Stuck for a film idea?

I know this is a sitcom forum but i like to write movies too. I'd thought i'd share this little thing with you, I wonder if anybody else does this?

When i'm stuck for a film idea I write a list of all the genres and subgenres I can think of: crime, rom-com, spoof, satire, horror, psychological thriller, noir. And I put them all to one side, sometimes I make some up.

Then on the other side I write a list of all the things I am interested in or have personal knowledge of.

salesman, television, acting, sociology, homelessness, hollywood, travelling, Scotland, scottish accents...you name it, this list can be forever, computers, mobile phones, bosses from hell, extra work, exploitative runner jobs.

Then randomly pick two from each list and put it together in a coherent sentence. Have a few goes at doing this until you get one you like the sound of. Then write down a list of theme titles, usually it will have either something to do with human behavior or some emotion that you get when you see from the sentence you have made up, what does it make you feel? (because you are drawing from your personal experience and interests).

Then pick an opposite theme to the one that sounds the best. You then have an ark of conflict with whatever metaphor you want.

Honestly this really works (not all the time) but you get where i'm coming from.

Try it, you'll surprise yourself. Obviously the the film will be much more complex than this starting point but this is just done to get a tiny bit of inspiration.

I might be talking complete nonsense though, but this is what I do, am I alone?

Sounds like a good plan if it works for you, James.

I can honestly say I've NEVER been stuck for an idea though. I have at least 5-6 good ones currently floating around in my head and I can't get them written quick enough. I've written a short paragraph on each - should keep me going for the next five years!

Anyone want to buy an idea?

That's actually a good idea and I might borrow it next time I get stuck! Thanks for posting!

I came up with an idea for a film, last week. The frustrating thing about it, though, is the fact that I could've come up with the idea 7 years ago, as it was inspired by a book I read, back in 2001.

That seems like an interesting idea you've got there, James. I might give that a go one day.

Topic: Stuck for a film idea?

Nope.

I just decided to not like the idea of randomly generating ideas. It can be forgiven if you're really stuck for ideas or you need to knock up something quick. But what I'm thinking now is that if you want to create a sitcom or film or book that you would carefully choose a subject that meant a lot to you and that you put your heart into, something that was created by you, because you felt it needed to be seen. Randomly generated ideas seem cold and lack heart.

Of course I just had this opinion after reading this thread, so I haven't put any real thought into it, but what's new around here.

Not if the randomly generated ideas are stuff that is close to your heart. Just list all the things that mean a lot to you. Not anything.

It's just a way of sifting through the things that are important to you when getting idea for a movie.

But I know what you are saying.

Some people find it hard to be concise when writing about their ideas, i'm a bit of a scatterbrain so this method works for me.

Quote: Leevil @ October 19 2008, 6:37 PM BST

But what I'm thinking now is that if you want to create a sitcom or film or book that you would carefully choose a subject that meant a lot to you and that you put your heart into, something that was created by you, because you felt it needed to be seen. Randomly generated ideas seem cold and lack heart.

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Yeah I know what you're saying, turning an idea into a script takes a lot of time, patience and for me several hours in front of my laptop while my brothers are watching tv. I still like the idea though as, like you said if you're really stuck for an idea it could work and it'll still require time, patience and for me several hours in front of my laptop while my brothers are watching tv.

Nice- this will give me ideas for my next project