The Truth About Your Big Idea In Holywood

By Biagio on July 28, 2009 in Break In To Hollywood with 20 Comments

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Did you move to L.A. with your ONE BIG IDEA? The screenplay that would make you famous? To pitch a reality show and get rich? Are you somewhere in Middle America right now with an idea so hot you’d risk life and limb just to share it with anyone on the West Coast?

Okay, I’ve got good news and bad news. The good news is your chances of breaking in to Hollywood just increased exponentially by reading this post! The bad news is…

Your One Big Idea is Not Enough.

Like many businesses, selling product in Hollywood is a numbers game. The numbers say you need heaps of ideas, so you can pitch loads of projects, to sell just one. The numbers also say that the chances someone will sell their one and only idea are slim to none (and as my Dad used to say, Slim just left town!)

Lots of Ideas are not Enough

You can have a million ideas. They’re useless unless they’re great ideas. Are they fresh? Current? Unique? Develop a better sense of how great ideas lead to projects sold by watching TV, going to the movies, and abusing your Netflix account.

Great Ideas Are Not Enough

Remember, even a basket full of ideas is useless if the ideas only live in your head. Having a lot of potential projects at any given time is important, but at some point you have to take action. That means you finish your screenplay, shoot your pilot, make you trailer…turn your idea into something concrete. (Be sure to subscribe for future articles on the best ways to pitch your ideas to Hollywood.)

The secret, to quote the legendary Dov S-S Simens, is to “have numerous projects in various stages of development.” Recognize when one of your projects is gaining traction, and push that project, screenplay, or show idea to the head of the line.

Does this mean you should give up on your passion project if it’s going nowhere? Absolutely not!

Play the Numbers While Keeping Your Passion Project Alive

If your ONE BIG IDEA is your passion project, never give up on it. Maybe you’ll sell it right away, maybe 20 years from now. With every passing moment, you’ll be honing your skills, expanding your creativity, and building your resume. Channel your passion into every project you create, and soon you’ll be so busy, so successful, and so good at what you do, that you just may find it’s easier to sell your big idea after all!

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About Biagio: Biagio married way out of his league when he bamboozled Joke into saying "I do." Together he and his wife produce television, film, webisodes, and anything else that requires no sleep and a touch of crazy. Find Biagio on Twitter: @jokeandbiagio

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  • http://www.andrewmayne.com Andrew Mayne

    Everything they say is a lie!!! You must have one idea and only one idea and it has to involve pirates and robots.

    • http://www.jokeandbiagio.com Biagio

      I forgot to mention the pirates/robots clause. This is usually the one exception to the entire article above :-)

      Seriously, though, Andrew makes an excellent point: many hold fast to one idea (some as “interesting” as mixing pirates and robots) as if their artistic integrity depends on it. Your best shot at selling the robot-pirate show is to sell a bunch of other, less “out there” shows first, and then, when the industry finally realizes you’re good at what you do, they just might trust you with a Lost in Space meets Hook competition reality show.

      For the record, I would trust Andrew with that show right now, but after all, he can fly.

  • http://www.illiteraryfiction.com Len Esten

    One idea is not a career for certain. I would caution anyone who just assumes they will come up with something to take a little more time and learn before pitching that one project.

    If it’s fictional learn about screenwriting, if it’s reality do some more brainstorming and research on what’s already out there.

    You don’t want to be that hack do you? Then learn your craft and have it at your command. Anybody can come up with one good idea, but only an artist can create at will.

  • http://www.jokeandbiagio.com Biagio

    Len,

    You make a great point. Fact of the matter is that if you want to work in any business, ideas are just not enough–you need the skills to execute that idea. I think the trick is for aspiring producers to use their passion for that “big idea” to drive them to develop their skills. Use the promise of “what could be” to get through the long nights of learning to write, shoot, edit, etc. As you say, learn the craft so it becomes a tool you can wield to get things done.

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  • http://kgmadman.wordpress.com/ k.g.m.

    I’ve been pitching to everybody in town my idea for a reality show where pedophiles compete in a booby-trap filled house to grab the sweet children waiting in an upstairs bedroom but nobody shows any interest. What am I doing wrong?

    • http://www.jokeandbiagio.com Biagio

      While your sense of humor is not lost on us, you’d be amazed how many people pitch shows just like that…only for real.

  • Mark A Neal Jr

    I pitched a movie idea to Robert Kosberg, called Jeffery Kruegoff: The Last Don, its about a loser mailman who is hired by the Fbi to pose as a look a like mob boss in New York. Whats wrong with my pitch?

  • RP

    I believe what you say, but there are those chances for pure luck to happen. Only problem with this, is that people will steal your ideas as well. I pitch as many ideas as I can and keep coming up with new ones. The more I pitch the better shot I have, and that’s all I can really do.. Thanks for the post, it’s real and that’s just how it is.(So I know I’m not alone)

    • http://www.jokeandbiagio.com Biagio

      It really is a numbers game. Keep those creative gears turning, come up with enough good ideas, and eventually, one will hit.

  • RP

    By the way, Pirates and robots is not a bad idea!

  • Gedubbel

    If I only knew where to send my ideas ….. I have multiple great pitches …. at least one ios close to fenomenal but unless you pay loads of dollars on `pitch`site its bloody close to impossible for a dutchy to pitch in hollywood or the US in general ±)

    • Charles Bailey

      In many cases it all boils down to legal issues. For example (this is a VERY true example), if you submitted to me a yarn about ghosts invading New York City, which – for whatever reason – I passed on, then later decided to produce a project about a young couple living in New York City, being haunted by ghosts, the ideas (while very much different) are too similar and the fear (or act) of being sued arises. Then, it becomes a nightmare in the court system to prove the two projects are NOT in fact, the same. Or even connected.

      The legal issues involved on something of that scope are very daunting, time consuming, and more importantly, expensive. Unfortunately, that is one of countless reasons why it may be difficult for you to gain ground in “pitching”.

      • Charles Bailey

        Most people would suggest seeking out an agent, but, in addition to doing your homework concerning WHERE to pitch your idea, I would suggest finding a really great entertainment atty. Then have him present the material to your prospects.

        Cold sending your material out, only causes it to end up unread, unwanted, and trashcan fodder.

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  • Thomas

    Most of us have a real job that pays. It is really sad that Hollywood is so concerned with the authors potential. There is an old saying that goes… “a bird in the hand is worth two in a bush”.

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  • Anonymous

    What if you are trying to bring back a reality show from hiatusland? I want to bring back Beauty and Geek so I can be the second she geek on it and the first autistic individual on it as well. I have sent some info to you via your youtube account.

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