More on Your Movie Idea

By Don Vasicek

(Note: If you don't have a journal, you might want to begin one if you're going to follow my column. There are key points you need to write down if you want to write, sell and get your screenplays produced. You will want to refer back to this journal throughout the process.)

Your movie idea needs more than rummaging through the video store to see what kind of genre it's going to be and what kind of audience would like to see your movie. In order to get your screenplays written, sold and produced, you need to understand where your idea came from.

Hollywood is driven by passion. Passion for the art and craft of making movies. Passion for working with other people. Passion for the story. Passion for the characters. Passion for making a lot of money. Passion for power. Passion for the limelight. Passion for beating the competition.

There are thousands of people who work in the film industry. Each one of them has their own passion that drives them. If you want to become part of Hollywood, the first step you should take is to define your passion for going into the movie making business.

You can begin the process by looking at your movie idea. When did your movie idea pop into your head? Where were you? What were you doing? How were you feeling? Why did you get this idea for your movie? If you answer these five question truthfully, then, you will find your passion for taking your movie idea and writing a screenplay.

You can define your passion by looking at your emotions. Think about your movie idea. What kind of emotion does it bring out of you? Think about it. Don't confuse yourself. Just come up with the single, most significant emotion it elicits in you. Does it make you sad? Or happy? Do you get angry, frustrated, nervous, confident, bold, determined, or ?

Define it. Write it down. Think about it. Next time I'll show you what to do with the emotion that was responsible for your movie idea.