Reader question: What about soliciting story ideas from people to incorporate into my script?
A reader question from Ken:
Do you ever solicit story ideas from people you don’t know, to incorporate their ideas into your script, with their permission of course?
I am writing a script with some horror elements. I know my characters and I know the overall story structure, but I am having difficulty imagining a sufficient number of nasty things for my monster to do. It occurs to me that there must be a lot of great scene ideas floating around out there, in notebooks, journals, and full or partial scripts, that I could adapt to fit my story.
Any comments on that strategy? I envision the other writer contributing anywhere from 1% to 30% of my story. This strategy could be used for writing any genre, not just horror. I guess another way to ask the question is: how does a writer find a co-writer or an “additional story by” person?
And a follow-up from Ken:
I am also considering options that would not involve any personal interaction with the other person. For example, I might post some notices on bulletin boards along the lines of “send me your horror story ideas, with specific scene descriptions, and if I like them and I can work them into my script, I’ll work out a deal with you.” Obviously I would require that they copyright or register their work before submitting to me, for everyone’s protection.
Sounds like a variation of what screenwriter Ron Bass (Rain Man, Sleeping with the Enemy, My Best Friend’s Wedding, Stepmom) does. I posted on it here:
Screenwriter Ron Bass, who has been called “The Two Billion Dollar Man” because movies he’s written have grossed that much money at the box office, came up in a recent discussion. For those of you who don’t know about Bass, he works with a ‘team’ of researchers, assistants, and writers in their own right to help with his many script projects (he averages between 6 and 7 scripts per year):
“Bass put together his development team in the late 80s. It has turned ‘Ron Bass’ into a machine that moves with brutal efficiency from one project to the next. And it has led to accusations that Bass is not a writer at all, but a manager of other writers whose ideas and opinions he collects, collates and then passes off as his own work. The first person to join him was Jane Rusconi, a former researcher to Oliver Stone on JFK. After Jane came Mimi, and after Mimi came Hannah; and soon there were eight, mostly female team members. (One Hollywood wag has nicknamed the group the “Ronettes”.)”
For more background on Bass, here is a March 1999 BFI article.
Sit-coms work like this, both at the writers’ table and on the day of taping, where all the writers chime in with jokes, bits, etc. So at least in the circle of professional writers, there are precedents — generally — for what you are suggesting.
I have two comments:
* How do you keep this from getting litigious? Let’s say you post an invitation for people to contribute ideas to a script project. Huck from Phoenix sends you something that you think you can use. Who determines the value of an idea? If you say, “I’m willing to give you x percent of the script if it sells,” and they decline, then you can not incorporate any idea that is even vaguely similar to the one Huck from Phoenix presented otherwise they can sue you. If they agree to terms, then you have to work out a legal document, agreeable to both parties. Won’t that cost money? And what if your movie becomes a huge hit: you become a millionaire while Person A sits there with their 2% (or whatever) of the revenue. Greed being what it is, that just smells like a scenario in which — no matter what agreement Huck from Phoenix signed — they would do something to come after more money. Also what revenues fall under the agreement? Sales price? Rewrite fees? Back-end money? Residuals? Again it all feels like litigation territory to me.
* Why not brainstorm possibilities yourself? Even if you currently are “having difficulty imagining a sufficient number of nasty things for my monster to do,” why not push yourself? Part of this can be going ‘inside’ the monster’s mind and living ‘with’ it, seeing the world through its eyes. Deeper knowledge of the monster should give you more ideas about how the monster can act out its “nasty things.” Part of this can involve watching a slew of monster movies for inspiration, finding bits you like, then working up a variation on that. And part of it can simply be about letting your mind go wild — “possibilitize” as a writer once told me. What extreme, insane actions can you possibly imagine the monster doing?
Then there’s always the pizza-and-beer approach where you invite a bunch of your friends to your house, ply them with food and refreshments, then sit around and vamp off each other’s ideas about your script. Your own writers’ table, even if your friends aren’t writers.
On the whole, I think I’d be more comfortable doing it alone or with some friends than with total strangers and opening up the door to all sorts of potential legal hassles.
GITS readers, what are your thoughts? Any suggestions for Ken?
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