I've Got an Idea for a Movie

I write down things. In fact I write down tons of things. If I hear someone say something funny, I tend to put it in the memory bank and write it down as soon as possible. I carry around a notepad and jot things down that I find ironic, interesting, or even mildly amusing. I do this because I must have read it in some screenwriting book and found it to be worthwhile. Of course sometimes I look like some old school cub reporter on the beat, but who cares what I look like if I’m writing down a hot idea.

Everyone has ideas that they think would make a great movie. We all know that most of these ideas suck, but if you have 50 ideas one of them will probably be decent. I tend to come up with at least one movie idea a week, and I keep a log of them all. I’m going through a 2^nd draft on my first screenplay, but I won’t have a problem with coming up with my next spec idea for at least a few years because I have a solid list of stories I want to explore already.

A lot of times my girlfriend asks me for advice on projects she’s developing and I can come up with stories at the drop of a hat. I don’t think coming up with stories is very hard. Maybe I have a gift or maybe I’m just overly confident, but I can petty much spit out a movie idea like it’s nothing. Last night my girlfriend asked me for advice about a script she has one of her clients working on. I spit out the first thing that came to my head and she ended up discussing it on a conference call with her partner an their client. They didn’t end up going with my concept, but they all thought it was a great idea and I’m sure my girlfriend took full credit. This has happened a few times.

Now if I do in fact have a knack for story all I need to do is get my writing skills up to par and then it will smooth sailing. If I ever do then I won’t necessarily have to write all of the stories that come to my head. I could just move into producing and have other writers do the dirty work. To me that’s the smartest thing to do. I love to write, but Hollywood is a business and the production hustle is much more lucrative. But for now, I’ll concentrate on honing my writing skills and getting my foot in the door first. Is that weird to want to produce, yet not direct?