How to Come Up with Film Ideas You Can Actually Make.

Clear your brain’s busy schedule, it's time to brainstorm.

Last week we went through a list of the tools, ideas, and personal expertise that might have an effect on your story (read more). Today, I’m going to show you how I turned those elements into ideas.

A little background on my background: for the past twelve years, I’ve worked as a graphic designer, art director, and eventually, creative director. In other words, I’m a professional brainstormer. After hundreds of projects, I’ve learned that the key to making great creative work isn’t big budgets and a “sky’s the limit” brief, it’s having a clear understanding of the goals and limitations.

I’ve already established that my limitation is money, but “low budget” is a shitty brainstorming prompt. A story isn’t inherently expensive or inexpensive. The context for the story elements will determine the budget. You might live on a ranch with sheep, horses, pigs, and a brother you’re sure is the next Brad Pitt, whereas I live in Brooklyn. If we wrote the same exact Western, it would cost me significantly more than it would cost you.

So, we need to make “low budget” into a good brainstorming prompt for a story. With that in mind, there are three story elements that will significantly impact your budget, and they are characters (actors), setting (location), and length (time).

• Each actor, from principal to extra, requires compensation, casting, coordination, wardrobe (clothes + a stylist), hair and makeup, transportation, rehearsals, production assistance, and meals. If you’re writing a story that requires an ensemble cast, you need to multiply all of these variables for each actor every day they’re on production. A larger cast might also require extra takes/coverage/time*.

• Each location requires scouting, set builds, props and styling, rental and insurance fees, set-up and wrap time*, moving time*, coordination/management, camera/electrical/lighting equipment, parking and transportation fees…and the list goes on. All of the above requires professional labor, and hopefully you agree that every one of those professionals deserves some sort of compensation.

• *Time. How long is your screenplay? It’s widely recommended that ⅛ of a screenplay page takes about 15 minutes to shoot, meaning that it takes roughly 2 hours to shoot each page of your screenplay. If you consider a 10-hour day, it means you can probably shoot 4-5 pages per day, depending on your coverage. This doesn’t include daily prep time or big company moves. 

  • If you’re paying cast and crew below their standard industry rate, they’re sacrificing money every day to be there. If your shoot is grueling with tons of big moves and physical labor, the crew could easily decide it’s not worth their time.

When I finally went through the script breakdown process for one of the films I wanted to make, I realized that I needed to start over. Instead, I decided to write a story with just a couple of characters, limited to one location.

Small Cast, One Location, Now What?

Now we’re going to use three elements to make ourselves a little brainstorming prompt. Reference last week’s list to make it extra easy, and then fill in the blanks of this mad lib: 

A [genre] that takes place at [location you have access to], starring [actor description]. 

For example:

A romantic comedy that takes place in an NYC apartment starring Francine, a neurotic, reclusive young woman looking for love.

The Writing Exercise

Next, you’re going to brainstorm story ideas from your prompt.

Set a timer for 10-15 minutes, and write story ideas as they come to you. Don’t censor yourself and keep typing. Don’t even worry about crafting coherent sentences, and do not, do not evaluate or delete them as you go. Good ideas do not come from a place of shame. Often, they come from really stupid, silly ideas.

Let me demonstrate using the prompt example I created. Setting a timer for 5 minutes…

• Francine hits a food delivery driver with her car. After learning the driver does not have insurance, she nurses them back to health.

• Francine falls in love with her UPS delivery driver and goes into financial debt trying to get his attention.

• After losing her job, Francine rents out the extra bedroom in her house. Her college nemesis answers the ad, and through living together, Francine realizes that her nemesis is her soulmate, and Francine was the bad guy in their previous interactions.

• After a horrible breakup, Francine falls in love with the host of a popular advice podcast.

Alright, scout’s honor, I did not edit these ideas. 

Now, it’s your turn. Set a timer for 10-15 minutes, and get started. Then come back here and let me know how it goes.

Today, no ideas are bad ideas

Refrain from evaluating your ideas for today. Instead, ask a series of questions: Do the elements in your prompt feel right? Does the character seem strong enough? Was the character easy to come up with ideas for? Is it even a character you’re interested in writing? Do you feel excited about the genre? In my case, I’m far more interested in making thrillers and dark comedies than rom-coms, but changing the genre makes all of these ideas more interesting, so nothing is lost.

Let me leave you with some reassurance: no one comes up with great a movie idea in a day. The idea phase is part of the writing process, and so it shouldn’t be rushed. Furthermore, an idea will always evolve and improve the longer you think about it. Anyone who claims to have written a screenplay in three days simply isn't factoring in the days, weeks, or years that the idea lived in the back of their head. Instead of forcing yourself to decide what’s perfect today, schedule time to write through possibilities every day, while also always giving your mind time to wander.

If you did this exercise, let me know how it went in the comments. Did you find it helpful? Do you have any other ideating methods? I’d love to hear about them!