How To Brainstorm Your Movie Idea

Perhaps the best way to get your movie idea written is to hire a ghostwriter. But first, you - and the ghost - will need to determine the most accurate description of what your script will be all about.

Here's how to do this without getting lost.

What is the Basic Concept?
You probably have this in mind already. Something like, "A gambling-addicted detective's wife frames him for murder, and he must break out of jail to prove his innocence." Try to make this very brief and specific. After you read the guidelines that follow, come back to this section and see how most of the information needed to lay our your idea can be outlined in a single sentence.

What is the Theme or Lesson?
Every good story gives moviegoers a lesson in life, usually as the main character himself learns a lesson about how to live. No, you should not bash the moviegoer over the head with a heavy-handy "moral," but you do want the moviegoer to see the hero grow and learn how to be a better person.

Whose Story Is It?
Who is the hero? He or she doesn't have to be the perfect "good guy." In fact, most movie heroes have some issue that they must resolve in order to live as better people (review Theme, above). In "Tootsie," the main character must learn to treat women better and not be so selfish. Even our framed detective, in the Basic Concept, above, has some character flaw that may have contributed to is predicament. You'll remember he has a gambling problem. To solve his external problem of being framed, he must learn why he gambles and how it has affected his life.

What is the Hero's Goal?
In our Basic Concept example, above, the hero's goal is quite clear: to prove his innocence. But in many of the ideas pitched to us at Pro Move Writer, the goal is murky at best. Make certain that your main character has a clear, external goal. Don't confuse the detective's goal of clearing himself of the false charges against him with his internal need to grow and change by the film's end.

Who or What Will Oppose the Achievement of Those Goals?
Most movies feature a strong character (the villain - but don't make her a cartoon character!) who opposes the main goal of the hero. There can be more than on villain working in cahoots (perhaps our detective's wife is involved with another detective who also wants the hero in prison). In some films, the opposition may be nature ("Twister") or an institution, or even the hero himself. But there must be opposition! And the hero must try and fail again and again, due to that opposition, before achieving success at the end of the movie.

How Does the Hero Try to Reach His Goals - and Fail Repeatedly?
We mentioned this above, but this is where so many screenplays falter - there is no real conflict, nothing standing between the hero and his goals. Let's say the hero learns she is going to inherit a fortune. She hops in her car and drives across country, is handed the money and is happy. But we aren't!

Try this: She hops in her car and it breaks down in Vegas in a thunderstorm. She has no money and calls a cousin for assistance. He seems to help be we learn that he is next in line for the inheritance and wants her out of the way. He and his allies now make her quest a seemingly impossible one. Every plan she makes fails and the danger escalates with every step. As your audience both fears for her safety and hopes for the best outcome for her predicament they will be on a emotional roller coaster. And that is why they paid their fifteen bucks to see your movie.

Think It Through & Prosper
Spend time on your project, just as you would lay out a blueprint before building your home, to assure that your movie script is tightly constructed, engages the audience's emotions, and is something that producers and agents will want to buy. Good luck.

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