I frequently see aspiring screenwriters devaluing the very concept of movie ideas, acting as if they’re “a dime a dozen” and not really all that important if you want to be a screenwriter.

As an industry professional of over 30 years, I’m here to set you straight: ideas are INCREDIBLY important — they are the seed that grows your script, and if you don’t start out with the right one, then it doesn’t really matter how much of a talented writer you are because you’ve just wasted your time.

The idea (or concept/premise/hook, whatever you want to call it) is what initially triggers Hollywood’s interest, because it’s the first and fastest thing we discover about a potential project, and if it’s boring or confusing or cliched or doesn’t grab us from the jump, then you’re doomed: nobody cares what you have to say past that, because we’ve already made a snap decision about the core of your project — and nobody gets a second chance to make a first impression.

You want your idea to be cool or novel or intriguing, something that catches our immediate interest and makes us want to see how that premise unfolds. It’s the only thing that you’re paying attention to when you’re browsing the endless selections available on streaming, because you sure as hell don’t know the relative execution of any of those ideas yet. When it comes to what catches our limited attention in a world where everyone is trying to distract us, idea is king.

I’ve known many working TV writers who aspire to write feature films, and the biggest reason they fail to get traction isn’t their ability to write professionally  — it’s their ability to come up with great, compelling movie ideas. If they get a full, detailed outline for a TV episode from the hive-mind of the writers room, they can do a great job — but left to come up with an original premise for a motion picture, they find that it’s much more difficult.

You know a great idea when you’ve heard it, because as a writer you become jealous that you didn’t come up with it. Ghostbusters was a great idea. Back To The Future was a great idea. Big was a great idea. Home Alone was a great idea. You hear those ideas and your interest is immediately grabbed, your imagination going to town, and you can’t wait to watch the movie to see how that concept plays out. 

Now obviously, not every movie is high concept in the traditional sense. There are plenty of serious dramas that don’t meet that criteria, that are completely execution contingent. But let’s just say that movies like Ordinary People don’t make up the majority of spec sales — or movies made — in modern Hollywood. Look, you’re perfectly welcome to write a dark, serious drama that lacks a compelling hook, but if you thought Hollywood was already tough and competitive to break into before, just see how much tougher it is if you try to set up commercially-challenging material like that.

All of this is just to say that ideas are crucially important to the movie industry, and they’re vitally important if you’re trying to break into the business as an aspiring screenwriter whose only calling card is the idea you’re bringing to the table. 

Something else to think about: if the idea you’re presenting doesn’t land with the people you’re pitching to, then you’ve just wasted a valuable opportunity, and the only thing they’ll remember when you come knocking again is that you were the one who showed up with a subpar, mediocre idea. And that’s definitely not the kind of reputation you want if you’re trying to make it in a cutthroat business.

So bottomline, sure: generic, half-baked, middling ideas are a dime a dozen. But truly great movie ideas are worth their weight in box office gold. They are to be pursued, protected and nurtured, and you should aspire to generate as many of them as possible. Because whatever level of writer you happen to be, from newcomer to industry pro, if you don’t have a great idea behind all your effort, passion and talent, then you’re just wasting your time and everybody else’s.

Now get writing!