On a popular Facebook screenwriters group, someone posted that they had a lot of movie ideas and a a small percentage that were “great and unique,” and was wondering if there was a way to connect to an “idea market” in order to try to sell some of those ideas since there was no way they’d ever have the time to write them all as scripts. My response to that wound up being lengthier than expected, so here goes…

The great challenge of breaking into the screenplay business is that you need a dynamite movie idea to start with, or your subsequent execution of that idea is a pointless waste of time and energy. People browsing Netflix’s thousands of movies and shows don’t decide what they want to watch based on “execution,” and agents and managers don’t respond to query letters about screenplays based on their “execution” — it all starts with the idea. 

That said, Hollywood is not in the business of buying raw one-liners. Much as it’d be a blast if it existed, there’s no pure “idea market” per se: you still need some sort of vehicle to convey that dynamite movie idea to potential buyers. 

Now, one of the most obvious vehicles to convey your idea is a screenplay — and it goes without saying that the better the execution of your dynamite idea, the better your odds of selling that screenplay. 

But that vehicle could also take other forms — for example, a short story. There’s been a recent trend over the last few years of short stories being sold as springboards for movies in Hollywood (e.g., THE ARRIVAL). I know a company that purchased a 6 page short story for $2 million because it had such a terrific premise. Of course, you’d still need some way to get a legitimate representative (agent/manager/entertainment lawyer) to send that short story to potential buyers, and obviously it helps if that short story has been published somewhere.

It could take the form of a podcast: there have been a number of podcasts over the past few years that have been optioned for TV shows, including HOMECOMING and LORE on Amazon Prime. So that’s another new and viable avenue. 

It could take the form of a comic book. It’s not just the big publishers like Marvel and DC that have sold comic books to studios and production companies: lots of smaller and alternative publishers have seen their comics transformed into popular movies and TV shows. The MEN IN BLACK franchise was based on an obscure comic book from a small publisher. A screenwriter friend of mine self-published a comic book a few years ago and saw it purchased and produced into an upcoming movie for Sylvester Stallone.

It could take the form of a verbal pitch, where you personally tell your story idea to potential buyers. Now granted, you have to be able to get in the room or on the phone with an executive in order to be able to do this, which is obviously easier if you have representation to get you in there. And it definitely helps to have a solid screenwriting sample to prove that once you pitch the dynamite idea you can at least execute it. But this is another path that works.

It could take the form of a short film. A number of writers and filmmakers have made impressive short films to convey their ideas, and the films were so impressive that they served as a visual pitch to sell the idea and expand the short into a major feature film (e.g., SKY CAPTAIN AND THE WORLD OF TOMORROW).

Hell, it could even take the form of a Twitter feed. In 2009, aspiring comedy writer Justin Halpern created a funny Twitter feed called SHIT MY DAD SAYS, and that was turned into a CBS sitcom starring William Shatner 

The point is you need some kind of vehicle to deliver your concept and help the buyers see the potential inherent in your dynamite idea. And as I’ve laid out here, it doesn’t necessarily have to take the form of a screenplay — but of course that’s one of the most obvious ways to do it.

As discussed earlier, there’s no system to just pitch a raw one-liner for your idea and have someone pay you for that. The closest version of this would be after you’re an established screenwriter with a number of successful films to your credit — then and only then might you be able to simply sell an idea to a producer or a studio, because by that time you‘ve more than established your ability to take that great idea and carry it through to completion.

All of this is to say that, yes, great movie and TV ideas are vitally important if you hope to make it in this business — but in order to sell them, a newcomer must find the appropriate vehicle for conveying that idea to potential buyers. And of course, it also helps to have a representative or a connection who’s able to get that vehicle into the hands of those potential buyers.

Now get writing!