’s all I’m trying to get at…
Because not five years ago did a script I spent 3 years working on suddenly pop up on deadline and get turned into a tv show that has 3 seasons now.
I had all those messages from people saying how sorry they felt for me and encouraging me to go onto something else.
Guess what?
I’m not done with the idea yet.
Further, I’m not done with the execution yet either. I still have plans to try and send that spec out into the world. Someday. Just not yet.
Remember, all things can be made new again. Romcoms kind of died after Matthew Mcconaughey went onto action and Kate Hudson went into hiding, but man oh man are they back in fashion again.
So don’t give up. And best of luck to you all!
