(UN)ORIGINAL IDEAS

Posted by ashley on Wednesday, April 28, 2010 in Articles • Featured Articles • Writers • Ben Magid • Script Development • Business Tips • (14) Comments • Permalink •

I recently went on a general meeting at a studio, which I won't name, and asked if they were looking for original ideas. The answer was, "We are always looking for original ideas. As long as they are based on underlying material like a comic book or video game or novel." I sat there a bit confused, then finally responded, "So you're answer is no then? If it's based on someone else's IP, then it really isn't an original, is it?" Then he sat there a bit confused. He didn't understand what I was talking about.

And he's not alone. In today's marketplace, original ideas carry little weight. Studios are risk averse and are only looking for sure things. Sure things equate to pre-awareness. Comic books, novels, video games, remakes, sequels. They are counting on making their money back opening weekend. The odd thing is, many of these materials have zero pre-awareness to them, and are fairly derivative concepts as well. I'm a comic book fan, and I've never heard of some of these titles getting set up at studios or sent to me for an assignment. And if I haven't heard of them, 99.9% of the world hasn't either.

The main aspect to be considered is quality. Everyone knows Superman, yet the recent film lacked in my opinion. Or you can take Iron Man, a well known comic inside of the comic world, but not really that well known outside of it; yet, it was a great movie. Recent hits like Avatar, District 9 and The Hangover all performed exceeding well with relatively smaller actors, yet all had compelling stories.

A lot of producers and writers now try to convert their scripts to comic books to help sell them to the studios. It's an odd business model. A comic costs about 5 to 10 thousand dollars to make. The studio will then have to option the rights to the comic book, add another producer's (the comic book publisher) salary, and then pay a writer, or writers, to write the script, when all they had to do from the beginning was read the original script, pay the writer, and save a lot of money. Some say that a comic helps the studio exec "see" the movie. I say, if your imagination is that limited, you are in the wrong business.

In the end, it should come down to the story and how it is told, not what it is or isn't based on. But that's just my opinion.

Screenwriter Ben Magid is best known for thinking outside the box, creating high concept worlds and big ideas. Magid entered the entertainment industry in 2006 with the sale of PAN to New Line Cinema, a revisionist take on Peter Pan that garnered mention on the Black List. He went on to write HACK/SLASH for Rogue Pictures, scheduled to shoot early 2010. He has worked with Legendary Pictures on BIGFOOT, Level One Entertainment on THE MAZE and sold his spec script INVASION in 2009 to Participant and Summit produced by Strike Entertainment and Eli Roth. His script ATLAS has been optioned by the producers of Paranormal Activity. Currently developing a TV show with Warner Horizon / Warner Bros, Magid is also active in the comic book world, with the upcoming debute of graphic novel TROUT published by Arcana Comics due out in 2010. He is repped in film by Mike Esola and Rob Carlson at WME and Brooklyn Weaver at Energy Entertainment, and in television by David Stone and Richard Weitz at WME. 

Posted by (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)  on  May 01, 2010 at 03:18 PM

That’s a very sad statement of affairs; I’ve been working on getting the ideas for an original series of scripts down pat since I was 15.  After 23 years of work, this article basically tells me I might as well forget receiving any calls from anyone about it, because they don’t want to take any chances, so half a lifetime of work has effectively been flushed down the proverbial toilet.

Posted by (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)  on  May 02, 2010 at 04:54 AM

I understand and appreciate your point of view. Thank you for sharing it. What are your thoughts on scripts that lampoon modern reality television? I have a script stepped out about a tone-deaf Elvis impersonator who enters a nationwide idol-type reality competition based on the life of Elvis. It is a lot of fun, and partially inspired by an actual impersonator I know, but if there isn’t a market for it, why bother, right? Just want to get your opinion. The worst thing they could say is no, but I really haven’t ventured out much because I’m afraid of being rejected. Thank you.

Posted by (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)  on  May 07, 2010 at 08:15 AM

It has been that way in the Studio system for a long time. They have worked and produced by formula since the early on. Hedging, their bets. Now, it what’s hot in Comic books, vid games and youth draw. It is assembly line production, tried and true. The masses, follow it, just like they the lastest hot cars etc etc…  But, then again. It’s what gives indies such a market.  Put out your best, and write on!!

Posted by (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)  on  May 07, 2010 at 09:48 AM

Great insight. I have got so many ‘original’ ideas

Posted by (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)  on  May 07, 2010 at 10:12 AM

This is precisely what I have been thinking for quite a while now. I’m hoping that when the economy recovers a bit that we will see them loosen their belts and take on some original scripts. Another question that also has been on my mind -is there also a real lack of great original scripts being created?
Thanks for the article, wish more people in the business would recognize what you could see clearly.

Posted by (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)  on  May 07, 2010 at 05:21 PM

Christopher: As a beginning writer, you need those original scripts to get you noticed. Whether they sell or get made is out of your hands. At the end of the day, your just the writer putting your best work out there. But those original scripts are what will get you noticed, and will hopefully get you assignments writing those bigger studio jobs, most likely based on a comic or video game. So don’t give up, keep writing. Even if the material isn’t original, Hollywood still needs original voices and writers to write them.

Posted by (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)  on  May 07, 2010 at 05:27 PM

Shannon: essentially, Slumdog Millionaire is a satirical look on reality tv, told from a dramatic angle, so that’s good. Just make sure it is a big idea, and well written, because comedies and usually execution driven. On rejection: the sooner you get used to it the better. I’ve been rejected so many times it doesn’t really bother me anymore. One script I wrote was passed on by everyone, then a couple years later sold to Summit. The biggest writers in the industry get rewritten or their specs don’t always sell. It’s just a fact of working in this business. It works more like a game of odds - the more you put yourself out there, the better chance you have of selling a script or landing a job.

Posted by (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)  on  May 07, 2010 at 05:33 PM

Cynthia: the answer to your question is yes and no. There are a lot of amazing scripts out there by big and small writers that will most likely never get made. Again, that is really out of your hands, unless you want to finance and distribute your own movie. Many of the less than great movies you have seen started out with great scripts, but there are so many people involved in making a movie, and most want their ideas implemented into the story, that those good stories turn bad. But not always. Some suck from the outset.

Posted by (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)  on  May 08, 2010 at 04:00 AM

That’s why I put my spec scripts in a drawer and went back to writing novels and graphic novels (I do my own art, as I’m sick of waiting for artists’ whim)... When I get published, I can write my own adaptations, though!
http://creativebarbwire.wordpress.com

Posted by (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)  on  May 10, 2010 at 11:08 AM

I have a script on something I’m passionate about, Its a great new idea. ‘GENRE’, Action Adventure (wga)...I never listen to people who have a set opinion on ‘the click’ on Hollywood wanna bees…Go out side the box…just like Columbus did in 1492…I have successfully invented things and sold them to large companies,,,So when I hear you can’t get this made or know body will buy thats b/s Don’t you give up!  People will….

Posted by (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)  on  May 24, 2010 at 04:15 PM

Well said sir, and I absolutely agree. I’ve been dancing with the business since 1985 with a tall stack of almosts and no real successes (accept co-producing a movie that went to HBO in 1997, but I didn’t write it), and it never ceases to amaze me how unimportant storytellers are in the eyes of studio people. It’s all a marketing business, and the focus is on the concept, it’s apparent pre-built familiarity, and bankability of the cast, all of which serve the marketing needs. To them, “original” has a cardboard meaning… Perhaps it just means a marketing angle they feel will work.—CSHaviland.com

Posted by (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)  on  May 24, 2010 at 06:52 PM

Good article, Ben. I recently took a round of generals and heard the term “pre-existing property” many times.

Posted by (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)  on  June 16, 2010 at 09:43 AM

F#ck it Dude.  Let’s go bowling.

Posted by (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)  on  August 13, 2010 at 06:00 AM

i friggin love comment 13. we are the serfs and they are the lords. let’s just eat slop and play checkers. lol