Anybody else ever just have a random breakthrough?

M

Michael Bay

Member
I was just sitting there watching the Pirate game when in the middle of it I suddenly think of 4 or 5 improvements to my plot. I mean these really helped strengthen the structure of the plot and make it much more intense. I wasn't even thinking of films when I was watching and I suddenly think of these great ideas. Happen to anyone else?
 
Yeah, definitely happens to me, it's like mana from the gods ;) It's a neat feeling, and gets you flowing again.
 
my editor claims some of her biggest breakthroughs hit her as she's brushing her teeth in the morning.
 
You know the advice sometimes given that you should keep your script between you and yourself, and not talk about it with other people like friends, family, etc., because it's like talking shop with them? I don't really think I agree with that at all. I've had some of my best breakthroughs talking to my best friend about problems I'm having with the script or structure, and then just talking to him about where it's going and whatnot I end up coming up with some idea or a few ideas that really make it work, and part of that isn't actually getting great advice from him, it's almost just talking it out, like working through it in a new way.
 
Yep, and sometimes it is annoying because it often happens when I am at work or the checkout line at the grocery store, and can't immediately set any of these new ideas down on paper.
 
You're not alone. Happens everytime I drop a deuce. Maybe I should bring my laptop with me and write on the can cause I always forget as soon as I'm done...tmi? :shocked: j/k
 
Most of my films have been made for a 24 hour contest.

2 days before the last one I had nothing, then I woke up with an idea. Don't even know where it came from, I don't think I dreamt it, it was just there. While it wasn't brilliant (it's the guitar hero one in my sig) and seemed not too complicated to shoot.

Even after the idea we had to travel interstate, find locations and actors just a few hours before it started, and then shoot it with in-camera editing. Pretty big ask for amateurs that use a camera once a year but we shot it and had fun and were really happy with the outcome.

I've no idea what we would have done if that idea hadn't appeared and I really don't think I consciously created it. Weird.
 
Honestly that's about the only way I come up with ideas as well. I can't sit down and go, "Ok I'm going to come up with an idea for a screenplay. Ok let's see, my character is a middle-aged man, umm, he's a retired police officer. Umm he moved to a small town. Ok what does he do there?" I have no idea if that's how anyone writes, but I gather there are many styles.

For me, I have a limited number of ideas. Once those are exhausted, I have no way to replenish them except by the passage of time. I have 0 ideas for a short film right now. Well, I may have 1 sorta weird comedy-horror idea, but I don't like it that much, I think it's kinda funny like eh ok maybe it'd be something, but I am not interested in an idea that's just kind of good. And I have 4 total feature script ideas, 1 is a rough draft now, 1 is an outline now (yay! finishing up now), and 2 are just notepad files with a basic premise, nothing more, no real three act structure yet, character arcs, etc.

But after those are written, if nothing else comes to me before then, I am out of material. The best way for me to stimulate the production of material is to change my routine, like get out of the house more, go random places, talk to random people, read news articles, etc. That's how I get ideas. I can't force them, though, they come to me on their own time.
 
I had a 'flash' of two full scripts, one while chatting on facebook and the other after giving a 10page critique, go two whole stories just in a snap.
 
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