I Have A Great Movie Idea; What Do I Do? by Thunder Levin Video Lecture | Screenwriting: From Beginner to a Pro - Career Development

we had a comment come in from anonymous
I know the who that is anonymous in
Seattle yeah oh that I don't hello
I have an idea for a movie but nobody
gives me a chance no I can't hear that
no you know it's funny since sharknado I
get a lot of people on on Twitter and
Facebook and contacting me through my
website saying hey I've got this great
idea for a movie and I think you'd love
it you know and and there are so many
legal reasons why you can't hear them
you know and and so so many people have
such similar ideas especially since
sharknado because it just gives rise to
this mashup tidal thing you know and
bare akane and what was the other one I
really liked snail nado it'll it'll be
slow-moving so there'll be plenty of
time for character development you know
and you get literally dozens if not
hundreds of people sending the same idea
you know and you can get in a lot of
trouble that way I I've seen people
people have actually sent it tried to
send me ideas that I've already had and
okay well now if they see this bit in a
movie I write they're gonna say hey you
stole that from me
no I didn't it's just there there are
similar ideas out there so so it's it's
a tricky thing at the same time you want
to be open to the possibility that
somebody out there you know some
undiscovered talent really does have a
great idea and and so maybe you should
explore that and even even then it's a
it's a tricky proposition well I'm
wondering if anonymous was more keeping
in the vein of like I have these ideas
but no one how do I break it yeah well
that's that's an awfully good question
because I you know I've been trying to
break in for 20 odd years and it's been
it's been sort of a slow-moving process
you know they'll tell you get an agent
but of course that's even hard
these days than than getting into some
production companies there's no I mean
there are a couple of tried-and-true
parameters and they don't work very well
there are writing contests there's a
thing called ink tip comm where they
will that you can list an idea on an IDs
synopsis in their quarterly or monthly
newsletter that they distribute to
producers and early on I had a little
success with that and at the same time
they they have a a weekly email blast
that you can get and there will be a
couple of producers that you can submit
ideas to who are looking for specific
things they'll tell you what they are
looking for and you can submit to that
you can write query letters to agents
you can write query letters to producers
really the best advice though is to come
to LA and network there's really no
substitute for it and most writers hate
doing that were not salespeople to this
day I mean we're sitting in my managers
office and every time I come into this
room he's telling me look you got to be
a Salesman and I'm like I'm not a
Salesman I'm a screenwriter dammit
but that's the nature of the beast
and you have to learn to do that as
distasteful as it is you know and if you
have the right kind of personality and
you can go to a Hollywood party or you
know an off off off Hollywood party but
somebody might be there you know the old
the old saw about six degrees of
separation everybody knows somebody who
knows somebody who knows somebody who
can do something for you and the more
people you meet the better your odds
become and so it's a mathematical
process eventually you're going to
strike somebody who can help you out and
and then the final thing and this worked
for me early on in my career when I
first came to LA is to find shows that
really
talk to you things you really like
whether they're movies or TV shows and
just send an email or send a letter you
know you can look it up in the Hollywood
Reporter or a variety or there there are
so many online resources now find a
person don't hit the star don't hit the
top level executive producer but find
somebody who works on that show that the
public at large doesn't know and send
them a personal contact that worked for
me a couple of times there was a TV show
when I came out here called War of the
Worlds the TV series it only lasted a
year or two but I really liked it and so
I I called up their production office
and I asked to speak to one of the I got
the names of one of the producers and I
asked to speak to him you know and I had
to go through three different levels of
assistance and finally they said write
us a letter send us something and so I
sent them my student film but eventually
he called me back and he said hey I like
what you did here why don't you come in
and talk and he didn't hire me that day
and he didn't to this day he hasn't
hired me but we've become great friends
and he sort of been a mentor for me over
the years another situation after die
hard in the Hunt for Red October I was
in love with the work that John
McTiernan was doing as a director and so
I called his office and tried to speak
to him and of course I never got to John
McTiernan but I spoke to his assistant
and she and I sort of started a
conversation and I would call back every
two weeks saying hey do you think he
could look at my film and then I sent my
film and hey has he looked at my film
yet you know and I didn't bug them I did
it every couple of weeks and eventually
says she said why don't you come in and
talk to me so I went in and I had lunch
with her and I got to sit in sitting on
dailies one day during Hunt for Red
October and she and I became great
friends and she she actually is the one
who put me in touch with the first
producer who who hired me to direct
something so you never know where these
opportunities are going to be coming
from you just have to be on the lookout
for anything because
- there are no there there the front
doors are locked you got a you got to
crawl in through one of the back windows
you