Reader Question: What’s the best way to test your story idea’s commercial viability?

From @CaveDude21:

What’s the best way to test ur idea’s Commercial Viability — friends, family? Blogs, Forums seem risky > theft.

This is a really good question and I’m going to back away to let the GITS community take the lead. Three brief points before I go:

* Do you tell your family and friends your story ideas? Sure. But that is the single lowest hurdle for you to overcome because they all [presumably] love you and want you to succeed as a writer, and they [most likely] think that supporting you and your every idea is the best way to do that.

* This is another reason you should be a member of a writers group. I’m talking good writers who care and know about the movie business. You can all agree to review any story concept any of you comes up with. And they will be harsher critics than family and friends.

* At the end of the day, you need to train yourself to assess story ideas. Find your own Producer Scott, a hard-ass who is going to hold your ideas to the fire. How to train yourself? I posted something on this the other day about testing your concept.

How about you, GITS readers? What are some good ways to test the commercial viability of a story idea?

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