{"id":1253,"date":"2016-07-28T18:14:51","date_gmt":"2016-07-29T00:14:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/coryedwards.com\/?p=1253"},"modified":"2016-07-28T18:14:51","modified_gmt":"2016-07-29T00:14:51","slug":"ideas-are-everywhere","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/coryedwards.com\/?p=1253","title":{"rendered":"Ideas Are Everywhere"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n<\/a>\"Bulbs\"<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>It’s time I blow the lid off a misconception — a long-held misconception\u00a0among young writers and non-professional creative people.\u00a0Ideas are not special. Ideas are not as valuable as you think. Ideas cannot be protected, bought, sold, or shared like a secret pot of gold. There is no super-special idea that is only yours that no one has ever heard of. And most importantly, no one will “buy your great idea.”\u00a0IDEAS ARE A DIME A DOZEN.<\/p>\n

Now before you protest, let me explain: It’s not the idea that’s valuable. It’s the UNIQUE EXECUTION of that idea. I’ve talked about execution in the past — your ability to deliver an idea in a way that no one else can is your ticket in this business. Time and time again, I’ve heard young writers shaking their fists at the heavens because “someone stole my idea!” I know, I know. It was perfect. You thought of it. Then one day you read in Variety that someone else is making it. “How can there be another Robot Squirrel Movie??” you shout. Well,\u00a0if your idea is a good one, it’s fair to say someone else thought of it too. High concepts are dangerously vulnerable to this. We are all reading the same articles and seeing the same images and sooner or later, someone ELSE will also say, “What if a squirrel was a robot?” Or maybe not. But you know what I mean. Ideas are shared and talked about and tossed back and forth\u00a0every day in Hollywood. Things are thrown against the wall, then torn down and\u00a0thrown up again. When you walk\u00a0in to pitch an idea, it needs to come with the added bonus of YOU. YOU are sharing how YOU\u00a0\u00a0will execute that idea in a way that\u00a0ONLY YOU\u00a0could. Prove that you\u00a0are the only who could\u00a0make THAT IDEA in THAT WAY. And the more of that idea you\u00a0can execute and get to market, the more it becomes difficult to copy or steal. The more it becomes yours and only yours.<\/p>\n

So if you see your idea getting made by someone else and feel cheated, get in line. It’s happened to me about 30 times. And I mean the EXACT same idea. But when the movie comes out, I see that it was also a collection of script, actors and music that I never could have combined. And take heart — if you truly still believe in your idea, keep at it anyway. You can still execute YOUR\u00a0vision of it. History has shown us there can be\u00a0multiple movies about Robin Hood, Mars, The Wizard Of Oz or even Red Riding Hood.<\/p>\n

\"Idea<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>On a related note, I realize a lot of you don’t have the means to execute your great idea and so you want to get it to someone that could. And a lot of times you think that is me. Many, many times\u00a0over the years I will be contacted by someone (usually a friend of a nephew of a\u00a0friend) who\u00a0tells me, “I have a story for you. It could be a great movie. All you have to do is write and make it and we’ll share ownership of it.”<\/p>\n

That’s all? All I have to do is make it? So the other 99 % of the process? Cool.<\/p>\n

And by the way, I’m not wandering the Earth looking for ideas to make into movies. I don’t wake up every day thinking, “Wow, I have all the money and connections and the means to make movies, I just need an idea. I hope I find someone who has one.” I’m not looking. I have about 40 ideas of my own. I have files FULL of ideas that I’ve been\u00a0trying to get made for years. The only thing that makes me stop working on those\u00a0original projects is when someone else has a fully-funded idea\u00a0and wants to hire me to do that “making” part. So if you have a huge pile of money to go with your idea, then yes, maybe we should go have coffee and talk about it. But this notion that you are carrying around this precious diamond is not true. Ideas pop up every day, and at least three times a month I hear from someone who has “the best idea ever” — they just want me to put the sweat into birthing it. It’s the “birthing” that no one really wants to do. That’s what makes an idea an actual piece of business that others want to pay for. All the story beats, all the visuals, nailing down all the rules and logic problems and even knowing what niche market will go see that idea. What KIND of Robot Squirrel? Is he from space or the future? And what does Robot Squirrel really WANT?<\/p>\n

Even if you know that the entire\u00a0Robot Squirrel Community has been DYING for a\u00a0movie, you have to make it work on a basic\u00a0story level. You have to set it up\u00a0with a movie star attached or prove you can make it for half the budget or guarantee 10 million Twitter followers\u00a0will go see it. So don’t think of your idea as the end-all-be-all. And don’t keep emailing me about it. I’ve got my own ideas to bring to life, and you’ve got yours. Ideas are just the beginning, and the rest will make it a reality. If you believe in your idea, don’t stop! Keep working on it! Only YOU\u00a0can make that thing into the one-of-a-kind idea you thought of in the first place. And when you do, the rest of the world will finally see how valuable it is too.<\/p>\n

(By the way, I\u00a0just Googled “Robot Squirrel” and fifty images popped up. Fifty.)<\/p>\n

\"RobotSquirrels\"<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It’s time I blow the lid off a misconception — a long-held misconception\u00a0among young writers and non-professional creative people.\u00a0Ideas are not special. Ideas are not as valuable as you think. Ideas cannot be protected, bought, sold, or shared like a secret pot of gold. There is no super-special idea that is only yours that no […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/coryedwards.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1253"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/coryedwards.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/coryedwards.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/coryedwards.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/coryedwards.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1253"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"http:\/\/coryedwards.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1253\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1264,"href":"http:\/\/coryedwards.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1253\/revisions\/1264"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/coryedwards.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1253"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/coryedwards.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1253"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/coryedwards.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1253"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}