I've got this (great) idea for a screenplay; now what?

[Sir Humphrey Appleby]

Depending on how crazy the film is and how much cash and time you have and how many willing participants you can find you could always make it yourself and stick it on Youtube and Pirate Bay. It might be harder to get the monkey if you're doing it yourself but you could always ask the local zoo if you can borrow one.

 

[odoreater]

I've produced a couple of films. You could just hire a screenwriter to help you turn your idea into a workable screen play. There are probably people out there who would even do it for a nice deferred payment to be paid if the screenplay is ever turned into a film.

 

[bringusingoodale]

Do I dare use my allowance for booze on Final Draft?

I can't take the do it yourself route because my only workable skill is sitting around and trying to polish a good story into a screen play, not trying to round up a ragamuffin crew to film a movie. I have a vision in my head and a ragamuffin budget and crew cannot meet the standards of my vision.

I think the hiring a screenwriter is very practical--too practical in fact. Part of my ambition is setting a story down myself into a working format. Of course, I say this now, maybe when I ready to quit on the second page I will think otherwise.

Working Title: The Naked Birth

 

[tagutcow]



Do I dare use my allowance for booze on Final Draft?
I can't take the do it yourself route because my only workable skill is sitting around and trying to polish a good story into a screen play, not trying to round up a ragamuffin crew to film a movie. I have a vision in my head and a ragamuffin budget and crew cannot meet the standards of my vision.
I think the hiring a screenwriter is very practical--too practical in fact. Part of my ambition is setting a story down myself into a working format. Of course, I say this now, maybe when I ready to quit on the second page I will think otherwise.
Working Title: The Naked Birth

Have you ever written any form of fiction before? Not to be discouraging, but I think you'll find that simply having a great idea for a movie is a different thing from constructing a story with complications and character developments and subplots. I like to think I'm a pretty capable guy, and I've had my fingers in more than a few pies, but I've resigned myself to the fact that writing a novel or feature-length screenplay is something far beyond my capabilities.

It's pretty easy to create an imaginary world. What's not so easy is making this imaginary world seem real and lived-in. Think about how you make a schedule or make a budget; it is only by adhering to this schedule or budget day in and day out that you learn what complications are likely to crop up, and how you can either eliminate them or adjust for them in the future. Well in fiction, you have to imagine the complications your characters are going to encounter even without the benefit of living their lives day in and day out.

One of my favorite scenes in any movie is the one in Men In Black where the recruits have to fill out a paper-and-pencil quiz in their Eero Saarinen egg chairs. So on the one hand you have this retro-futuristic fantasy world, and yet, on the other hand, you find out that in this fantastical world, performing a mundane task can prove very difficult! The writers created a fantasy world, but then they make it real to the viewer. In this case the effect is comedic, but the same principle can be used to dramatic effect, and I think this technique of making something real to the viewer- either real in the trivial, mundane aspects of life, or real in the broad, moral aspects- is the key to all good fiction.

 

[bringusingoodale]

Who's talking about creating good fiction, I'm talking a Hollywood salable good story here.

I also think I am a capable guy that appreciates good art and the talent and work that goes into creating it. Don't want to turn this into a amateur cover letter, but I once wrote a well received one act play that my university chose to produce for some play series festival thing (yea, nothing to brag about).

I know how ridiculous I sound and I know who mundane this is, especially given I live in Los Angeles. Another person with an idea. But I think I need a new hobby, so why not make this it?

 

[tagutcow]

NO!!! YOU WILL FAIL!!! YOUR DREAMS ARE SILLY!!! GIVE UP NOW!!!

 

[redcaimen]



Working Title: The Naked Birth

I already provided you with a title* and a memorable movie quote that you should build your screenplay around. If you hurry, the ragtag group of aging former mercenaries and Boy Band members who should make up your film crew will get this out in time for the quote to be used to devastating effect against Obama in the coming presidential debates in the same way Mondale sunk Harts presidential chances with the oratorical thunderclap, "Wheres the beef?"

* and its all about me.

1 "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn." Rhett Butler Clark Gable Gone with the Wind 1939
2 "I'm going to make him an offer he can't refuse." Don Vito Corleone Marlon Brando The Godfather 1972
3 "You don't understand! I coulda had class. I coulda been a contender. I could've been somebody, instead of a bum, which is what I am."[2] Terry Malloy Marlon Brando On the Waterfront 1954
4 "Toto, I've got a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore." Dorothy Gale Judy Garland The Wizard of Oz 1939
5 "Here's looking at you, kid." Rick Blaine Humphrey Bogart Casablanca 1942
6 "Go ahead, make my day" Harry Callahan Clint Eastwood Sudden Impact 1983
7 "All right, Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my close-up."[3] Norma Desmond Gloria Swanson Sunset Boulevard 1950
8 "May the Force be with you." Han Solo Harrison Ford Star Wars 1977
9 "Fasten your seatbelts. It's going to be a bumpy night." Margo Channing Bette Davis All About Eve 1950
10 "You talkin' to me?" Travis Bickle Robert De Niro Taxi Driver 1976
11 "What we've got here is failure to communicate."[4] Captain Strother Martin Cool Hand Luke 1967
12 "A Squirrel Monkey isnt anything like a cat!" Tapper Keegan Steve Buscemi New Sheriff In FunkyTown 2013

 

[tagutcow]



I already provided you with a title* and a memorable movie quote that you should build your screenplay around. If you hurry, the ragtag group of aging former mercenaries and Boy Band members who should make up your film crew will get this out in time for the quote to be used to devastating effect against Obama in the coming presidential debates in the same way Mondale sunk Harts presidential chances with the oratorical thunderclap, "Wheres the beef?"
* and its all about me.

I actually tried to Google this quote when you first posted it… just goes to show how convincing it is!